Starting a blog, whether as a business or just for pleasure, has been popular for a couple of years now and having a company blog is almost considered a must. However, the huge and growing number of bloggers, no matter the niche, is mainly because of the great opportunity to earn a decent amount of money online, build brand awareness or position yourself as an expert.
It really seems like everybody wants to get a slice of the pie before it’s all gone. If you want to join the (blogging) crowd as well, you must know the rules of 2017…unless you want your blog to just float around in cyberspace.
Start with a Suitable Blogging Platform
When joining the world of blogging, the first decision you will have to make is where you want to show off your work. Should it be TumblrMedium or Quora, ideal places for social media lovers? Maybe you prefer to go all in from the very beginning and take your blogging to the next level with a customized website? The choice is up to you!
Whatever you opt for, keep in mind that you won’t make it in 2017 without setting the bar high for your quality. That means that you should have a strong profile (at Quora, for example), high resolution images, and most of all – content that will stand out.
One thing that really made things easier for bloggers that are not into coding are website builders. Many of them have templates or even features made specifically to help you craft your blog like a pro web designer!
Be a Perfectionist When it Comes to User Experience
In 2017, users are pretty much spoiled when it comes both to user interface (UI) and user experience (UX.) This will make your job harder, but you wouldn’t want any detail to be anything but perfect anyway. User experience is one of the crucial factors of your blog’s success…or failure. If your readers don’t enjoy spending time on your website, they will simply leave. Make your blog easy to navigate, implement features that will attract your users to scroll further through your content, make sure the colors are appealing to the eye and the site’s background music (if you include it) is relaxing
Don’t Compromise When it Comes to Quality
As mentioned, you should focus your blog on high quality, engaging, relevant content. Whether your passion is to write, share photos, videos or podcasts – keep in mind that content will determine of your blog’s success!
Luckily for you, tools like BuzzSumo still do the trick. Utilize them to find trending topics and identify engaging content. The goal is to make your posts seen on the BuzzSumo most shared list, so create articles that are tempting to share via social media. Oh, and when it comes to social sharing, don’t forget to include buttons on your site to make this process as easy as possible!
If you impress your readers with innovative or very informative content, why not continue with a series of similar tips? That way your readers will stay engaged and hungry for your next article.
Talk to your Readers
Everybody likes a person who is easy going and fun to talk to and so do your readers. Communicate nicely with your audience and they will surely appreciate it. Adopt tools such as LiveChat or Intercom that will help you chat 1-on-1 with your users. Maintain a good relationship with your visitors and they will surely spread the word about your work.
Collect more Subscribers Than Ever
Believe it or not, social media (or “fan”) pages for blogs are important more than ever! People actually enjoy receiving updates from the brands and blogs they like and follow, so they are more than likely to click the “like”/”follow” button. Additionally, have a clear call-to-action when it comes to collecting emails on the site. Offering a free guide or an e-book or doing a simple a giveaway still does the trick!
Learn New Practices and Trends
In order to know how to deal with the constant changes and latest trends in the world of Google, you must first be aware of them. If you want your blog to become a success, you have to stay on top of Google’s guidelines, so check them out:
- Penguin 4.0 is worth learning about, since this is the algorithm update that fights spam on the web and you definitely don’t want to check how well it does it!
- Mobile-first indexing is a thing you should take into account when building a website since Google first scans the mobile version of your site and adjusts the rankings accordingly.
- Voice search is also a thing you must optimize, since recent Search Engine Land statistics show that it accounts for 20% of all mobile queries.
Accelerated Mobile Pages, better known as AMP, are used to generate an extremely fast mobile search environment. Integrate AMP to your blog and you can get better exposure in Google’s “Top Stories” carousel.
Where does (blogging) money come from?
Unfortunately, there is no secret formula for making millions by blogging, but if your blog is popular enough, you should definitely utilize the traffic you are getting and convert it into money. With plenty of advertising options available out there, it is up to you (depending on the traffic your blog gets) to choose how to monetize it. Here are the main ones that can still bring money to your bank account in 2017:
1. Good old Google Adsense, Outbrain or Taboola, the most famous third party advertising networks, are platforms you should certainly start earning from when you generate a decent amount of traffic.
2. Although direct ads on the site are a bit underestimated, make sure you have places for banners and other stuff, because if you position yourself as an expert – people will be willing to advertise their products on your blog!
3. Affiliate marketing can bring you decent commissions if you advertise third-party’s products or services that appeal to your readers.
…All in All
Even though the world of blogging is changing rapidly, you should still try to take advantage of it and stand out among competitors. Embrace the changes and trends 2017 brought about, make sure your blog is appealing, and the rewards can be plentiful!
