So you’ve decided to become a great blogger, and now you need the blogging essentials to maximize your audience. That’s the goal, maximize your audience. But you’re not sure how to get there, how do you become a great blogger. Well, in order to do so you need 5 tools in your kit, meaning YOU, as a person and blogger.
Let’s skip the obvious; You need a site that expresses who you are
This one doesn’t count as one of the 5 because as a blogger you obviously need a functional site and template. That includes all the technical aspects of making it run such as host and URL. Nonetheless, choosing the right template is important to develop a website that represents and motivates YOU! It doesn’t have to be the best looking website, it just has to grow into becoming YOUR best website. That takes time, patience, and consistency.
Start small, load a few images and a few words on a page that introduces you as a blogger. You can count on coming back and updating that page several times throughout the first year as you discover the type of blogger you are. With time and consistency the look of your site will improve, you might even change the template a few times. Keep working at it and don’t be afraid to change things until you establish a niche that attracts audiences to your blog.
1. Blogging requires YOU to have discipline and dedication
Discipline and dedication are the corner stone of being a blogger. Not from a military sense of course, but from a commitment perspective.
You need to understand that a great blogger requires an audience, people that will comment on your posts. Be prepare to take the good and the bad and build on the bad, don’t be discouraged by it. The dedication to yourself as a blogger should drive you to improve from the feedback of your audience, friends, and family. The discipline comes in with your mind driving towards that single point of improvement. Thus, the following four steps can’t be achieved without those two principals which you must acquire; Discipline and Dedication.
2. Learn about plugins
The discipline of learning includes plugins since they are a powerful tool in your kit. With plugins you can do fun and creative things within your website template. Don’t be afraid of them, there are plenty of free ones to practice with and see how your site fits in with their ability to modify it. At first you might download more plugins than you need, after a year or so, you’ll settle into the ones that fit your vision. But, you have to learn them and be able to comfortably navigate your way around them.
3. The greatest bloggers are dedicated to SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a critical component. But don’t be intimidated by it’s tech jumbo-jumbo. In short, SEO helps your blog and posts get found on the internet with a series of TRICKS to use in your posts. WordPress is already optimized, but if you want to take it further Yoast SEO tutorials and plug-in for WordPress is one of the most trusted and respected in the industry, not to mention reasonably priced. You can do without the plugin by watching their helpful videos and reading their articles to get you started and improve over time. And yes, you’ll have to read them several times to get good at SEO.
Still, just keep in mind that you don’t have to worry about understanding the tech, that’s learned over time, for starters just learn the tricks of optimization for your posts. It can be overwhelming, but start by dedicating yourself to mastering one SEO trick, then add another and so on. Eventually, with time and consistency, you’ll start doing things like professional bloggers do.
Your thoughts make sense in your brain, but putting them in writing presents some challenges to be aware of. For starters, your mind could be running in a dozen directions with great ideas, possibly even world changing ideas, but only with practice can you get better at organizing them so others understand your thoughts and buy into them. Here’s a simple rule to help; You have to write your thoughts in a simple and organized manner for your readers. One suggestion, is to compact your thoughts into short sentences. Use as few words as possible to keep the audience engaged. Additionally, its best if you deliver one point on one blog post, then another point in another post. Of course be sure to use the SEO tricks as you go along.
5. Carry a notepad and a pencil at all times!
A great blogger is prepared to capture ideas for readers at all times. So if you’re striving to be a professional blogger, then arm yourself with pen and pencil. You never know when a great idea will pop up in your head, and it can leave your memory just as fast. So, if you’re a blogger, always carry a small note pad in your back pocket or purse to write down notes.
Notes can include design ideas, functional improvements, or blog and brand topics. Ideas can even include logo designs or blogging about a picture you just took. The point is, be prepared to write things down. Oh, why a pencil you ask? because if your notes get wet ink will run, pencil does not.
Keep climbing until you become a great blogger
YOU is all it takes to be a great blogger! Your level of dedication and discipline to achieve consistency and improvement is totally controlled by you. It takes time, sometimes years to gain momentum. Take the breaks that you need to, life has to be addressed, but great bloggers always come back to their corner on the internet. Don’t give up on it. Learn the tricks that connect your posts to others with SEO. Improve your delivery of messages by organizing your thoughts into short sentences and paragraphs back them up with great images found free throughout the web. Similarly important, don’t miss a chance to capture a thought so carry a notepad and pencil.
