How to Effectively Promote Blog Posts on Social Media

You wear too many hats when you are blogging. If you are a one-man team, you are going to be your own web designer, writer, marketing specialist, etc. It is not all about creating content and publishing it. Once you have published your content, you are going to have to create a strategy in putting it out to the world. One of the most effective ways to promote blog posts on social media.

Social media is like a necessity nowadays considering that businesses and organizations use it to attract potential customers. Almost everyone in the world now is now on social media so you have to make sure that what you have just written in your blog post will reach to everyone. This is why promoting your blog posts on social media is necessary to widen your audience.

Think of it as an extension to your blog. Creating a social

media account where you can promote your blog posts is one of the best marketing steps you can do. It will increase your social media presence and help draw in new readers. You are also offering your old readers a chance to connect to you much easier. All you have to do is think of effective strategies beyond just sharing the links to your blog posts.

Here are far better creative ideas to effectively promote your blog posts on social media.

1. Curate interesting campaigns.

People are interested to look at catchy posts, photos, or videos on social media. So you have to take this into your own advantage. Gather all interesting photos that you have and post it on Instagram or Facebook. Write a brief caption and put a link of your blog post. Rather than just putting a link to your blog post, doing this will attract more readers as they are able to see as a preview of your blog post through the photos or videos. Make use of multimedia to boost your audience reach. Without multimedia, your strategy is incomplete. Once you have put up an interesting campaign on a social media platform that you choose, you will now be able to generate more online reviews and make it easy for your readers to understand what your content is all about.

2. Grow your social media profile.

We all start at the beginning and before you can successfully get your audience’s attention, you have to first, grow your profile. Build your social media profile first by choosing first which social media platforms you want to use for blog promotion. There are so many social media sites today but you don’t have to sign up for everything. Learn which social media platform suits best for your blog as well as your marketing goals. For example, if your strength is in short form videos for promotion, Facebook pages are a good choice for you. If you are into curating photos, Instagram is the best social media platform to have. Ideally, choose the social media platforms that you have time to handle and can give you the best possible results. Once you have chosen and established your preferred social media platforms, be as active as possible because that is your key to establishing your online presence. If people have questions, answer them. Engage through comments on a daily basis so it is faster for you to grow your profile. Eventually, you will get more followers and once you reach that point, you can now successfully introduce your blog content little by little.

3. Share a link of your blog and make use of hashtags.

Hashtags are particularly useful especially when you are using Instagram or Twitter. Research on popular hashtags that people search. Specifically, look for hashtags related to your blog post and use it. When posting an Instagram picture, put a link to your blog and the specific hashtag. This allows you to attract an audience that is not within yours. You will be able to reach a wider audience and get potential readers. Also, when you are posting a link of your blog post on Twitter, make sure that you only use one or two hashtags that are relevant to your blog post. Research what are the trending hashtags by using online tools. This will allow you to see which ones are the best and will allow you to see related ones. But it is not all about using hashtags, you should also pair it with a good visual content. This will drive a lot more engagement compared to text-only posts. And when your audience is engaged, they will reshare it with their own circles. That way, you bring more clicks and traffic to your blog.

4. Collaborate with other social media creators.

One of the best ways to widen your audience is to work with fellow content creators. Content creators have their own unique strategy in attracting more people to check out their content. Make use of this opportunity and do a collaboration with them. It’s a win-win situation because you will be able to introduce your content to a fellow creator’s audience and vice versa. And for the most part, you don’t necessarily have to spend anything. You just need to put up your collaboration creatively.

5. Put a Pinterest Pin on the photos of your blog posts.

Just like putting a social media share button on top or at the bottom of your blog post, putting a Pinterest Pin is also very important. Pinterest is a platform that is often overlooked when it comes to promoting a blog post since it is anchored in images. However, over the years, Pinterest has proven to be one of the best platforms to market your content because people who visit this platform actually need something. People go to Pinterest to research a specific topic. For this reason, make sure to incorporate your blog post to your photos by making an infographic for instance and then put a Pin button to it. That way, when someone reads your blog, they can pin it and have a chance to attract more audience.

4 different tips on how to find your niche

How to find your niche?

Whether you are just starting out a new blog or probably already have one but doesn’t feel it, you need to evaluate yourself if you are really are blogging what you want. Thus, it is important to actually find your niche, it could be a hair dryer review website or simply a beauty niche. Knowing exactly what your niche is will help you stay in your lane and write things that you actually love. Creating something that is valuable to your audience can be quite a challenge considering the number of competitions that you have today. With so many people starting their own blogs nowadays, it is easy to get lost and become relevant to the thousands of personal brands that are in competition with each other every day.

The blogging world is so vast so it is important that you find where you belong. It is important that you know exactly your place so you won’t get lost and be easily intimidated by the number of things that could arise while you are blogging.

Thankfully, in today’s modern world, we are now equipped with enough knowledge and skills to not just create but most importantly, adapt and innovate to what the world needs. So in order to find what your niche is, you have to find what is something you are strongly passionate about that you are willing to consistently write about and share to the world. Moreover, it is not just about passion. You also need to have a purpose or a goal as that will be your guiding light so, in times when you don’t know what you are doing, you can always find your way back to whatever it is that motivated you to get started.

This post will help you through to finding a niche that is both profitable and you are passionate about.

