Top 12 Blogging Tips to Craft Killer Content

Top 12 Blogging Tips to Craft Killer Content

You’ve heard this one before – blogging is big right now. But why? What’s so great about this whole blogging thing?

Well, let me tell you a secret… blogs are fantastic. They allow anyone with an internet connection to share their thoughts, experiences, and knowledge. There is no need for a huge publishing deal!

If you aspire to become the next big influencer or establish yourself as an expert in your industry – maybe even both – or if you simply have something you’re passionate about and want others to know, this guide is perfect for you! Think of me as your best blog friend, giving away all my blogging tips.

Are you ready to start writing content that will keep people reading? Then, let’s dive into this unbelievable world called blogging!

Finding Your Blogging Niche

“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”

Oprah Winfrey

The first step to successful blogging? Zeroing in on your niche! You can't be all things to all people, babe. Pick a focused topic area that:

• You're truly passionate about
• Has an audience craving more info
• Doesn't have a zillion other massive blogs already

For example, instead of a general “food blog”, get specific – like blogging about keto recipes, Food Network show recaps or budget meal-prepping.

Narrow that niche down until you can own it. Do some keyword research to see what people are searching for. That built-in audience interest = blog traffic gold!

Choosing a Catchy Blog Name

Your blog's name is like its spunky outfit at the big blogging ball. You want something eye-catching that makes people go, “Ooh, tell me more!”

Try playing with:

• Fun wordplay & puns: Like “Bun Appétit” for a baking blog
• Your brand: Using your name or initials creates an instant connection
• Niche keywords: Help your target audience find you with niche-relevant terms

Just make sure that the unique blog name is:

• Available as a .com domain
• Memorable and easy to spell
• Not too narrow (keep an open mind for potential pivots later)

Setting Up Your Blog Site

Once you've nailed down a blog name, it's time to build that bad boy! There are tons of blogging platforms and content management systems (CMS) to choose from:

• Free options like Blogger.com, Wix.com or WordPress.com
• Self-hosted site with WordPress.org
• Other paid platforms like Squarespace, Weebly and Ghost

Now is the time to weigh factors like cost, ease of use, design flexibility, SEO features, and monetisation options. For most new bloggers, start with a free WordPress.com or Blogger site. Easy to set up, and you can always upgrade down the road!

Key Blog Components

No matter which platform you choose, be sure to include these key blog components:

• Catchy header/logo: Help readers remember you with an eye-catching branded image
• Clean, readable design: White space is your friend! Resist the urge to cram every inch.
• Search feature: Help people find your past awesomeness.
• Email list opt-in: Build that all-important subscriber crew!
• Social sharing buttons: People love sharing great content. Enable it!
• Bio/About page: Give readers some details about who you are.
• Cornerstone content: We'll cover this must-have pageview booster soon.

Set yourself up right from the start. This initial foundation makes expanding and iterating on your blog 1000x easier.

Writing Juicy, Clickable Blog Posts

Now for the good stuff – writing all those deliciously juicy, readable, engaging blog posts people will devour! Let's break down crafting compelling content step-by-step:

Finding Blog Post Ideas

What do you want to read about? Ask your audience! Get post ideas from:

• Burning questions you constantly get asked
• Hot topics trending in your niche
• Comments people leave on your posts
• Surveying your target audience directly
• Keyword research for high-volume searches
• Putting a fresh spin on old classics

Have you built a nice list of promising blog post ideas? Work the Keyword Magic by naturally incorporating high-value, high-volume keywords throughout each post. This helps you rank higher in search and attract more readers!

Structuring the Ideal Blog Post

Lengthy walls of text? No thanks, I'll pass. Give readers a visually appealing experience with a transparent organisation like:

H2 Headings to Break Up Sections

Short paragraphs (3-4 sentences max!) for easy scanning. Use:

• Bullet points
• Numbers
• Bolding key phrases

“She used headings, bullets and short paragraphs brilliantly – it kept me engaged!”

Remember images/videos too! People are visually wired, so sprinkle in:

• Eye-catching custom visuals (infographics, charts, etc.)
• Relevant photos/screenshots
• Embedded product clips, tutorials, etc.

