11 Blogging Tips for 2021 and Beyond
There are so many valuable blogging tips that you will come across online and you will find lots of conflicting advice, plus what might work for one person may not work for another. However there are some things that I have implemented that always work well for me and I am sure will work well for you too.
Stay Focused On YOUR OWN Website
This may sound obvious but I have spoken to so many people that don't follow this and then wonder why they are not making money or not generating any traffic.
Make sure that whatever you do your blog stays the focus. This includes being on social media. Many people get focused on getting likes and followers on social media, or building relationships with other bloggers - and yes these are important tasks for sure, but make sure that everything leads back to your blog!
Followers and likes on social media does not always equal traffic and sales.
Which website do you spend the most time on every day? Is it your blog or someone else's website?
I make sure that at least 80% of my work day is spent on my own website - creating content or updating old posts . 10% of my day is spent marketing the content I create and the other 10% of my day is spent networking with other bloggers or engaging with social media fans.
My blog is my base and everything else that I do is to support my website.
Keep Writing and Generating Fresh Content
This goes back to my first point. Two hours spent messing around on social media is a post that I could have created and shared on social media.
I make sure to spend the majority of my time focused on content creation. The best way to build my business is to create fresh content.
Stay Focused On Your Readers
So many people ask me how to come up with new ideas for content and how to keep readers engaged.... and for me it is easy. I have a notebook next to me all the time and whenever anyone asks a question on my website or on social media that I cannot respond to with a blog post that answers the question I make a note of it and write a post as soon as I can to answer it.
My readers tell me where to go, be open to what your readers are interested in and you will always find new content to generate.
Build Your List
This was one of the biggest mistakes I made - I only started building my email list a few years after starting my online business.
I felt iintimidated by email marketing and made a decision not to do it.
Remember that every reader that comes to your blog may never ever return, but if you have a sign up form and a way to entice your reader to sign up you have an opportunity to keep that reader engaged forever.
Be Authentic and Real
This is something I keep on harping on about, because it is so important.
When people really connect with you and trust you then they will follow your suggestions and buy the products you recommend.
Do not push a product that you do not like or believe in. If you do this you will lose all credibility.
I do a lot of influencer marketing jobs, so I get paid directly by companies to promote their products on my blog. I have found that the best thing I have done is turn down jobs that are note the right fit for me.
When I promote something I am truly passionate about it shines through and this helps me and my customers.
Focus On Quality Not Quantity
Yes you need to create as much fresh content as possible, but never mistake quantity for quality.
Make sure that everything you publish covers the topic properly.
Don't Mistake Post Length For Quality
Yes long form content is fantastic and ranks higher than shorter posts, however there are times that a post is short and covers the topic completely. Don't waffle on and try to make it longer just to rank.
There are times I have published posts of 300 words that have ranked #1 on Google.
There are times that those 300 words will cover all you need to say and that's ok too.
SEO Counts
SEO is not that hard to learn - once you know the basics it can be very easy to implement on your blog posts.
Taking an extra few minutes to choose the right keywords and to put those keywords in the right places can make or break your post.
SEO Is Not Everything
While SEO counts it is not everything! Sometimes I have something that I need to share that offers great value and I cannot find a good keyword, I don't let that hold me back - then I just write my post and share it with my readers. Often these posts have done exceptionally well on social media such as Facebook and Pinterest.
Make sure that your post always reads well and that your keywords are placed naturally. If you have to choose between quality content and SEO always choose content first.
Choose Your Social Platforms and Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin
There are so many social media platforms and there is no way to be on every single one and there is no way to be massively successful on a lot of them, trust me, I've tried!
What I have found is that I click with some social media channels and find success, but others I don't like or enjoy and the members don't much like me either. That's ok.
I click with Facebook and Pinterest. On Facebook I have a combined audience between all my pages and groups of about 70 000 followers! On Pinterest I have about one million viewers between my two main accounts. And these are highly engaged audiences - they chat with me and they visit my website.
While I have good following Twitter (about 50 000 betwen 2 accounts) and on Instagram (about 8000 folllowers on my main account) I find these followings quite empty - they don't chat to me much and they don't really visit my website.
I have made an effort to build Twitter and Instagram but neither of those platforms really fit my personality.
I detest Twitter and the negativity, racism and ugliness that goes on there so I dump my content and run. I don't bother trying to build my audience or engage with anyone.
Instagram I put a little bit of effort in because I get companies paying me good money to showcase their products there.
I recommend that you try the main social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and TikTok and see what fits with you and what works for you, then focus on the ones that work well and don't worry about the rest.
Make Sure To Have Fun
Now this may seem like a strange one but for me it is absolutely essential. Make sure to have fun with your blog and to enjoy what you do.
If you don't enjoy what you do then you may as well work for a boss right?
Recent Comments
34
Agree! Great post.
Focus on your own site is the key. But about social media in my opinion is the key thing to find out which works for your purpose. In my case, it is only Pinterest (which is not really a Social media but a great browser and have been my key thing when traffic was not coming organic as normal,
But it is right to have in mind too, in my opinion, that email list seems to not work in all niches.
Social media can be superb for sure! However a social media account can disappear in a second which is what happened to one of my Pinterest accounts!
And re: email marketing - I believe it works in every niche, you just need to figure out how to customize your campaigns to suit that niche.
Good to see you, Lynne, and I hope all is well with you and your family.
What an excellent post, I enjoyed the read immensely.
Starting at the end we can take the journey to seriously always good to have fun and enjoy.
Some very sound advice based on your experience, it can be so easy to spread ourselves too thin or try to force it when we do not have out hearts in the game.
Best wishes for the coming year.
Alex
It's great to see you too Alex! These are the things I've personally learned over the years and most of them I've learned the hard way!
I am not big on a lot of the social platforms, some are okay, others I just do not get along with. I have been working more on my writing here lately and it is getting time to blast some posts out there. Moving into new directions here soon.
Thanks for the post, Thumbs up for sure! Lol. I like that your mainly saying, stick to the main thing! The dream getter part of our goals.
Hope to see you soon, Scott.
See more comments
Fabulous tips as always, Lynne. I love be authentic and real and you do that soooo well.