It's worth taking your time for building a winning blog post strategy. Because you want your blog posts to rank well in search engines, get the most engagement from readers and ultimately, make good money from it. You choose to blog rather than share your opinions here and there across social media because you love to write, right? But we all know that the blogging industry is extremely competitive. In the US alone, there were 31.7 million bloggers in 2020. So let's go through how to create winning content that people will want to read and share.
Process for Building a Blog
You probably have blogging experience already, but you'll speed up your writing process if you follow a systematic approach.
1. What To Write About - The first thing to consider is what type of blog post you’re going to write each day. It's good to create different types and alternate - articles on specific topics, product reviews, how-to guides, statistics, etc.
2. Research The Topic - If you’re writing an article on a specific topic, research the topic beforehand and come up with some ideas of topics that would be interesting to readers. If you're writing a product review, you know you'll have to learn the details.
3. Brainstorming - Once you have an idea of what you want to write about, it’s time to start brainstorming ideas. It can be helpful to break down your topic into smaller pieces so that everything is easier to think about.
4. Start Drafting - While drafting your blog post, get your visuals ready. Pick and resize images and choose videos to embed. This will help illustrate your points and make your article more engaging for readers. Additionally, make sure to include headlines, paragraphs, and sentence breaks to make your writing easy to follow.
5. Edit and Publish - Make sure there are no punctuation errors and all the hyperlinks are correctly placed. Also, make sure the call-to-action is nice and clear. Then it's time to publish your blog.
6. Share - Finally, share your blog post on social media with appropriate hashtags so your followers and other users will find your post.
Show Your Speciality On Your Blog
Your blog space is giving you a fantastic opportunity to show off your unique skills and talents. So if you can, choose your niche that’s related to your speciality. Something that may be normal to you but may be eye-opening and thought-provoking for the readers. You give them a taste of your unique perspective, and by doing that, you can establish yourself as an authority.
Be Open
Think about who you want to reach with your blog posts. Are they people who are interested in the topic? Do they have a particular viewpoint that you want to challenge?
The truth is, it’s really hard to know who you should be targeting - general public, industry insiders, or people who have a specific need. Then the best you can do is try opening yourself up to anyone. Be friendly. Your readers are out there, so you write as if you are making a conversation with someone. At least by knowing that, it will be much easier to create content that appeals to them.
Stay As You Are, Be Yourself
Nobody is perfect, and that’s okay. No person is exactly alike, so don't try to be someone you're not. Write from your own point of view and share things that are important to you – this will make your blog more authentic and interesting to read. Share your honest opinions and be yourself on your blog. People will appreciate it, and you’ll build trust with them as a result.
We all talk about who our "target audience" is when looking to improve our content marketing. But many bloggers are also so self-involved that they don't write in a way that resonates with their readers. Balancing is important; tailor your blog posts to specific demographics but stay as you are so that the readers who like your writing style will look forward to your new blog post updates.
Here are the steps to crafting successful blog post strategies.
Rediscover What Type of Blogger You Are
What is really going on in your mind? You may already know that it's important to be yourself when sharing your opinion with others. But when it comes to writing blog posts, you end up sounding like someone else. Have you experienced that?
Your readers will know you better if they can see the real you. So keep writing, and you'll find your own style in due course. Here are some things that you may want to keep in mind;
Talk openly about your thoughts and feelings.
It can be scary to share our innermost thoughts with others, but it is important to do so if we want to build relationships. When we open up, others are more likely to do the same.
Share funny stories and anecdotes.
A good sense of humour is one of the most important traits for a successful blogger. Not only will it make you seem likeable, but it will also help you lighten up the mood when things get tough.
Be yourself with your graphics and design decisions.
If you want people to take you seriously as a writer, they need to believe that you are serious about what you write as well. This means that your blog design should be consistent with your writing style.
But don’t be afraid to experiment. As long as you are true to yourself, there is no reason you can’t try new things and have some fun along the way.
Be yourself in the way you treat other bloggers and readers.
It can be easy to get caught up in the blogging world and start to think of others as competition. This is not the best way to build relationships or gain trust. Be respectful and kind when interacting with others, and you will be rewarded in return.
Rediscover your personality through writing.
The writing style of new bloggers can be inconsistent because they haven't really discovered their own style. So don't be afraid and keep writing in the beginning - you can stick with what you think your personality is, or experiment with different styles and see what writing style is best for you.
If you're funny, try writing humorously about everyday life experiences. If you think you are on the serious side, focus on mind-boggling topics. If you're analytical, write product reviews, or consider writing about ideas or issues that interest you. Whatever personality type you choose, make sure your blog content is interesting and engaging for readers.
Share Your Winning Experiences
We all have experienced wins and losses in our lives. What separates the successful from the unsuccessful is how they handle these experiences. Sharing your wins with your readers is a great way to build relationships and spread a positive spiral of motivation.
Your success stories will help them stay motivated and focused on your goals, while you may receive valuable feedback from them, which will also support other readers in turn. Keep these 5 points in mind: Be humble. Be genuine. Be helpful. Be encouraging. Be thankful.
- Be Humble - Nobody likes a bragging rights kind of person. Be proud of your accomplishments, but don't rub them in other people's faces.
- Be Genuine - Don’t make up a story or exaggerate. People can sense when you're not being truthful and it will make them less likely to believe in you.
- Be Helpful - The aim of your blog is to get people to invest in your success, be helpful. Offer advice, resources, or anything else that might help them achieve their own goals.
