The once huge number of netizen is continuously reduced as the number of bloggers to share them increase everyday. And if you're one of those serious bloggers who wants to succeed in blogging, you will work hard to stand out in an overcrowded room. As more and more bloggers start to blog about the same topic, the need to be distinct and unique becomes a key element for bloggers to succeed.
In today's post, I will be writing about the 8 Effective Blogging Tips to Create a Blog that Stands Out.
The first thing your blog should have is an eye-catching layout. You need to get your reader's attention as soon as they get into your blog. Secondly, you need to have something in your blog that will make your bloggers stay and navigate through your pages. Lastly, you should instill in them the need to keep coming back to your blog for more updates. Listed below are the things you should do to make your blog stands out.
1. Make your blog's layout and design distinct and unique.
People, especially the ones who browse the Internet are particularly interested in things that are different, new or unique. If they happen to stumble upon a blog that lacks appeal or fails to grab their attention and interest, they will surely leave as soon as they've seen the website.
Blogger.com offers free but limited number of template designs for a huge community of bloggers making layouts and designs of blogs almost identical. This will create an atmosphere of boredom to those who read blogs. In order to solve this problem, bloggers are advised to customize their blogs by changing the color, background, text style, logo etc. You can check out my previous article about free resources for bloggers to get a different template design you can implement on your blog. Once your blog has a unique design and layout it will be easier to create a brand and image for it. Branding is another important issue in blogging, which I will be dealing with extensively through the succeeding posts.
2. Use graphic designs or multi-media on your blog.
To catch the attention of your readers, you should strategically use pictures or multi-media on your blog. Take note that I emphasized on strategic use. The tendency with some bloggers is to post a lot of pictures on their blog, which makes downloading slower. Should this happen, your visitors might not have enough patience to wait for your blog to finish downloading.
Use pictures and videos only when it is necessary and when it's useful. Normally, bloggers use pictures and videos to emphasize their messages to their readers. And it has been proven that pictures and videos improve the appeal of your blog to visitors.
3. Be the first to write about controversial issues.
Another way to gain attention and stand out from the crowd is to be the first to report or write about current or controversial issues. As soon as you're done writing you should let others know it. I am the first one to write about the Blogging Mix on my blog, a concept that was born from the idea of Marketing Mix. After writing about Blogging Mix I submitted it to a number of article directories.
4. Write with Bold Content.
Write about why China's Great Firewall is justified, or why Darren Rowse's Problogger sometimes doesn't make sense. These are some bold topics you can write about but you need to make sure you've got something to say. A lot of bloggers were able to gain attention after they were able to successfully provoke an A-list blogger to respond to their entries against them. This strategy however does not work all the time, especially if you are not able to support a daring idea or claim or accusation.
5. Challenge Authorities or Established Bloggers.
Everyone loves Brian Clark for his very helpful blog but if you can find something worth disagreeing about his blog, write about it then let him know, as long as you can defend your standpoint very well. Don't challenge what established bloggers say on their blogs not until you have a sound reason to do so. If you challenge someone's content and you don't have what it takes to prove you're right, you will just end up losing face and credibility.
I remember one of my friends during my undergrad. He is a non-conformist. He gets a lot of attention from people who hear about his radical ideas but most of them appreciated him for he is able to defend his beliefs very well.
6. Write articles in series.
Most bloggers, if you have noticed write articles in a series. This is an effective strategy when you write a good article because your readers will be waiting for the next post. They will then subscribe to your rss or they will come back to your site for updates. Just remember to intensify suspense as you go on with the next post. If you are writing about Increasing organic traffic to your blog, and you come up with your suggestions, place the most important suggestions at the last post of your series.
7. Offer something useful, fun and different for your blog readers.
Aside from the articles that you write on your blog for your readers, you should also offer newsletters or ezines. You may also offer free software and video clips. Other bloggers organize contests and seminars. These activities will earn your blog recognition but it will demand a lot of your resources.
8. Get a domain name for your blog.
One simple way to get noticed is to have your own domain name. If you are using a subdomain from Blogger or Wordpress it will be very difficult for you to create image or brand for your blog. When using a subdomain, you are promoting your subdomain provider and your subdomain and in most cases your subdomain provider gets more of the credit and recognition.
Your domain name should be related to the nature of your blog. BloggingMix.com for example is all about blogs and blogging. When I have included blogging in my domain name, it makes it easier for my readers to remember it. Choosing a domain name is as important as choosing a name to be given to a person. So think carefuly of the best domain name for your blog before you purchase one from godaddy.com.
There you have it. After doing these 8 blogging tips, I'm sure that your blog will stand out from the rest. Enjoy blogging and Kudos to your blog!
