Being a good blogger means standing out from the rest. Too many young bloggers begin their journey, mimicking their peers, only to give up after two months with no followers.

The reason? They lacked individuality and professionalism.

I have been blogging for almost four years, though the first three shouldn’t count. I had six followers by the end of year three, and I honestly didn’t care. I was in my own little world. If five people read what I wrote, it was a good day. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2019 that I was introduced to WordPress, and there, I found my passion.

From the start, four things set me apart from the rest: I was hungry to learn, I put what I learned into practice, I consistently maintained professional writing, and I posted as often as possible. These four pieces to my blogging identity, coupled with my unique background, thrust me above the crowd and into a different status: trusted. People trusted what I wrote and took my words to heart. Why? Because I took these tips and worked.

With these tips, you should understand a bit more about the goal you are undertaking. Blogging is, after all, more than just a responsibility- it’s a job, and it should be treated as such. If you aren’t willing to put in the time and work, you won’t succeed.

1: Be teachable

A humble blogger, willing to learn from anywhere, will always succeed. They will consistently have the newest information and know exactly how and when to post. They can expect results.

A humble blogger, willing to learn from anywhere, will always succeed.

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So, do you want to see results? Good. Go read every single “about blogging” post you can get your hands on. Read professionals like Neil Patel (digital marketing expert) or Joost de Valk (SEO expert). Buy books like “WordPress To Go” or “The Art of Blogging”. Attend webinars and live chats. Absorb as much information as possible.

2: Use what you’ve learned

This is in especial regard to post-optimization. It is quite pitiful how few bloggers fully optimize their posts for the ultimate viewer experience. Some are too lazy, others inexperienced. Regardless, there are a few pieces to post optimization that every single blogger should be using.

1: A relevant image. Use a graphic creating website like Canva to create professional, royalty-free images. Inserting them at the top of your blog post, as I have done, will increase your views by 94% (Fernandez). A few clicks are all it takes to receive that boost.

2: An attractive title. Nobody wants to read a boring post like “The Sky Is Pretty”. Instead, format your posts to be more intriguing, like “Three Ways the Sky Continues to Astound Viewers”. Man, I would want to read that post. “The sky astounds people? How? And there are three ways?” Suddenly, you have interested people reading your posts, and your traffic will skyrocket.

3: Ensure that your URL matches or paraphrases your title. If your title is long, shorten the link to something identical, but easier to read. For example, if your title were “Six Outstanding Superhumans We Haven’t Discovered Yet”, your URL might be “coolperson.com/six-outstanding-superhumans”.

Following these three tips should give you a huge boost in traffic. There is, however, more to on-page optimization, so if you’d like to learn more, click here to read my complete, in-depth guide on this tricky subject.

3: Be professional

This cannot be emphasized enough. Professionality is the biggest attraction to a new reader. If you write blog posts in the same way you might text your friends (with lots of lols and emojis), you cannot expect to see any results. Very few people want to read posts like that. Most of us, including myself, want to read high-quality, professional posts with good grammar. Download a good spelling/grammar checker like Grammarly and consistently check your work.

“Professionality is the biggest attraction to a new reader.”

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Being professional also means avoiding the first person at all costs. Apart from this post, which requires personal examples and stories, very few of my posts have personal pronouns (I, me, etc.). This speaks volumes to readers, especially ones with backgrounds in writing.

In addition to that, being professional also entails proper citation of your sources. If you quote someone in your post, like I did in this, make sure to cite them properly in MLA format. In fact, studies have shown that Google favors posts with proper citations over posts that did them improperly. Do it correctly, and your site may be boosted by Google. Click here to learn how to cite properly.

Finally, being professional requires proper use of italics and bold fonts, as well as checklists and bullet points. Used properly, these will help break up your page into bite-sized pieces, making it easier to read. And, with 95% of the population diagnosed with ADHD, it is a well-known fact that spaced paragraphs will keep your viewers reading longer.

4: Post regularly, but do not spam

This, too, cannot be overemphasized. Posting too regularly (spamming) or too infrequently can lead to a drop in readers.

Infrequent posting is the lesser of these two evils, as it will only reduce your traffic and will not drop your subscriber number (although it may lower the speed at which you attract new people). Spamming, on the other hand, will make you lose followers. Nobody likes to have their inboxes spammed with eight emails in five minutes, and if I see this, I will click that “Unfollow” button faster than you can say “Donald Trump”. Your readers are no exception.

Aim to post between 1 and 5 times a week. Go below this, and your traffic will drop. Any more, and you will be considered a spammer. Build this around your schedule; if you are extremely busy, post once a week. If you have too much time, post 4-5 times a week, and use the rest of your time guest posting.

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If you can master these four techniques, you can expect to see results. They will be slow in the beginning, but eventually, you will see larger and larger results. Think of blogging like a rolling snowball. Even though it starts small and slow, it will eventually gain traction and grow larger. Keep at it, continue learning, and your blog will grow.

Alright, that’s all for today. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, make sure to click that Follow button below (or to the side). Then, when I release new posts like this, you’ll get notified. Thanks again, and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Fernandez, Mary. “25 Proven Strategies to Increase Your Blog’s Traffic by 1064%”. OptinMonster, 8 February 2020, https://optinmonster.com/strategies-to-increase-blog-traffic-case-studies/

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