1. Identify and evaluate what it really is you’re passionate and skillful about.

This may be the most cliché advice you will ever receive but it is also one of the most important. You have to be honest with yourself and know exactly what it is you are passionate about. But it does not end on passion alone. You have to consider other things such as if you are good at what you are passionate about. For instance, you may love portrait photography but may not be good at it. Passion alone is not enough to sustain a successful blog. You also need to have a level of skills and expertise to be able to do it right. So if your passion alone cannot sustain it, ask yourself, “What is it really I am good at?” You have to determine if what you want is feasible and not just a dream. But putting all those aside, you can always focus on what you really want, start from there, and develop an attitude of constantly improving your craft. Just remember to keep things real and see clearly where your passion and skills are going to take you.

2. Narrow down your talents and skills and go for something that you would pursue no matter what.

If you are the type of person who knows and can do a lot of things, you have to re-evaluate yourself and try to focus on one thing that you can sustain in the long run. Having so many things in mind can cause a lot of conflict on your part. Do not do something just because you feel like doing it. Make sure that what you are doing is something that you would pursue in the long run no matter what your situation you are in. What skills do you have that you can take with you in the future? What sort of things do you love that you will most probably still love in the future? List down all of talents and skills and rank them into which you enjoy the most to the least you will likely do. Once you have written down all of them, try to check the things that you can eliminate. Finally, rank everything again until you reach a certain point where you can now easily choose what you really want. When you find that niche, you can be assured that you will go for it no matter what because it is one you enjoy and one you are good at. That is one of the most important things that you have to consider.

3. Figure out if the niche you have considered is something that people are interested to know about.

It is not enough to love a particular niche. Otherwise, you won’t be blogging at all. Once you have decided to create a blog, you are not just creating content for yourself. You are also writing for other people so if you want to sustain a blog, you need to find out if the particular niche you have initially considered is something that you can market. It has to be something that people are interested to know about. Otherwise, your blog will remain a hobby and may not grow into a lucrative business. One way of doing this is to do prior research online on what people usually want to know about. You can use some basic keyword research and type in some keywords that are related to your niche. Check out how much is the monthly research volume, the level of competition, as well as other metrics. Knowing all this information prior will prepare and guide you to choosing what specific niche you want for your blog.

4. Find out if you have something different to offer to your audience compared to the rest of your competitors.

You can’t deny the fact that the world is already content-polluted today. Is your blog going to offer something new? Root out all your competitors and find if you can compete with all those well-known and ranking sites. You don’t have to be as popular as others but you gotta have something that is valuable for others. You have to make sure that you are offering a value-based content.

Source: Allison Lindstrom

How to Jump-Start a Dying Blog

Jump-start a dying blog is not as easy as it looks. On the outside, you might think that blogging is just about writing content and publishing it. However, it is more than that. If you want to run a successful blog, there are so many things that you have to do at once. For one, you need to create an interesting and compelling content that your audience will love. And in order for it to be noticed by a wider audience, you need to make sure that your post is ranking on Google by making sure that you are using the right SEO strategy. You will also need to share it on your different social media platforms. Among others, you will also need to make sure that all the technical aspect of blogging is doing fine to keep it all running. For this reason, a lot of people who runs a blog could not keep up with the pace especially if they have other things to do in life. And when all of these fail, it gets a lot harder every day to find ways on how to save a dying blog.

How do you define a dying blog? We all go through different experiences with blogging and this could mean several things. But usually, this is what happens:

You no longer have the motivation to create a compelling content.

You stop working on your website.

You lose your website’s rankings.

Your audience stops reading your blog which means you lose traffic.

Your email list growth becomes stagnant.

Whatever is the case, these things can heavily affect your blog, but not to the point of extinction if you do something. No matter how worse it got, you can always try to revive and bring your old blog back to life.

Change direction and rethink your niche

Bringing your blog back to life is not just about publishing new content. Perhaps, your current content or niche may not be what you want to pursue in the long run. If you are confused as to what you should do with your blog, it would be a good idea to change course and perhaps rethink of your personal branding. It could be making your topics a little bit more specific or perhaps changing entirely your focus. For instance, if you are currently writing travel guides about a specific country and it is not doing quite well, you can still continue writing travel guides but focused on a specific region. Make sure to do a review of what is working and what’s not. Do a complete analysis of your blog’s status before making any drastic changes.

Optimize your blog design

Updating your blog’s design can totally make a difference. A lot of people probably don’t have a good user experience when navigating your blog which is why you are losing an audience. For this reason, make sure that your blog’s design and functionality is good for UX and SEO purposes. The first impression matters so you have to make sure that you get your audience’s attention the moment they enter your blog. You must ensure that your blog design provides a far better user experience to your readers and is also optimized for search engines. Find a theme that is simple and fast and make sure that it is responsive. A lot of people today are not using mobile phones compared to a desktop computer to make sure that your blog is also mobile-ready. Otherwise, you will lose a potential audience at their first glance on your blog.

Improve the navigation

One of the steps that will help rank your website is to improve your website’s navigation. It will help your readers browse your blog a lot more easily as well. It is quite frustrating on the user’s end if navigating your blog is completely difficult. Make your website’s navigation simple and easy. Do not fill it up with so many menus and items as it can get much cluttered. Instead of buttons, you can use links if you want your website to be search-friendly.

Optimize your SEO

You have to make sure that you provide clear navigation and a strong site structure if you want search engines to index your site easily. This is why you need to give importance of SEO if you want to revive your dying blog. Optimizing your blog’s SEO will provide your visitors with a good experience and at the same time, this will also increase and encourage more repeat visits. Organic traffic is what you should aim for if you want your blog to sustain it in the long run. Arm yourself with an extensive technical knowledge and understanding of SEO. Once you learn how SEO works, you can be guaranteed that your blog will be revived for the better.

