5 Ways to Become a Better Blogger

By Jonathan Walker

It never hurts to go back over the basics of blogging, something all the more important today as bloggers abandon their sites in favor of Facebook. You can make your site stand out, providing a respite for web users who are weary of all the social media noise.

1. Customize

A blog should not just be a blank web page with your thoughts scribbled on it. No, a blog is how you express yourself. It is how you choose to show what is important to you to the whole world. When you design your blog, make sure you customize it to better represent who you are and what messages you want to get across. For example, if your blog is about living green in an eco unfriendly world, you may not want to have a plain black background template with boring fonts for your text. Make it yours! And make sure that your post-customization product is readable and fun to look at.

2. Post

It may seem like a given, but remembering to post articles is a big boost to your blog readership. Many bloggers start out on their first blog swearing that they will post every day. In a few months they have fallen rather short of that goal, disappointing readers and themselves. For your blog, be sure that you pick a blogging schedule that you know you can stick to. If you are busier than others, tell readers upfront that you will only post something once a week. That way readers won’t simply believe that you are lazy or don’t care about what you’re doing.

3. Comments

When your readers comment, I’m sure you read them. But even more important that checking on those comments that they post is communicating with them further. If a reader has taken the time to read a post and to comment on it, the least you as the blogger can do is to let them know that their comment is appreciated and that you encourage them to keep reading and interacting. This is important to the readers, and readers are important to the success of the blog.

4. Guest Posts and Themes

One good way to shake things up a bit if your blog is becoming stale is to get a guest blogger to post send you an article. A featured guest blogger of the month may be a fun way to get a fresh voice out to your readers. It may even excite them that they may be chosen as your guest blogger one month. Also, try having a theme to each week or month. This will give people something new to think about and will add structure and excitement to your articles and topics.

5. Interaction

Finally, be careful what you post about. Though readers generally love to hear about what is going on in the blogger’s life, it is always nice for them to be able to express how their lives and situations relate to yours. When you write a blog post, be sure that you make some part of the post interactive. Inspire thought; ask questions; maybe even play the devil’s advocate once in a while. This leaves readers with the sense that they are not only spectators, but that they are actually significant contributing members to the success of the blog.

Author Information

Jonathan Walker is a blogger and writer for Car Insurance Comparison. Over there he most recently wrote about New Jersey Car Insurance.

Sins of Omission: Leaving Facts Out, Please

I absolutely love to write and cannot imagine myself doing anything else. I’ve crossed paths with many people who feel the same way — “words” are the foundation of our profession and, similar to a sculptor working with a block of clay, words can be made into something beautiful!

Sometimes we can be too thorough in our writing. No, I’m not saying we shouldn’t be detailed when offering specific guidance as when sharing “how to” instructions. With this type of writing you must walk someone through each step so that they can grasp how to complete a particular task. Omit just one point and you’ll leave the reader frustrated, their task left undone.

Let me give you example of when it is a perfectly fine time to leave out some information: when you blog. Yes, your own site — the place where you dispense important information, depart knowledge or otherwise seem to know what you’re talking about.

By leaving out some information, you invite people to do what you want them to do: leave a comment or engage in an ongoing discussion.

For example, let’s say your topic is “collecting money from past due customers.” In your article you can offer ways to get money including writing a letter or making a phone call, but you can leave out the obvious: suggesting that past due accounts be referred to a collection agency.

You “knew” that the collection agency suggestion was an option, but you wanted someone else to mention it. Furthermore, you want your readers to share their experiences and what steps they took to get their money.

Yes, you performed a “sin of omission” by purposely leaving out at least one important fact. Sounds simple, right? It is.

And it should be something you do from time to time as a way of eliciting comments to build up a discussion. Don’t do it all of the time either because if you profess expertise in a certain area, you’ll come across as someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about or appear incompetent as you leave out an obvious step.

I know that these types of articles “work” from personal experience because when you leave something out, you’ll get several comments from readers. You can then engage your readers by adding in your comments, perhaps building a discussion far longer than the actual article itself. My blog statistics reflect that the articles with the most comments are those which have the most traffic. And traffic is the lifeblood of all things Internet.