I am constantly browsing the blogosphere, seeing my regular blog reads and seeing a lot of new blogs. The problem that I run into with the majority of these blogs is that they are average.
Now don’t get me wrong, most of them have great content and there is nothing technically wrong – they just don’t grab my attention. So what is it that makes people stop and take notice of your blog? What will be the thing that takes your blog to the next level?
I have found 7 things that will help you take your blog from ordinary to a blog that stands out and grabs your attention by the collar.
So read on and I encourage you to take just one of these ideas and start to implement it into your blog – and just watch and see how it changes the way people see your blog.
6 Ways To Take Your Blog Up A Level
-
Search Out Problems
No matter where we go or who we talk to, we are constantly being confronted with problems.Finding problems to solve is a great way to attract new readers who are searching for the answers. What is out there that people are getting annoyed about? Is there anything that you can do about it?
QUICK TIP:
A great way to find what people are having problems with is to use a program like Micro Niche Finder to see what people are searching for. Once you know what they are searching for, you can then go about providing the answer.
-
Look For Improvements
How have you been running things lately? What has been working and what hasn’t been? Now you have a list, start jotting down ideas on how you can improve what you are currently doing.
This could mean posting more (or less). Writing down your posts before you type them up – allowing you to plan your posts out better. Or maybe your current monetization methods are not working as well as you planned, then maybe it is time to change things up.
What is one thing about your blog that you can improve?
-
Become A Leader In Your Field
Obviously this is probably one of the harder options and will not happen overnight, BUT there are huge benefits when you become a leader in your niche. If people are coming to you for advice and hanging on every word that you say then they will also be retweeting, digging, stumbling and linking to your posts. However to get to this point you need to build credibility with your readers and be able to prove that you know what you are talking about.
-
Networking
A great way to become highly recognized in your niche is to be an active networker. The more people you know and that you build relationships with, the easier it will be to grow your blog. If you are active in your niche, leaving comments regularly (solid, quality comments), doing guest posts on high profile blogs in your niche, and being approachable to your readers.
Here are a few great posts on Networking:
- 3 Important Reasons To Network With Other Bloggers!
- 5 Tips For Effective Guest Posting
- 10 Places To Find New Readers For Your Blog -
Keep Your Mind Open
The older we get, the more close minded we seem to end up.
Do you remember as a child, anything being possible? Whether you wanted to be an astronaut, a pilot, a policeman or an explorer – everything was possible. But as we grow up, we start to understand that only a small proportion of people who dream about becoming an astronaut are actually able to achieve their goals, and we find our minds starting to block out possibilities because of the hurdles we see in the way.
What we need to do is continue to keep our minds open to the limitless possibilities. Don’t become a realist, instead follow your dreams and shoot for those stars.
-
Communication
Finally as a blogger, no matter how well you are able to implement these strategies if you are not able to communicate your thoughts in a way that is easy to understand then you will lose all benefits that you may have had. So focus on your writing. Learn new strategies that will help you convey your message more effectively.
There are a heap of great blogs on writing technique for you to learn from – so you have no excuse!
There are so many little things that you can do to improve your blog and these are just six of them. What I would encourage you to do is to find just one of these blog improvement techniques and focus on perfecting it – before you move onto the next step. Just take one step at a time.
Great job with this list. Every blogger, even those who are already doing these things, could use reminders on what to focus on or how to think.
Looking for improvements works very well. Recently, I analyzed my blog and found some areas that needed to improve. This method works out well and can really take blog up.
Keeping mind open is something that very few people do. If we think out of box, lot of new ideas easily pop up.
Mr. I´s last blog ..10 Things They Don’t Teach You About Productivity
Gabe – thanks. I think it is just a simple reminder to keep improving and not being happy just staying where we are.
Mr I. I’m glad that you took the time to step back from your blog and looked for things that you could improve. Out of the box thinking is something I am quite good at – the follow through is my problem.
I think your point about “Searching out Problems” is brilliant. If you are able to solve a problem for your readers then this will certainly drive traffic to your blog. Adding value to your readers is the #1 job of a blog author and resolving a problem will add a lot of value.
Best,
Bob
Bob Bessette´s last blog ..Maintaining to save money, out and about.
Bob – you are exactly right! What is the point of blogging if you are not solving any problems.
@Tom Well, follow through is something I am also not good at. I can think up 100 ideas in 30 minutes but end up throwing 99 of them in dustbin.
Mr. I´s last blog ..10 Things They Don’t Teach You About Productivity
Mr I – I can really really relate with you on this one.I think we just need to pick one thing and stick with it.
I think the big one for me at the moment is networking. This isn’t something I have done in a big way before but I think it is critical if you want to really get your blog to the next level.
Paula from Affiliate Blog Online´s last blog ..Top 10 Tips for Writing Blog Posts
Nice tips. I will work on them. I am having difficulty reaching the next level in my blogging.
Agent 001´s last blog ..Upgrade to WordPress 2.8.5 and Check Out the Upcoming WordPress 2.9 Beta Version
Paula – Networking is something that I am trying to focus on myself. I have always wanted to be seen as a peoples blogger and I think that networking is very important in achieving this.
Agent001 – Just keep working. It’s usually plateaus first because you need to set a platform so that you can support your new level.
In my experience, communication and connecting to your readers is the key, so they would come back for more :)
Gambling WordPress Themes´s last blog ..Gambling WordPress Themes Launch Contest
This is the hard part to reach for every webmaster. Btw, thanks for the great tips.
steppinout´s last blog ..Webmaster Tools – Google + Bing + Yahoo
Cool list! Personally I feel networking is so important. Even if you’re just commenting on other people’s blogs, you’re not just getting to know that blogger, but hopefully also the other commentators there. If you comment on popular blogs you’re likely to find loads of new people to network with! :)
Simon | Teenius´s last blog ..Why Relaunching Your Blog Is Awesome!
I love that everyone thinks that networking and communication are the keys to a successful blog!
I mainly use my blog to quickly communicate with my subscribers. I thought you would also talk about design, but when you think about it, communicating is more important. Franck
Franck @ Internet Business Coaching´s last blog ..Article Marketer Now Distribute Your Articles and Content Crooner!
That is definitely it. Design is important for supporting the content, but communication and content are the key.
[...] 6 Ways to Take Your Blog Up a Level by Tom Sinfield [...]
I agree that networking is big although this can be a stretch sometimes for bloggers. I think they are often not really out and about. They are home on the laptop.
Candi@Blogs in plain English´s last blog ..Blogs in Plain English
dam this really good information, thank’s for help me to build my blog, i will visit your blog regularly
mma pound for pound´s last blog ..Mma Pound For Pound Battle
I think networking is very important to building a good relationship with everyone you know. It’s good to be helpful to those who ask for your help. You’ll never know just when you need someone else’s help later.
Peter@ Passive Income Ideas´s last blog ..My Google Adsense Crossed $100/mth: 7 Things I learned
Communication in the best possible way will be always effective.Bcoz unless we communicate with our readers & subscribers & make them understand what we say we can’t succeeded in going further with our blog/marketing…