Remove or update any outdated content

You have to make sure that your blog gives value to your readers. And if your blog has content that is no longer relevant to your readers, it’s not going to help your blog at all. If you have any outdated posts, make sure to update all of them. If there is content that is no longer applicable or relevant to your readers, remove them from your blog. As a guide, find blog posts that are less than 500 words and do not contribute to your blog’s success.

Optimize your About Page

Your About page is one of the most visited pages in your blog. It is also one of the most important as it has pertinent information about you as the author of your blog. Let your audience know about your purpose, your journey, and other important things that they have to know about you. Avoid putting information that is outdated or not relevant. Make it attractive and interesting so you can generate more leads through this page. Keep it short and concise, but most importantly, it should tell your story. Make use of images, graphics, or videos to attract your audience. Lastly, include something that will let your visitors remember you.

7 Healthy Tips to Effectively Plug Your Blog to Brands

plug your blog to brands is one way to establish yourself as an influencer, in this post we will discuss everything.

When you are just starting out in blogging, you may be only focused on creating content and promoting it on social media. But as your blog grows, you will learn that blogging is not just about you creating content and putting it out there in the world to see. It is a lot more than that. For one, you will start seeing the opportunities to monetize your blog through your posts. You will see that blogging can potentially become a business that will give you something in return. Moreover, you also learn that you can now work with businesses through your blog. This is where the skill to plug your blog to brands comes in.

If you want to work with big brands, it is important to consider that you have something to them in return. Given that they will be able to provide the product or service that you want, what is it you can provide for them in return? How do you present your blog to these brands?

First, you must understand that you must have some sort of influence and following for brands to work with you. After all, they want to connect with influencers so they can put their products out there and get the attention of loyal audiences. Not all bloggers are influencers, but if you know the right strategy, you can be both. And when you know what to do, you can confidently plug your blog to brands and get that partnership you want.

Here are seven effective tips to effectively plug your blog to brands.

1. Establish your online presence.

You have to build a strong foundation first of your personal branding. And in order to do this, you need to be an authority in your field. Put your creativity into your work and people will notice your content apart from others. When you have successfully established your online presence, you will be able to present this to brands and ultimately have a partnership. While some brands may look at the number of your following, but it’s not all about numbers, it is also about how engaging your content is. Suffice it to say, you also need to build your own brand to effectively work with other brands.

2. Promote.

It is vital for a brand partnership that they gain full trust to have their services or products promoted by you. When you want to connect and collaborate with other brands, both parties would definitely want growth for their own branding so, in order to gain their trust, you have to make sure that you know how to promote their products and services to your audience. You need to be able to show them that you can provide proper exposure of their products and services through your platform. Make sure that you give enough information to your audiences such as the products usability, benefits, and other pertinent information.

3. Learn how to incorporate the products and services of a brand to your daily life.

Brands want to have a realistic approach when it comes to marketing their products and services. For this reason, you must be true to what you are promoting in your blog and incorporate the products and services of a certain brand to your life. Brands love to work with influencers who can make a connection to their ideals. This is exactly why you also need to be careful of the brand you are choosing to work with. Their ideals need to be in line with your goals and plans as a blogger. Before you plug your blog to a certain brand, you need to determine first if their branding is relevant to your following. Otherwise, your audience will lose sight of your own personal branding.

4. Show that you are there to help.

It takes some level of influence for people to ask your opinion and advice before they buy a certain product or service. When you reach that point, you can be assured that you have an audience who trusts your judgment. This is one of the reasons why they keep on coming back to your blog. When brands see this, you can confidently plug your blog and be able to partner with them. You can show that you can contribute to the growth of a certain brand and in return, you will also an opportunity to widen your audience and influence.

5. Show your leverage.

You don’t necessarily need to have a certain amount of following to be able to work with brands. It can be quite a challenge to partner with brands today especially that there are so many influencers out there. For this reason, you need to know what is it that you can show to brands that will make them exchange deals and partnerships with you. Plugging your blog to brands is the same as pitching a business partnership. You need to give your all and in order to close a good deal with a brand, you need to show them that even if you have not met a certain amount of followers on your platform, you have the skill to influence over your readers and effectively promote the brand’s products and services.

6. Sell your niche.

As a blogger, you have something unique to offer to brands. You have your own content written or presented in your own perspective. This is why you need to be passionate and true of your niche so that it will show that you have the credibility and authority of that specific niche. Once you have built a strong foundation of that niche, sell it to brands. Brands love to collaborate with bloggers that can make their products and services stand out. So build your niche and once you have enough content and results to show, show it to brands and you can be guaranteed that they will want to work with you.

7. Spend some time creating a powerful media kit.

All your successes and recognitions in blogging will be of no use if you don’t have a record of it to show to brands. Brands love to work with bloggers who can provide the important details of their blog through a media kit. A media kit should show what you do, what you can offer your mission and goals, your previous partnerships with other brands, as well as your package and rates. Put a little more effort in creating a kickass media kit. Doing so will open a lot of doors for your blogging career.

Choosing the Right Domain Name for your Blog

One of the most important decisions you have to make in your blogging journey is choosing the right domain name for your blog. In order to generate positive results, you need to follow essential elements such as finding the right keywords, optimizing backlinks, and creating quality content. All of these are effective strategies to get your blog out in the world. However, if you forget to meet another important element, these strategies can easily crumble down. That is choosing the right domain name. Even if you have good and high-quality content with the right keywords, a huge amount of traffic will be affected if your readers will only be able to find you using certain keywords.

