By Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

Individuals once kept online journals or diaries known as weblogs which later became blogs. This term is also known as a verb that means to add information or posts. Blogging has become progressively easier since the mid-1990s with easy-to-use publishing tools and is now the main way for self-publishing.

Whether you’re just starting with writing or are looking for clients, blogging is a fun versatile skill you can learn.

Although blogging isn’t a short-term endeavor, with time and consistent effort you can earn a lot of money, but you won’t get rich overnight.

If you have an idea that you’re really interested in, a proven strategy, patience and discipline to tend to your blog every day, over time you’ll build a valuable asset that can continue to earn you money for years to come.


What do you need to know about blogging?

If you want to launch your own blog, you’ll need to decide how you want to monetize it.

You can start a blog on any topic that interests you. This will give an opportunity to draw an audience. Once you’ve attracted an audience, there are plenty of ways to monetize your blog.

When launching your own blog from scratch, the time and effort you put in and the monetization methods you use determine how much and how fast you grow your blogging income. In this article, you’ll learn how to get started blogging now.


Following are 6 steps for getting started:


Step #1: Idea

You need to decide what you’re going to write about. What are your passions and interests?

In order to maintain the motivation and discipline to keep going, you must find something you enjoy and would want to absorb yourself in learning and writing about every day.

If you’re a beginner blogger, make sure there are others who share this interest and don’t make your topic too broad.

A blog about movies is too broad. On the other hand, one about movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood is more specific.

Rather than blogging from the position of an expert – which you don’t have to be – you can chronicle your journey and have your readers along for this ride.


Step #2: Name and publishing platform

You’ll need to choose a unique and interesting name and a platform for your blog. You want a name that clearly identifies what your blog is about and one that people “get” at first glance.

Definitely choose a “.com” extension as that’s what people search for and expect.

There are lots of paid and free options for publishing platforms available to new bloggers. WordPress is highly recommended as you can quickly and easily set up your blog for free and it’s safe and secure and easy to manage and customize.


Step #3: Editorial calendar

Take the time to plan your first few weeks or months of content so you’ll be set for success and then you’ll never be stuck figuring out what to write about when you should already be writing.

You can check out similar content on other blogs for ideas and you can write on those topics. Just know that what makes your blog unique is your voice and perspective – YOU.


Step #4: Write

Now it’s time to start writing your content. You need to have a great headline, be relevant and useful, or be entertaining depending on your topic. Keep people engaged and give them a reason to keep reading.

People love personal stories, how-tos, and reviews. Be creative when it comes to your ideas, formats, and formulas.

It’s your blog and you have the freedom to do as you wish.


Step #5: Audience

There are many ways to build your audience, although SEO (search engine optimization) is one of the main ones.

You can also build your blog audience with social media.

Be sure your content is high quality. You have to produce several drafts of content and several edits before posting. Don’t just publish the first thing you write.

Keep in mind that, in most niches, longer blog posts of 1,000 to 2,000 words have a tendency to rank better on Google than shorter ones.


Step #6: Monetization and promotional strategies

Even if you’re a beginner blogger, create your monetization and promotion strategies.

A few ways to do this include:

Ad networks
Sponsored content arrangements
Affiliate deals
Coaching or consulting services
Selling your own products
And more

You probably won’t be trying to monetize your blog right off, because it’s difficult to make money until you’ve started to grow your audience.

So, it’s essential you start building an email list right away — even if you think you’re not ready.

When you have an email list, you have permission to keep in contact with people who have shown interest in what you’re writing about and they have taken an action by subscribing.

This is key to monetizing because, in time, you can market affiliate deals or your own products or services to your list. The longer they remain on your list reading your blog, the more loyal to you they’re likely to be.


What should you do before you start blogging?

If you’re considering setting up a blog, you need to start building your list on the first day.

Despite the popularity of social media channels, email marketing remains one of the most used digital marketing techniques.


What are the best blogging platforms?

See this article for a guide to the best blogging platforms.


Blogging isn’t a strategy to get rich quickly. Time, patience, effort, and discipline are required.

These things coupled with a good idea can have you earning extra money, even if you’re a beginner.

Use these tips on how to get started blogging now to set up your blog and start creating some extra income today.

Get Your Business System With Autoresponder Here

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

People think it’s easy to blog for a living and that you sit at home all day writing on the internet. They think anyone can do it.

If you know the challenges that are coming, they’re pretty easy to avoid.

Here are some common mistakes, that most beginners make, and some tips for avoiding them.


