So you want to blog? So do I. And so do a hell of a lot of other people. Some you see all the time and you see their success and maybe you’re a little jealous. “How does their stuff get read when no one sees mine,” both you and I think.

Well, I’ve been doing some research to understand how to up my game and I want to pass it on. I'm no successful blogger, not yet, but I love to write. And I want an audience. I want feedback other than just from the dust bunnies hanging out with the journals under my bed. And so I’m here. And you are too.

1. Consistency

Post every day. It’s hard. Things come up. But If you aren’t posting and interacting with your community everyday then how are people ever going to get familiar with who you are?
I didn’t say write every day. Maybe you should but if you don’t then make sure you do #2.

2. Have A Plan

I wish I could remember whose post on Medium I learned this trick from but it really works.

*-Come up with ideas for posts and write them down (you’ll eventually have a good list)
*-Write out first drafts (you’ll eventually have a cache of drafts)
*-Edit drafts and add photos and graphics
*-Choose one of these edited drafts each day to post

It may take a little while to build up a big file of drafts that can easily to be posted but this technique, once it takes off, is amazing. It means on days you’re sick or tired, you have material to post without worrying about rushing out a piece. And on days you feel in the flow you can get lost writing new posts, or editing, or creating graphics. Trust me. It’s a lifesaver, and I wouldn’t steer you wrong.

3. Grammar and Spelling

Look, we all do it. We all mess up on grammar and on spelling and we don’t usually have someone to check it all over for us either. For most of my pieces I edit 3 times. And I still find errors after I post. And I find errors in other people's work too. It’s going to happen but spend the time to edit. Using #2 really helps because you get to walk away from the piece and then read it again sometime later. That’s a really good way to catch a lot of problems instead of just writing and posting.

4. A Bit of Research

I got sucked into the Internet rabbit hole one day and gained a lot of knowledge about blogging. And I take notes so here are some juicy tips to think about when writing.

A. Know how people read online
a. Most people skim
b. They read in an F shaped pattern
c. Use bolds, bullets, underlines, and colors for easy reading

B. The content people read most
a. Lists
b. How To's
c. Opinion polls
d. Interviews
e. Reviews
f. Rants
g. Original data
h. Info Graphics
i. Videos
j. Experiments
k. Podcasts
l. Oh… And Memes

C. Attention grabbing headlines work

D. What does a reader gain from your article?
a. Influence
b. Inspire
c. Educate
d. Move to action

5. What do People Want to Read?

I scoured the Internet for the answer to this and this is what I came up with:
“Write about what you want to read about.”
And that’s all the advice I have to dispense on the matter.

6. Use Social Media

If it’s your own work then you can do whatever you want with it. So don’t feel bad about posting it everywhere. I’m not talking spam here. I’m talking posting it in all the different networks you are a part of, not over and over in one place. And there are a ton of places to be a part of. This can be time consuming when you have so many sites to choose from. I use Steemit, Medium, and Facebook. But you could just as easily add Reddit, Pinterest, Twitter, Quora, Instagram, or the oodles of other places you can think of.

But know where your best followers are. I like to give them my product a few days before everyone else. For example I recently posted this article called 9 Things I Learned from a Year of Van Life on Steemit where I’ve gained a following of about 80 people in a week and I can make a few dollars (This is my favorite social media site). And then I posted it to Medium where I have 40 followers (after 4+ months) and Facebook where I have a ton of friends (a handful of which will actually read my article instead of just give it a thumbs up). Did you see how I gave you a link to another one of my articles above. Do that too!

7. Interact with Your Followers

Nowhere else have I heard this advice when researching how to be a good blogger. But I learned it on Steemit. It makes total sense when you think about it. You don’t gain friends if you never talk to them. Why are people interested in you and your work when you have nothing to say to them personally? Write on other peoples blogs so they recognize you. If people comment on your stuff, thank them. Appreciate the people who appreciate you. It just feels like the right thing to do. Doesn’t it?

And it works. If you never read anyone else’s stuff and never care about what others are doing, then why would they care what you’re doing. So go out there and follow your idols, people who inspire you, people whose work you like, and people who are just plain nice people with a story. I promise it’s more rewarding than the waste of time you might initially think that it is.

Do all this and you will find an audience. If you post consistently, come up with a procedure to make it easy on yourself, use good grammar and spelling, review the research, spread out your work to different social media groups and make friends you’ll be on your way.

But seriously consistency is #1 for a reason.

(Image sourced from google images “labeled for reuse”)