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7 Things You Can Do To Make Your Blog Better Right Now

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blog trafficBecoming a successful blogger has become an Odyssey. Although it by no means takes 10 years, has anything to do with mythical creatures, or involves kings, becoming a successful blogger is not an easy task to fulfill. Many blogs are too simple while others are too complex. Instead of making their blogs better, some people just stuff more pictures and widgets on their blog without thinking about which widgets belong and which ones need to go. There are many components that go into a great blog, but there are 7 things that you really need to do right now in order to make your blog better in a few minutes.

  1. Get the right plugins. Not every plugin on WordPress is created equal. Having more plugins on your blog does not necessarily make a blog better. In fact, having too many plugins can slow your blog down to the point where it gets annoying to wait for it to load. These are the plugins that I use for this blog that you should use too.
  2. Make your blog faster. The amount of time it takes for your blog to load is an important factor that decides how long people stay on your blog. If your blog loads really fast, then your content will automatically look better. However, if it takes a long time for your blog to load, the content on your blog will look a little worse, and some people won’t even bother waiting for your blog to load. Making your blog faster is also very important towards SEO.
  3. Have a picture of you on your blog’s sidebar. Having a picture of yourself will allow people to remember who you are. When people remember a name, they don’t think of the spelling. Instead, they think of what the person looks like. When you think of Jimmy Fallon, your mind does not conjure up his name. Your mind conjures up what Jimmy Fallon looks like (as well his funny shows).
  4. Use social media buttons at your blog’s sidebar that keep visitors on your blog. The good news about social media buttons is that they allow you to get more followers. The bad news is that when people click on your social media buttons, they leave your blog. In order for your blog to be successful, you need to have social media buttons that allow you to get more followers but do not force your visitors to leave your blog in order to follow you.
  5. Have a really good About Me Page on your blog. When people think about you, they may think of your story. When people think of Steve Jobs, they think of Apple. However, some people also think of his story of getting adopted, fired from the company he built, getting hired by the company that fired him, and then regaining his position as the CEO. You need to have an About Me Page that shares your story, mentions what you have accomplished, what you do during your off-time, and anything else that you would like to include as well.
  6. Include pictures in your blog posts. We are in a visual generation where people need to see things in pictures. Having a picture in all of your blog posts will grab the visitor’s attention and keep that visitor on your blog for a longer period of time. If that particular visitor reads through your blog post, he/she will be very likely to share your blog post as well.
  7. Ask for feedback at the end of all of your blog posts. Most people will not do something for you unless you ask them to. That is why the unexpected favor is something that we truly appreciate. However, you can’t expect to get too many unexpected favors. In order to get an expected favor, you need to ask for feedback at the end of all of your blog posts. This will encourage your visitors to leave comments below your posts and build the conversation. Getting more comments is very important towards your blog’s growth.

By implementing these tactics, you will be able to make your blog better than it was just a few minutes ago. These seven tips do not take a lot of time to implement, but you will notice the difference by implementing these tips. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional tips on making a blog better? Share your thoughts and advice below.

 

10 Things Every Blog Post Needs To Have Other Than Quality Content

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Do you know the criteria for writing a good blog post? If you are like most people, you probably think that all you need in a blog post is quality content. It seems as if the phrase “quality content” is on too many blogs to count. However, there are certain parts of a blog that most people forget about. While creating quality content is important, it is also important to create an optimized blog post that gets more attention and keeps people on your site longer. These are the 10 things that every blog post needs to have:

  1. A clear purpose. You can write about social media tips, how cavemen used fire 10,000 years ago, or the daffodils on your lawn. No matter what you write about, you need to have a clear purpose right from the start. Have a headline that tells your readers exactly what your blog post will be about and have content that supports the headline. If you find yourself going astray from the headline, then you either need to change the headline or break the content into two separate blog posts.
  2. Something to lower your blog’s bounce rate. Bounce rate represents how likely someone is to leave your blog without clicking on any of your blog’s internal links (ex: links to articles, a link to a page on the blog, etc). If you can keep someone on your blog for a longer period of time, that person will be more likely to subscribe to your blog. Having a lower bounce rate increases the chances of having someone subscribe to your blog.
  3. A final paragraph that encourages interaction. The best way to get more people to comment on your blog is by encouraging those people to comment on your blog. I include a final paragraph on all of my blog posts that asks for the reader’s thoughts and/or tips. Adding this final paragraph allows me to interact with more of my readers.
  4. An easy way for people to share that blog post on social networks. Placing social sharing buttons on your blog takes no more than 5 minutes. However, those 5 minutes can make a big difference between how many shares your blog posts get. In addition, if your blog posts get shared often, your blog will be (but more importantly, look) more popular. A blog that looks more popular becomes even more popular. Your readers will enjoy reading your blog post that got shared 1,000 times more than your blog post that only got shared 10 times. Even if the two blog posts were identical, the reader would enjoy reading the one that got shared 1,000 times more than the one that got shared 10 times. Popularity makes the entire experience more enjoyable for the reader.
  5. Bold sentences. Using bold sentences allows you to highlight the important information. Some of your readers will not have enough time to read your entire blog post. If you use bold sentences, these types of readers can learn the important stuff even when they skim your blog posts. Since they got some value from one of your blog posts, these readers will come back for more information when they have more time on their hands.
  6. A stunning picture. Pictures grab our attention, and it is a proven fact that social media posts with pictures get more engagement than social media posts without pictures. All of your blog posts need to have pictures. Pictures give your readers a better idea of what your blog post is about. Pictures act as an emphasis of the headline. A big advantage of having a picture is that you allow people to share your blog posts with Pinterest. If enough people pin your blog post, it could go viral and be seen by thousands of people on Pinterest.
  7. A call to action. You can include a call to action in almost any blog post. If your blog post contains tips, then your call to action is to have your readers implement the tips that you shared. A call to action makes the reader do something after they read your blog post, and by making that happen, the reader will come back for more things to do. If your calls to action work, then your readers will subscribe to your blog and eventually buy your products.
  8. Include keywords in your blog posts. Including keywords in your blog posts helps your SEO and ultimately allows you to get more blog traffic. While it is important to use keywords, it is also important to avoid stuffing keywords into your content. If you see yourself using a particular keyword in every sentence of your blog post, then you have used that keyword too often.
  9. Your personality. You need to display your personality in your blog posts. Writing blog posts and uploading videos gives you a unique voice on the web. However, every voice on the web is unique. You need your voice on the web to allow people to get an idea for who you are. Andy Nathan wrote a guest post on Jeff Bullas’ blog where he explained how he learned everything he needed to know about social media because of Star Trek. He could have called the blog post “7 Social Media Tips,” but by directly referencing Star Trek, Andy shares an aspect of his personal life with us.
  10. The right structure. One of the simplest ways to get people to stay on your blog is to write blog posts that are easy to read. You cannot have one giant wall of content. Instead, your content needs to be broken down into several paragraphs. Even if one of your paragraphs is only one sentence, it is better to break down the giant wall of content into bite-size pieces that are easier for people to read.

Those are the 10 things that all of your blog posts need to contain. Adding these 10 things to your blog does not take a lot of time, and as you become a better blogger, some of these methods will become automatic.

What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional tips on what needs to be in a blog post? Please share your thoughts and advice below.