Introduction to Blogging – A Detailed Guide

A decade ago, you would not even opt to consider the possibility of starting a career in blogging. As the term blogging itself suggests is a mere hobby, and you can say that it is a personal journal, but shared with the world to read it. So you wouldn’t consider doing such a thing, with the sense of having no direction in the industry or not being aware of the possibilities of blogging during those days.

But, at this age, you wouldn’t want to miss it, being you’re an entrepreneur or a business person. Blogging itself is now an act of promotion on a digital platform, having a scope larger to reach the general audience that what traditional marketing such as billboards used to have. Don’t get me wrong here, billboard ads are still relevant but it is too expensive compared with digital marketing as a whole. Blogging is part and parcel of digital marketing, here people write articles based on various topics ranging from product description, services, parenthood, traveling, etc.

Blogging helps people become aware of the kind of services and expertise such companies display on their websites. What better way for entrepreneurs to grow their operation other than to put their business out there on the internet for people to let them know about their operation and to get in touch with you.

What is blogging?

Blogging is merely an act of writing content regularly but uploading it on an online platform or a website. It is essentially a personal or company account with documentation of personal views or a group, opinions, ideas, and experiences. A person who manages the blog page or website and owns it is called a blogger.

The topics on which the article is to be published merely depend entirely on the blogger. Right from the style of writing, facts, etc., the duty of a  blogger is not only to strategize the type of content but also to increase the visibility and ranking position of the blog through various marketing methods.

These methods certainly consist of applying particular keywords to the blog so that it can be reached for searchability through organic means, sharing the link of the blog through social media platforms, etc.

Duty of a Blogger

So the role of a blogger involves the planning of the content. It starts from the basic to the core of a niche or industry which happens to be of interest or experience through formal education or self-taught skills. His job is also responsible for crafting the content in an optimized manner aligning it with the requirements of the Googlebot from like meta tags, keywords, backlinks, video, pictures, etc.

Successful bloggers of a particular subject are considered experts, who have built their credibility in the industry by putting out valuable and resourceful content for the general audience.

The initial stage of a blog

In case you want to start a blog for yourself, the first step is to outline the objective of your blog like what kind of goals you want to achieve out of it. So it is entirely up to you to decide the topic on which the content is intended to be published.

First of all, you can start documenting your experiences by jotting down the points. For instance, it can be like, what kind of feeling you had during such and such a situation. Later on when you look back on these points, only then you can start connecting them to narrate a story. Similarly, your blog can be a travel diary, fitness journey, experience of university life, or even a step-by-step guide on making a DIY, and many more topics like these.

You can blog about anything, provided that your content does not hurt the sentiments of someone or something. The objective of your content should be comfortable to share with people for it to be reshared with other people as well.

New Trend

More and more brands are coming forward with e-commerce and personal branding at the moment. The success story of a brand is heavily dependent on the kind of impact it has on an online platform. Though it is quite safe doing business online, because the more influential a brand is, the more revenue it can gain.

Blogging is a part of the strategy that almost every brand is accepting as a means to gain higher authority in the search engine. This results to attract more traffic to their websites and attain their desired end goals.

Blogging lies at the heart of content marketing, which is one of the types of marketing strategy that seems to work well. Since content marketing is believed to play a more effective role than traditional forms of marketing. Thus having a history of influencing the consumers into purchasing products or services.

Similarly, content marketing is a more trustworthy form of marketing where the targeted consumers are empowered with relevant information about the products and services they wish to obtain.

Thus blogging helps consumers in a lot of ways, especially in the process of educating consumers. Hence, it is not a mere manipulation to only sell but especially to establish a feeling of trust between the consumer with the brand.

Difference between a Blog and a Website

After giving much consideration to the misunderstanding between a blog and a website, I will now clarify the difference.

A blog is part and parcel of a website. So the main page of a website of an organization or individual is also known as a landing page. It hosts different kinds of links to different pages of a website. A well-structured website can build a strong online presence since it possesses different pages which describe further a company or a personal website. So all this can be done with the help of an effective blogging strategy, by composing articles that consist of hyperlinks to these different pages of the website. A blog is frequently updated. Search engines love fresh content with high quality and also regularly updated. 

Whereas the content of a website is static for some time until it needs to be updated, for instance, the landing page. The content on the website is what describes the company or organization the most from its objectives, contact information, achievements, etc.

Who is a blogger?

A key aspect of understanding what blogging is is understanding the type of people who blog. People who write articles or content regularly from different backgrounds have different end goals. There is no condition, limitation, or criteria required to become a blogger. You can become a full-time employee, yet still, manage time to do freelance or take it as a full-time day job. Everything is possible in this generation. But the most important thing is that you give time to learn and implement them. All you need to have is a good internet connection, and basic knowledge of various content writing tools, and topics to write about.

Practically bloggers start a blog to document their life experiences, interest, hobbies, political issue, self-study research material, etc. They express their views on controversial topics and generally have huge followers on such social media. Some content writers get hired by various business organizations to write content for their blogs to increase consumer engagement.

Why is blogging so popular?

Another element for understanding what makes blogging popular is the fact that blogging is a medium of exchange of information. Blogging practically describes, instructs, etc., for readers to have an insight about a  product or service. Right now, blogging is at the heart of a search engine optimization strategy for building a strong online presence for an individual or organization. Let’s talk more about the ins and outs of blogging further.

