10 Tips to Improve Your Blog

We are all constantly trying to improve our blogs. Well, I know I am anyway. But what can we really focus on to get more readers. Here’s a list I’ve compiled that will hopefully help you out.

1. Don’t be too personal- When I say this, I mean on a business blog for example. If you own a blog that is themed around making money online… don’t start posting pictures of your baby or getting too personal. Obviously use your opinion, but blatantly personal matters will just seem out of place.

Of course people like Shoemoney and John Chow can get away with this because… their blogs are realistically about them, and they talk about issues, but it’s their name in the title. So it’s warranted.

2. Be generous to your readers- Self promote by promoting others. By helping others achieve, you will achieve. Sorry, got a bit philosophical and cheesy there. Anyway, basically just give your readers what they wan’t. Give them shout-outs, links, forget Google, think people. That is, who will be reading it.

So, focus on your readers and providing genuine value for them, do this and I cannot see how you can fail. People like to read about themselves, they also like to be mentioned. So give your readers a little taste of this now and then and they will appreciate it. If you become too self-obsessed or promoting or start packing out posts with affiliate links, you may see your readers slip away out of boredom and insult.

3. Make your subscription options clear and visual - I believe the absolute core aspect of a blog should be to get more readers. Above all else, that’s it. Without readers, you have; no comments, no community, no feedback, no income.

It’s amazing how many bloggers shove their RSS link right down near their footer or out of the way. WHY!? it’s not a hindrance! it’s a privilege, you should be making your subscription options as absolutely visually prominent as possible so that people can see them in an instant. Readers are the core element to a blog, beyond anything else. So until you reach a sustainable amount, absolutely focus on them!

4. Write what others… are not- I know this can be a tricky one. With so many blogs, it is hard to write content that is so unique that it’s not been said a million times before. But at least try! don’t just give in to social blogging standards and blog about what everyone else is blogging about. If it’s a craze like BlogRush was then… fair enough, it was mental. So give your opinion on it.

I think mainly you should be trying your best to provide fresh, unique content that people rarely get the privilege of reading on the majority of other blogs. *CLESHE WARNING* — Content is king; that’s been said so many times it’s sickening. But who cares, it’s true and you can’t focus on that annoying little sound-byte enough.

5. Use good grammar- I know grammar isn’t a huge issue for some people. Most intelligent people (actual intelligent people a.k.a not snobs with a degree who think they’re Einstein) will just ignore the odd mistake and use there (ha!) (their… see what I did?) common sense to determine the right from wrong.

I detest grammar bullies who go and comment on blogs with stuff like “You need grammar lessons. It’s their not there.” as if everyone is going to go “WOW! You are a GENIUS! Say more!” but they are out there. So if you’re grammar is sloppy, why give them the satisfaction of leaving your blog for such a trivial reason or the satisfaction of trying to put you down. Wordpress has a spellcheck built in and obviously there are tons of free grammar tools online if you just look for them.

I don’t think a bit of dodgy grammar will make everyone leave but it may for some, so use good grammar to add at least a basic level of professionalism to your blog.

6. Write list posts - List posts. Most people like to read a good list post. They’re easy to read, usually very helpful in a quick information digest type way and are just nice little trivial posts to provide your readers with. They are over done but so what, so are most other things. Write list posts now and then to add some quick reading value.

7. Don’t let ads rule your content- Content ruled by ads! hate it. I’m sure most people do. I think this can be a big kill-off for some readers. I’m pretty sure most people do not mind general ads, you know… in the sidebar and what not. But the content of your blog is why they come to your blog. So it is a bit insulting to compromise their reading quality by shoving image ads, affiliate links, Kontera ads all over posts.

I mean… some people do it to make more money and obviously, if you have a lot of traffic then it will achieve you more income. But I think taking the user’s experience into consideration is more important.

I do it on regular stantionary sites because they get visited at inconsistant rates by searchers and what not… it’s really not the same thing. A blog is very… personal on a level with your readers, people are subscribing to you… it just sort of seems like ’selling-out’ to ‘ruin’ your content space. You can still make a lot of money without compromising your content space on your blog.

8. Answer questions- If you’re readers ask you questions. Answer them. Whether it by email or in posts, it’s still important. Don’t take a single reader for granted because soon you’ll be taking 2, 5, 10 readers for granted. Help people out, be quick. Make your blog an essential blog community to be a part of and communicate with your readers.

9. Popular Articles / Posts- Having a Popular Articles plugin I think can really help keep people on your blog for longer. You can show off your best work. So even if they don’t like what they see right away, they may be intrigued by some of your most popular post titles.

10. Write for humans - I thought I’d finish off with this tip as I think it’s a very good one. Writing for people is essential, you don’t always have to be super-formal. Your human. Your readers are human.

I think it’s in good practice to attempt to scale a balance between formal and non-formal. I think no matter what the topic of your blog, you need personality to give it a unique aspect. But most of all… brilliant writing, content, reviews, advice, whatever. Write for humans… people!

Thanks for reading!

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