These days, everyone has access to the tools that allow them to be a blogger, and many thousands of people work at it, writing new content every day. Some of these people will succeed in their goals, while others will not – so what makes the difference, all other things being equal?
To answer that question, consider the following five tips as examples of action steps you can take to move yourself toward a more successful blogging career, within the categories of social media presentation, scheduling, feedback cycles from readers, practicing with paid writing gigs, and learning to work with other people.
Set Up Your Twitter Account
By having a professional twitter account that links to your blog or your business, you’re cross-pollinating your writing, your personal life, your business goals, and your overall interests. This is a great way for people to get to know you, as well as have historical access to all of the things you’ve chosen to share in the past. And because it’s follow-based, you’re essentially using a form of permission marketing to your advantage.
Maintain a Consistent Schedule
There are countless benefits to maintaining a regular blog schedule. Your readers will like the routine, it will keep you honest about your work schedule, it will show that you’re professional about your output, and it will give people something to rely on over time. Consistent blogs nearly always outperform inconsistent ones, even if the content matter generally ends up being about the same.
Set Up a Feedback Cycle
One of the most important things that you can do as a blogger is respectfully listen to feedback from your readers. And, if you are consistently putting things out, that means that you can get on a consistent feedback cycle over time. What that means is that every week you can improve, because you’ll have the output of a blog post, and the input of immediate feedback. The more attention to pay toward your resources, the better your posts will get.
Look For Paid Writing Positions for Practice
Also, to improve your blogging, look for paid writing gigs to work on the side. The shift in perspective from hobbyist to professional will make you look at your work a bit differently, and that may be the impetus that you need to knuckle down your personal writing skills.
Learn To Work With Other People
Often bloggers will forget that they’re part of a larger community, and begin to pretend that they’re working in a vacuum. This is bad on a number of different levels, as it’s that communication and connection thread that’s going to take your writing to the next level, rather than putting it on a separate pedestal.
Originally posted on December 1, 2015 @ 11:30 pm
