There is a balance that all successful blogs must try to maintain. Trying to get new visitors to their website and once there to actually read what they wrote. I find that I need to write content that will interest the reader and try to increase or maintain the number of posts I write each week.
The theory being that the more I write, the more opportunities I have for my work to be found. It also ups the chance to write something that will capture someone’s eye.
Sometimes you need to ignore the keywords
With most posts, I try to keep a good keyword count and density and use all my SEO tools to try to get the post found by the search engines. There are times; however, I just want to tell a story and show it to an audience through social media or an email list.
I have done this with phasergames.com, where I simply wrote a lot about the subject and didn’t have a lot of time to rewrite it for the search engines. The result is that I actually get a lot of traffic from Google that I didn’t target. I just wrote, and it wasn’t something a lot of other folks were writing about.
Pick the right subject
This brings us to my next point. Beginners are often times told to write what they are passionate about. This is good advice up to a point. You want to choose a subject that you feel happy writing and one that other people want to read. You need to pick a subject that other people are passionate about. If you can find common ground between your writing ambitions and the public’s interest, that’s great! If not, you pick something else!
If you choose something too broad you’ll have the interest but too much competition. On the other hand, if you pick something obscure, then people can not identify with it. It is finding the right balance that can make or break a blog.
A happy place to write
If you are trying to produce work while under stress, that will come across in your words. In fact, any emotion will be reflected in writing, whether you know it or not. If you can find a quiet place to write without distraction, go for it, otherwise use headphones. I find that it sometimes helps to listen to background noise or music without words.
If I happen to be up at 4am, a good cup of coffee and a chance to do some writing as I watch the sun comes up is a pleasing start to the day!
Avoid overusing
It is easy to slip into a comfort zone with our words. Also, it is difficult not to mention the subject of your posts over and over. If you use the same word too often, this could make your reader lose interest. This is even more likely if you repeat phrases.
If you want some good inspiration on nonrepetitive ideas with a sense of humor, you can’t do better than listen to the BBC program called just a minute. In this game, contestants have to speak on a subject without hesitation repeating themselves or getting off the subject.
This show ran for over 50 years, and I feel it can help improve your blog content by challenging you to come up with new ways to say the same thought.
Don’t worry that it isn’t good enough
Fear of rejection is something that keeps me from writing and sharing more content than I do. As difficult as it may be, you just need to do the absolute best you can and send your work out into the world.
Whatever you do in life, to just keep doing it is the only way to get better. You will probably get some feedback, both positive and negative. Don’t let anything discourage you. At the same time, don’t let anything good go to your head.
The important thing is to get it out there. Write because you have something valuable to say to humanity. Everyone does, but few get past the fear.
Wait until you are bored
Sometimes The best way to get started with a post is to wait until you have nothing else to do. It feels better to write than to just sit and wait.
For example, as I am writing this, I am sitting on a bus heading for Korat, Thailand, to keep a doctor’s appointment. The journey is over an hour long. The bus is old and shaking. There is no restroom on board, and there is a need for one at the moment.
Writing this post is a welcome distraction. Both because of boredom and from discomfort. If you can make a game out of it, so much the better. I’m trying to get to over 600 words before Korat.
Put some of yourself into the contents
As I just did above, mention a bit about yourself. Let your readers know where you are coming from. However, you should never forget to make the subject relate to them. Use your own experience to be helpful.
These tips come from my journey, but they are ultimately about how you can get your work to benefit. Do the same with your audience. 🙂
These tips are by no means all that you can do, but they are what works for me. I hope you find them useful as well.