Proper formatting makes your content look clean, modern and skimmable. You are making it 100x more inviting for today's grazers!

Writing in a Deliciously Addictive Style

So, we have a juicy post idea packed with relevant keywords and a solid structure for scannability. Now, let's enhance that tasty meat with some irresistible toppings! Season generously with:

• A Conversational Tone: Write as you speak! Ditch the stilted, overly formal stuff and engage readers on a personal level using “I”, “you”, and “we”.
• Analogies & Metaphors: Compare your point to something tangible and relatable. Trying to build backlinks without quality content is like putting a Bandaid over a broken leg.
• Stories & Examples: People love stories. Illustrate key points with anecdotes and real examples.
• Rhetorical Questions & Objection Handling: Keep readers engaged by asking questions they're already pondering. Then, overcome potential objections before they can raise them!
• Injections of Humor & Personality: Keep It light and fun where you can with witty lines, jokes, or self-deprecating humour fans will eat up.

See how this more informal, readable style just sucks you in? Channel that cosy, helpful-friend vibe into every post.

Fine-Tuning for On-Page SEO

So, you've written a killer piece of pillar content. Now let's make sure it's primed to rank in search with some critical on-page SEO tweaks:

• Compelling Title Tag: Use your focus keyword in an attention-grabbing, click-worthy title
• Optimise Meta Description: Craft a snappy, interest-piquing summary to entice clicks from SERPs
• Add Image ALT Text: Help visually impaired readers and improve image SEO
• Use Proper Formatting: Break up text using headers, short paras, bullets
• Sprinkle In Internal Links: Link to your relevant posts/pages to low user bounce rates
• Mobile Responsiveness: Make sure it looks great and is readable on any device

These strategies make your content super search-engine friendly, driving maximum organic traffic over time.

Building Topical Authority

Are you sticking to your niche focus? Good! Pay attention to internal linking for content silo structure. What does that mean?

Imagine your blog niche as the main “silo”, then create content clusters or “subsilo” categories around each subtopic area. Internally link all related posts together within each cluster.

For instance, if your blog niche was vegan cooking:

• Main silo: Vegan Cooking Blog
• Content subsilo #1: Vegan Breakfast Recipes
• Content subsilo #2: Vegan Dinner Recipes
• Content subsilo #3: Vegan Dessert Recipes

Linking all relevant posts within each topical subsilo helps you build authority in those specific subtopics. Win-win for SEO and keeping readers engaged!

Remember, people hate seeing scattered random posts in different niches. Focused topical relevance retains visitors longer, so they read (and subscribe!).

Cornerstone Content to Attract Loyal Readers

Want people to stick around your blog like college kids at an open bar? You need deliciously valuable “cornerstone” content that hooks them in for good!

So, what is cornerstone content exactly? The super high-quality, authoritative, epic-length pillar posts masterfully cover a topic inside and out. The types of meaty, in-depth guides that:

• Thoroughly address every possible relevant question or concern
• Serve as a comprehensive, one-stop-shop resource on that topic
• It is so wildly helpful people will bookmark and refer back to it again and again

For example, if you run a professional blogging tips site, your cornerstone content pieces could be:

• “The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Successful Blog (8,500 words)”
• “How to Monetize Your Blog for Passive Income: 19 Proven Revenue Streams”
• “57 Best Blogging Tools for Writing, SEO, Marketing, and Growth”

See how these big-hitting titles promise to be the definitive, all-encompassing source on each key subtopic? That's the cornerstone approach.

Each mega-guide becomes a lead-generating asset, attracting targeted traffic and subscribers for months/years. Timeless pieces you can continually update and re-promote!

The overall goal? Establish your blog as the industry-leading, authoritative source on your niche topic through these pillar page epics. It's worth the time investment.