Choosing the right domain name that exactly describes what your blog is all about matters a lot. This is what users will use to identify your personal brand in a better way. It also helps in improving your blog’s visibility and authority in the blogging industry. Domain names have a huge impact on the World Wide Web in terms of search, social media results, click-through

rate, referring links, and more. Suffice it to say, your domain name impacts your online marketing and your brand in ways you just can’t afford to ignore.

So how do you choose a brand name and what is the best way to do it?

Here are ten tips for choosing the right domain name for your blog.

1. Make the name easy to spell and remember.

You need to make sure that your audience will easily remember your brand. For this reason, you need to choose a domain name that is catchy but easy to spell and associated to your blog. This way, your blog name stirs a sense of familiarity to your audience. Make it short and easy to remember. You don’t want a blog name that takes a lot of time to spell and remember. Avoid using unfamiliar words even if it is related to your blog. The simplest domain names are the ones that stand out and are most effective.

2. Include a keyword in your domain name.

Everything is all about improving your visibility in the World Wide Web today. That is why it is also important that you include a keyword in your domain name that basically describes what you are blogging about. For example, if you want to blog about recipes, including this specific word in your domain will greatly help your audience find your blog immediately. Users will be able to find you faster as well. This is an effective approach as it helps users get straight to your website since what they are looking for is already found in your domain name.

3. Avoid using domain names that have numbers and hyphens.

There are big brands out there that have numbers in their names but it is still highly advisable that you avoid including numbers in your domain names. Numbers and hyphens can tend to make a domain name less memorable and easy to spell so if you don’t want to ruin your domain name, it is best that you avoid it. It only makes users even more confused in remembering your domain name.

4. Make sure that it can be easily pronounced.

While you might think that this is not as important as it is, you must keep in mind that a domain name that is hard to pronounce is also not easily remembered. People will most likely to remember a brand if they can pronounce it with their minds.

5. Keep it short.

Nobody wants to search for a long domain name. It is confusing and takes a lot of time. The fewer characters the domain name has, the easier it is to remember it, share it, and also type it. Make it short and specific so it can easily be recognized and remembered. It is a win-win situation for both you and your readers.

6. Go with ‘.com’.

When it comes to choosing a domain extension, it is always a good idea to go with .com. It is the most commonly used and recognized so people will easily associate your blog with it. Use it to your advantage and create an easily recognizable brand with it. Compared to other domain extensions, your domain name will most likely stand out it if ends with a .com.

7. Make sure that your domain reflects exactly what you are blogging about.

When choosing a domain name, it should have a strong idea of what your website is all about. For example, if your domain is TinyHomesDesign.com, people will instantly have a notion that you are blogging about small house designs. People will instantly have an idea of what you are blogging about which is a greater chance of being recognized.

8. Avoid using domain names that could get you in trouble.

If you are still on the hunt for a domain name, make sure that you have done extensive research before buying it. You need to be careful that you are not using a similar one to other brands as you can be penalized with trademark infringement. Ask for a legal advice first as another company might take legal action against you. Moreover, this makes a lot of confusion to your audience which can make a huge effect on your brand’s authority.

9. Make sure that it is social media ready.

If your blog’s name is similar to your social media accounts, then it will be easier for you to market your blog on social media. It makes it a lot easier for users to find you whatever platform they go. Use a tool such as Namecheckr to see the availability of your domain name on social media.

10. Be creative about it.

Show your creative side in choosing your domain name. It is one of the most important elements when you are launching a blog so you have to make sure that it is a result of your creativity. It is totally up to you but you have to make sure that it reflects your blog’s content. What is important is that your audience can easily find you with that name.

Ways to Better Connect with Your Blog Readers

One of the best ways to better Ways to Better Connect with Your Blog Readers is to create a deep connection. There are a lot of content in the world today and it becomes a lot harder to be relevant if you don’t have the right strategy. Engaging with your readers is one of the ways to grow a solid following and turn them into loyal fans. When you have loyal blog readers, you can be assured that someone out there is reading your new blog post, and if they enjoyed it, they will also share it with others. If you proactively engage with these people, they will also feel that you care for them and that you are giving value to their time. Active readership is extremely important to growing your blog.

Here are the 10 effective ways to better connect with your blog readers.

1. Know who your audience is.

The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that you know who your audience is. When you know who they are, you will understand where they are coming from and what sort of stuff interests them. If you put yourself in their shoes, you will be able to come up with better and interesting ideas to blog about. For example, if you are writing for travelers who are into budget traveling, knowing what exactly they need for their travels will give you an insight for a better content in your blog. Give value to your blog readers and the first step to doing that is to know them.

2. Respond to comments both on your blog and social media.

Another good way to enhance yourself as an authority in your niche is to respond to your blog readers’ comments on both your blog and social media. When your blog readers ask you questions or leave a comment in your blog, make sure to respond accordingly. This will prove a point to your readers that you care what their thoughts are. Not responding to your reader’s comments can ultimately lead to losing your readership. To better connect and build a lasting bond with your audience, you must engage with them by responding to their comments.

3. Make use of humor and a strong emotion to your content.

People today check out blogs to be entertained or to gain knowledge. That being said; do not underestimate the power of humor and putting a strong emotion in your content. For example, you are more likely to build a strong relationship with your blog readers if you make them laugh, smile, or tug their hearts. This is the power of creating content that can drive someone’s emotion. These are things that people can relate and if you publish more content that people can relate in their day-to-day lives, you will be able to effectively connect with your audience.