Fresh and high-quality content, an advantage in Search Engine

When you compose an article, it can be about anything which you find interesting to talk about for hours or days. While writing such an article, a content writer needs to implement keywords in their content, meaning write the same word multiple times throughout the article. Search engines favor webpages that have a good keyword density of the words and phrases that users generally use to search about the subject. It also has a high preference for freshly updated, high quality, grammatically error-free, and uses relevant content. Search engines also favor well-structured write-ups which are essentially integrated into headings, subheadings,s and bullet points with appropriate inclusions of relevant hyperlinks.

As a result, providing good and valuable information may lead relevant people to visit the website often. More traffic to the website means chances for increases in popularity for a brand. This eventually leverages the possibility to provide a service or product to generate revenue. Therefore, blogging is one of the most powerful marketing tools available today. If used wisely, blogging can significantly extend a company’s reach by encouraging significant customer awareness.

Blogging benefits not only for business purposes. It can also provide information about certain people such as writers, singers, dancers, chefs, engineers, etc. This can build their credibility in their professions by putting out valuable content for their target readers.

Provide up-to-date the developments

A good and affordable technique to keep the target audience informed about new developments is blogging. For instance the recent development of a new vehicle or an instrument. It can also be about discount offers, free giveaways, new product or service launches, and even recruitment news.

A lot of blog content includes pieces of news regarding new developments in the field of the subject on which the blogs run. For example, a tech blog has special posts on new gadget launches or the latest technology development. Likewise, a fashion blog runs content on the recent dressing trends of the fashion industry. If your blog gives readers the chance to stay up to date with advancements on a regular basis, they’ll visit it more frequently and develop trust in it. This will further push the readers to take the desired action soon.

Flexibility and Portability

A blogger is presented with various possible opportunities for working hours that seem convenient for him. For instance, a blogger can work from any location be it an office, or work from a remote location like a coffee shop or while traveling. The flexibility that blogging offers is one of the main reasons why blogging has become so popular with the youth ever since its inception.

Maintain a schedule, like an editorial calendar

It is very important to maintain a work schedule for the content to be published. This schedule essentially involves the type of article, sources, word limit, keyword targets, and of course the deadline by which the article has to be published.

Understanding the target audience

Understanding the needs, desires, fears, and insecurities of the readers plays an important role in any type of effective content writing. A poorly written article will not attract readers if it fails to deal with their problems effectively. Without understanding your readers, you won’t be able to create content that will appeal to them. To know your readers, it is highly recommended to go through the feedback of the customers of your competitor who also crafts content similar to yours. Getting in touch with your prospective customers directly is another way to learn what they think.

Including graphic content

A plain white screen with text generally makes the readers unbearable or boring. To keep readers engaged, it is important to include appropriate themes, fonts, images, videos, and GIFs in the blog post. Integration of quality content with relevant graphics improves the readability of the content and appears appealing to the eyes of the readers. It provides insight into the level of dedication that the owner has to his/her work.

Editing

One of the most hectic ways of writing is a grammatical error. But as of now, there is AI that helps speed up the process of making such errors. No piece of content writing can deliver its objective if it is not revised a couple of times after completing the rough draft.

Social media promotions for Blogging

Sharing the links of the blog post to your social media platforms, play a crucial role in driving traffic to the webpage. Sharing the link is not enough. For instance, you might have read someone else blog, and in that blog, the person is having an issue with a car problem. You can replay him in the comment section, leaving behind the link to your website. In case you might already have a solution for that particular matter.

How to make money through blogging?

The last and the most important aspect of this article is about – how can you make money through blogging.

I’ve read a lot of bloggers about this topic, “making money through blogging”. It is true, you can make money out of it. But one thing is for sure, you can obtain this by driving enough traffic to your website. You can start by opening a WordPress account, and start creating valuable blogs for a particular niche.

Make sure that your content is aligned with google bots, because they are the ones who can help you rank your blog ahead of your competitors. Applying effective search engine optimization techniques to the article helps the blog rank higher in search engine results, which in turn will attract large traffic to the website.

When you have large followers through your blog, you can then think about generating revenue.

1. Advertisements in Blogs

You can place ads on your website with the help of Google AdSense. Putting ads on your blog is like the advertisers renting your space on the website for a commission for you to keep.

Another way is to sell personal ads, where you get in touch with the blog owners and can display your ads on their websites. You can do this when you have enough traffic to your website.

2. Selling products through Blogs

You can also earn money if you sell products like e-books, online courses, apps, plugins, images, videos, and music. Get to know your audience before you start developing these products. An insight understanding into the needs and desires of your readers will help you in creating products that sell.

3. Premium memberships through Blogs

You can create products and data that are exclusively available to a certain section of your audience provided they pay a premium membership fee. You should make sure that this content is more valuable than the one that is available for free.

4. Tool for content marketing or Blogs

You can market your products and services by creating content related to your business. To attract potential readers and convert them to potential customers by winning their trust and also by empowering them to make good decisions.

There are many platforms like WordPress, Medium, Wix, Tumblr, Blogger, and Quora that will help you set up your blog in a matter of a few minutes. They have paid and unpaid plans. On the other hand, free plans are typically advised for beginners. As people get more knowledge about blogging, they can choose to upgrade to paid plans.

Conclusion

I believe now you have a basic understanding of blogging. It is a good step if you intend to take it up, either to write about your journey, a subject matter related, hobbies, etc. It can also be a nice way to earn a passive income through blogging. But one thing for sure is that you can do lots of things with blogging. I hope you enjoy reading this article.

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