Continue reading here.



Get Your Business System With Autoresponder Here

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

Because your business strategy is in place, you should have already determined your audience.


Your audience should be a determining factor when deciding on an ideal blog post length as well.


You need to consider these questions when determining your audience and your ideal blog post length.


** Which social media platforms do your audience share content from the most?
** What types of media sources are they following?
** What types of content are they sharing?
** How long are the blog posts that they are engaging with?


Word count is not a standalone ranking factor. It only has value if the content is of great quality.

A few years ago, the average blog post was usually somewhere between 500 and 800 words or even less.

Now long-form content is dominant.

There is no magic number for every post every time.



What is the average length of a blog post?

Although there is no average length per se, there are suggested lengths for different industries.

Financial technology (FinTech) – 2,000 – 2.150 words

The topics in this industry are fairly complex so they require a lot of depth. For adequate coverage, you should aim for between 2,000 – 2,250 words with a significant number of data-driven images like graphs and charts.

Finance – 2,100 – 2,500 words

Research has shown these numbers to be ideal for the largest volume of organic traffic in the finance industry.

Manufacturing – 1,700 – 1,900 words

The manufacturing industry includes chemicals, textiles, machines, and heavy equipment. There might be differing opinions regarding the word count. But, on the whole, 1,700 – 1,900 is a safe number.

Sales – 2,500 – 2,700 words

Sales is a wide umbrella covering many different areas. The most successful posts in this industry have a high word count.

Retail – 1,500 – 1,700 words

Retail drives the U.S. economy, whether it’s massive chains or mom-and-pop stores.

Online retail has experienced massive growth over recent years, and like manufacturing, the retail industry can involve a lot of different types of content.

So, 1,500 – 1,700 words or even less is sufficient to explain a product or service.

While images are always important across the board, for retail-based articles they’re especially critical.

Real estate – 1,800 -1,900 words

Real estate is an incredibly competitive industry in which you’ll need to specialize in a few strategic areas and be able to deliver expert advice to your readers.

You’ll need to master local SEO.

Home and garden – 1,100 -1,200 words

The word count for this industry is much lower than for the rest because these types of posts are more visual-centric and use lots of pictures and how-to videos to demonstrate their products.

Tech – 800 – 1,000 words

 Most tech articles are a short commentary on a product, technology developments, or events, so 1,000 words is a reasonable count.

Gadgets – 300 – 500 words

After talking about long-form content being best, this seems incredibly low.

There are always exceptions. You probably don’t need to go on and on about a new gadget. Just be practical and cover the background, key features, nice images, pricing, etc.

You want to give readers a clear idea of what to expect if they buy it.

Marketing/advertising – 2,500 – 3,000 words

Just about everyone in marketing engages in content marketing. Which means a lot of content.

In this area, giving value with a high word count will help you to stand out from the competition.

Healthcare – 2,000 – 2,150 words

Healthcare is a huge industry. Not only are there major publications, but there are so many scholarly articles that feature original research from top universities.

To get your content noticed and shared, you must create top-level articles that are filled with valuable data.

Fashion – 800 – 950 words

As with tech gadgets, there’s no need to over-state fashion content. This number of words will allow you to adequately discuss fashion trends, styles, or industry models.

It goes without saying; be sure to include plenty of images.

Recruiting – 900 – 1,000 words

This industry content tends to be statistics-heavy but fairly short.

Food – 1,400 – 1,900 words

There are a whole lot of people writing about the food industry, and food blogs have increased.

Be sure to include beautiful images to make an instant connection with readers.

Travel – 1,500 – 1,850 words

This should be long enough to entirely cover topics like travel tips, destinations, useful gadgets, and more.

Film – 1,500 – 1,700 words

This industry keeps growing. To stand out you have to create substantial, long-form posts.


Producing content is not all about length. There are other variables that determine the success of your blog articles.

** Substance – The most basic consideration is what you’re trying to say. It may require 150 words or 10,000 words.

** Style – Of course, writing styles vary and will affect your content. Some styles will use content that is short, brief, and to the point, and other times it’s conversational and interactive. The style will affect the length of your content.

** Frequency – It takes time to write good content. Some bloggers post once a week while others put out short posts daily. The frequency depends on how much you can manage.

** Format – Your format has a great impact on its readability. You should break your content into small sections so readers can easily skim it. You can do this by using lots of subheadings, a few images throughout the article, and short paragraphs.