- Be Encouraging - Encourage others to keep pursuing their dreams. Your positive attitude can be contagious and inspire those around you.
- Be Thankful - Always remember to express gratitude for what you have achieved. This humility will make people want to help you even more and continue to invest in your success.
Blog That Makes Money: Ignore Naysayers
Let’s be clear about this. While sharing your successes is a great way to engage with your visitors, a lot of people in the world in general want to see you fail. Your positive blog posts may or may not influence them because after all, it’s up to them to change themselves to start listening to you or stay bitter.
You may receive messages by email or comments on your blog that miserably deny your success or any products that you promote without even trying to achieve anything themselves.
You are a blogger, not a counsellor. And unless you are a professional counsellor, the best you can do is offer them a few helpful pieces of advice. And if they’re still not willing to be on your side, then ignore them completely. Your time is money, and it’ll be a waste of your time, i.e. money!
How Can I Start a Blog That Makes Money?
In case you don’t own a website yet, I can show you how to use WordPress to build one literally within minutes. Building WordPress didn’t use to be so straightforward - you had to download the platform on your hard drive first, then upload it to your web server - you no longer have to do any of it. There are many WordPress-ready web hosting companies. All you have to do is to pick a theme of your choice, and you can start writing your blog.
If you’d like to run an online store, you can use a plugin called WooCommerce, which is also free to use. Once you have your shop set up, you can start selling products by creating unique content related to your products and linking to your store from your blog posts.
What are the steps for setting up your blog?
Let’s go through the process quickly. Here are the steps:
Choose a Niche
The first step is to decide what kind of blog you want to create. There are many different niches out there, so it's important to choose one that interests you. If you don't have any ideas, this article (Best Affiliate Marketing Niches) may help you. Once you've decided on a niche, start researching the best practices for blogging in that niche.
Choose a Blog Platform
Once you've chosen a niche and researched the best practices, the next step is to choose a blog platform. Wealthy Affiliate allows you to create a WordPress site for free. It will not take more than 2 minutes to set it up and, once you've chosen a theme, start creating your blog using the provided tools and tutorials.
Choose a Domain Name and Web Hosting
Next, you need to choose a domain name and web hosting. A domain name is a URL that your visitors will see when they visit your blog. You can purchase a domain name or continue to use a free domain name provided by a hosting company. Once you've chosen a domain name and web hosting, register the domain name with the hosting company.
Configure Your Blog
Already you are able to start writing, but at some point, you need to give a little tweak to your blog settings. This includes;
Language: Only if you use another language rather than English - most languages are supported on WordPress, so if you are bilingual or multilingual, you may be interested to check the options.
Post List: This setting determines how many posts are displayed on the listing page.
Privacy: This setting determines whether your blog is public or private.
Other customisations: The settings allow you to customise a few additional elements, such as the logo and the base colours of your blog site.
Selling Products Through Your Blog
People primarily search large online stores to buy general goods, such as Amazon, eBay, etc. So the chance of being hugely successful by solely running your own online store is pretty slim. For that reason, updating blog posts regularly is a better idea. You can sell some niche products that are not easily available elsewhere by writing;
- A review of each particular product that you are selling.
- Product comparison reviews.
- Any blog posts such as general guides that are related to the products that you are selling.
For example, if your blog is geared towards health-conscious individuals, then you may want to focus on selling products that promote healthy lifestyles. Additionally, if you are selling a diet or fitness program, then make sure that you have plenty of product reviews and testimonials available to support your claims.
Affiliate Marketing Through Your Blog
Affiliate marketing, as you probably know already, is where a company pays you for promoting a product on its behalf. You are given a commission on the sales made. It's the most popular business model to make money, particularly for those who have no previous online business experience. It's a great way to tap into a large pool of potential customers and promote products/services that you believe will be of interest to them.
Choosing The Right Affiliate Products/Program For Your Blog
Just to clarify the terminology, an affiliate program is a program that you join to become an affiliate for a particular seller/brand/retailer. Whereas an affiliate product is a product that you are eligible to promote and received commission upon sale.
Here are some tips to help you choose the perfect affiliate products/program for your blog:
Price and Commission Rates
Do some research to find products that are easily affordable for anyone to start with. Many experts may suggest that you should choose “high ticket” items (expensive items to sell) so that you’ll receive a higher commission. But it’s much harder for a beginner to sell a number of units. Think about earning $500 in two scenarios;
- A product price is $10 and the commission rate is 50% - you need to sell it to 100 people.
- A product price is $1,000 and the commission rate is 25% - you only need to sell it to 2 people, but how easy will it be to find someone who’s willing to pay $1,000?
Look for Quality Products
When choosing an affiliate program, make sure you are promoting high-quality products. Not all affiliate programs are created equal; some may be better suited for promoting low-quality products, which you don’t really want to put your foot in only to lose your reputation.
Conclusion
Your own blog space has unlimited possibilities. You can say anything you want and sell anything you want (not something illegal or unethical, of course.) Selling affiliate products through your blog can be incredibly lucrative, especially if you have one of the niches that are in high demand; health, wealth, self-development, or love & relationships. Make sure you;
- Learn the latest SEO techniques and follow Google’s guidelines so your blog posts are well-received.
- Fully understand the regulations surrounding online sales before jumping into it, so that you don't run into any problems down the road.
- Set up a solid marketing plan beforehand so that you can reach as many people as possible with your products.
- And stay true to yourself!
As a blogger, the goal is to get people to read your posts. Start planning your next blog post and see how these strategies can help you achieve success!