Promoting Your Blog Content Strategically

You just spent many hours on a new blog post. However, how will anyone learn about your brilliance if you don’t promote it right? Content promotion should be made one of the top priorities as well. Some things you can try include:

1. Social Sharing Optimisation: Make posts shareable! Include click-to-tweet links at strategic points, shareable videos/graphics, and buttons that allow users to follow you on social media.
2. Strategic Guest Posting: Contribute guest posts to relevant blogs within your niche to reach new audiences and gain valuable backlinks.
3. Paid Promotion: Invest in targeted paid campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Google AdWords, among other platforms, to attract your ideal readership.
4. Influencer Marketing: Have influencers within your space reshare content with their loyal fans – you both get exposure!
5. Email List Marketing: Ensure that you share new posts consistently through your weekly or monthly newsletter; this is where most engaged traffic comes from

The trick here lies in employing a wide-ranging multi-channel promotional strategy, not just relying on one or two methods alone but making sure that every possible eye sees that expert-level content which took all those hours of work!

Repurposing Blog Content for More Mileage

You know that fresh, original blog post you worked so hard on? How about milking it for all it's worth through content repurposing?! Squeezing every last value drop out of each piece exponentially boosts your productivity.

Simply take that original long-form post and remix it into other excellent content forms:

• Design custom infographic visuals to share on Pinterest
• Turn it into a video tutorial or narrated slide presentation for YouTube
• Create an audio podcast episode or series. Expand it into an ebook, email course, or paid product
• Break it up into shorter social media micro-content like tweets and Instagram posts
• Turn advice into shareable motivational image quotes

That way, you maximise each blog post across multiple platforms and channels where your audience already hangs out online. Reaching them through their preferred mediums grows your overall reach tremendously!

Speaking of different platforms…

Expanding to a YouTube Channel

For bloggers, YouTube can be a powerful complementary platform for video content marketing. Plus, it's an ideal channel to repurpose and breathe new life into your pillar blog posts!

Start by changing your most popular and visible blog posts into video form.

For example, if you run a fitness blog with posts like “10 Best Exercises for Six-Pack Abs”, turn that into a quick 5-10-minute guided ab workout on YouTube! Include a link and call-to-action to read the full post on your blog, driving more traffic both ways.

YouTube helps you leverage different content formats to engage audiences in new ways. We will also give you another platform to promote your blog, build an audience, and monetise through ads/sponsorships.

Video content is increasingly vital for boosting visibility and exposure. So consider incorporating a YouTube channel into your overarching content strategy from the start.

Monetising Your Blog Like a Boss

Growing a successful, money-making blog is the dream for many. Ready to start monetising like a boss? Here are some of the most popular, lucrative revenue streams to mix and match:

1. Display Advertising Selling sidebar and in-content ad space through networks like Google AdSense, MediaVine, and Monumetric can generate excellent passive payouts once your traffic grows.

2. Affiliate Marketing Earn commissions by recommending relevant products/services and tracking clicks through special affiliate links. Amazon Associates is an easy place to start.

3. Sponsored Content & Influencer Partnerships: Get paid by brands to create sponsored posts, videos, Instagram Stories, etc., featuring their offerings. As your audience grows, this one gets lucrative fast!

4. Sell Digital Products Create and sell your ebooks, courses, templates, software, etc, through your blog—everything from meal plans and workbooks to premium video training series.

5. Offer Coaching/Consulting As an established authority in your niche, sell your expertise through hourly coaching calls or longer-term consulting packages.

6. Subscription Plans Gate premium content or exclusive perks behind a paid monthly/annual subscription model for recurring revenue.

7. Physical Product Lines Produce relevant physical products to sell, like t-shirts, mugs, books, supplements, meal delivery services, kitchenware, etc.

Start by implementing one or two revenue streams you're most excited about. Then scale from there as your blog's traffic and audience grows! Making money from your passion is the dream.

Growing Your Blog to New Heights

Did you think this was going to be just another lame list post? Ha! You should know me better than that by now 😉

We've covered a ton throughout this epic guide – from finding your niche and setting up your WordPress blog to writing addictive content that ranks, building community through email marketing, repurposing across channels, monetisation, and long-term growth strategies.

You're already way ahead of most amateur bloggers just by digesting these tips. But growing a truly spectacular blog that stands out takes consistent work. Stick to a content calendar, promote like crazy, engage with readers, and pivot as needed.

