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The Path to Becoming a Successful Blogger - What You Need to do for Success

The advice you need to hear to become a successful blogger.

What does it mean to become a successful blogger? Do a successful blogger and a successful blog go hand in hand? The answer is both yes and no.

To be considered a success in your chosen field, you would assume where you work would also have to be deemed a success. However, becoming a successful blogger is more about your self-development and professionalism rather than what your blog offers.

To start, let’s touch briefly on what you can do to start and maintain a successful blog.

Start your blog right

Before we get into content and numbers, the best chance of getting your blog off to the best start is to start right from the beginning.

Many budding bloggers out there are so keen to get started with their blog that they tend to bounce through the first steps without giving it any real, thought and consideration. This is a mistake.

The building blocks for any blog is to start with a host, a domain, and the right set up. I’ll admit it can become pretty boring and pretty daunting to some, but these first few stages are so important. If you get it right at the start, you won’t need to deal with any problems and changes later on.

If you’re looking for the right place to start with the building of your blog, then check out our guide.

Maintain good quality content

You are probably already super aware of this point, but it is so important. Content alone isn’t good enough to maintain steady traffic, and you should always be focusing on high quality, authentic, informative, and actionable content. We feel like we say this a lot, and we do because we need to drill it into your head. Your content is important.

Another thing to be aware of when creating content for your blog is not to make content for the sake of filling your blog. Filler content is often an afterthought and of low quality, because it is rushed and not thought out or structured.

If you find yourself pressed for time and unable to create the long-form, quality content you usually do, then consider reworking your content schedule. (If you don’t have a content schedule then we recommend Coshedule).

Working in blocks for writing and editing content is one of the most productive and best things we do. It allows us to have a vault of posts ready to go when we can’t find the time to write (mostly due to traveling, events, or sleeping in).

You’ll know yourself if you’ve started blogging that it is hard to blog. It’s an ugly truth and can be really taxing even if you are passionate about it. You might find you enjoy writing certain content more than others. You might have energy bursts, you most definitely will have slumps, but like the rest of us, you’ve gotta push through it and remember content is king.

Stay consistent

As mentioned above, about making blocks for writing and editorial, this is such a great idea to take on board if you want to guarantee consistency with content and publishing.

Coschedule helps you create a thorough content schedule, and will publish to your blog and social media on your behalf.

Posting consistent content is beneficial for a multitude of reasons:

Audience engagement

It keeps your audience engaged because there are fresh articles worth reading, and you’re not letting your blog go stale. Fresh content can also target new readers as you can base your articles on certain subjects and set your keywords to hit a specific target audience (all still within your niche, of course).

SEO and ranking boost

Consistently posting content isn’t just about keeping your blog fresh. Posting content consistently is really beneficial for your google ranking and search engine optimization.

This determines how Google positions you on their search. The higher up on Google you are, the better, as people don’t tend to stray too far from the first two pages of search results.

To get yourself on Google, you need to input intelligent SEO on your blog and posts, and then you can request Google to crawl and index this content. Google uses a ‘Googlebot’ to crawl through new sites, and it generally takes about three months to index, so it’s best to get this stage started as soon as possible. 

If Google has already indexed your blog, then Googlebot will crawl any new content or posts you publish and add them to their search engine index. How often Googlebot crawls your site depends on various factors such as domain authority, backlinks, and page rank. When Googlebot has crawled your new content, you have a better chance of ranking up on Google due to providing relevant content and keywords that people search for.

Monetize

Some people believe that a blog isn’t truly successful unless they are making money from it, but that’s a matter of opinion rather than fact. Success has a different meaning to different people, but as we are on the subject of money, we will touch on how to monetize your blog.

There are many different ways to make money from your blog, and they all require effort.

  • Sell digital products 
  • Sell physical products
  • Use an advertising platform
  • Display direct ads
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Sponsored Posts

Some of these ideas might work better for you than others. We find Affiliate marketing, selling digital products, and displaying direct but relevant ads work best for us. 

We can show you how to monetize your blog in the best way. Check out this guide!

Now that we’ve touched on basic ways to make and maintain a successful blog, we need to delve deeper into what it means to be a blogger and the personal changes you can make to be the figure of authority your readership needs.

There are simple things you can do going forward, but nothing here is set in stone. These are just things we have found that work for us as professional bloggers and other professional bloggers out there.

Practice writing

There’s a bit of leeway when it comes to first-time bloggers, and no one expects you to be a writing pro from the get-go. However, you should look into tips and techniques to give your writing a more professional edge, and in time you will become a pro.

