5 Tips to write a better blog post #WriteAPageADay

Though I am not an expert in blogging, I have been in this blogosphere(is that a word?) for more than 10 years and I have learned a lot of tips from other bloggers and incorporated many and saw some success. So, Why not share the knowledge that I gained? 

Here are my 5 tips for writing a better blog post:

I won't talk about Content. If you are a blogger, you already know that a blog post is centered around a topic / main content. We, bloggers are here to write and share our content. So, of course, that's the essential part of blogging.

But, my tips are about everything else like infographics, images, signatures, tags, headlines, promotion blah blah...

Narrow down on the Topic :

It always helps to narrow down the topic. A focused blog post explaining a specific topic is the best for SEO.

If you are planning to write a post on the best places to visit in Austin, try narrowing it down further. You can add the number to the title to make the list smaller and easier to read.

You can also focus on specific needs like 

5 best places to hike in Austin

5 best family-friendly places in Austin

5 state parks near Austin

5 best Spring break destinations around Austin

5-day trips near Austin

5 best weekend Gateways from Austin

Add Nice Images:

Pictures are an essential part of a blog, especially for a travel blog.

Original images taken by you are the best. But, if you don't have original pics, search for non-copyrighted images on sites like pexels.com, and pixabay.com. You can also search on Google, click the Image tab, and apply the filter 'Tools >> Usage Rights -> Creative commons license'.

Don't forget to add a watermark of your blog address or social media handle on your original pictures.

Research Deep:

A simple topic or a complex blog post - both of them need research. When we are writing for a larger audience we should know what our readers look for in our blog post. 

If it's a travel post, I search on google with the place name and see what others search for and what topics come on the top of the results. 

I also collect information on the Geography and historical significance of the place to include in my post. 

Read content twice and edit:

I always stress good editing. Many people write good content, but only a few people write content without grammatical errors and in a professional way. 

It puts me off when I read any post with spelling mistakes. I use the Grammarly plugin to correct my posts. It's free to use and very helpful.

I read my blog post twice before publishing it. I check if the tone is casual, friendly, and not preachy. I see that my post has some researched facts and is useful. I see that my post is not based on rumors. I try to give a personal touch to all my posts. 

Design social media images and Promote:

Even though you write the best content, if it doesn't reach the audience it goes to waste. Promotion helps our post to reach more people. 

I design my social media promotion images on canva.com. Such a free, reliable, and the most efficient app. I design at least one Pinterest image for my readers to pin my post and one Instagram image with my blog watermark.

So, here are my basic tips to write a better blog post. What are your tips or suggestions? do let me know in the comments. 

Until next time,

Word count: 597

An Open Letter to Blogchatter #WriteAPageADay

 Prompt: An Open Letter to BlogChatter

Blog Chatter is a website for the blogging community to share their blogs, and participate in multiple writing-related activities. I might have been a member of blog chatter for 4 years or so. It was under some other name when I joined this blogging community.

Here is an open letter:

Dear Blog Chatter,

Hello.. 

It's been a pleasure being part of your community or should we say our blogging community :-) I love the new look of your website with bees and bright yellows.

I am an old friend if you remember me. I joined this community initially to understand the blogosphere. How it works and all. How a blogger writes a post, researches topics, research keywords so that their post comes on the top of the search results, how they choose the best headline, what is SEO, how they incorporate SEO in their articles, how they create infographics, what tools they use, How do they promote their posts blah and blah...

In very less time, I could get some knowledge in all those topics, thanks to you. 

I enjoyed reading others' blog posts in blog rolls and even made many friends. I also submitted my blog posts and felt so happy getting a badge as a top blogger for some of my posts. Cool 😎 

I participated in multiple campaigns and received some free products to review and also many books. 

I also participated in the A2Z challenge, maybe twice. Here is a wonderful A2Z post list about my Colorado Travelogues. 

I also enrolled in an Alexa improvement campaign and improved my Alexa rank and learned some tips on how to maintain the rank.

Thanks to you for being a friend and guide to many bloggers. 

