what topics to blog about
Total visits: 72
Posted on: 29th Aug 2014
How and What to blog about ?
Find a niche
When
choosing a creative topic to blog about, try and find a niche. Make
your blog about something very specific and you'll please both the
search engines and your readers. Try not to be too general and really
focus on one specialist topic and stick to it. Find your own niche and
go for it � just remember to stay on topic.
Write about what you love
Write
about something you love, otherwise you'll show no passion in your
writing. And if there's no passion, your content will suffer, so find a
topic you are comfortable with and only write about that. For example,
if you're a museum curator, talk about the industry, emerging trends and
other museums or exhibitions you love. And if you're a theatre
director, you could write about industry folk you admire or share your
working day with your followers.
Always Offer value
It
goes without saying but if you don't provide something the public
wants, your creative blog will never be a success. Give people what
they're after and offer real value to their web browsing experience.
What do I mean by this? Well, value is demonstrated in the content you
publish. If your content isn't valuable people won't read it or return
to read more. Really think about what you're putting out there and give
the people what they want.
Focus on marketing
You
won't get anywhere if you just launch a blog and hope that people will
come without any marketing effort. You have to actively market your blog
and you can do that through a variety of ways. You can start chatting
with other bloggers by leaving valuable comments on other people's blog
posts � this will help draw people back to your own site. Or you can
make use of the search engines and write about topics that are popular
in the searches, like this very feature. Or you could even offer to
contribute to influential e-zines or blogs to help raise your profile.
Whatever you choose to do, just get out there and market yourself like
mad. There's really no excuse not to.
Encourage interaction
Get
people talking on your blog. Ask them to add their comments on various
articles, like I've done with this post. Encourage interaction wherever
possible. Ask for feedback, respond to people's contributions, build a
community and be nice. People love to interact, so make sure you're
friendly and welcoming.
Make commenting easy
Just
be aware that there are many reasons why people might not comment on
your blog posts. It could be anything from not providing easy access to
log a comment to writing about negative things people don't want to be a
part of. Bottom line? Make commenting easily accessible and write about
stuff that gets people talking positively. If people can interact on
your blog, they'll keep coming back for more.
Don't worry about negativity
Occasionally
you may get the odd negative comment on your blog. Don't let it put you
off or scare you away from blogging. Any comments you're not happy with
can be deleted or responded to positively. Despite what people say,
it's very rare that you'll face negativity so don't worry about it too
much.
Don't get stage fright and believe in yourself
Once
your blog starts to get more than 1,000 visitors per month, it's only
natural that you may lose confidence in yourself and your writing. Don't
get stage fright and keep at it! There is a reason why you have so many
visitors, so believe in yourself and keep writing fantastic content.
Images, images and more images
People
love images. Some of the most popular arts and creative blogs in the
world include a lot of imagery. This is partly because people love to
quickly scan through web pages and they enjoy seeing photographs and
pictures that help to break up text and add visual interest. When
writing a creative blog, images are essential so provide as many as
possible and give your audience lots of things to enjoy.
Provide easy reading
Research
suggests that people view and scan web pages rather than read every
last bit of copy. Therefore, try and keep your articles as easy, quick
reads. Provide lists wherever possible and break up the text. From an
SEO point of view, you want to provide at least 250 words of copy. But
it's also good to stick to this number for your readers � unless of
course you're writing an article such as this one � in which case, add
in bullet points or lists because it will hold people's attention more.
Give your posts punchy titles
When
thinking about things to blog about, write articles that have punchy
titles: ones that people search for through search engines and titles
that are appealing and catchy. You want to draw people in and inspire
their curiosity.
Keep it regular
A
blog is almost like an online journal and suggests a "regular" focus.
Try and keep your blog updated with at least two articles a week.
Ideally, you need to be blogging every single day, especially if SEO is
one of your key priorities. Otherwise, just try and keep things going.
And if you go on holiday, make best use of scheduling tools on your blog
so you can post articles automatically while you're away from your
desk.
Avoid clutter
When
designing your blog � either creating one from scratch or using any of
the free blogging platforms online � try and keep the layout clean,
fresh and uncluttered. Avoid adding lots of unnecessary features. Keep
it easy on the eye and you'll please your blog visitors and have them
coming back for more.
Get social
Don't neglect social media elsewhere like Twitter and Facebook. Make
sure you hook these up to your blog's RSS feed and update your followers
and fans with your latest post. Twitterfeed is
a great tool that automatic publishes your posts to your Twitter and
Facebook accounts � great for Twitter but looks a bit spammy for
Facebook at present. Test everything first and make sure you're happy
with the automatic updates and tweets you're putting out there.
Keep an eye on analytics
Keep
track of how people are landing on your blog and how they're finding
you. You can then tailor your blog posts to your readers' needs as well
as making best use of those external sources that are really drawing
people in. If you invest in any online advertising, your analytics will
also help determine your ROI (return of investment) and whether it's
working or not. Keep an eye on your web analytics and ensure your blog
is working as powerfully as it should be.
Allow easy following
Place
"follow" badges on your blog wherever possible. For example, on Blogger
you can add a free widget which encourages people to "follow your blog"
in their own Google readers.
Tumblr has something similar but this is already integrated. Make sure
you provide an easy follow option on your own blog, even if it's just
clear links to your RSS feed.
Get personal
Reveal
more about who you are in your posts and your audience will love you
for it. People want to follow people, not brands. Include an "about"
section if possible and a photograph of yourself. By offering a personal
slant, you'll be encouraging people to like you and by tapping into
their emotions you'll encourage loyalty hence happy, returning visitors.
A really great example is Ana Kinsella, a fashion blogger from Ireland.
Her Ripped Knees blog is mixed with lots of fashion news, but the
personal slant is when she posts pictures of her own
outfits. Stylebubbleis very similar and hugely popular. Add a personal
touch to your own blog.
Spell checking and proof-reading
Finally,
before you hit the "publish" button, it's crucial you check your
spelling and proofread your article again and again. Bad spelling will
not only ruin your credibility, it will damage your SEO as the search
engines won't appreciate poor copy. Make sure you check everything
before you go live.
Until next time.