Blogging 101 Archives - Cherry on Top

In the world of blogging, where everyday new bloggers are making their creative way into the field, how do you ensure you stand out among the rest? How do you get the readers to come back for more? And how do you build an honest and dedicated following?

There are different proven tips and tricks to get your blog more following and help you grow your business. Below are five ways how you can make your blog a huge success. Read on.

#1 Find a Niche

Once you have chosen the right blogging platform and have integrated your blog into your website, it’s time to carve out a niche. Instead of including anything and everything, make your blog about something specific to impress both the search engines and your readers.

Don’t make it too general; rather, choose something that you love writing about. This will reflect the quality of your blog, and you will attract the right audience.

#2 Offer Value

It’s a no-brainer that if you don’t provide your readers with something they enjoy reading, your blog will hardly be a success. Strategize on how you can provide value through your content. Think of how you can enhance your readers’ web browsing experience by optimizing your creative blog.

Before uploading a blog, ask yourself: Will the blog provide any value to the reader? Is it informative? Hence, before you hit the publish button, read your blog thoroughly and look for any errors or additions to improve its overall quality.

#3 Focus on Marketing

You can’t just launch a blog and wish it to go viral without investing in any marketing efforts. Other than writing high-quality content, optimize it through SEO efforts to get organic traffic to your blog. Make use of on-page and off-page SEO tactics to optimize your content to make it easily discoverable on search engine results pages. Optimizing your content simply means allowing search engines to organically discover your blog to the right audience.

Another cost-effective marketing technique could be to post valuable comments on other people’s blogs to get them back to your site.

#4 Add More & More Images

Gone are the days when people used to read long paragraph content. Today, if you want the reader to stay hooked to your page, lure them with interesting visuals. Add as many images as you can to grab their attention; don’t overdo it. And keep it natural.

For instance, if you take original photos from your iPhone, you can just share those photos to your laptop, convert them into png, and use them to upload your blog. If you don’t know the process of converting, you can learn here how to save iphone photos as png, and you’re good to go. Once you’ve successfully shared blogs with compelling images, make sure you stick to the process.

#5 Keep a Check on Analytics

To measure the growth of your blog, it is imperative to keep an eye on the analytics. Find out how visitors are landing on your page or how they’re finding your blog.

If you’re leveraging online paid advertising, the analytics will help you determine your ROI and get a clear picture of the blog’s performance. This will also allow you to incorporate strategies that might help increase the growth of your blog. So, don’t forget to keep a check on web analytics.

Final Words

To make your blog a surefire success, it is vital to nurture the needs of your audience. By posting regular high-quality content that solves the challenges of your readers, you build trust and credibility. Thus, regardless of what strategy you try to grow your blog, make sure to connect it with a satisfying customer experience so that you get recurring visitors to your blog.

Hi, guys! As I told you earlier, I have plans to start a couple of new segments on this blog. Earlier, I had introduced a new section called Celeb Style and today I am going to introduce another new segment which is Blogging 101. I get tonnes of questions regarding blogging on almost all my social media platforms but is not possible for me to answer all of them individually. And, there are so many things involved in blogging which is practically impossible to discuss online and through messages. That is why I thought of creating a separate segment on my blog solely for newbie bloggers and/or for those who are planning to start their own blog.

In this post, I am going to start from the very beginning which is to determine if there is a blogger inside you or not. I think it is very important to start with a sorted mind rather than make a start and then create a mess out of it. Although there is no set rules for blogging, but if you are planning to take blogging seriously or if you want to make it your profession then you need to go through a self-examination. In this post, I am going to bombard you with a bunch of questions that you must ask before you start blogging.

1. Do You Love Writing?

Blogging is all about writing. You must know that blogs are like online journals where you express yourself through words. If writing doesn’t come spontaneously to you or you have difficulties to express yourself through words, I think you should think twice before starting a blog. I have seen new bloggers without any idea of grammar and punctuation trying so hard to establish a point. Honestly, I don’t feel like reading these posts because I have to put a lot of efforts to mentally correct the errors and read. I am not being a grammar nazi here. I am just trying to say that most of the people tend to read blogs while on the go. They are more up for a relax read. A text full of errors will only leave them with displeasure.

