If you’ve decided that you’d like to use a blog as your platform to build your brand, it’s never too late to utilize this option. You’ll have to work hard in order to stand out. However, with dedication and strategies, you can make sure that your voice is heard by your target audience. In order to make this happen, there are a few areas you’ll want to touch on in order to get the most effective solution for your efforts. With a thorough plan, consistent execution and consideration of the following areas, move forward to use blogging as the portal to build your platform.
1. Motives, Vision and Goals
Think about what your motives are. Get clear on what your desired outcomes are. When you’re able to gain clarity about the full picture, you’ll position yourself to become more focused. When people don’t have a vision for their efforts, it’s really easy to get sidetracked by a million other opportunities and tasks. Think about why you are blogging about a specific topic. If you’re developing a blog that focuses on the ways pastors can reach the upcoming generations, your underlying motive is to help ministers become more effective in their language and efforts. You’ve defined your target audience. That is one major step that many bloggers completely miss. They assume that they’re just blogging for the masses. Get really specific and clear about your audience, goals and motives to help you create a strong foundation. When you know you’re reason why you’re blogging, you can always circle back to it when challenges arise.
2. Content Creation, Scheduling and Execution
Once you’ve set up your blog, you’ll want to consider how often you’d like to create content. Be realistic with your schedule. If you already know that you’re extremely busy during the weeknights, don’t set yourself up for failure. Carve out time to plan during the slower times of the weekend. Even if your weekends are busy, you’ll still need to find an ideal time that you can prepare the content. If this is an endeavor you really want to succeed in, you’ll have to prioritize it. Create a list of topics and titles you can blog about. Create the content. If you have to take photos or source your photos, make sure that’s a part of your execution process. Furthermore, in order to be highly effective in the blogging world, you’ll have to utilize search engine optimization. It’s the most organic way to bring traffic to your website.
3. Promotion, Growth and Visibility
As you work on search engine optimization to gain visibility on the internet, make sure you include the research component. A search engine optimization strategy requires keyword research. There are plenty of tools you can use in order to do keyword research. There are programs like Google Adwords and the search tool to help you. There are companies that created user-friendly programs to help people who are looking for the right keywords. If this isn’t your forte, you can always outsource this part of the process to a professional who knows how to find the ideal keywords for your niche. Additionally, it’s always helpful to gain visibility by developing a strong social media presence. As you develop the social media profiles, you’ll want to consider who your audience is and where they hang out the most. It’s always easier to direct your attention to one or two platforms when you’re managing the process as a one-man (or one-woman) show. Use hashtags to gain visibility. It’s also wise to research the right times to post your content through social media statistics. If you don’t, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of content on social media.
4. Engagement and Feedback
When you’re using social media to build your blog’s visibility, you’ll want to develop a habit of responding to comments and questions you get from your followers. Whether it’s on your blog or a Facebook post, always check for comments. It’s also good to facilitate dialogue. You might have to get creative in finding ways to communicate with your audience, but it’s wise to develop conversation-starters. You can end a blog post by asking a question. Encourage your followers to comment in the comment section with their feelings and opinions. Even if no one responds the first few times, continue to ask the questions. The more you get comfortable with asking, the more likely your followers to respond. Take a look at what other bloggers do to spark conversation. Take notes from them. Then, personalize your process as you need to develop a system that works for you.
5. Refinement
As you gain traction with your blog and social media platforms, you’ll want to take your efforts to the next level. This might involve introducing monetization strategies or increasing your visibility. Develop goals to refine and automate your process. Running your blog might take a lot of work in the beginning. Once you find your footing, you’ll be able to run the blog as a fine-tuned machine.