Okay so I have this nifty monetized blog that will work for me 24/7, but how do I make it work?
Well, that’s something that is unique to every person who tries to blog for real. I would say that the biggest thing that you should do is decide a core area that you want your blog to address. Whatever you do, don’t make this an online diary. No one really cares what you had to lunch, unless it integral to telling an interesting story or it’s a “foodie” blog. Is your blog about art, poetry, history, food, business, technology, sports, the occult…
See what I mean? It can be about anything but it should have an overall theme. Of course you can weave some other distantly related posts into your blog, but you should stick to your core topic most of the time.
Another thing that you can do is pull other subjects into your core subject, or use it to convey a lesson around your core topic. For example, you might find a funny new story about some guy who tried to rescue a cat in a tree but got stuck himself. Your blog may be about writing. You know, how to be an author. Well, you might use the interesting and funny story about the guy getting stuck in a tree and use that to segue into how writers can combat getting stuck from cases of writer’s block.
See how easy that was?
You can take a story that is funny or interesting in some way and use that to brighten up what could turn out to be a boring or overly analytical subject.
There are so many news stories, articles, other blog posts, and countless other web pages and sites that can provide fodder for your writing arsenal.
Okay so I have some material, what do I do next?
If you want traffic, at least 50-75% of the time, do keyword research to see which keyword phrases are being searched for by many people. You need keywords that get decent volume with low search competition so that your pages can rank in the search engines. This whole process is generally referred to as SEO, or search engine optimization, and you can learn the basics of that to round out your skills. Bloggers need to do some of this and it pays dividends when your blog pages are pulling in internet searchers who are looking for the topics that you are writing about.
People are searching for all kinds of information out there, so you can make a single blog around many subjects. You can make multiple blogs to address multiple subjects. Don’t mix radically different subjects in the same blog. That is an SEO nightmare.
If you aren’t using it to promote a specific business that you are in, then you can do the whole “labor of love” type of creative blogging. Blogging can be to promote a specific work related idea or it can be pure art that is just to communicate about something that you love.
Where are the Ideas?
Were you expecting a long article with tons of topic ideas?
To be a blogger, you have to get your creativity in gear.
You can’t sit around waiting for other people to do the creative idea work for you.
Use Google, Google News Search, and any other online source for ideas. Use your real life, maybe something you saw at the store the other night, or something from work, for ideas. It can be anything.
Life is full of richness that can provide blogging ideas and it’s a well of information that will never run dry.
The key here is to train yourself to think like this, and then blog. The best way to get good at something is to do it daily. Practice makes perfect. It’s not just a cliché.
You can also comment on things. Whether a news story, other blog post, an idea, anything… you can summarize then add your commentary and opinion on the matter. Remember that blogging is just putting ideas to virtual paper.
You are only limited by your own mind and creativity.
The only things that you need are a computer, an internet connection, a monetized blogging platform, ideas, some minor internet SEO, and the ability to put words to screen.
That’s it.
You have absolutely no excuse to settle for mediocrity or to marvel at so and so with their blog.
Whether you’re a grandma or a network administrator, you can blog to the world.
Now you know what to blog about, start blogging.
Blog till your fingers bleed.
The bottom line is that you have to take action and take the plunge, and your action must be consistent and on a daily basis in order to build something great.
You’ll never know your potential if you don’t try. I actually hate the word try. Like Yoda from Star Wars says, “Do or Do Not, there is no Try.”
Don’t try, DO.
Do you have any good or constructive ideas to add to this?
Comment below.
