DO

Find your focus – Decide what you want your blog to be about. This doesn’t mean you have to always write about the same content, but it’s good to have some form of consistency. Don’t forget to think about your audience and who you’re writing for.

Use Photos/Links – Visual aids always work well, if you can find a relevant photo to add into your content, then do. This will break up the information nicely and will help the reader to focus on what your saying. Similarly, if you can find ways to add links into your post, then go for it. Links that relate to other content or parts of your website will keep your traffic on your site. Not only will this increase your clinks but it will also help you with your blog’s search engine rating.

Keep Learning – Blogging is constantly changing and evolving. Make sure you keep on top of trends and new strategies.

Share on Social Media – Get your post out there onto as many social media channels as possible. The more people you can get to see your blog the better, and putting it out on places like twitter with relevant hashtags makes it easier for potential readers to find.

Make sure your compatible – More and more users and reading blogs via mobile devices. You need your blog to be readable on as many different devices as possible.

DON’T

Set unrealistic goals – If you know you only have time to write one post a week then start there. You don’t want to start yourself with too much to do if it’s not going to happen. You want your posts to be organic as this will relate better to your audience. They will know if you’re just throwing something out there for an upload.

Write super long paragraphs – No one wants to read an essay. Make sure to write in short paragraphs, having white space helps the reader to stay focused. Also put all your key information at the top. That way if they only read half of it then you know they’ve taken away the most important details. Not only that but it can help to keep your readers interested.

Forget to proofread – You want your blog to look professional and typos aren’t the best way of conveying this. You also want to check that everything reads right and makes sense, it’s easy to get stuck into what you’re writing and not realise that something doesn’t make sense until you do the final read through.

Expect too much too quick – Blogging takes time, like anything you need to be prepared to work hard before you’ll see big results. But give it time and you will be rewarded for your efforts.

Neglect the design for your blog – A blog is a very visual platform. If your web page isn’t up to scratch it can affect the traffic on your site, so make sure your appealing to your target audience.

Do you want to read more on blogging? We have another blog post that we think you should check out:

How to use your blog to engage users