Six Tips to Build a Better Blog
Blogging and online presence has become an essential function of organizations to uphold an image and instill a brand reputation. Believe it or not, it is also a prime outlet for media contacts. It is the era of the mommy blogger, proving that the clutter of advertisements and subliminal messages has become another dying art. And personally, I think they’re just fun.
I have picked through multiple blogs, have gotten enough feedback and applause to consider myself qualified to share this with you.
1. Pick a topic and run with it.
You know what you like, now narrow it down. Although the memoirs and public diary entries can be “juicy,” pick something that can be upheld by more than your mother. Say you know the downtown area like the back of your hand. Feed tips and facts that couldn’t be found in a pamphlet. Share your passions no matter how narrow.
2. Write with personality.
I said to avoid making your blog your memoir. Just remember, you’re writing for other people with the same interests as you. They want to know who you are. That is the entire appeal of a blog. Save the strict objective stories for the newspapers. The easiest way to remember this: you’re not in grade school, so why write an essay? Put the thesaurus of overcomplicated words down and write like you talk (with a hint more structure, and slightly less sang of course).
3. Make it easy to find
Here is where we bring in those PR skills. Who knew that the SEO/SEM skills that have gone over your head multiple times would become useful?
If you’re writing from a personal blog, it’s all about being unique. Create an original title and URL so you’re not the 30th blog page titled “Cooking” when a reader is on the hunt. You already know no one goes beyond the first page of Google. This is the more organic way of generating views.
But if you've got the money, just pay your way to the top. To make it simpler, just be relevant. Add appropriate tags to each post and your page as a whole.
4. Don’t get sued.
You’re already doing this for free; I don’t think you’ll want to lose money over it."
One of my earlier days as a PR student dedicated an hour session around this topic. You think it can’t be that hard to generate 100% original content, but that picture you pulled from google images? It is in fact owned by someone with or without a watermark as evidence.
Even the tiniest of blogs can be harassed by a photographer. Nobody wants to be taken to court over a photo of a kitten (can you imagine?).
Sounds ridiculous? Well, it’s real.
Three ways to avoid this wrath:
- Ask for permission from the artist
- Use any royalty free image
- Create your own images and graphics. It’s more fun that way anyways.
5. Write much, write often.
So you have an audience now. Great, you’re almost there! But what happens when you take a break for say… a month? You may think nothing of it, but this may be critical if readers will continue to check back for another of your witty posts. Give them content. Think of them as your friend. They check in with you and you ignore them. How do you think that relationship will go?
6. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Okay so you started this blog for your own sake. That’s great. You have a direction, so if there is any chance of success you must learn about your audience. I don’t mean you have to sit around and have sing-a-longs, but I do expect you to at least know everyone’s favorite color (just kidding).
Create content that your audience wants to read. Your target market obviously has spent time to build up your notoriety. They have commented on each post and have taken advantage of endorsements. It’s always about giving them what they want. And comment back once in a while. Show them that the internet is NOT full of robots.
Bonus tip: Be sure to remain genuine. Trust me; your readers can sniff the sellouts.
Now that you’re a professional blog connoisseur, go out and create the next Buzzfeed article.
Lindsay Papciak is a junior attending Grand Valley State University with a major in Advertising and Public Relations. She is a GV PRSSA chapter member and an account associate for Grand Valley’s student run public relations firm, GrandPR. She is a part of the Office of Student Life’s social media committee as well as the PR executive for Grand Valley Dance Troupe. She also attempts to blog about what she finds important here: wvhd.wordpress.com.