4. Write a thought-provoking blog post.

One way to remain in a reader’s mind is to give them something that will make them remember or think of something. Writing a story that they will remember can spark an interest in their minds. Create a strong content such as a thought-provoking story that will make them think and perhaps, drive them to have discussions with their friends or family. Doing this will make your audience remember your content and you as the author.

5. Suggest an idea that will make their lives better.

We all go through something in life and if your blog readers get a message from you that will make their lives better, you can create a strong emotion for them. If you want to promote something such as simple living or minimalism, it’s ineffective to shove that idea to people’s throat and demand them to do it. You cannot change a person’s mind by forcing an idea to them. Rather, provide an idea or possible positive outcomes that will happen if they follow your suggestion or idea. This way, you have a great chance to connect with your blog readers and help them evaluate their decisions in life.

6. Make use of social media to entertain your readers.

Keeping your blog readers entertained is important so that you can better connect with them. Each social media platform has a specific strength to drive more people to see your personal brand. Without getting off topic, make use of your social media platforms to entertain your blog readers. Some few examples would be posting memes, interesting videos, beautiful photos, and more. People are generally attracted to graphics so if you can use it to lead your blog readers to your blog, then use social media to your advantage.

7. Conduct meetups and schedule a live event.

Meeting your blog readers personally is one of the most effective ways to connect with them and also gain more readers. You can go to blogging events where you can talk to your readers personally and market your blog to potential readers. You can also hold a workshop or a simple get together with your readers so you can answer their questions on a face-to-face level and also get to connect with them more personally.

8. Gain and keep their trust.

It’s easy to gain trust at the start, but if you want to connect with your blog readers, you have to make sure that you get to keep it. This means that you need to provide them with facts and important information that they actually need. For example, if your blog is all about travel guides, you have to make sure that you are giving them facts about destinations, tour rates, or contact information. Providing wrong information can tarnish your name which will lead to losing your readers’ trust.

9. Ask your blog readers some questions.

You will be able to know what your readers’ thoughts are if you proactively ask them a question. You can either run a survey or post a question on social media and collect their answers. After that, answer each question and acknowledge their questions in your blog. This way, you are giving them credit for their ideas.

10. Let your personality show in your blog and social media posts.

Your readers follow you because they see a person and if you don’t show who you are on your platform, you will most likely lose your readership. Nobody wants to read a content that looks presented by a robot. Add a personal touch and be real to your audience. Make sure to put your personality through your writing to better connect with your blog readers.

Blogging 101: How to Start a Blog

How to start a blog

Blogging has come a long way from being just a hobby to being one of the biggest industries in the world. It has become one of the most popular ways of spreading information, news, and communicating. There are millions of blogs online today and if you are interested, you can start one too. But before we get into that, there are important things that you need to keep in mind especially if you want to launch a successful blog. First, you have to be passionate about it and be consistent with it. Before even deciding to create one, ask yourself first on what your purpose is and why you want or why you see the need to start a blog.

If you are new to blogging, you need to be in the right frame of mind to do it since it can take a huge chunk of your time especially when you are conceptualizing ideas and then be putting it to writing. Blogging may sound like a no-brainer but it also takes hard work and dedication to be able to do it. More so if you have a full-time work at the same time. For this reason, you need to know how to manage your time and be passionate enough about blogging to be able to maintain it.

When you are determined to continue, here are the first steps that you need to do in order to start your own blog.

Choose Your Niche

Your niche is your area of concentration for your content. It has to be the main topic that you want to write about in your blog. After all, in order to stand out in the world of blogging, you need to have a specific area of concentration that people will be able to link to you. This way, your blog won’t have mixed topics that are not related to each other. The more concentrated your niche is the more chances of you being an authority of that specific niche.

There are a lot of niches that you can consider and each of them can also have sub-niches. It is up to you how you are going to put them on your blog. Some of the niches you can consider are Travel, Health and Fitness, Personal, Movies, Photography, Food, News and Events, Fashion, Automobile, Technology, Arts and Entertainment, Business and Finance. There are still a lot more you can choose from so make sure to do an extensive research prior to creating a blog.

Make sure that the niche you will be choosing is something you are passionate about. Doing so will help to blog much easier. If you love reviewing food, then the food niche is suitable for you. If you are always on the lookout for new gadgets and tech stuff, you can create an awesome technology blog for yourself. When you love what you are writing about, you won’t even notice the number of hours you have spent to create your content.

Choose the right blogging platform

A blogging platform is an application that one can use in order to publish, edit, and modify their content. In the simplest terms, it is basically the tool that you are going to use to publish your blog. Now, there are way too many blogging platforms to choose from and it is also crucial that you choose the best one that suits your blogging needs. Right now, three of the most popular content management system is WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr. These are free tools that you can use. Since you are just starting out with blogging, these are the best free blogging platforms that you can use to publish your blog. You don’t need to worry about the monthly dues that you have to pay. Rather, you just need to spend the time to create and get your ideas out there. All you need to do is sign up for a free account and from there; you can customize and post your content.

In the long run, if you want to improve your blog and you can shift to a premium option of these platforms. This will allow better customizing and modify your blog to however you want it to be.

Create original and creative content

The key to catching your reader’s attention is to create an engaging content that gives value to their lives whether it is for entertainment purposes or knowledge. In any way, it is important that you put your best effort in making the content as creative and unique as possible. In your blogging journey, there will be times when writing content is so easy, but there are also times when you just can’t think of anything. For this reason, it is important that you plan your content in advance to be consistent in posting. If you have saved topics, it will be a lot easier to write something about it.

There are other things that we have to attend every day so when you properly plan your content and utilize post-scheduling, you will not be pressured into always catching up your deadlines. It will also give a positive impact on your blog image.

