The Article Writer

7 Tips To Help You Become A Better Blogger

Today is February 29th, a day revered by Sadie Hawkins followers everywhere. Yep, bachelors the world over will soon be on the receiving end of marriage proposals, thanks to a tradition which allows the woman to propose to a man once but every four years (edit. – or once annually on November 15th, which is Sadie Hawkins Day).

What does this have to do with what I’m going to be talking about? Nothing, actually. Though, having a February 29th on the calendar this year allows me to blog on a date that isn’t around for the next three.

To that end, I’m offering seven tips on how to build a better blog, suggestions that have helped me to launch, expand, maintain and/or sell off well over a dozen blogs since December 2005:

Find A Blogging Platform That You Like

I used to recommend WordPress (WP) to everyone, but then I know that not everyone likes WP particularly in light of some recent and very serious security flaws (duh, why didn’t you upgrade when you were supposed to?!) To that end, whatever platform you use, become very familiar with it whether it be Typepad, Blogger, or something else. You’ll save yourself a lot of headaches if you understand what you are working with.

Pick A Niche

Hopefully, you’re blogging about something that you like to talk about. If you are passionate about a particular subject, that will soon come out in your writing. Conversely, so will your lack of enthusiasm. Develop three or four pillar articles which define what your blog is all about.

Find Your Voice

Let’s face it: lots of bloggers copy other blogs, not just their content, but they try to mimic someone’s voice. Be original because your readers are likely fairly intelligent and can spot a copycat or a fake.

Establish A Rhythm

You’ll get plenty of advice — much of it unsolicited telling you how to manage your blog. Sorry, rules don’t apply — although blogging guidelines are fine. Blog when you want and how often you want, but just blog. Once a week is fine, so is three times per day. If you are passionate and consistent, your blog will get noticed.

Show Yourself Friendly

Open up your blog to encourage comments, but use a moderating function to review comments before posting. If you are controversial, expect opposing viewpoints to be aired. Show your courage and post comments “as is” but use your judgment if there is a certain line you don’t feel comfortable allowing people to cross (e.g., using vulgarities).

Visit Other Blogs

Make a point to visit other blogs, particularly those along the lines of your genre. Read their stuff, leave intelligent comments and do this consistently. Are you thinking 2 or 3 visits per day is enough? Try adding a zero behind each of those numbers and you’ll be closer to the mark.

Embrace Change

If your blogging style, subject matter, or your networking methods are always the same, then you may want to consider leaving your comfort zone and considering making some changes. Even a new blog theme, the addition of a poll or some other small changes can help out. Welcome your new members, consider running a contest, pay it forward wherever possible. Do not accept the status quo!

How you ultimately measure blogging success shouldn’t depend on the number of readers, advertising secured or your popularity online. People, advertisers and other bloggers are fickle — do you want to write from the standpoint of being popular or from being secure in what you know?

Further Reading

Death to the Meme Movement!

Guest Bloggers: Bounty or Bane?

The Writing Habits Of Effective Freelancers

Your Blog Has Died And I Really Miss It!

Yesterday, I mentioned elsewhere that Yahoo has started a Digg-clone, something that they are calling Yahoo Buzz. Although it is currently in BETA and are only allowing 100 publishers to participate, I think that this could end up being a decent alternative to Digg — especially if you write something terrific and it ends up on the home page of Yahoo.

I’m always re-examining my social media strategy, trying to determine what is hot and what is not. Right now, I am employing a three-legged strategy, with some legs much firmer than others:

StumbleUpon — I’m still very active with this community, but I’m spending more time stumbling current friends pages than anything else. I left the reservation for awhile, stumbling pages I wasn’t too fond of, but I’ve gotten very picky over the past month and am being quite selective. Feel free to send pages you think that I will find interesting.

LinkedIn — I believe it was Anthony Kirlew at the Web Traffic Team who formed a connection with me on LinkedIn, a move that triggered me to take a closer look at this social networking tool. I’ve started to participate in LinkedIn Answers, a section of the site where members post business-related questions and people get to answer and I plan on meeting up with local members at an upcoming event.

MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, et al — The third leg on my social networking stool is my weakest and includes a handful of social networks I check out from time to time. Each one has something for me, but I’m particularly fond of the MyBlogLog Buzz page where I can keep tabs on my stats.

Beyond that, I am making an effort to keep up with my blog reading, a much more personal way of staying in touch with people regardless of whether they are part of the same social networks I am involved with.

I think if social media dropped dead overnight, I’d still be in good shape — I know who many of you are and sometimes I simply prefer to stop by your site to see what is up.

Yesterday I had the bright idea about adding a poll to this site, figuring it could be a good way for me to gauge what people are thinking about when they read this site.

I have a wide variety of readers on The Article Writer from freelance writers, to SEO experts, friends & family members, college students, you name it. I enjoy the medley, but I want to make sure that the information I provide is interesting, if not relevant, to as many people as possible.

Working the poll into a widget (which I placed on the sidebar) took some time, but the biggest issue was the theme, as it would not make the poll work without some effort. Deciding that the old theme just wasn’t going to cut it, I went back to one of my oldest themes and promptly made things worse.

Finally, after going through six or seven new themes I settled on the one you are seeing today, but only after I reworked the font colors to make them a bit blacker and a bit bolder. Sometimes theme developers forget that people have vision problems (I don’t) and they make colors too soft or too light.

There are a few other kinks for me to work out including the look of the poll, but it’ll have to do for now because I have a boatload of projects to work on and complete before our extended month of February comes to an end.

Oh, by the way, the first poll is on the sidebar and it is for freelancers. If you work for yourself, won’t you take a moment and respond to the poll? I’ll be polling from time to time in the months ahead. After all, here in the US it is a major election year.