Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

Shortly after the festivities of Christmas, we will be going into 2018, a brand new year with a blank slate for us to fill as we please. While many people look to set personal goals or resolutions for the new year, then what about setting one for your work or blog? If you feel like your blog has fallen by the way side slightly, then a new year could be the chance to ring in some new changes. Whether it is a hobby or for work, here are some things you can be doing to make sure that your blog is on track going forward.

Stay Focused

Think back to the reason why the blog was started. As a main tool for communication, that is likely to be what it started out as. If you blog for a business, then of course, it can have the good side affect of increasing sales and helping the business in that way. But really, it is about communication. Communication of your brand, your business, your ideas, and relevant topics. So don’t lose sight of your blog’s purpose and why you started doing it in the first place. Many bloggers can make the mistake of making it an agenda-pushing website, rather than a communicative blog.

Aim High

Think about quality over quantity when it comes to your blog posts. You want to aim high and get the best content out there that you can. If something doesn’t fit or isn’t the high quality that you want your posts to be, then weed them out. If you want to have engaged readers that keep coming back for more, then it is better to have one quality blog post that really interests them, rather than three that are mediocre at best. The latter will turn them off your blog and could lead them to not come back.

Focus on SEO

If you want to get found by new readers, then you need to be looking at your search engine optimization, or SEO for short. When you focus on this, it means that you are using relevant keywords that will help to give your website a boost, as well as making sure that your titles match up to what the content is about. Search engines love new content, so get new content out as much as you can (but still focusing on quality). Link back to previous posts that have been written, and engage your audience with questions. You can also use website analytics to check what words people are searching to find your website, and then how long they stay on your site. It shows if you are using the right keywords if they are finding you and then staying on your site for a while. These are just some of the basic steps to take, but when done well, it can make a big difference in how far up the search engine pages you come.

Avoid Making It All About You

Some blogs will have started out as a personal journal, and as such will have grown an audience of people that want to follow you or that share your ideas. But it can be dreadfully boring to only limit the conversation and content to be about you and what you do or what you sell. Think about it from a search engine perspective; they aren’t likely to be searching for a specific product that you have. But rather, they will be looking for a solution to a problem. So having content that answers their questions is what will bring them to your site. From there, you can promote products or services, but the initial visit will be them coming to you for your content, not products. So mix up the type of blog posts that you have. Some personal and product ones can be good, but mix it up with some answers to questions and why your experiences or products can help others.

Market Your Blog

For many people, a blog can be so personal and to start with, people can feel reluctant to share their thoughts and feelings with others. But sharing each blog post through social media platforms is going to help you to reach the people that you want to reach. It allows people to them retweet or share the content if they enjoy it, which is free advertising for you! Google Plus is an important social platform that often gets forgotten about, but it can make a difference when it comes to your SEO. So look for ways to share posts on there too.

Build a Community

If you are a blogger and are not looking to build a community, then you are missing out on vital chances to grow. Whether a personal blog or for your business, having a following can help your site to grow, as well as help with social sharing. One way to do just that is through social media channels, as well as through an email subscription. Being able to get readers that come back again and again each time you post is important. Because how many are going to come back to your site just because they bookmarked it? It will be less than you think. So look to offer your readers something if they subscribe to your blog; it can help your site to grow in a massive way.

Pay Attention To Little Things

A site with bad quality images, grammar errors or spelling mistakes can be enough to put people off, never for them to return again. All of these things can look bad, stop readers from coming back, and make your reputation look a little worse for wear. So check your work, and check it again. Pay attention to small things like this, as in reality, they can be pretty big things. Keep tweaking your posts until they look right, and even after they are published, view them as a reader would. Are the images in the right places? Are the right things capitalized? When you pay close attention to the small things, it will help your blog to grow.