We, bloggers, enjoy writing blogs as for many of us it's a passion. We are ready to spend more time, tune our skills and become better bloggers with good motivation from blogging communities like Blog chatter.

It's been great so far and I wish we have more fun together learning in the future and showing the power of Indian blogging to everyone else. 

Cheers to more creative collaborations 🥂

Until next time,

Word count : 365

5 ways I promote my blog #SuperBloggerChallenge2018

Self - promotion is always difficult for me. Even when I started my blog I created it in private mode and shared it with only a few close friends to get the feedback. That was in 2006, I suppose. After a few posts when I refined my writing, I chose to make my blog public.

It's always not about getting appreciation but there is a benefit of getting quality feedback when we promote our content/ blog. A small appreciation from a stranger is a kind of booster to the confidence. When we learn that someone else who read our blog could relate to it and feel that the article helpful, we feel more than happy. Nowadays, I give more importance to promotion too other than writing quality content. Social media has made life easier for people like me who run blogs with less reach.

The first thing that we should do before the promotion is to analyze our blog statistics on how are we getting the traffic and which audience is more interested in our articles.

My blog is about book reviews, travelogues, and parenting. But, I realized that my friends and colleagues read my blog when I write more about parenting and travel. My Book reviews are shared and promoted by the authors and blog tour organizers and so they reach more audience. I understood from my blog stats that I get more traffic from Google plus and then from Facebook. So, after I realized these facts, I focused more on Google plus and facebook than other ways of promotion.

I promote my blog in the following ways:

1. Google Plus

This is most surprising to me when people come across my blog through Google plus as I don't put any special effort to promote my content this way. Even though my blog is on a custom domain, it is managed by blogger platform. Whenever I publish any blog post, blogger automatically opens a popup to share my post on Google plus. So, it's easy and quick.

2. Facebook

The number one promotional tool for me is Facebook. This is the only place where my content is shared and liked by my close friends and strangers alike. I have created a facebook page for my blog and I am constantly trying to improve the followers. I not only share my content on my facebook page and also share content from other blogs which are good. Basically, I try to keep my audience engaged. I joined a lot of facebook groups like "It's all about blogging", "Blogher", "Indiblogger" etc., and also writing communities like "Parenting moms style", "Mompresso", "WriteTribe" etc where I share my content regularly.

3. Twitter

Twitter helps me a lot in promotion by sharing my posts with proper hashtags. My Followers are constantly increasing these days. I follow other bloggers which post content about parenting, books, and travel and also share their content. Whenever I promote my content through Twitter, I add an image with my blog url in it along with proper hashtags. I have used one tip from blogging community through which my posts shared on my facebook page are automatically posted to my twitter feed. So, it becomes easy and quick to post on Twitter at the same time.

Content is Fire. Social Media is Gasoline. - Ryan Kahn

4.  Blogging communities and websites

I have joined a blogging community "Indiblogger". I share my posts on Indiblogger whenever I get time. This helps me to network with fellow bloggers. My posts had been top posts a few days, which was a mood booster for me. I also share my content on the blogchatter website. They have a reading list where they feature our blog links to their readers. I see that many bloggers share their content on other blogs too like 'Medium', 'Momspresso' and 'Winkl'. There are some specific websites which take guest posts from mom bloggers on a variety of topics like 'budingstar' and 'Raising Global children' magazine.

5. Pinterest

Pinterest is my new find. Earlier, I used to search on Pinterest whenever I want to try new crafts for children. But, didn't realize its importance in the promotion of blog until I read "Pinterest Basics" post by Shailaja Viswanath. I have also enrolled a course online "Pinterest Primer". I am still at a beginner level on learning to promote through Pinterest but I suggest this to all bloggers.

How do you promote your content? Other than social media, what works best for you? Which social media drives more traffic for you? Please share your opinion in comments.

Until next time,

This article is written as part of SuperBloggingChallenge2018 conducted by Healthwealthbridge.com,Fashionablefoodz.com, and Allaboutthewoman.com and should not be repurposed, republished or used otherwise. SuperBloggerChallenge2018 is not responsible for any kind of infringement caused.