How to Become a Successful Blogger in 5 Steps

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If you want to learn tips for becoming a successful blogger, keep reading!

When most people make the decision to start a blog (click here to start your blog), it is usually for a very specific reason. Perhaps, you really love writing and blogging is an outlet for you. Or, you are incredibly talented in one specific area, like cooking, crafting, or fashion, and want to share your talents with the world.

While anyone can start a blog, not everyone understands what it takes to ensure their blog is a success. What makes a successful blog? A successful blog is consistently growing its audience, has quality traffic to its site, and (for many) is income-producing in some capacity.

If you take the time to write content, wouldn’t you want as many people as possible to read it? There are some basic foundational steps to take that will create a loyal following for your work, which will translate to having a very successful blog.

1. Understand That Content Is King

You will hear the phrase “Content is King” almost as much as you’ll hear “consistency is key” in the blogging world. People aren’t just saying these things on repeat because they lack imagination, but rather these two staples are the base for success in this industry.

You have to be consistent in posting new material so that your fan base has new information to consume and share; a reason to re-visit your blog. However, if the content you’re producing isn’t quality and doesn’t resonate with your audience, it doesn’t matter how consistent you are.

I will admit that there’s a bit of a delicate dance that goes into writing content that people want to consume on a regular basis.

I post to my blog once a week because doing so allows me to post content that is consistent and still of higher quality. I recommend doing what works best for you. If you can write three posts a week that are quality posts, then do that.

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2. Write For Your Audience

Realizing that you are not writing for everyone is crucial to being successful. The saying that you can’t please everyone definitely applies in the blogosphere. Once you understand who you’re writing for, you’ll be able to speak in a voice that resonates with that particular niche.

If your blog is about parenting, going to extra lengths to draw in or not offend readers that don’t have children will miss the mark, and eventually alienate the very people that are in your target market.

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3. Give Your Audience Value

Each blog post should have some type of valuable takeaway. A food blog is expected to contain recipes or restaurant reviews. A crafting blog post is expected to give step by step instructions that end with a finished product the reader can independently create.

An opinion blog post will give the reader a well-rounded perspective on a specific topic.

So, when writing a blog post, you should ask yourself, “What’s the objective?” Are you writing for a reason, or just writing for the sake of writing? If your answer is the latter — don’t write it. The value is missing.

For example, have you ever been scrolling through Facebook and you see a post by someone that is just a list of all the things he or she did today?

While the poster may feel accomplished by getting so much on their to-do list done…telling us that you did three loads of laundry and picked up the children from school doesn’t exactly create conversation or add any value or deepen any relationships.

Make sure your content speaks to other people just as much as it speaks to you.

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4. Learn To Monetize

It shouldn’t be a surprise to know blogging is hard work! Consistently putting out good content and having to create something when you may not feel the most creative has its own obstacles.

So, if you are going to go through the process of writing, taking quality photographs, creating a website and sharing your content for the world to consume— you should be able to make an income for that work.

Recommended Resource: If you want to start making passive income with affiliate marketing, I highly recommend taking the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. I was able to more than double my affiliate income following the advice in this course.

There are so many different ways to monetize your blog, from affiliate marketing to advertising to creating products around your brand. Choose a monetization method that works for you. But make sure that you are monetizing!

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5. Know How To Increase Traffic

Along those same lines of recognizing how much effort goes into having a blog, you’ll want to know how to get your work in front of as many people in your target audience as possible.

Sharing your posts with your Facebook friends and family is fine, but you’ll have to do more than that to get good page views that will allow you to work with brands in sponsored posts.

A few ways to increase traffic to your blog include hanging out in the online spaces that your target audience hangs out, Pinterest, and even advertising.

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Becoming a successful blogger requires hard work and dedication. But if you’re willing to put in the work, I know you can accomplish your blogging goals.