At first glance, blogging looks like a fairly straightforward activity. After all, writing a short blog post doesn’t look like it requires too much effort. It’s just a matter of regularly posting “something” to the blog and the readers will keep turning up — right?
Most bloggers quickly discover that becoming a successful blogger requires much more effort than simply creating a blog. To attract an audience, blog posts need to be well-written, well-researched, and as original as possible. Bloggers must post content consistently and create blog posts that are perceived as being valuable to the reader.
This article will share a few reasons why having a successful blog is important for any business or organisation. After that, we’ll share the top 7 characteristics of a successful blogger.
The Many Advantages Of Blogging
If you are a business owner, you might be wondering why you even need a blog? Here are a few reasons why blogging is an important part of promoting your business online.
1. Blogging helps with search engine optimisation
Search engines tend to prefer websites that regularly post new content. They crawl sites with fresh content more often and tend to rank them higher in search engine results. Blogging is the easiest way to ensure that your website continually has new content being added. Blogging also increases the number of different keywords that your website might rank for.
2. Blogging helps you develop relationships
Blogging is an excellent way to share your opinion with readers and ask for their feedback. Readers can reply in the blog post’s comments and a discussion can begin. This is very engaging for readers and helps you build trust.
3. Blogging helps people connect to your brand
Blogging is particularly effective for businesses interested in connecting people with their brand. Blog posts humanise your business and give readers a greater sense of what your business is about.
4. Blog posts are easily shared
When you write a blog post, you are creating a piece of content that is designed to be shared online. Blogs can easily be shared via social media, email, word of mouth, and newsletters. A high-quality blog post can rapidly spread across the Internet, reaching thousands of readers and bringing in a huge amount of traffic to your website.
5. Blogging helps you establish yourself or your business as a thought leader
Consistently posting well-researched blog pieces can help establish you as a thought leader in the industry.
Characteristics Of a Successful Blogger
Here are the key characteristics shared by most successful bloggers:
1. Successful bloggers are creative
You can blog about anything. However, if you find topics that are particularly interesting to your audience your blog has a greater chance of succeeding. Being creative will help you think of new topics and posts that are engaging to your audience.
Creativity also comes in handy when you are deciding on the design of your blog. If you can make your blog stand out from the crowd, it is far more likely to be successful. If you struggle with creativity, try using these creativity-enhancing techniques.
2. Successful bloggers show perseverance
Blogs require a constant stream of new blog posts to attract readers and improve the blog’s position in search engine rankings. That means successful bloggers must demonstrate a lot of perseverance and determination. They must continually find new topics and write new blog posts.
3. Successful bloggers engage with their readers
Blogs are effective marketing tools because they can provide a high level of user engagement. Readers can write comments about the piece they have just read and the blogger can reply — beginning a dialogue. A successful blogger will welcome these encounters and spend a lot of time engaging with their readers. The conversations that develop will help you build a community, establish a rapport, and promote your brand.
4. Successful bloggers have a unique voice
The tone that you use for blog posts is quite important. You could write blog posts with a very formal voice or use a more casual voice. A successful blogger will develop a unique voice that is appropriate for their audience and the topics they are discussing. Ideally, your readers will find your writing style enjoyable and different to that of other bloggers.
5. Successful bloggers know how to promote their content
It’s not enough to write high-quality content for your blog. You have to promote your posts and find clever ways to reach new readers. This will ensure your readership continues to grow and that your blog gains some notoriety.
Successful bloggers often use social media as a way to promote their content. They will promote each blog post on multiple platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. They also use newsletters, which are sent to a list of subscribers they obtain via the blog.
Smart bloggers will develop relationships with other bloggers and publish guest posts on other sites. This will help them promote their content to new audiences.
6. Successful bloggers always proofread their content
Having grammatical errors and spelling mistakes in your copy immediately makes the reader think you are an amateur. This can be a serious issue for businesses who are blogging as it can negatively impact their reputation.
7. Successful bloggers are always aware of the purpose of their blog
It is important that you attach clear goals to each of the blogs that you create. Do you want your blog to lead to more sales? To establish you as a thought-leader in the sector? Should it be used to provide more information on your business operations and humanise your business?
By keeping the purpose of your blog close to the forefront of your mind, you will always publish posts that are achieving your goals. It will help you identify blog topics that are appropriate and write posts in the right voice. Having a clear purpose for your blog will keep it focussed and more consistent — which readers will enjoy.