Something we like to keep in our blogging toolbox is a chrome extension called ‘Grammarly,’ which we use both in our Google docs (beta) and installed on WordPress.

Grammarly will direct you to your spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and also give you writing suggestions, and the basic version is free.

Another tool we use to keep us on top of our writing game (and it is so simple) is a thesaurus. Yeah, you heard!

Learning new words, new synonyms, and antonyms, are all a great way to help you style your writing and expand your vocabulary.

Another simple way of upping your writing style is by reading other bloggers’ posts. If there is a particular blogger that you love and aspire to, then read their articles and read some more. Not only will this inspire you, but you will start to pick up on their lingo and learn a few things. 

Give it your all, treat it like a job

If you want to set yourself apart from the bloggers out there who aren’t getting very far, then double your efforts.

Blogging is a long race to run, and depending on your goals and what you want to achieve with your blog, it’s potentially going to take a lot of effort to get there.

Many start-up bloggers run their blog like their second job, working evenings and weekends, and it does tire them out, but it also sets them apart. They make progress and hit their targets, allowing them to turn their second job into their full-time job eventually.

If you are planning on turning your blog into a full-time gig, be sure to have some financial backing beforehand. I know there are some bloggers out there who quit their jobs and start blogging full time in the hope of monetizing it, and they do it, but it doesn’t happen for everyone.

If possible, run your blog on the side until it starts to make enough income. Doing this will keep you stable until you feel comfortable with making the switch to full-time blogging.

Adapt but trust your instincts

The world of blogging is continually changing, and so are the subjects relevant to your niche. A key tip to becoming a successful blogger is not to become complacent and keep on top of what’s going on in your niche. Also, be aware of any changes to the platforms you use to promote.

Hint – social media rules and algorithms change, so don’t get caught out!

Another thing to be aware of is always to trust your instincts. When you’re starting out, it’s easy to copy individual content styles from other bloggers. What we mean by this is you might look at someone and see that they post about certain personal things, and this might work for them, but it might not work for you.

If you’re naturally a private person, don’t force yourself to divulge information you’re not comfortable with just because someone else does. At the end of the day, it’s your blog, and you should enjoy what you write about.

Be transparent

Being honest and open with your readers is a good place to start, and I don’t mean open as in letting people read you like a book but by writing about things you genuinely believe in and enjoy.

If you talk BS, then people will know. Have you ever heard that phrase “never bullsh*t a bullsh*tter”? Well, it’s true, when you speak BS, it will show through.

It’s important to be honest in all aspects of your blog but particularly if you’re planning on making money from your blog.

Don’t display ads that you don’t believe in, and your audience can’t relate to, don’t recommend products or services that are gimmicks, and have no real value to your readers and don’t sell them sh*t that isn’t actually going to help them!

Your readership is so important, don’t mess them around.

Inject personality into your blog

It can be hard to let your personality shine through in your writing, and this is because we tend to adopt a particular writing style when providing information to other people. It’s a little bit like having a ‘telephone voice’ (where you answer the phone, and you’re suddenly all posh and severe).

Remember, it’s ok to be a little rigid when you start out writing. It’s natural because after all, you’re new to this, and you’re learning, but the more you relax, the more your words will start to flow, and more of your personality and quirks will show.

Letting your readers see more of who you are will allow them to relate to you better and see you more as a person and less of a robot, which gives them more trust in you and your blog. It’s also easier to make friends and attract comments.

People love to talk to the person behind the blog and will only feel comfortable approaching you if you make them feel comfortable reading your words.

Let your readers in

It’s important to let your readers get involved with your blog, whether that’s comments, competitions, or through community and support. You’ll hear again, and again if you’ve been reading through our posts that we firmly believe your audience is the heart of your blog because without them, you’re a blog is just thoughts and words being loved by no one.

Another great way of getting your readers involved is through your email newsletter. You could ask questions through your newsletter – what other things do they want to read? What thoughts have they been having about your blog? Invite them to a Q&A that you might run once a week on your blog. You could also include a little ‘behind the scenes’ so they can see more of what goes on in your world (if you feel comfortable enough to do so).

All of these steps will help you on your way to becoming a successful blogger and remember, it’s not about what you write, it’s about what you do.

Are you willing to strive to be successful?

Hopefully, we’ve given you some ideas and tips to consider practicing as you continue to blog. These tips are so easy to follow and you might actually be doing a lot of them already whether that’s while you’re blogging or in your everyday life.

Do you have any tips you would like to share? Get in touch below!

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