** Purpose – What is the purpose or purposes of the article? You may want to spread brand awareness, drive social engagement, provide education, grow email lists, or improve SEO. All these are sub-goals related to your ultimate goal of making conversions.

** Audience – You have to create content based on what your particular audience needs and wants. It should be based on their passions, interests, and their problems.

** Medium – When you post a video, meme, or infographic, word count doesn’t matter. With an infographic, you might use around 100 words to introduce the topic.



Why is long-form content best?

You can cover your topic with a level of depth that’s clearly impossible in a shorter post. So, long-form is perceived as high quality.

As most people don’t read word for word, long-form content is perfect for skimming. What people do is scan and check out headlines, subtitles, and bullet points, and look at the images.

Research shows that most visitors only read about 20 percent of an article.

It seems that creating content with a high word count leaves readers feeling as though they’ve just read something very impressive when they’ve finished.

Short, thin content can’t provide this certain sense of satisfaction.


As long as you provide value to your readers, they’ll appreciate a short or long article. So, use this information to determine the ideal length for blog articles that works for both you and your reader.


Get Your Business System With Autoresponder Here

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

Creativity is using imagination or original ideas in producing artistic work. Creative writing is using words in an artistic way to express emotion.

There are different styles of creative writing including fiction, memoirs, poetry, movie and television scripts, plays, and songs. However, in digital marketing creative writing refers primarily to copywriting and storytelling in which you can use text-based and audio-visual formats for creative writing.


How Do You Write Creative Content?


You can use the following five tips to get started:


1. Define your brand or purpose

Give your brand or product purpose. Give it a human touch that is more than a name, logo, color, or tagline. What is the core philosophy, and what does the brand or product stand for? What kind of emotional response or reaction does it produce from your target audience?

Answering these questions will help you talk about what you’re offering effectively through creative writing, whether that’s a blog, impactful videos, or some other way.


2. Use storytelling to build an emotional connection

People love a good story.

They like hearing about interesting people who have overcome challenges that we can all relate to.

This technique can be used in an email series, on a landing page, or in a short video. Whatever the format, it should include three basic features:

Opening – Show how the character of the story had a normal life until something happened to change that.

Conflict – Show how his/her life was threatened if s/he didn’t respond to the problem. What did this journey look like as the challenge was undertaken?

Dialogue – Start a conversation about the journey.


3. Use interactive content

Don’t limit your creativity to blogs or articles. Now there is no shortage of interactive audio-visual options to use in your creative writing. This type of content is quick to scan and easily engages your target audience.

Some of the formats you can use are:

Images
Videos
Quizzes
Polls
Memes
Infographics
Calculators and tools
Webinars
Image sliders
Surveys


4. Use fewer words

Unlike a play, novel, or movie script, in digital marketing creative writing is usually short-form content because people generally have a short attention span. They want information immediately.


5. Read

If you’re not an avid reader, it’s a good idea to develop a reading habit because creative writing calls for inspiration from different sources.

Reading makes you empathetic as you can step into the characters’ shoes and understand their feelings. You can incorporate these feelings into your creative writing, and of course, reading also expands your knowledge and increases your vocabulary.

You can familiarize yourself with the creative writing of authors and experts by reading short stories, fiction, poetry, or anything that inspires you to think creatively.


What Else Can You Do To Get Started With Creative Writing?


1. Acquaint yourself with literary devices

Literary devices or literary techniques are specific structures that writers often use to add meaning or create more compelling stories for the reader. Some common examples are metaphor, alliteration, hyperbole, and imagery. These techniques can give the reader a greater understanding and meaning of the writer’s intent.

There’s no limit to creativity when using literary devices since they provide wide-ranging creative freedom which can generate impactful writing. Start practicing with metaphors, alliteration, and imagery and you’ll soon begin unleashing your creativity.


2. Use your own writing style

Analyze your writing to understand your strengths and weaknesses. When you write you want your target audience to recognize you. Is your style descriptive, persuasive, or maybe humorous while getting your point across? You should take the reader on a journey that includes a beginning, middle, and end as mentioned earlier – opening, conflict, and dialogue.

The goal of creative writing is to find new ways to tell stories that can surprise and delight audiences. 


3. Challenge yourself

Every element of your writing requires unique thought processes. You can research writing exercises online and use them to improve your writing skills. Your readers will appreciate content that flows smoothly and effortlessly. It takes practice, but you can use these tips to get started with creative writing.


Get Your Business System With Autoresponder Here

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

You can find many tutorials on the mechanics of blogging, but, there is more to writing great blog posts than just the process.

