Monday, September 17, 2012

Tips for Blogging Success

If you’re reading this blog it means that you probably blog yourself. If you’re like me you want people to read your blog because you feel better knowing that someone cares about what you’re blogging. If you’re like me you want to know how to get people to read your blog.


My social media class is reading the book “Groundswell” by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. In Part Three there is a section about blogging and some tips for success. So I, being the kind fellow I am, have listed a few of these for your reading pleasure.

1. Start by listening.

Get a feel for what other people are saying before diving into the world of blogging. This can help you figure what your potential readers enjoy reading and what you personally do and don’t like.

2. Determine a goal for the blog.

Having a goal in mind can help keep your writing on the right track. This goal could be informing people about certain topics, or it could be for personal branding. For example, my goal for this blog is to get an A in my social media class. My professor has selected three topics that we must blog about in order to receive a good grade.

3. Develop a plan.

When Li and Bernoff wrote this book it was more for succeeding in the professional world, but this point still holds water when it comes to personal blog use. Having a plan works along side with having a goal. In order to reach the goal you need to know how you’re going to get there. My plan to reach my goal of receiving an A is to follow the course guidelines and make sure I blog about the three topics.

4. Market yourself.

Figure out a way to get your blog out there. Nobody will find it if you don’t advertise your blog. How you want do this is completely up to you. What I’ve done is put the link for my blog on my information section on Facebook and Twitter.

5. Remember that blogging is more than just writing.

You can do so much with a blog other than just write. If I want to post a video or a picture I can do that, and it adds to the post. It allows the post to have something more than just words. Personally I haven’t posted a video, but I have posted a few pictures. I also like to link words or phrases to sites relevant to my post.

6. Be honest!

Be yourself and the real you. Don’t be fake and post things that aren’t true. This will allow readers to place a personality with the blog and trust that what they are reading is true. It wouldn’t be very ethical of me to blog about how much I love ONU and my family if in fact I didn’t like them. Side note, September is PRSA’s Ethics Awareness Month.

Hopefully these points are helpful and you can use them to make your blog a success. I’m still new to the whole blog scene so I know I will definitely be using them.

If you do these, they will read,

Jake

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