People enjoy sharing ideas, experiences, and knowledge with others. Thanks to the internet, now you can reach a global audience very quickly online. All you need to do is start a personal blog. But like with most things, there’s a pitfall: if you don’t do it right, you won’t grab anyone’s attention.
What is Personal Blogging?
When blogs appeared in the 1990s, they were mostly online journals for people designed to write down their thoughts. Many blogs are still informal diary-style text entries, where people share everything that bothers and excites them and discuss a variety of topics, including favorite TV shows, cooking experiences, politics, or sport.
However, personal blogging is much more than just writing posts and publishing them online. The success of a personal blog depends on your ability to attract an audience that shares your interests and wants to read what you write.
You can’t just start a blog and expect that people will find you. It doesn’t work like that. A lot of effort goes into building a successful website. So here are nine absolutely essential tips for starting your personal blog.
1. Determine your goals
Why do you want to have your own blog? Some people are just looking for an online version of a diary. Others want to build their personal brands and establish themselves as experts in specific areas. There are also people who want to make money from blogging. All of these goals are valid, but achieving them requires different actions. So, be honest with yourself and identify your reasons for blogging in the first place.
2. Choose a platform
There’s no shortage of blogging platforms these days. If you’re not tech-savvy, use online platforms like Medium or Blogger. These services let you create your blog in a few minutes and require no technical knowledge so that you can focus on your content and audience. On the other hand, if you’re looking for more control over the technical details of your blog, other solutions like WordPress are more appropriate.
3. Be yourself
It’s essential to give your audience an opportunity to get to know you. Start with introducing yourself in the very first blog entry. Your readers need to know who you are, what your content is about, and why you are blogging. A short introductory paragraph can give them an idea of what to expect.
4. Find your voice
Your writing should reflect your identity and personality to make your online diary unique. Depending on the purpose of your blog and your target audience, you can choose a voice that can be formal, a voice of humor, or a newsier one. For example, a blog for a business that provides academic writing services needs to have a polished tone, as opposed to a therapist’s blog that needs to convey a sense of friendliness and calmness.
5. Link to Your Social Pages
Over time, your blog will build a strong relationship with your readers. Including share buttons for your social media accounts makes it easy for your audience to follow you on different platforms. This increased exposure is likely to lead to more commitment.
6. Proofread
A poorly written post with grammar errors can be a big turn-off for readers. Before posting the first blog entry, you have to internalize your writing. Make sure your content is free from typos and grammar mistakes by editing and proofreading. You can read your post aloud or have someone else read your content.
If you’re on a tight budget, there are many affordable essay writing services available to help you with proofreading and ease your blogging activity. In addition to cheap essay writing services, you can rely on the Grammarly extension that’ll help you with proofreading.
7. Add Images, Video, and Interactive Content
Long texts can be tiring for readers. Add images, videos, and interactive content, such as slideshows, quizzes, and infographics to break words into digestible parts. This will keep the audience linked to you, create more engagement, and give a chance for the readers to comment on your post. Keep sentences as short as possible and use shorter paragraphs wherever possible.
8. Encourage Comments and Feedback
A genuinely engaged reader in personal blogs is attained through a dialog. Facilitate your two-way communication with the audience through a comments section. Ask questions to encourage feedback and give readers the subscription option. Show your readers that you care for them by responding to the feedback. A solid relationship with your audience will strengthen your weblog.
9. Work with other writers
Maintaining a successful blog requires discipline and time. To scale your blog, you need a lot of content – more than you can produce on your own. That’s why you can ask your audience to contribute to your blog by allowing guest posting. You can also work with ghostwriters. Most online essay writing services are willing to work with blog owners and provide them with ghostwritten content.
10. Bottom line
Blogging seems easy until you start doing it. Luckily, it gets easier with time and practice. Make an excellent first impression and then share your ideas with these simple tips. The most challenging part is to stick with it.