You need a great topic, headlines that offer readers the answers to their concerns, engagement, streamlined text, and more.

You must write in a manner that keeps your readers engaged, so that they don’t just take a quick glance and move on.

You can use this three-part article as a guide.




Get Your System With Autoresponder Here

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

The content marketing environment continues to become more complex, focusing on customer experience and strategy.

To navigate this space, you must prioritize your content approach and optimization of your content methods.

Currently, the top 3 content marketing developments include a focus on being more human, targeting, and setting measuring goals that can be reviewed on a regular basis.

In order to achieve your goals, include strategy and planning in every decision in the content marketing process from beginning to promotion.


What do you need for content marketing success?

   * Increased brand awareness

   * Attraction of more traffic to your website

   * Generation of leads


You can increase brand awareness through content marketing by:

1) Creating non-branded, searchable content to gain the attention of those who are not familiar with your brand and who are looking for more information on a relevant topic.

2) Publishing on other websites, with large readerships, that match your target audience.

3) Diversifying your content over blog posts, videos, podcasts, webinars, whitepapers, case studies, etc.


What are some of the best content marketing tools?

1.  Marketing Hub

HubSpot’s Marketing Hub offers an array of tools and systems that grow along with your business, allowing you to scale seamlessly.

2.  WordPress

WordPress is the most widely used CMS (content management system) in the world. It is best for blogging, creating portfolios, and publishing editorial content.

WordPress is an open-source CMS on which you can host and build websites. You can host your own site or use WordPress.com.

WordPress has plugin architecture and a template system you can use to customize any website to fit your business, blog, portfolio, or online store.

It’s a highly customizable platform that is widely used by bloggers.

3.  Google Docs

Google Docs is a free, widely used and simple tool for editing and collaborating with content writers.  If you can use word processor applications, Google Docs is for you.

4.  Grammarly

Grammarly is used for editing and proofreading your content before publication. It works across multiple communication mediums, from email to documents to social media.

Their browser extension works with Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, and offers a free basic grammar and punctuation plan.

5.  Yoast

This tool is one of the best SEO WordPress plugins, and it’s very easy to use.

6.  Vidyard

Vidyard is a video marketing platform used to help you with hosting, sharing, and promoting video content on your website.

It’s best for creating B2B marketing videos, digital marketing, and content creation.

7.  Loom

Loom is great for creating video presentations and tutorials. It’s versatile and user-friendly. You can use it to answer questions or explain complex topics that require a visual aid.

8.  Google Analytics

This tool is for understanding your audience and tracking site metrics like how people found your site and observe visitor behavior.

This free tool is one of the most widely used platforms online, and the basic configuration is easy to use.

9.  Google Optimize

This is best for A/B testing changes to your site’s pages.

10. TheStocks.IM

This is great for sourcing stock images and free photos. It aggregates multiple free photo sites into one place such as Unsplash and Pixabay.

Just type the topic or object you’re searching for into the search box, and it will pull up images across all the platforms it sources from.

11. Canva

You can design your own marketing materials using Canva. Its UI (user interface) is great for design beginners. You can pick a template to start or create your own design from scratch.

It’s great for all kinds of content marketing imagery, like blog cover photos, social media images, Twitter cover photos, and more.

12. Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is the gold standard for editing photographs and images, and designing custom materials. Use it to edit photographs, create Facebook images, blog cover photos, and screenshot tutorials.

These are just a few of the content marketing tools out there. Although there are many more, this list is a beginning.

For content marketing success you need to increase brand awareness, attract more traffic to your website, and you need to generate leads.

Knowing how to do this and having the tools to do so is only part of the process. Due to the changing face of content marketing, you must have a well-planned strategy for success.


Get Your System With Autoresponder Here

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

Copywriting requires you to be skillful at crafting headlines. If you have a great headline there’s a better chance of getting what you’ve written read by more busy consumers. But, keeping your audiences engaged is easier said than done.

Below are 15 copywriting tips to capture the interest of busy consumers.


1. Important Information Is Bold Or Bulleted

People don’t really read. They just skim, reading only the headline and bolded or bulleted information.


2. Make Your Copy Professional And Persuasive

Don’t be too basic or mainstream. Be original and fun and give your reader a reason to engage.


3. Help Consumers Connect With Their Emotions

Make your audience feel something about themselves, not you. Their own emotions will induce them to take action.


4. Use A Short Introduction

Get straight to the point, because your readers want to learn something new that’s relevant to them.


