In 2022, the fifth most reliable source for online information has been rated to be the Blogs. Each month, nearly, 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages. That’s quite a huge number! So, you know why there has been a steady upsurge in blogging.
A blog according to Wikipedia is a discussion or informational website published on the internet, often informal diary-style posts.
This article will have two sections. First, how pandemic affected the blogging industry and second, some effective guidelines for writing good blogs.
Now, we will discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has its impact on blogging industry. Though the nature of the work is staying indoors but a survey conducted by firstsiteguide.com shows that 63.88% have been affected directly. Likewise, many had to alter their habits, pay higher prices, withdraw various services, and find a new method. Nearly, 46.50% of bloggers say that they have been blogging more since the pandemic. Whereas, 27.18% say that they blogged less, while the rest didn’t transform their blogging behaviour. However, some posted less as they weren’t motivated enough. Traffic has also been affected during the pandemic, only 54.27% of blogs getting more traffic. Since blogging revenue is directly connected to the amount of online traffic, around 35.19% of bloggers say that their revenue increased. On the other hand, 25.13% of bloggers had less revenue. The rest stated no significant changes.
So, now this article will throw some light on 9 effective steps for blogging. Though this is not exhaustive but you can read through to sail smoothly.
The first thing you learn when you’re blogging is that people are one click away from leaving you. So, you’ve got to get to the point, you can’t waste people’s time, you’ve got to give them some value for their limited attention span.
Alex Tabarrok
Tabarrok rightly puts it that your writing style will be the ultimate mantra for an effective blog. With limited attention span of your audience, you can either entice them or keep them at bay with just one click.
- Write for yourself first – To take the first step towards blogging; At first write for yourself. Have a critical mind to analyze beyond your ideas.
- Think, whether you are liking your write-up.
- Question yourself: Will you, as an audience, like to read the whole text? If not, why?
- Work both on your strengths and your weaknesses. This is a key element to decipher your connection with your readers.
- Get concepts from your audience- Audience is your patron. They will guide you to sail through this online race. So, if you can connect with them on regular basis, they will suggest your topics. But before that be careful, you must listen to your inner calling. Like, which genre of writing will keep you afloat even after 6 months or years after?
Hope, you don’t want to quit the scene. Right! So, hang on!
- Comprehend your audience- Don’t ever under estimate your audience. They will give you feedback regarding your blogs. So, keep an open mind for constructive criticism. This process will aid you to sharpen your skill as a blogger.
Always keep an open dialogue with them and work on their suggestions to perfect your art of business.
- Love your present readers – Whenever you have published your blog on platforms like, WordPress or Blogger etc. You will have your set of audience. That means you have offered your blog for the outer world to add their comments. They will judge you, appreciate you or moreover can troll you. But you may never know when your blog can become viral? Though there is a debate whether every viral content is worth sharing or not but you can’t deny the fact that it has immense power to get noticed!
So, love your existing readers and respect their opinions.
- Be consistent – This is a mantra for every business i.e., consistency. Write on regular basis either daily, weekly or fortnightly. But if you are serious in your business, write on daily basis. Fix on your ideas, research well, be careful with your references. DON’T ever indulge in plagiarism. Respect others work to earn your respect.
You can be inspired by others but structure your blog according to your own niche style.
- Keep it short – There is a saying in the field of journalism – KISS & TELL. That means Keep It Short Simple & Tell the Story. It goes with the concept of effective blogging too. When your audience is a click away to skip your page. The method to hold on to your audience, is to tell a story, in a few words.
We can say, brevity is the key.
- Give it time – Believe me, if you love to write. You will give your time no matter what? So, time will pay you dividends. It will gain your regular audience. There is an audience for every genre of writing.
- Focus on your daily target.
- Try to write at least 500 words daily.
- Make it a habit. As if you are writing on your diary.
- Write catchy headlines – Headline is said to be the crest of every write-up. So, if it fails to convey the message well to your readers; then forget about your efforts on your research. You must think captivating headlines that will trigger interest in your audience to read your blog till the end.
So, practice writing enticing headlines to grab attention of your readers but remember Don’t misguide them!
- Be Yourself – This is what will give that niche touch to your blogs. Have that personal touch. Don’t pretend to be what you are not. Your readers know you through your blogs, so be an open book, which can be read whenever they feel like.
So, we come to an end of this blog. Hope you enjoyed reading and start blogging from today!
Reference
- https://optinmonster.com/blogging-statistics/#:~:text=General%20Blogging%20Statistics,sites%20are%20written%20in%20English.
- https://firstsiteguide.com/blogging-industry-survey/#pdf
BLURB
The 10 most fascinating insights from blogging industry
- The majority of bloggers are millennials (people aged 25 to 34).
- For 14.08% of people, the greatest challenge was starting a blog.
- 91.65% of bloggers recommend starting a blog if you don’t have one yet.
- 28.83% of bloggers use GoDaddy web hosting services, followed by Bluehost with 9.90%.
- 59.81% of bloggers make money through blogging.
- 18.74% say that affiliate marketing is their top revenue source.
- 44.56% recommend YouTube as the second most popular revenue channel.
- 54.08% of bloggers say that they get the most traffic from social media.
- 33.40% of bloggers get ideas for new post topics on social media.
- 63.88% of blogs were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and 46.50% of bloggers say that they have been blogging more since the pandemic started