Utilize social media sharing

Gone were the days when a blogging platform is enough. Today, if you want to reach more people, you need to utilize social media sharing. They are one of your keys to successful blogging. It has become a necessity today to create accounts on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to market your blog posts. After all, everyone is now on social media. This will give others have the opportunity to read your content. In addition to that, social media allows people to share your content to their own networks as well.

Know your target audience

like any other business say an e-commerce business or online cosmetics shop you should know your target audience

It may not be easy when you are starting especially if you are still testing the waters. This may not be your priority as of the moment, but if you want to run a successful blogging career, it is important that you identify the demographics of your target audience. This way, it will give you an idea on what to improve and how to make your content even more engaging to your own audience.

Whatever your reasons are for starting a blog, the most important thing that you need to keep in mind is; if you want to blog successfully, do it passionately.

Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Blogging Platform

There are many decisions you have to make when you are choosing the right blogging platform. By now, you probably already have thought of a blog name and a niche. You also must have already grasped what things you want to specifically write about. Now, the next step would be to choose the right blogging platform.

What is a blogging platform?

It is basically the software or the service that you use in order to publish your content to the world in the form of a blog. You can either use a blogging software like WordPress or a website builder such as Wix.com. Either way, it is important that you know exactly what you personally need for your blog so you know which blogging platform suits you. There are numerous blogging platforms available today, and it can be quite tricky to find which one is the best. It is important that you do prior research among all the common platforms available today before you choose one. Having extensive knowledge about each of the available platforms today will help guide you which one suits your blog the best. Moreover, this will help in your guiding decision in shaping the kind blog that you want today and in the future.

Your blog will grow eventually and as it grows, you may want to make some changes with your site and add more features that will make your growing audience’s experience better. If this is something that you consider early on, you want to make sure that you have chosen a blogging platform that is flexible and can be tweaked to however you want to be. You can technically choose any platform right now and just switch to another one in the future.

However, this can be expensive and will definitely take a huge chunk of your time rather than choosing the right platform early on. Starting off with a platform that is not flexible can make it quite a challenge for you to switch later on. Suffice it to say, a blogging platform that will give you more room to grow is definitely important if you want to grow as a blogger.

If you are new to blogging and absolutely have no idea how to start, it is important to choose a platform that is easy to use and does not require a lot of technical web development knowledge on your end. The important thing is that you have a user-friendly website up and running. However, as simple as it may be, it is also important that you consider if it can easily be transformed in the future should you change your mind. This way, you save yourself a lot of time, effort, and money later on.

With this in mind, here is a simple guide for you to choose the right blogging platform.

7 important things to look for when choosing a blogging platform

User-friendly

It is important to have a user-friendly website. Not only will it make your life easier on your end, but you are also giving your audience a better experience while they are reading your blog. A lot of people today have a short attention span so if your website is not user-friendly; you lose the opportunity to keep loyal audiences. On your end, it will also take a lot of effort and time to efficiently navigate your website and locate anything. Make sure to choose a blogging platform that is friendly for beginners. But at the same time, make sure to check if it also comes with the functionalities and features that will boost your blogging experience.

Mobile friendly

Unlike several years ago, majority of the people today now read blogs using their mobile phones or tablets. For this reason, it is also important that you take into consideration that your blogging platform allows mobile-friendly view of your site. Moreover, Google has also announced that mobile-friendly blogs rank higher in search results. The good thing is that most of the blogging platforms today can now easily adjust according to the screen size of the user. Still, it is important that you pay attention to the speed and font size since these factors can also affect the user experience of mobile users.

Themes and plug-ins

What our blogs look like whether on desktop or on mobile devices matter. It is one of the factors that can potentially attract more traffic to your site. How would you like your site look like? What sort of functionalities do you want your blog to have?

Make sure to choose a platform that has a variety of themes to choose from. People usually like to see color and style which is why it is important your blog has a great theme to begin with. It adds a personality on your blog. On the other hand, functionality is also important. This is where plugins come in. Plugins will allow you to do certain functions for your site. Some blogging platforms have limited plugins and some do not. Ask yourself what specific functionality you need and look for blogging platforms that have it.

Versatility

Some platforms are better for a specific blog niche. For instance, there are platforms that offer functionalities that work best for business rather than for a personal blog. Try to check if the platform has the versatility that you need which allows you as a blogger to transform it depending on your niche.

Hosting

Most of the time, this is the last deciding factor when it comes to choosing a blogging platform. There’s basically free and paid hosting. It’s up to you which one works best for you. A free blog will provide you an address that includes the name of the company that hosts your site. For example, if you choose a free hosting such as WordPress.com or Blogger, your domain will look like this: yourblog.wordpress.com or yourblog.blogspot.com, respectively. If you opt for a paid hosting, you get to eliminate the name of the company and your domain will read like this: yourblog.com. Free hosting are a great way to start with, but with it comes a limited option to tweak your website.

Later on in this post, we will discuss with more depth about the difference of a free and paid hosting.

Support

Managing your blog is no easy task especially if you have a lot in your plate or if you are just starting out. In case you need assistance with any issues or technical aspects of managing your blog, make sure that the company that hosts your blogging platform is available 24/7. See if they have phone, email, or chat support. It would be of great help if you can also easily access tutorial videos and forums.

Security

Regardless of which platform you choose, there is always a risk for malicious attacks if you are using a public network when accessing your blog. Nevertheless, make sure to check a blogging platform that has a plugin that will allow you to prevent any kind of attacks or spam.