5. Use Simplicity

Take a simple approach. Skip the banter and get to the point. Busy consumers want solutions to their problems, so give it to them and quickly offer a CTA.


6. Cover Your Point(s) Quickly

Grab people’s attention and quickly get to the point. Your audience is busy, so get your message to stand out and get to the point then deliver your CTA.


7. Delay Details

Start with the main topic and deliver details later. Busy people are not going to read a boring introduction. If the juicy part of your information is intriguing, they will read more.


8. Skip The Clever Buildup

Don’t waste a lot of time on a clever buildup. If you do, your reader may just move on before getting to the most important takeaway.


9. Know Your Audience

You must know your audience so that you can craft a message, that is immediately relevant.


10. State Exactly What You Want The Reader To Know

Start at the end and then build to support your value proposition by unpacking details a few seconds at a time, thus earning the attention of your audience.


11. Use Multiple Headlines Throughout Your Content

This makes your content skimmable and indicates what’s coming next. Limit detailed information by using links to detailed articles on the subject.


12. Ask Questions

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Asking questions, taking strong notes, and recording responses will help yield the best results in the shortest amount of time. Don’t try to be perfect. Get a draft out quickly and write with confidence.


13. Keep Your Message Short

You only have a few seconds to convince people to read what you have to say. So, keep your message as concise as possible.


14. Refine Your Core Message

For copywriting, start by using paragraph form, then cut that down to a statement of one or two sentences. Then whittle your core message down to a phrase.


15. Strike A Happy Medium

When dealing with busy consumers, you need to capture your audience’s attention while keeping the message straight and to the point.

By using these 15 copywriting tips to capture the interest of busy consumers, you can stay focused on your intent and better deliver your message to your audiences.

Source: Forbes.com



Your Autoresponder and More

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

Content is your sales pitch, billboard, brochure, and portfolio all combined into one.

To have success at Internet marketing, you must have planned content.

As a blogger, social media strategist, or professional marketer you need well-organized content.

You have to master the engineering and architectural sides of good content development.

Your content needs to be well written, shareable, educational, and it should confirm your reputation as an authority.

You can read more here.



Your Autoresponder and More

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

In part 1 of Beginner Blogger Mistakes to Avoid, we discussed 6 mistakes.

Following are the remaining mistakes to avoid:


7. Not tying specific posts into the larger picture.

Specific posts should relate to the broader picture and to your readers’ concerns.


Solution: Identify the problems and concerns they’re facing.

What will be the benefit for readers taking action?

What do they think are the consequences of not taking action?


8. Using stream-of-consciousness writing style.

You don’t want your writing to be a brain dump. People usually scan a blog post. So, it needs to be well organized.


Solution: Use a template, outline, and section headers.

Write an outline before you begin your post.

Make a list of the top things you want readers to get from your post. Then, pare those into larger section headers. Putting in a section header every few paragraphs. This makes your blog post more enjoyable and easier to read.


9. Relying on the conceptual rather than concrete.

Don’t rely on conceptional and vague ideas. Include actual, actionable steps to be taken for success.


Solution: Include actionable steps to achieve success.

Content creation should be useful. Your audience should be given something. It could be a “how-to” recommendation for a particular strategy or simply a suggestion for a tool or tactic to make a process easier.


10. Not using data as evidence.

When you make claims in your post, use data and research to back them up.


Solution: Use data to support your statements.

If you say that people prefer one social media platform over another, you need to show proof of your argument.

Some places to find great data include:

Hubspot Research

Pew Research Center

Marketing Sherpa

HubSpot’s State of Inbound Report


11. Not adding enough context.

Not using examples to back up that what you say is important.


Solution: Use visual aids and additional content to illustrate your ideas.

Saying that one product is a better bargain than another is fine. Don’t just make the statement and move on. Add more content to show why by actually comparing the two and showing the additional benefits of the one over the other. Write for the person who’s just learning about your topic.

For more specificity, you can hyperlink to other posts that relate to your current topic.


12. Borderline Plagiarizing

Don’t copy and paste content to your blog. Your post must be in your own words and in your style of writing.


Solution: Give proper credit.

If you quote someone’s content, you must cite the source.


13. Not Editing.

You’re not done when you finish writing the post.


Solution: You must take time to edit your writing.

Proofread your post. Check for typos, sentence structure, there/their type mistakes, format, and flow.


14. Trying to be perfect.

Don’t try to be perfect. It won’t work. You’ll always find one more thing to correct.


Solution: Publish. You can update later.

After you’ve put in about thirty minutes editing, just publish the post. You can always update it at a later time.


