Today, we have Zac Johnson here, this time to share with us excellent tips to make our blogs a place to be. Zac is a pro blogger and top affiliate marketer. He’s the found of Blogging.org, a video training platform aimed at out of you a pro money making blogger and affiliate marketer.
Over to you Zac…
There are well over 300 million blogs in the world today. That’s a lot of freaking blogs!
The bad news is that 99% of them are garbage, consisting of either low quality content, forgotten projects or simply don’t serve a purpose to the rest of the world.
So how can you make a blog that actually serves a purpose and can become a legitimate site or even full time business in the process?
Simple… put in the time and effort to treat your blog like a business, and not just a side project with a “let’s see what happens” mentality
With that said, here are five great ways to bring more value to your blog and your visitor experience in the process. After all… isn’t that why we are blogging in the first place?
1 – Create Better Content than Your Competition
With millions of blogs out there already, it’s a sure bet that a lot of blogs are going to be covering the same topic as yours. Instead of trying to replicate what’s already out there, take the time to study your competition and see what’s currently out there. Then use this information to create better, longer and more updated content.
If you have the time and work ethic, reach out to other sites in your industry who are linking to older and outdated articles and see if they will replace the link to your content instead.
Enstine did a great job with his top 20 bloggers post, as it not only brought meaningful content to his blog, but also brought in a lot of backlinks and shares from the experts he interviewed as well.
2 – Use Infographics to Deliver Your Message
Text content is what ranks well in the search results, but it doesn’t mean it should be your only source for information and value on your site. Infographics are a powerful way to deliver your message while also getting other sites and visitors to share your content and link back to your site.
Everyone loves visuals and there is simply no better way to get your message out there, than with a nice looking infographic. If you are looking for some ideas and inspiration, check out these top wordpress infographics being passed around in the blogging and online marketing space.
3 – Provide In-Depth Tutorials and Resources
People are on the internet for three reasons — to buy something, be entertained or find information.
If you are going to be creating a blog that you expect to grow in size and make money, then you are going to need to cater to one, if not all of these needs.
Creating a blog that is focused on providing the best resources and tools is a great way to find success. We currently see this being done in the blogging and WordPress space, though it is getting heavily saturated. This again leads to the need to provide better content than you competition and getting it out there.
Need an example? Check out Enstine’s monthly income reports — he breaks down where and how he is making money online. Great content and a great resource.
4 – Build a Brand and Show Your Expertise
Building a brand to provide better user experience?… That doesn’t make sense, does it?
Sure it does! Think about this… would you rather read an article posted on a site like TechCrunch, Mashable or written by an expert like Guy Kawasaki or Seth Godin… or an article that is posted on some random blog that has no branding, authority or a clear message?
Obviously your time is valuable and you don’t want to waste it reading what could be potentially ‘unreliable’ content on an unknown site.
Even though his blog is still fairly new in the online marketing and branding world, Enstine has done a great job with this as well. With an active social following, great comments and engagement throughout the blog and the additional of a custom logo / cartoon design of Enstine in the header… it’s a current reminder of who he is and where you are when you are reading content on this blog.
This is why you NEED to establish yourself as an expert within your niche and create an awareness and brand or your blog to help it grow as a trusted source for information over time.
5 – Have a Call to Action
Finally, you need to have a call for action. One of the best ways to add value to your blog experience, is to walk the user through a process so they can take action right away and improve their life, business or why ever they are on your site in the first place.
For example, this is what I have done through my create a blog tutorial. This massive and detailed free content walks a user through the most basic phases of how to launch a blog. In short, it gives even the most non-tech savvy site visitor all the information they need, different alternatives and sends them off in the right direction for them to get started.
Don’t just write content. Create content that has a beginning, a problem and a solution.
The Value of Your Blog is Reflected Back on You
As mentioned earlier, with millions of blogs in the world today, this is a game of branding and providing the best value to your audience. Your blog only has one chance to make a great first impression and one of the best ways to do this is by standing out from the crowd.
Take some time to visit your blog and read through your content as if you were a site visitor. Does it address a situation, provide value and give the reader what they want? If not… you have some work to do!
Thanks for reading. Let me hear your thoughts in the comment box. Please remember to share this post on social media.