Free and Self-Hosted Platforms: Which one should you choose?

Whether you are blogging for business or for personal reasons, it is important that you think thoroughly if you are going for a free or a paid platform. There are several differences with the two and you might want to study them carefully before choosing.

A free platform is easy to set up compared to a paid one. The free version is definitely beginner-friendly. You just need to fill out some forms and be asked with a few questions such as your blog name, niche, and more. In a few minutes, you can have you blog up and running. On the other hand, the downside of free blogging platforms is that your blog can be potentially crammed with ads. If you go with a paid platform, you have more control with the ads that appear in your blog or you can also choose to not display it. Free platforms have limited support as well compared to those who go premium. Most of the time, paid hosting offer more Support for bloggers.

On the other hand, if you want to have a credible voice in the online community, choosing a paid platform is the way to go. It’s a sad fact that choosing a free platform will make you appear cheap. If you want to have a professional look and identity, choose a paid platform.

Popular Blogging Platforms

WordPress.org

This is the most popular blogging software today. Although, a lot of people confuse this with WordPress.com which is a different one. WordPress.org is an open source software platform which means that you get to build your blog or website on your own. The advantage of choosing this is that you get to have control over your website. You get to access thousands of plugins and themes so you can make your blog stand out and give it the best functionality. The best part; it is search-engine friendly. With WordPress.org though, you will have to manage your own backups and security and it can be quite challenging to start especially if you are just starting out.

This software is free, but you will need to buy your own domain name and hosting.

Wix

Wix is an easy platform to build a website. It allows you to customize your website using drag and drop tools. In order to add a blog to your website, you can add the Wix Blog app. It’s quick and easy to set up and you get to use dozens of templates with it. You can also add third party apps.

However, the free account only allows a limited number of third party apps and it also shows Wix branding and ads on your site. Also, once you have chosen a template, there is no option to change it.

Wix offers a free website builder.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a free blog hosting service offered by Automattic. This company is created by the co-founder of WordPress.org – Matt Mullenweg. This blogging platform requires no setup and is easy to use and manage. The downside for using this free platform is that you cannot run ads and there are limited options to tweak your site. Also, you don’t necessarily own your blog with this platform. If you violate their terms of service, they have the power to suspend your account.

WordPress.com is free. You can buy your own domain name along with it. You can also upgrade it to remove the WordPress.com logo and advertising from your site.

Blogger

Blogger is a free blog hosting service that has been acquired by Google in 2003. It offers an easy and quick way to set up a blog especially for users who are not tech-savvy. Its greatest advantage is that you get to be backed by Google’s secure platform and reliability. However, you have limited blogging tools to choose from with this platform and you also can’t add new features. Templates are also limited. Like WordPress.com, you don’t own your blog and they can also suspend your blog at any time.

Tumblr

Tumblr is a microblogging platform that has social networking features such as reblogging as well as built-in sharing tools. It’s easy to use and social media friendly. The downside is that there are limited features to the themes. It’s also difficult to import your blog to other platforms.

Tumblr is free to use. You can buy your own domain separately for your Tumblr blog.

There are other blogging platforms available and it’s up to you which one you choose. The important thing to keep in mind is to choose wisely so you can grow your blog in the future – however you want it to be.

5 Social Networking Sites to Promote Your Blog

Social networking sites plays a huge role when it comes to promoting your blog. Due to its popularity across a broad of audience globally, taking advantage of its reach is something you should definitely need to utilize in order to gain more readers on your blog. When it comes to promoting your blog, sharing your content across social media channels has become one of the most effective ways to reach more people. While getting readers organically is still something you should push, gaining readership through social media is also a huge thing that you should consider as well.

Today, there are plenty of big names in the social media world. There are far too many social networking sites, but it does not mean you should be in all of them. If in the past, people try to gain more followers by joining as many social media platforms as they can, it doesn’t necessarily bring in the results that you really want. So the key here is to find the ones that you can work on and more importantly, only choose social networking sites that fit your blog niche. Otherwise, it will only be a waste of time if you are available across all channels and there is no return to your time and effort.

But apart from gaining readership, having a social media profile will also make your personal brand a reliable one in this industry. For instance, if you are a business that promotes products and services through your blog and people have questions about it, it’s much easier if they find you on social media. Your availability across social networking sites will level up your authority in the industry because people love to work with businesses that they can approach immediately and also get solutions quickly.

Thus, if you are blogging today, joining social networking sites has become a necessity. Here are 5 social networking sites to promote your blog.

1. Facebook

Facebook is by far the most popular social networking site today. It has over 1.5 billion active monthly users worldwide and is still continuously growing. This social networking site doesn’t just let you connect with your family and friends, but they also allow you to share links of your blog and other types of content. You can create groups and pages where you can use as your medium in sharing your blog content. Facebook allows you to reach not just your family and friends, but a whole lot of people especially if your circle also shares it within their own circles. And if you want to reach more people, you can also take advantage of paid advertisements where you can target a specific audience that you want to reach. With Facebook continuously updating its platform and its features, it’s no wonder why it is currently the most popular social networking site. It’s the best social networking site that you should have for you to promote your blog.

Also watch: How to Use Social Media to Promote Your Business and Drive Traffic to Your Website – Source: Think Media

2. Instagram

Instagram is a social networking site but also considered a micro-blogging platform which allows you to also promote your blog. Businesses and celebrities use this platform in promoting their websites, businesses, and other related content. Compared to other social networking sites, Instagram’s strength is visual promotion. So for example, if you want to promote a travel blog, posting photos of your travel will allow you to successfully promote your content in this platform. Like any other social networking sites, Instagram allows each user a single page where they can also find the content of others. It can be people or brands they are following or other related content by other people. Instagram also has features that you can utilize in order to gain more engagement such as using hashtags, geotagging, profile tagging, Instagram stories, and more. You can also take advantage of paid advertisements using this platform so that your post will reach more people.

