SecondIron's Blog

Sharpening Iron to Live Second

10 Blogger Tips To Get Noticed

10 Blogger Tips To Get Noticed.

As a blogger we all have our own ways of doing the same things. blogger 2Ultimately our goal is to have our voices heard. Some will do it with headlines, others with extreme SEO while others base it on their content alone. No matter what you write if it is engaging and interesting people will read it, otherwise … well.

There are a few basic guidelines that if you follow them at least to some extent you might get noticed.

  1. Choose your topic – it really does not matter what the topic, as long as you choose one. Many bloggers take a shotgun approach and try to cover everything and in turn cover nothing. Whatever the topic stick with it, which is why you are being read in the first place. Nothing worse than a headline about leadership that spills into a story about your dog and peanut butter cookies. There are at least three posts in that one sentence if not more.
  2. Short and sweet – very blogger that has anything to say will start with nothing and in minutes have a book. Keep your blog posts short. The experts say anywhere from 500 to 1000 words with the happy medium around 700. Anymore and well you probably won’t get read. Break it up if you have to, make it bite size nuggets of great content.
  3. Edit your work – one of the biggest detractors is someone who cannot spell. Grammar and punctuation is not as important, but at least use spell check. People will read clean copy over sloppy work any day of the week. Review it, edit it, and publish it.
  4. Consistently constant – In order to gain readers and followers a blogger must provide new content regularly. This does not mean you have to blog everyday but whatever you consider constant,  do that. Get in front of your readers else they will forget you.
  5. Write like you mean it – have a great idea, write it, see something of interest jot it down. We pass through life with tidbits of information flying by. If we write it down, soon those notes become paragraphs, which become blog posts.
  6. Know your audience – imagine being a symphony composer that walks out on stage with a crowd full of metal heads before you. In order to reach your audience you must know them. This can be done by analytics, surveys or just simply asking them.
  7. Share your work – you can write and blog all you want but if no one knows you are doing it they won’t read it. This means use social media to share it with your friends and followers. Join blogging sites, and places where other bloggers hang out. Tell your family and friends and they will tell others and that is where it begins.
  8. Be true to yourself – bloggers many times will blog about things they know little or nothing about just because they think it will get hits. Anyone that reads blogs or anything written can spot a fraud. If you don’t believe it, don’t write it, and don’t post it.
  9. Return the favor – there is nothing a blogger likes more than when someone comments on their posts. Spend some time whether daily or once a week, commenting on others’ blogs. By you commenting you continue the conversation for them. In turn you will gain as you will be seen as active and they usually will return in kind.
  10. Invest in You – your blog is the online persona of you. It is okay to start out with a free template that everyone else has. Eventually you will want to switch to a self-hosted site and a personalized theme. There are thousands upon thousands of bloggers trying to be heard. Spend a little money and make yourself stand out.

Obviously this is a short list of the many tips that can be used to make your blogging experiences a success. Whether you do it for money, do it for fun or just want to tell your story? However serious you are about blogging there are tools and tips that can help along the way. For more info go to my Resources page to see how I am making my voice heard.

Now it’s your turn: As a blogger do you have any tips you would like to share? Better yet what tip here will help you become a better blogger? Please take a moment and share your thoughts and comments below.

As always if you enjoyed this material I invite you to subscribe to SecondIron’s Blog where you will be in-boxed every time we have a new post online.

 

About Charles Johnston

Charles is a Christian, husband and father of fur-kids who shares his walk with others in hopes to help other's along the way.

8 Replies

  1. Great tips! I agree with them all. Especially number 10!

  2. Great tip, I’m a new blogger and I’m seeking all the help/advise I can get to do this the correct way. Thanks for taking the time to write this post.

  3. rkgummer

    Love these tips! Especially number 7, so true. Even if you have the best post in the world it wont be seen unless you share away! 🙂

    http://www.skinnybelle.com/

  4. I agree with your tips! Before I started blogging I read Seth Godin’s blog regularly and appreciated the short length of his posts. I keep all my posts at or below 500 words and it has served me well.

    1. Seth is a great one to read and follow, he proves over and over short is better.

  5. This a great list. The tip that connected with me most is “Know your audience.” I find it’s hard for me to write/blog when I can’t really “see” or I don’t really know the person I’m writing for. I’m in the process of creating a vision board to represent my audience. I’m taking 4-5 pictures of women I actually know that represent my audience as a whole. I’m planning to use this vision board to help me focus my writing better. When I’m considering a topic, I want to be able to ask myself, “Who is this for?” and have an actual woman’s name to give as an answer. I’m hoping it helps me be more successful with the other tips you listed!

    1. A vision board is a fantastic idea, that way you have a reminder of why you are doing it all in the first place. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

  6. I’ve had some pretty good results from #’s 7 & 10.