Top Five Tips to be a Fab Blogger!
Does it ruin your day when your blog posts do not receive comments or are not re-tweeted or shared on Facebook? My first piece of advice about this very subject is to definitely not take it personally! You have to ask yourself why are you blogging and who are you blogging for? The majority of us blog for our own personal archive and note to look back on over the next few months and years. There are many blog writers that blog about their own life and goings on that do appeal to the reader and find that they have quite a following. Other bloggers are writing to get their name out there and potentially trying to make a career and if they are really lucky even an income.
I have written my top five tips that I think could help the equestrian and countryside blog writer:
1 DON’T MAKE IT A CHORE
This is the top rule in my book! If you find blogging a chore, then don’t do it! We have plenty in our lives that are laborious chores so if blogging is one of them for you, then ditch it! I am all for doing things in life that you enjoy. I happen to like blogging and reading other blogs. The most successful blogger are the ones who are writing because they enjoy it. If you belong to Haynet then we have one thing in common – we all love horses! So to write about horses is a topic we all enjoy.
2 MAKE IT APPEALING
Content isn’t the only thing that matters. Your blog page should also be visually appealing, viewers are attracted to posts with photos and pictures which is so much more interesting to read that just plain text. However, don’t over do the graphics with fancy type faces and garish colours which can be off putting and make your blog hard to read.
3 TRY AND STAY IN ONE PLACE
Many bloggers try different blog hosting sites or with hosting their own sites, especially if they are just starting blogging . It may take you a while to find the best set up, but try to do so as soon as possible and then stay in one place so your readers can find you. Moving around to different URLs too often is sure to lose you some readers. Better still why not stay at Haynet!
If you have an established blog and it’s necessary to move it to a different address, try to publish a last post on the old blog that points readers to the new blog and leave it up as long as possible.
4 ENGAGE YOUR READERS OR MAKE VIRTUAL FRIENDS WITH THEM
Perhaps the most important factor in attracting and keep readers is establishing a relationship with them. Tell your readers who you are and something about yourself but within the safe realms of the world wide web! You need not go into a lot of personal details but don’t just remain nameless. Many bloggers who want to keep their online identity separate give readers a profile name with no indication to their real name i.e “BeautifulBlogger” If you don’t have a reason to keep your identity confidential, and you want to make your way in the world of blogging then you would benefit by using your real name and make available contact information. This will help you become more recognised in your chosen area of blogging and more approachable. Regardless of whether you reveal your true identity, you can engage readers by interacting with them through the comments feature on Haynet or through your blog. Becoming friends online involves interaction, commenting and being consistent. If you don’t comment on peoples blogs either, it becomes a very boring blogging place to be!
5 BE CONSISTANT AND CONCISE
If you want your blog to have more hits and a regular following then you have to post often. As mentioned in my top tip, don’t make it a chore but give yourself a target of once a week or once a month. Try and make your blog posting habit forming. So make sure you visit your blog, write about your latest news and then share and share your story, especially through your social media pages.
Posts don’t have to be pages of text, waffling for three paragraphs until you get to the main point of the post. Be concise which grabs a reader more. Being honest, most readers have short attention spans and also have limited time in their lives to read serial blog posts that is of interest to them. I know I prefer to read a short but to the point post rather than a long, complex one.
If your subject does mean that it has to be lengthy then break them up into short paragraphs to make them more readable. There’s nothing more daunting to a reader than a huge mass of unbroken text! Keep it simple but interesting and another golden rule is check your grammar and spelling. I try and proof read my posts at least three times before I post. If I don’t, I ALWAYS make mistakes!
I hope this has given you some help in the right direction in increasing awareness to your blog writing. Remember Haynet is an equestrian and countryside blogging community with members all over the world. I very much look forward to reading your blog posts!
Written by Samantha Hobden of Haynet