Do you have any other suggestion on what bloggers can do to make their blogs stand out? I hope you'll take the time to share it through the comments. Here are a few more suggested readings you might be interested at.
In today's post, I will be writing about the 8 Effective Blogging Tips to Create a Blog that Stands Out.
The first thing your blog should have is an eye-catching layout. You need to get your reader's attention as soon as they get into your blog. Secondly, you need to have something in your blog that will make your bloggers stay and navigate through your pages. Lastly, you should instill in them the need to keep coming back to your blog for more updates. Listed below are the things you should do to make your blog stands out.
1. Make your blog's layout and design distinct and unique.
People, especially the ones who browse the Internet are particularly interested in things that are different, new or unique. If they happen to stumble upon a blog that lacks appeal or fails to grab their attention and interest, they will surely leave as soon as they've seen the website.
Blogger.com offers free but limited number of template designs for a huge community of bloggers making layouts and designs of blogs almost identical. This will create an atmosphere of boredom to those who read blogs. In order to solve this problem, bloggers are advised to customize their blogs by changing the color, background, text style, logo etc. You can check out my previous article about free resources for bloggers to get a different template design you can implement on your blog. Once your blog has a unique design and layout it will be easier to create a brand and image for it. Branding is another important issue in blogging, which I will be dealing with extensively through the succeeding posts.
2. Use graphic designs or multi-media on your blog.
To catch the attention of your readers, you should strategically use pictures or multi-media on your blog. Take note that I emphasized on strategic use. The tendency with some bloggers is to post a lot of pictures on their blog, which makes downloading slower. Should this happen, your visitors might not have enough patience to wait for your blog to finish downloading.
Use pictures and videos only when it is necessary and when it's useful. Normally, bloggers use pictures and videos to emphasize their messages to their readers. And it has been proven that pictures and videos improve the appeal of your blog to visitors.
3. Be the first to write about controversial issues.
Another way to gain attention and stand out from the crowd is to be the first to report or write about current or controversial issues. As soon as you're done writing you should let others know it. I am the first one to write about the Blogging Mix on my blog, a concept that was born from the idea of Marketing Mix. After writing about Blogging Mix I submitted it to a number of article directories.
4. Write with Bold Content.
Write about why China's Great Firewall is justified, or why Darren Rowse's Problogger sometimes doesn't make sense. These are some bold topics you can write about but you need to make sure you've got something to say. A lot of bloggers were able to gain attention after they were able to successfully provoke an A-list blogger to respond to their entries against them. This strategy however does not work all the time, especially if you are not able to support a daring idea or claim or accusation.
5. Challenge Authorities or Established Bloggers.
Everyone loves Brian Clark for his very helpful blog but if you can find something worth disagreeing about his blog, write about it then let him know, as long as you can defend your standpoint very well. Don't challenge what established bloggers say on their blogs not until you have a sound reason to do so. If you challenge someone's content and you don't have what it takes to prove you're right, you will just end up losing face and credibility.
I remember one of my friends during my undergrad. He is a non-conformist. He gets a lot of attention from people who hear about his radical ideas but most of them appreciated him for he is able to defend his beliefs very well.
6. Write articles in series.
Most bloggers, if you have noticed write articles in a series. This is an effective strategy when you write a good article because your readers will be waiting for the next post. They will then subscribe to your rss or they will come back to your site for updates. Just remember to intensify suspense as you go on with the next post. If you are writing about Increasing organic traffic to your blog, and you come up with your suggestions, place the most important suggestions at the last post of your series.
7. Offer something useful, fun and different for your blog readers.
Aside from the articles that you write on your blog for your readers, you should also offer newsletters or ezines. You may also offer free software and video clips. Other bloggers organize contests and seminars. These activities will earn your blog recognition but it will demand a lot of your resources.
8. Get a domain name for your blog.
One simple way to get noticed is to have your own domain name. If you are using a subdomain from Blogger or Wordpress it will be very difficult for you to create image or brand for your blog. When using a subdomain, you are promoting your subdomain provider and your subdomain and in most cases your subdomain provider gets more of the credit and recognition.
Your domain name should be related to the nature of your blog. BloggingMix.com for example is all about blogs and blogging. When I have included blogging in my domain name, it makes it easier for my readers to remember it. Choosing a domain name is as important as choosing a name to be given to a person. So think carefuly of the best domain name for your blog before you purchase one from godaddy.com.
There you have it. After doing these 8 blogging tips, I'm sure that your blog will stand out from the rest. Enjoy blogging and Kudos to your blog!
Do you have any other suggestion on what bloggers can do to make their blogs stand out? I hope you'll take the time to share it through the comments. Here are a few more suggested readings you might be interested at.
Powered by ScribeFire.
No comments:
Post a Comment