There are several different ways to approach blogging. Everybody’s got a special kind of story. Like with just about everything else, there are many routes to take to get to the same place. While everyone may not get there the same way, the goal of blogging is relatively the same. Everyone wants to get readers, entertain them, and get them to come back to read your blog posts again and again. Hopefully, those readers will tell two friends. And they tell two friends. And they tell their friends. And so on.
You get the point. Everyone wants to grow the number of readers they have and, in order to do that, you must keep the readers you have entertained. The following practices are some of the best methods to help your blog succeed.
Come up with a great headline – One of the fastest and easiest ways to grab the attention of a reader is with a great headline. This does not just pertain to blogs, but printed media as well. Many bloggers struggle to come up with a clever headline that draws readers in. That doesn’t need to be the case. Some of the same headlines have been around for decades, just with different subjects. How familiar do these attention grabbing headlines sound?
- How safe is your (thing) from (threat)?
- Get rid of (recurring issue) once and for all
- The Shocking Truth about (blank)
Within the film industry, using a film title a director or actor is know for can create an effective headline.
Besides the headlines that are based on a celebrity or recent tragedy, most of the headlines appear over and over again. The subject is the only thing that changes. Save yourself some time and borrow headline structures from the pros for your blog.
Do research – Write from experience or do loads of research while compiling content for your blog posts. First-hand experience is always helpful, but not always possible. Therefore, interesting information can be obtained in other ways. Seeking out feedback and answers from experts is a great route, as is quoting experts to shape your articles and blog posts. If you unbox or review items, experiment with the product you are reviewing and put them through tests. Share what you learn through these tests in your blog. Since someone else may feel differently about the same item than you, feel free to cite magazines or other reviews that may give a different perspective. No matter the subject, a nice combination of world-class examples, studies, anecdotes, and personal experience will go a long way. Two blogs that are known for providing thorough hands on reviews are DC Rainmaker and running-write.com.
Be yourself – Don’t try too hard to make your writing sound good. You’re writing a blog, not a dissertation for your PhD in chemical engineering. Of course, you want your writing to be coherent and you still want to check for typos. But, don’t worry about writing well. Instead, worry about the content in your posts and what you’re trying say. Let your personality be a part of the blog, focus on the overall theme of your blog, and keep your readers entertained. Like this:
It’s important to have perseverance – Several bloggers give up shortly after starting a blog, because they may feel they don’t have as many followers as they had hoped for or that nobody is reading their blog. It’s important to remember that even the most popular blogs – the blogs with millions of followers like The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Perez Hilton, Deadspin, etc. – started off with the same followers as you. Therese Walsh of Writer Unboxed recommends: “I’m not sure who said that the difference between an unpublished and published writer is perseverance, but I believe it……This may seem like a crazy process-write, learn, rewrite. But in the beginning, it may be the best way to produce quality work. You must have something inside of you that says write, learn, rewrite, don’t quit, repeat.”
Promote Intelligently – No matter the product, the biggest thing is the marketing and promotion of that product. It’s just as important as the content, so you must understand your audience. In 2013, comedian, entrepreneur, writer, and filmmaker Amy Rubin started her own web series, Little Horribles. She states “I think there are ways to be sustaining other than ad sales. We’re in a place right now where people will pay for what they like with either a paywall or by paying for a service that curates this type of content.”
No matter the route you take to get to end result of your blog, do your research, be yourself, and keep writing.
“Life Itself,” is the film featured in this week’s trailer. It’s a documentary film that recounts the inspiring and entertaining life of the famous film critic Roger Ebert. It looks funny, sad, and powerful all at the same time. He’s someone who had a tremendous cultural impact for decades by bringing film criticism to the masses and is now the subject of a film. I can’t wait to watch this film. Let me know what you think of the trailer and feel free to suggest some other documentaries you may have enjoyed.
Sources
Dholakiya, P. (2013, June 20). How to blog (even if you can’t write). Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/hishaman/1545026/how-to-blog
Jaksch, M. (2011, April 19). 10 tips for writing excellence from top writing bloggers. Retrieved from http://writetodone.com/top-writing-tips/
Knoblauch, M. (2014, May 24). 4 pro tips for creating your own web series. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2014/05/24/web-series-tips/
GeorgeBlogsOccassionally 
You had some great advice for blog writing. It can be difficult to keep a blog going but as you said, blogs have to start somewhere. Being genuine is also very important. No one wants to read a blog that sounds as if a robot wrote it. Putting personality in your writing is how to make your blog stand out from the rest and helps with promotion as well. Great post!
I LOVE your example using Wayne’s World! That alone reaches out to people! it’s so true that the intent of blogging is to pull the people in and have them tell others to view it as well and this trickle effect will get a mass amount of people looking at what you want them to see/read. Great post.
Thanks for the kind words! I really appreciate the feedback you both have provided. I will do my best to continue posting after this term is finished and hope you two will continue to follow it.