If you’re thinking about starting a blog in 2013, you have a tall mountain to climb. In case you haven’t noticed, there is tons of competition out there. Whether you’re into knitting, basketball, Taekwondo or rafting, there is a blog dedicated to you. Even if you have an existing blog that isn’t getting the traffic you want, you have a lot to do if you hope to turn that blog around and compete with the big boys. This isn’t meant to discourage you, in fact it’s meant to make you aware that blogging has completely transformed. What follows are blogging tips for 2013 that will help you start a new blog or revive an old one so that you rise to the top just like all the other top blogs out there.
SEO is Not Dead, but It’s No Longer the Primary Focus
How to make money blogging? In previous years, most of the blogging tips you came across were dedicated to getting top rankings. It didn’t matter what you wrote, as long as your content included your keywords you were all good. Back then, it was all about the search engines and the blog reader was completely forgotten. It was all about that conversion, baby. Well, times have changed and with these blogging tips for 2013 you’ll soon see that the conversion won’t happen unless your content is top-notch.
While you are encouraged to use keywords and derivations of keywords and you are encouraged to write with the search engines in mind, you should write with your reader in mind first and foremost.
This means that your content has to be to the point and heavy on value. Your readers should always take something away, whether that’s knowledge, entertainment value or a new unique take on an old common problem.
Research and External Linking
Most blogging tips have to do with writing your blog, but we’re not even going to write a word yet. When you have a topic in mind, turn to the blogosphere and conduct diligent research. Find other influential blogs in your niche written by the top leaders in your field and use that information in your blogs.
Keep the fluff out of it. Everything you write should have a reason it was written. Don’t copy the work, but rewrite it and use pieces of one blog or another until you have one high-quality piece. Make sure you link out to those blogs you borrow from. You will benefit from the site’s high PR and your readers will have somewhere to go to learn more. Right there you’ve appeased the search engines and human readers in one fell swoop.
Social Media is Crucial
When you have your blogs written and you’ve checked them for errors, send them out to your social media followers. You should make sure you’re writing about topics they will find interesting. One of the biggest blogging tips for 2013 is to get social with your blogs. The search engines more than ever before are turning to social media to let them know what’s popular with kids today. If your blog gets shared often, the search engines will figure it must be high-quality content and you’ll enjoy higher rankings.
Entice your social media followers to pass your blogs on and most of all entice them to leave blog comments. The more comments your blog has, the busier it looks and the more likely others will be to bookmark your blog and leave comments of their own.
Don’t Forget the Images and Videos
High-quality images and videos can help with the SEO aspect of your blog and they can add even more enriching content that adds to the reader experience. You’ll hear the same blogging tips about images and videos that you’ve been hearing year after year. Make sure you use your keywords as alt and meta tags and always go with high-quality or nothing at all. Also, keep it to a bare minimum. The fewer images and videos you add to each post, the better.
While you may have a tough road ahead of you, you shouldn’t give up hope. Even if your blog seems to have a lot of competition, you have to realize that the Internet is vast. There is a market for everyone. Chances are there is a whole group of people who can’t wait to read what you’re about to write.
Your audience is waiting. With these blogging tips for 2013, you’ll have everything you need to serve up the content they expect.