In this post you will find some great tips and tricks on how to build a successful WordPress blog, whether you are just embarking the journey of blogging, or have been blogging for quite some time without solid results, this article will be perfect for you. I am far off being a search engine optimization expert, nor do I think you need to be in order to be successful on the web. This was proven last month when we reached over 1 Million views, not extremely impressive if you didn't know the fact that we had launched only 2 months ago. Let's continue...
Step one: Write about what interests you.
It sounds extremely obvious, but you would be surprised at the amount of bloggers that talk crap and flood there website with adverts from Google hoping to make their first million. Slap yourself in the face people, it won't work.
There would be no need basing an entire website on a topic that you do not enjoy to its fullest. As it will eventually show in your posts, and your readers will know it. You need enthusiasm for your chosen niche, and not to forget a lot of patience in order to get out what you put in.
Step two: Research your chosen topic
There will be lots of other people who will already be writing about your chosen topic. But does that mean you can't continue to do so? Of course not, so dont worry. These people will come in handy in the future so bookmark them and jot their email address down, we will need them.
How do I research? Good question, simply look at what other people are writing about. What subjects are the most popular, what post's are creating the most conversation and attention, jot this down. Research deeper into your chosen topic, you may not know all you think you know, so back yourself up with some facts.
This step would also be a good time to look into Keywords (what people type into search engines to find for your topic), Jot these down too, to help with this and to get some numbers, check out the useful tools section below. Remember, try not to aim too high, "Inspiration" returns millions of searches every month, Will you be top if you flood your blog with the keyword "Inspiration", simple answer is no. But if you were to specifically place "Design Inspiration" carefully around your content and blog you could be in for a good chance. The more specific your key phrases/words are the better results you will get. (No more than 4 words)
Step three: Set-up camp
You may have already done this, but if not it's time to get on it. There are many blogging platforms that you can jump on the band-wagon with, but the one I personally would recommend is Wordpress, it is flexible, simple to set-up, and very easy to use. The amount of plug-ins and themes that are available are incredible and solid proof of its versatility, its one blogging program that will grow with you.
Keep in mind when you get to naming your blog remember the keywords that you jotted down and try to include a couple in your main title and blog description. Keep the description short, snappy and to the point.
I.e.: Blog Title - Inspiration Hut
Blog Description - The Home of [Creative Inspiration] and [Design Resources]. <-- Keyword Examples
Step four: Branding
If you are a designer, I'm not here to re-teach you, as imp sure you have a good understanding of this element, But if you are not, I recommend you pay close attention.
Branding is a key element to success of any business of any shape or size and is not necessarily pretty pictures and a rocking logo. Branding is created by how people perceive you as a person or a business, if you come across as arrogant and stuck up, people usually will walk the other way, that's bad branding. If you come across friendly and funny, people will be drawn to you, brilliant.
How do you want to be perceived... try and be consistent in your branding, stick to the same style of language and tone. You will build a keen following with good consistency.
Step Five: Content
The most important of all, you're content. Your content is what people are coming to you for, you have found something or you know something that somebody else wants. It's simple right? Not really. How will people find your content? Is your content useful? Is it a duplicate of thousands of other similar blog posts? These and more are all questions that you should be asking yourself. As you see on Inspiration-Hut we provide Art and Design Inspiration, Inspiration is common, but something we love writing about. What makes us unique are the resources we have to offer, and the informational articles we write, like this one.
Keywords should be common in all of your content, For example this blog post is about "How to Blog" You may or may not have noticed but in the first line of the article those keywords are carefully placed ("In this post you will find some great tips and tricks on how to build a successful wordpress blog") that search term alone receives 151,000,000 searches a month. Also, sneakingly (norty me) I've added Tips and Tricks, another common search phrase, and the phrase Wordpress Blog. So in that one sentence you are covering a wide range of keywords and search phrases. Chances are I won't be top of Google, but if this article grew to be popular, who's to say I won't?
Step Six: Social Marketing
Another way to be found is social marketing, this does not mean get your smart clothes and visit your neighbours with flyer's, not at-all. This means start to make a fan page on Facebook, a Twitter account, a Google + fan page (They now do that, yes), Even a Tumblr? Maybe, and start to slowly fill each account with information that you are storing on your website. Point all of your accounts to your website, make sure your most precious keywords are on your profiles, along with your website URL, and try you're darn hardest to build a following.
Avoid spamming "useful information" as it's annoying, and we don't like people like you, try to be yourself, remember back to the branding element. The common thing to do is be social with your followers, share good content from other websites, and your own content as and when you create it.
Useful Tools - Keyword Searching Tool
This write up was a very short version of a very long version, but if you can perfect each one of those steps above, you will be fine and dandy. Your blog may not reach 1000 page-views per day for another month or two, or even three, but keep at it. If it were that easy, don't you think we would all be doing it by now? Thanks for reading, and I hope that I have helped that little bit extra.
Hi guys, My names Tom and I'm Co-Founder of a Photography, Art and Design Inspiration Blog called Inspiration Hut
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