Breaking into the blogging industry with WordPress
If you have a blog of any size or want to grow a large blog, this article is for you.
Simple tool to manage your content flow
Do you work within WordPress and have multiple writers or other people managing your blog content? Instead of wasting time with spreadsheets and Google Docs, try the EditFlow plugin for WordPress. EditFlow is a plugin that allows you to do things that, for example, are only visible to editors. Only people who are editors can see the comment. You can have a dialogue right inside the post! It provides a searchable and sortable calendar so you can see all the articles that are written in an easy way. You can post “need images” and other comments in the sidebar to manage your content stream.
Is it too late to start blogging?
As a new blogger, you may think that it is too late. You might think that other successful bloggers have too much of an advantage. With blogs, anyone can develop a voice. People who start blogging now are not too late. It’s certainly messier and there are a lot more blogs, but this opens up opportunities to network and grow faster. While there are plenty of people blogging today, there is no one who has exactly the same set of experiences, stories, skills, and perspectives. Take advantage of what you have that is unique. It’s a great way to break into the blogging industry.
Techniques to attract and engage your blog visitors
The editorial mix that goes into a successful blog varies. But for the most part, successful bloggers put out a newsletter every week (Thursday or Friday) with tips for the weekend. With a staff of writers and some guest writers, two original articles are published daily. To interact with as many social networks as possible, it takes a lot of time. So to be successful, you need to strategically plan and schedule your resources. During the week there is usually a “challenge” task for visitors to take away and build on the tutorials that are posted earlier in the week.
Blog model:
People are much more likely to read tutorials if they have been inspired to do so. The key things that go into the success of a unique blog include a successful editorial model. Every blog is different, but for the most part this editorial calendar works.
Incorporate three things into the editorial calendar:
- Information – 90%
- Inspiration
- Interaction
All of this is free content. Posts four days a week, twice a day, plus a summary bulletin once a week to collect tips and summarize the information posted during the week.
What is long form content and why does it work?
Long-form content is a trend that is doing very well in blogs. Long-form content can be called “meatier” content. While typical news content includes articles ranging from 500 to 800 words, long-form content is different. The average content for an average blogger was around 1,000 words or less. Articles heavily focused on SEO, including keyword optimization. The only problem with this strategy? Bloggers were getting a lot of search traffic, but not much return traffic, direct traffic, or brand searches, and user engagement metrics like bounce rate and time on site were pretty low.
Long-form content, on the other hand, is not only rewarded by search engines, but also resonates with readers. By creating longer, in-depth content that delivers a lot of value to an audience, bloggers’ content strategy has been successful with improved engagement metrics.
Ideal size of blog content
According to statistical data, the ideal blog post takes seven minutes to read and is around 1,600 words. This is not light reading, but it’s worth the extra time and investment because some blog publishers report that with long-form content, the average time on site has more than tripled!
Additional Content Ideas
Contests (with prizes) and polls (or debates) are important. Community and engagement are key. Anything you can get a reader to “do” on your site is important. Second, it teaches you a lot about your readers. At the end of the month, a monthly survey with a follow-up post to review the data is helpful to readers. Also, other blogs will view your content as good research data that they will want to link to.
Forums – Although a bit old school tech, still interesting for readers. Readers can have discussions and show some of their own ideas. Forums are easy to set up, and in most cases your web host will offer you a free tool that is easy to use.
Add-ons to improve functionality
With the growth of long-form content, the user scrolls down to read the full article. This causes the sidebar items to, in most cases, scroll to the top or disappear temporarily. The ability to keep some of the most important sidebar elements visible and remain persistent is a great solution to add to an existing blog.
- floating sidebar
- light boxes
- get out of boxes alive
- End of mailboxes appear
- What do you want the user to see when they reach the bottom of the page? If you can offer something different there, you can increase page views or newsletter subscribers.
Where can I get these plugins?
Most of these plugins are available on WordPress.com. If you’re looking for a more specific plugin geared towards professional blogs, you might consider joining problogger.com. If you become a member of problogger.com/download-center, you will find all the plugins they have developed for professional blogs.
Plugins for bloggers include:
- facebook follow,
- Messenger Sticky Top Bar,
- Blink plugin to absorb images on your blog
- EasyDigitalDownloads – Manage all your eBook sales from WordPress
- WordPress Editorial Calendar – Helps to visualize all posts that are scheduled and you can drag and drop to change the post date
Monetizing your website
There are many ways to monetize your content. If you’re limited to just a few and can’t spend too much time trying out all the available monetization options, then you can limit your energy to eBooks and affiliate links.
Monetization eBooks
Ebooks are a profitable income stream. If you release 4-5 eBooks a year, it provides you with a good income over the years. Writing and publishing eBooks is quite a strategy that will be detailed in a different article. There is so much information that is needed to fully explain this monetization strategy.
More monetization ideas
Affiliate promotions like Amazon links also provide good income. Newsletter ads and banner ads can also be lucrative as a publisher. Good old Google AdSense can be profitable for a blogger if you offer a high level goal with your content. It’s hard to beat in terms of direct sales. As with any monetization, be patient, persistent, and use only high-quality, original content.
Web hosting for blogs
While most bloggers use WordPress, there are some bloggers who still use b2evolution or other blogging tools. For the most part, all web hosting providers offer WordPress for free. The question of whether you need a cheap web host or a partner who really specializes in WordPress with plugin support or migration help may need to be asked. Every blog is different and the type of web hosting you use is something for you, the business owner, to decide. Build a brand that advertisers want to align with and even with low traffic, if you have really great topics, you can make a living from your blog.