3 Simple Tips and Tricks for Future Blog Pros

Starting a blog, contrary to some popular belief, isn’t simply about sharing random thoughts. You can get into blogging on your own, by contributing to other blogs, editing blogs, putting your creative online to share with friends, or even just taking online writing classes.

While it makes for some interesting reading and can get you a handful of dedicated readers, know this:

The concept of the “weblog,” the original coined term that has evolved to the more well-known word “blog,” is essentially a collection of links from all over the web with your introductions and opinions about them.

The point of a blog is to help the internet circulate even more – the more links, the more they pop up on search engines; the more they pop up, the more people all over the web will find those links.

1. Expand your Topics

So make sure you’re not simply writing about yourself. An effective blog will be about some sort of topic that will be meaningful on some level to a large assortment of people of varying ages.

Make no mistake, though: your readers need to know who you are, so don’t hold anything back just because it might not be “trendy” enough for the general reading population.

If some ideas or links you’ve found seem stupid, that’s probably all the more reason to include it on your blog!

2. Credit your Sources

Keep in mind that it’s also important to credit your sources, giving readers the chance to check on what you’ve found. Your purpose with the blog isn’t necessarily to gain readers – it’s to spread information all over the internet. Don’t misunderstand, though – you will gain readers no matter what, but not primarily because of your efforts; rather, it’ll be the efforts of many all over cyberspace producing viable, malleable, and worthwhile content that is both important and valid to you as well as many others.

The key is connection. Achieving readers of the same mind and feeling will automatically put you at the top of the blogging list. That’s why it’s not simply about you. Keep that in mind as you write a blog on whatever topic interests you – whether it’s politics, religion, fashion, horror movies, cartoon rabbits, or whatever else!

If you’re looking for connections to other bloggers, you can reach a larger audience by guest blogging. There’s a ton of sites out there that say they accept guest blogging  (even this one). And if they don’t and you’re really interested… simply ask!

3. Guest Post

You’re also not limited to regular blogs, you can expand into contributing to news sites and even contributing small bits and pieces to Tumblr blogs that accept submissions.

This might be surprising to you, but if you want quality content for your blog, you better start reading, watching TV, watching movies, and maybe even traveling.

The more you experience in your life, the more you are able to harness your own creativity and ability to produce quality content on a regular basis. That’s the important thing about a blog: regular content. You can’t simply stop for a month and expect to keep your readers.

Continual updates are important.

Because a blog continually grows, with archives lasting until you’ve deleted your blog, it’s also important to re-post some of your past work for anyone who might’ve missed them in the first place. Whatever news you find or stories you’ve heard, set up an interval where you can write links to your previous posts, or simply re-post all of it – whichever you prefer.

It’s all about how you want to do it. It’s your blog. Just know the role you have and the readers you’re looking for. You’ll already be one step closer to being one of the future blog pros of the century.

This article is written by Jennifer Williams. She is a traveler who feels grounded by her new found love of blogging. She’s a writer, turned traveler, turned blogger.