Ready to turn your blogging side hustle into a full-time career? Or are you just looking for a lucrative creative outlet? Trust that the blogging possibilities are endless with enough focus and passion behind you.

So break out that laptop and start tapping away, superstar blogger! Your voice and expertise deserve to be heard.

Blog Metrics & Tracking Essentials

Observing the metrics and analytics of your blog is very important because it helps you know which content is most effective for your target audience. You also see where you need to improve and other tactics to increase revenue over time.

Here are some key blogging metrics to watch:

1. Total website traffic

2. Page views

3. Unique visitors

4. Traffic sources (organic, social, referral, etc.)

5. Top-performing pages/posts

6. Audience demographics

   – Location

   – Age

   – Gender

   – Device type (desktop, mobile, tablet)

7. New vs returning visitors

8. Session duration & Pages/Session

9. Email list growth

   – Total subscriber count

   – Opt-in conversion rates 

   – Open rates & click-through rates 

10. Affiliate & advertising revenue 

    – Total earnings 

    – Revenue by source (ads, affiliates, etc.)

    – Top-performing affiliate offers 

    – Effective cost per thousand impressions (CPM) 

11. Social media engagement 

     – Total shares, likes & comments 

     – Popular content across platforms 

     – Traffic & conversions from social 

With an analytics platform like that, you can easily use Google Analytics or MonsterInsights for WordPress to track all these KPIs in one place. Make sure you check at least every month; take them apart piece-by-piece and figure out what is happening underneath the hood.

Once you start digging deeper into your numbers more frequently, patterns will emerge left, right, and centred around how people respond better to specific messages than others, so let's move on to advanced topics now.

Advanced Content Strategy & SEO

As your blog grows, it's essential to evolve your content strategy to stay competitive while optimising for maximum reach and monetisation. Here are some more advanced tips:

Update & Revive Old Content Instead of creating new posts, update your most popular older posts for freshness. Add new insights, visuals, and information and republish with a new date. This allows you to essentially “re-launch” them for a new wave of traffic!

Optimise for Featured Snippets
Aim to provide concise, direct answers to common questions in your posts to increase your chances of earning Google's coveted “Featured Snippet” boxes at the top of search results.

Build a Silo Content Structure Organize your posts into highly relevant topic clusters known as “content silos” through intelligent internal linking. This demonstrates topical authority and makes it easier for search engines to understand and rank your related content.

Prioritise Search Intent What are your readers' goals and expectations when searching particular keywords? Create content laser-focused on meeting those specific search intents (transactional, informational, or navigational) for higher rankings.

Implement Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs). Creating AMP versions of your site can significantly boost mobile page speed and usability for a smoother, prioritised experience on mobile devices.

Leverage Voice Search Optimization With more queries via voice assistants, you'll want to optimise posts for natural, conversational keyword phrases people speak out loud when searching.

The key is continually adjusting your strategy to align with how search engine algorithms, consumer behaviour, and technology evolve. Consistent optimisation and iteration wins!

Final Thoughts on Growing a Wildly Profitable Blog

I told you this would be an epic journey into the beautiful blogging world! We covered a ton of ground:

• Finding your profitable niche focus
• Setting up a beautiful blog website
• Writing clickable, SEO-optimised posts that rank
• Growing an email list and online community
• Repurposing content for maximum mileage
• Monetisation models like ads, affiliates, products and more
• Promoting your content strategically
• Building topical authority with intelligent content clustering
• Tracking key metrics and KPIs to optimise over time
• Various advanced tips for long-term growth

Sticking to these proven best practices and consistently creating high-quality content will help your blog attract a loyal, engaged audience, translating into some serious income!

Most importantly, ensure you're blogging about something you genuinely care about and want to share with the world. That passion and authenticity shine through and allow you to establish an unbreakable connection with your tribe of readers.

So keep tapping into your expertise, pouring your voice into the work, and growing that blog into an empire. With the right effort and commitment, your blogging dreams can become a lucrative (and deeply fulfilling) reality.

Now go forth and craft those killer blog posts; you got this!

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