15. Not being consistent.

It’s important to be consistent for your sake and so your subscribers learn to know what to expect.


Solution: Use a calendar.

Before you start blogging, set up a planning strategy that includes how often to post, dates to post, when to do related duties to prepare for each post such as research, the actual writing, etc.

You can use Google Calendar, excel spreadsheets, other sources or just make your own when first starting to blog.


16. Concentrating on fast traffic.

Your focus should be on long-term traffic.


Solution: The ROI of your blog is the accumulation of organic traffic over time.

Publish content that has durable relevance on a consistent basis, to help drive traffic. This is known as “evergreen” content. It’s great quality and is relevant year after year with minimal attention required.


17. Not growing your subscription list.

To get traffic, leads, and eventual customers you need to get subscribers. You can add a call to action (CTA) to your blog to grow subscribers.


Solution: Set up a subscription CTA and email newsletter.

Use your email marketing tool to set up a welcome email for new subscribers and place a simple sign-up form at the top of your blog. You can also use PPC advertising, email, and dedicated landing pages for subscribers that direct people through channels like social media and other pages on your website.

Some other things you can do include offering incentives for signups, promoting on your “About Us” page, adding footers that act like CTAs to blog articles, and using SEO (search engine optimization) for each article you post.

These are beginner blogger mistakes to avoid.

Not making these mistakes and using the suggested solutions to avoid them should set you well on your way to productive blogging.


Your Autoresponder and More

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

When you tell people that you blog for a living, they think it’s easy, that you just sit at home all day on the internet writing. They say anyone can do that!

But, when they actually try it, they realize it’s much harder than they thought. At first, they make many mistakes like any beginner.

The challenges are pretty easy to avoid if you know they’re coming.

Below are some common mistakes most beginners make and some tips for avoiding them.


What is a blog?

A blog is short for weblog, a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order, so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. — Wikipedia

Blogs can help you establish authority in your industry, drive traffic to your website, convert traffic into leads, and grow your business.


What are the most common blog post mistakes?

1. You think of ideas that only interest you.

No matter how great you think your post is, you’re writing for other people.


Solution: Blog posts should reflect your company’s or your site’s larger goals.

You’re blogging to offer solutions to your audience’s problems and to grow your business. All of your blog posts should be written with these goals in mind and have a natural tie-in to issues in your industry while addressing specific questions and concerns of your prospects.


2. You forget about your persona.

If you want your blog content to generate traffic, leads, and sales, it must resonate with your audience and make them take action. You have to have an idea of the person you’re trying to reach – age group, interests, male, female, income range, etc.


Solution: Understand your persona’s problems and frustrations and solve them.

You can bridge the gap with your content by defining your buyer persona and the things that are important to them.


3. Your writing is too rigid.


You should write like you talk, in a style that is effortless to read.


Solution: Write blogs that are personable.

So, relax your style of writing and be more conversational. Use contractions. Throw in a pun or two.


4. You think people care about you as a writer.

People care more about what you can teach them than they do about you and your experiences.


Solution: Show your personality without obscuring the subject.

You can introduce parts of your personality in your writing to make people feel at ease. Some people crack jokes, some reference pop culture, and others use vivid descriptions in their writing.

The choice is yours. Make your tone personal and engaging, as if you’re in a face-to-face conversation.


5. You digress

Although you’re encouraged to let your personality shine through when you’re writing, don’t abuse the privilege. Don’t bring up too many personal experiences that bury the point you’re trying to make.

Don’t digress into these personal anecdotes and analogies too much — your readers aren’t sitting in front of you, which means you can’t guarantee that you have their undivided attention. They may lose patience and bounce from your article.


Solution: Assert your argument repeatedly.

Restate your point in every section of the article, to prevent your writing from losing its audience. Commit to an overarching message and deliver it gradually, repeating it several times throughout the post.

State your main point upfront. Don’t spend several paragraphs telling a story of how you came to do a certain thing before getting to the main focus of your post.


6. Not narrowing your topic.

Don’t use topics like:

“Internet Marketing”

“How to do Social Media Marketing”

“Digital Marketing”

These topics are too broad. To get the most short-term and long-term benefits of your blogging, you need to be very specific.


Solution: Start with a clear, concise idea.

A working title isn’t final — it’s just a solid perspective to keep your writing on track. Once you get this stage right it’s much easier to write your posts.

This is a link to some sources to get ideas. (I get no commission)

https://coursemethod.com/blog-topic-generator-tool.html



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