Image: Stokpic
Yep, that’s the estimated number of blogs there were online in September 2017. But more are created every day so you can bet that number has risen significantly. Let that number sink in for a moment, 440 million. That means over three percent of the world’s population has their own blog set up, running online. But, let’s put that into perspective a little here.
First, you have to realise that not every blog online is going to be successful. In fact, there are plenty of blog owners who are never going to get more than fifty followers and will never make a dime with their writing. There are many more who have no intention of being a success either because they just want to write about their thoughts and feelings. Don’t forget that in the beginning, a blog wasn’t a business tool. It was for people to connect with others and share what they were going through and for many people, that’s what a blog remains. And, of course, then there are business owners using their blog as a side product of the website. It’s not the main feature, but, it’s a useful add-on that can be a content dump.
Business owners who use their blog like this know that fresh content is one of the easiest ways to boost SEO. Adding content to a site is a great way to make sure that the search ranking is boost without the use of dangerous forms of SEO. Of course, content still needs to be of high quality and that’s also true for bloggers. But we’ll look into that a little further down.
For now, we need to think about that number. Even taking off the dead sites, the business owners, the people who are not taking blogging seriously, it’s still going to be in the high three hundred millions a least.
Of course, we can narrow that number a little further. And perhaps, this is where we should begin when considering how to make sure that your site stands out online in a sea of millions.
Choose A Niche Topic
Do you know the easiest way to get lost in the shuffle of blogs online? Don’t pick a topic, don’t pick a subject just write about anything and stuff it on your blog. You might think that you know lots of blogs that don’t seem to have a set topic or subject, and that could be true, but they may not be successful. If they are, they have found another way to stand out which we will also explore. But for now, let’s think about how to narrow a topic down. For instance, you might write about a parenting blog. Okay, but as harsh as it sounds there are millions of these and most don’t have any unique features. But they can if the topic is narrowed down. Maybe you are on the autistic spectrum? A blog on the subject of a mom or dad dealing with their autism while learning to be a parent could be a compelling read and will attract a target audience for sure.
Or, you might be writing about keeping a beautiful home. Rather than focusing on random style choices, you could focus on how to style your home in a way that is green friendly. Now, it is worth pointing out that you will still have a lot of competition in both these cases. There are plenty of blogs about decorating in a way that is eco-friendly. It’s just that the number is smaller than the typical design blogs.
Write What You Know
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It’s old advice, but it is still fairly useful. By writing what you know, we mean that you should write about something that you yourself have experience in. For instance, you might love to write about the movie industry and write about the news on different movies as they come out. The problem is that you’re competing against blogs run by people who have experience in this industry. They’ve worked in them and as such have contacts for exclusives. As well as this, they will be able to give their unique professional opinion on certain situations. You won’t be able to do this.
Blogs on business are often similar. You will find that plenty of business blogs that give advice to people who want to run a business actually have experience doing this themselves.
It’s all about having a professional advantage or some degree of experience on the matter that you are discussing. You don’t have to be an expert. You may just have some experience working in landscaping. If that’s the case, you could have a unique edge when setting up a blog on gardening.
Write In A Way That Is Exciting
You need to make sure that anything you release on your blog jumps off the page. If it’s boring, dull or mundane, then you are giving users every reason not to bother and instead pass onto the next blog. Dotcom Gains have some key info that you could use on how to effectively write a blog that is exciting. But it’s not just about what you write but rather how you write it. What tone do you use? Some bloggers are very formal, others quite jovial. Many won’t write anything in the first person, and others will speak directly to the reader engaging with random commentators. It’s all about the blog you want to run and what you think your audience will and won’t appreciate or respond to.
Expand Beyond The Blog
Finally, to give you the best chance at being successful, you should go beyond blogging. You need to give your readers more than this. Something that they can really connect to and a brand that they can follow. Make sure you setup every social media account that you can think of and of and use them all as much as possible. This is the best way to gain more attention for your blog and make sure that you’re not forgotten in the sea of other sites surrounding yours.