3. Twitter

Twitter is one of the best places to share your blog posts and reach more people. But in order to gain traffic and visibility, you will have to make sure that you go beyond the basics of tweeting. For example, make sure that you put a Click to Tweet button in your blog post so that people can easily share your content through Twitter and when they also want to share it on their own profiles, it’s a lot easier to just retweet it from you. If you can, try to repurpose old articles that contain evergreen content. And as much as possible, mention people you include in your blog post as it will reach out to more people, especially huge influencers, and get to engage with them as well. It’s a win-win situation and it is an effective tactic that will allow you to use Twitter for your own benefit.

4. Pinterest

You might think that Pinterest is just another platform out there that doesn’t give that much value, but you would be surprised to know that a lot of bloggers gain traffic from this platform. It’s considered a micro-blogging platform but it is also a social networking site that will allow you to reach more people and convince them to check out your own content. Pinterest lets you pin a photo and link your blog post within it. You don’t necessarily need to pin every blog post on Pinterest, but you can simply selectively pin blog posts that you think people will want to check out. This works best especially if you are trying to give out solutions to other people. When people visit Pinterest, they look for answers. Take advantage of this need so you can drive more traffic to your blog.

5. Reddit

Reddit is a social media platform that allows you to submit content and then later vote for that content. This voting feature will determine if the content moves up or down. This is also organized as subreddits or areas of interest related to specific content. It’s currently one of the most popular social media platforms today that will allow you to promote your blog and gain more engagement from it.

5 Effective Ways For better blog engagement

Effective Ways to make Engagement Whether we admit it or not making is important in marketing specifically in blogging, not having engagement in our blogs can be demotivating. And this can sometimes affect our drive to blog more. We become more motivated to create content when we know that there are people who will read and understand it.

As human beings, it’s inevitable that we want to have a connection with other people. When we create content for people to see and people do not notice it, it can greatly affect our progress. Even if our initial goal is not to write for others, it is a rewarding experience when we see people engaging in our content. But in order to have that, you must also learn how to engage with your blog readers. After all, it is a two-way relationship and when people see that you are interested in what they say, in return, they will keep looking for more of your content.

A lot of bloggers fail to understand this and it is important to understand that it is an important skill to be able to connect with your readers. As your blog grows, you will soon find out that you have to be present and actually learn how to engage with your readers. But a lot of bloggers don’t know how to do this or may lack the skills of communicating properly with their readers.

1. When you are writing a blog post, think of a topic that can be a solution to their problem.

People search for answers online which is why you see a lot of self-help articles out there. Gone were the days when you have to search for an encyclopedia or a specialist to get a solution to your problem. In today’s modern world, our first impulse is to search for answers online. After all, it is the fastest and the most convenient. With that being said, take it to your advantage and write a topic that will help people provide solutions to their problems. However, you have to make sure that you actually know what you are writing about. Otherwise, you risk the chance to be seen as an unreliable source. Write a topic that you know – one that you are most confident can provide a solution to someone’s problem. This will prompt them to ask you more questions or even thank you for solving their problems.

2. Let people know you are giving them something amazing.

When you are creating content, the mystery is one of the factors that will entice your readers to read it. But when you put up too much mystery and not inform them in advance that you have prepared something amazing for them, it can rub off the excitement and they may not actually click on your post. Writing a preview of your post is very important. What you should tell them is a hint of what you are about to share so they will stick with reading your blog until the end. When you want to engage with your audience, letting them know in advance that you can help them will help a lot. Your readers will want to know you are about to share them something great. You can either write this preview in the first sentence of your blog post or you can even put it in your title. It depends on your strategy but you will have to make sure that you are making it exciting to your readers.

3. Be creative in your storytelling skills.

Storytelling is a huge factor when you want people to notice you. People are generally drawn when they hear or see great storytellers. As a blogger, it is your job to convince people to read your blog through how you share your story. Be creative when writing your blog post and put your own style and knowledge in it. Your audience will see your passion for doing your craft when you become creative about it and if you put your effort in it. In the end, this will push them to get to know your work even more. Good storytelling keeps your audience interested and that is one of the best ways to engage with your blog readers. When you are able to connect with them through your story, it becomes the first step to actually have a good engagement with your readers.

4. Refer to your other blog posts.

Don’t just end your blog post with your topic. Include links of your other content so that it will push them to read more of your work. You have to keep your audience interested and one way of doing that is to show that you have more to offer than what is being presented right in front of them. This is most especially relevant if you have a topic and you have other sources right within your blog that can authenticate what you are trying to point out. It is one of the most effective ways to engage with your blog readers without being too pushy. By simply putting relevant information out there, they will become more interested to engage more with you. You will be able to boost your reader engagement in your blog.

5. Acknowledge their thoughts in the comment section.

The comment section of your blog and social media accounts are the most interesting places that you should look into. It’s where people can air their thoughts about the topic you have just written and also provide feedback. When your audience sees that you acknowledge their sentiments by responding or even just liking their comments, it will prompt them to read more of your content. In the same way, your audience will feel like you don’t care about their thoughts if you do not respond to any of their comments. So the next time you open your blog or social media, never forget to respond to comments and if your readers have questions, be sure to answer them truthfully and confidently.