How To Blog!

If you want to insert a link in a WordPress post, check out this video. It is only a minute long but shows you how you can easily add links to your WordPress posts.

The word ‘weblog’ was shortened to form the word ‘blog’, which refers to a web page where contents are sequenced or ordered according to the date they are posted. We can also define it as a shared on-line journal where people can post daily entries about their personal experiences and hobbies.

The purpose of using a blog varies from person to person, but the main objective behind the idea is to share information with the online world. As the Internet gives you global exposure, you can set up a blog to share your personal opinions, creative works, your research etc with the rest of the world and also get feedback.

Blogs are usually free to read and comment on. In recent times many celebrities have created their own blogs to interact with their fans which also increases their publicity. Celebrities usually get high amounts of traffic as they are well known but it is not impossible for you to build high volumes of traffic also.

To be a successful blogger, a person needs to identify the right path and to follow some proven tactics. The whole activity of blogging can be divided into two broad categories. They are:

Content Management and Traffic building

1. Content Management:

The most important thing a blogger needs to do is produce content. Without fresh and interesting content, blogs are dull and lifeless. The main areas you need to be aware of are listed below:

a) Choosing the Topic

Choosing your topic is your first step as it will decide your whole direction. In general it is advised to pick a topic from your area of personal interest. Everyone has an area of expertise whether you think so or not. For example if your hobby is stamp collecting, then you can create a blog to share information about stamps or to share details about your personal collection with fellow collectors. Because it is your hobby, it will take much less effort to create good articles from your own experiences and ideas.

b) Decide your objectives:

Before you get started writing a post, first decide what idea you want to deliver in your post and stick with your objective. If you include too much useless information the reader may lose interest and spend less time on your blog than you’d like.

c) Be informative:

Always remember the fundamental reason behind blogging, and that is to share information. Try to provide as much information as possible while writing your post. Informative articles usually generate higher traffic rates. If your posts are not informative or entertaining, readers can quickly lose interest.

d) Be Precise and Easy to Follow:

You are not writing an epic and no one has the time or interest to spend reading your long winded blog post, so always keep your articles abridged and to the point so that information can be extracted with little effort.

e) Make a difference:

Old news is not news. You have to serve up something new and interesting and makes your blog unique. This is one of the most crucial factors behind your success as a blogger as it provides readers with a reason to revisit.

f) Routine Activities and Regular Updates:

Blogging is not an easy job and success in this field depends upon hard and systematic work and firm determination. Don’t set any unrealistic goals or chase behind the hope of immediate results. Do chalk out a routine for various blogging activities and keep updating your blog regularly. Updating the contents of your blog regularly will go a long way to helping you increase it’s success in Google and other search engines.

2) Traffic Management:

Writing a blog that no one reads, serves no value. We need to bring web traffic to our blog. If your blog can attract a good volume of internet traffic then you can start to earn some money from it. A number of organizations are providing this service and Google Adsense is the best among them. You can try the following tactics to bring traffic to your blog:

a) Chalk out a good blog name:

The name of your blog will help greatly with increasing your web traffic. To find out a suitable blog name we need to carry out keyword research. We can enlist the help of Google Adwords easy to use keyword tool to provide a list of frequently searched keywords related to our blog topic. Using these keywords we have to form a nice name, which is easy to remember and not ridiculously long. This technique helps you to get the right audiences for your blog.

Remember that the name of your blog should be related to the topic of your blog as search engines will place you higher in search results for that topic.

b) Keyword rich articles :

Keyword rich articles can generate high web traffic for your blog. While writing, try to incorporate relevant keywords into your article. This makes it easy for search engines to determine the topic and focus of your post. Another tactic is to first write your article then search for keywords on the topic to incorporate.

c) Search Engine Optimization:

SEO is the best technique and proven method for increasing blog traffic. If you have a little SEO knowledge, you can bring large amounts of traffic to your blog. There are two types of SEO; they are On Page Optimization and Off Page Optimization. If you want to learn SEO, and it is highly recommended, do a search and you will find many free SEO tutorials.

d) Blog Commenting:

Visit blogs related to your topic and leave helpful and informative comments there, make sure to include the URL of your blog in your signature. These links will act as backlinks to your blog and will help to direct traffic to your blog.

e) Forum Posting:

Similar to the blog commenting, posting in forums can help too. You must include the URL of your blog into the posts to attract extra visitors to your site.

f) Social Networking :

There are a number of social networking sites available on the Internet. Do join those sites and share your URLs with your friends. Make friendship with new people and invite them to visit your blog. Share your blog URL in the communities that are related to your blog topic.

It is important to mention that at the end of the day, to do well as a blogger – you need to have a passion for blogging. Use your blog as a global canvas to express your thoughts, ideas and opinions to the rest of world. Write in your own way and in your own style. You don’t need be a great writer, it’s your love for your chosen topic that will shine through and keep your readers waiting patiently for your next post.