As someone that’s been blogging for almost 12 years, I’ve learned a thing or 2 about how to be a good blogger regardless of your niche or following size. I frequently get asked questions about being a part of the industry, and while a lot has changed since I first started (Um, hello “influencers!”), there are still certain core components that I feel make a huge impact on how you do and continue on for the long haul. You will NEVER stop learning, but, I know from experience that if you keep these 4 things at the forefront of blogging, over time you can get into a groove and actually make a career out of it (to varying degrees), if that’s what you want to do.
Live an interesting, authentic life.
No matter what you decide to blog about, be authentic in your approach. The blogosphere is FILLED with blogs that have been abandoned over the years because they weren’t being authentic and ran out of steam. Being authentic doesn’t mean telling all of your business or acting like your audience is your bff, but it means that you went into blogging because you genuinely had something to say/share, and it’s coming from a place where you actually know what you’re talking about. If you’re trying to be a copy of someone else or you’re doing things that are trending for the sake of creating content, you will burn out and fail. Also be curious about the world and dig deeper into the things that you blog about so that it will be interesting to your readers and you won’t get tired of sharing.
Take great photos.
Whether you’re into blogging for fun as a hobby or you really want to try your hand at making it a career, you HAVE to take great photos. There’s just no getting around it. This is a visual platform and people get bored easily, so while every photo doesn’t have to be taken by a professional, you do have to put some effort into what you share. This doesn’t mean that your photos have to be perfect, they just need to be interesting. Aesthetics still matter to a certain extent, and in order to monetize you have to be able to show that you know how to create ad-worthy content, so do what you can to continuously improve your images.
Learn the art of storytelling.
In addition to great photos, knowing how to tell a story is important as well. With everything you share, there needs to be a “why” behind it, so learning how to tell stories in a way to keep your audience engaged and interested is a must. Many of the bloggers that have been successful at it learned how to add a personal element into their content without doing too much. That’s not to say that everyone has to do that, BUT, if you want your audience to connect with you, you have to give them SOMETHING. Stop being so vague and get creative!
Study marketing and advertising.
Blogging and Influencer Marketing are not necessarily the same thing, but there IS a lot of crossover since IM was essentially birthed from it. With that being said, the industry as a whole is ever-evolving, with traditional marketing and advertising being at it’s core. What does that mean for you? It means that you have to study those industries to a certain extent in order to be able to be a better blogger. They teach you so much about storytelling, how to get a return from your content (whether it’s engagement or conversion) and the trends to look out for as the industry continues to change. There are so many books out there to help you (a top recommendation from me is Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media by Brittany Hennessy) so research and soak up as much information as you can.
There’s so much that you can do to be a better blogger (I have a ton of posts that I’ve written over the years here that have tips and tricks that are still relevant), so don’t ever stop learning!
What do you want to get better at as a blogger?