2. Why Blogging?

The most important question to ask yourself before becoming a blogger. Bloggers are a kind of influencers who have that ability to create an impact on their readers with their writing. For example- a fashion blogger should have the talent to create something new, something fresh in order to encourage people to embrace their style or create a style. A beauty blogger should have an explicit idea about the beauty and makeup industry and the products they recommend. It is important to be clear about what you are doing and be confident about your skills. Remember, people are spending time on reading blogs just for the quality of the content. There is no way of being dishonest.

3. Is Blogging Your Hobby or Passion?

Now, both of them are completely fine until you decide to make blogging a profession. If you think blogging is more than just a hobby for you then you must act like that. You must not limit yourself by just posting but you will need to think about SEO, social media marketing and branding. There is nothing wrong if blogging is just your hobby. It is also not wrong if you want to make some money out of your skill only until it becomes the sole reason for becoming a blogger.

4. Are You Clear about Your Niche?

Whatever you are planning to do, you should be clear in your head. Your niche should be clear to you and to your reader. If you are planning to make a beauty and fashion blog, try to stick to your niche rather than writing in multiple genres. I tried to do the same with my first blog and failed. Writing in various genres makes it really stressful for the writer and it becomes hard to get a target audience. My suggestion would be to stick to a certain niche.

5. Who You Think Would Read Your Blog?

It is really important to find out and understand your target audience. As soon as you discover your target audience, you will be clear about the topics that you should serve on your blog. The more you understand your audience the more precise you could be with your work.

6. Why Do You Think People Should Read Your Blog?

Another important question to ask yourself before the final decision. Zillions of blogs on trillions of niches are there on the internet. Only a single niche can have millions of blogs under it. This makes is very important to work hard and serve something different. Your readers should get something on your blog that they don’t find anywhere else. The key is not just to gain readers but to hold them with your content. Your content should be unique and fresh.

7. Can You Commit to be Consistent?

Content and consistency are the keys to a good blog that gets noticed. Posting quality content is not enough in order to become a successful blogger. It takes time and hard work. It took me two and a half year of struggle, research and regularity to reach this place. As they say, there is no shortcut to success! If you get tired and disheartened very easily then blogging is not for you. It takes a lot of effort, continuous hard work and the ability to accept failure to become a blogger. Trust me, it’s not easy but it’s not impossible either. You just need to have faith in yourself and in your work and you’ll need people who have your back.

8. Would You Be Continuing this If You Don’t Get Enough Traffic?

The journey from a writer to a blogger is no cakewalk. It takes a lot of effort. Not every day is bright and sunny in blogging, there would be thunderstorms too. The question is, are you able to withstand the storm? There were days when I used to get five or ten views a day. That certainly is disheartening, I got upset but then I focused on my content and ended up having a decent viewership. If you want to become successful in blogging then you must have patience, self-confidence and an urge to improve yourself.

As I said earlier, there is not set rules for blogging. You should be doing what your heart says. These questions are for those who want to make blogging a profession or a full-time job. If you are serious about what you are doing then nothing can stop you from becoming a successful blogger. Although I don’t consider myself as a successful blogger nor a professional one, I am just trying to reach that destination. I just wanted to share what I have learnt in these years of blogging, from my mistakes and failures.

That was it for the first post of this Blogging 101 segment. I hope you found it helpful. Make sure to share this post with your family and friends if you did. Let me know if you have any other queries related to blogging. I will try my best to answer them. Your comments mean a lot to me. Do subscribe to our Newsletter so that you get notified whenever there is a new post on the blog. I’ll talk to you in my next post. Till then, be safe & keep smiling! Follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for regular updates. Add me on Snapchat for more fun and a sneak-peek of my life.