Thinking of starting your own blog? Valuable Tips & Tricks from the pros that will motivate you!

Bloggers of the world unite! Do you have any tips or tricks that you want to share with the community? We are looking for bloggers to come forward and have their voice heard. AMAfeed is a place to share knowledge with the wider world — whether you’ve freelance blogger, beginner or an award-winning blogger. We invite you to share your experience and tell us about what you’ve learned, ideas you want to share, or tips you can offer. By doing so, you can encourage others to use their talents in productive ways. Join our #BloggingAMA community, so you can share your voice and make an impact on people who need your advice and practical solutions. AMAfeed.com wants you to have the opportunity to showcase what you are doing to disrupt the blogging industry as well as meet with top bloggers from across the globe. Mark your calendar and be the host of your own #BloggingAMA Event on AMAfeed and don’t miss the opportunity to network, engage and promote your blog. We hope you’re as excited as we are about the opportunity to continue getting better together!

Blogs can be a great way to find a creative outlet, meet people who have the same niche interests as you, and become more knowledgeable about any topic you can imagine. If you haven’t hopped into the world of bloggers yet, it can feel overwhelming getting started. But don’t worry: We’ve put together a quick list of the unwritten rules of blogging that will make sure you get off to the right start.

There are many ways to take your blog to the next level but always make sure you know what you are dealing with. If you struggle to get traffic, attract an audience and build a successful blog then you came to the right place! You wanna know what really works? There are plenty of tips and tricks to get your own blog rocking and therefore raising your profile and helping you to win more business, followers and gets lots of traffic. Not only we are here to provide you with a simple blogging formula to follow, but we also spoke to some of the top professionals in the blogging industry who have hosted AMA events on #BloggingAMA channel and have shared their top tips on how to create a successful blog — from finding a niche to building a community! There’s no longer any reason you can’t sit down every day and hammer out an excellent blog post, so let’s move on!

Why should you create a blog and join the blogging community?

Let’s be honest, you’ve probably heard it a million times. “Your website needs to have a blog.” And the truth is, business blogging has never been more popular. Whether you want to share your expertise on a topic, keep your friends and family updated on your life and experiences, or simply have an “online journal” to record your thoughts and ideas, blogging is a great practice for everyone. Blogging is an activity that anyone can engage in — it’s easy, cheap and available to everyone.

You’ll improve your writing and communication skills. Whether you’re trying to make the case for a content strategy to your manager or want to start guest blogging on your favorite sites, finding and working with a good editor is one of the best things you can do to improve your writing skills.The best way to get better at something is to practice, right? So writing posts for your blog, no matter how often, is a great way to practice your writing skills and to help you improve. Even if you think you don’t like writing, it’s worth a try — you might find that writing about topics that interest you is a lot more fun than writing an essay for a class.

You’ll learn some new skills. While blogs used to be the domain of tech wizards who were fluent in complex coding languages like HTML and CSS, today it’s easy to start a blog even if you don’t know what those acronyms stand for. However, as tech-savvy as many people are these days, there’s always more to learn, and blogging is a great way to do it. Depending on the platform you use, you might learn coding or website management. These are skills that are increasingly in demand in the job market today. And, if you decide to get a little more serious with your blog and expand to other social media platforms, you’ll have even more skills to show off!

You’ll have a great addition to your CV. Just think of everything you do for your website on a daily basis and all the skills you use — don’t you think all of those would look seriously great on your CV? Especially if you’re applying for jobs in social media, writing, marketing, journalism, or any job that involves a strong set of digital skills. As long as you’re writing about a topic you’re willing to share with future employers, your blog can act as an online portfolio that you can list on your resume and talk about in interviews. It’s a place to show off all those new skills you’ve learned or improved upon. In addition, it also helps you stand out as someone who takes initiative and has the drive to pursue new things. Digital is the way forward for every business and that’s where bloggers have the advantage. So if you’ve not yet got your blog on your CV, or you don’t mention it in your covering letters, you should definitely do that, no matter your field of study or career path.

Choose a blogging niche for your new blog.

A niche is — in simple terms — the general topic matter that you write about. It’s the passion or main theme of your blog. When you have a niche, all your posts revolve around that main theme, and that’s essentially all you talk about. There are many different kinds of blogs, but most blogs can be broken down into two main categories: niche blogs and general — or multi-topic — blogs. While niche blogs focus on only one main topic, general blogs focus on a variety of topics. A popular type of multi-topic blog is a lifestyle blog. On a blog like this, you’ll find a wide range of content on general lifestyle topics such as career, technology, décor, health, and fitness.

When you blog about what you’re passionate about:

• You’re more likely to put the time and effort into your blog to make it shine.
• You’re less likely to abandon your blog in the future.
• You’re less likely to run out of ideas.
• It shows through in your writing, and your readers can feel that. This, in turn, will lead to a larger following.

You may not realize it but, when you have a niche, you have a lot more tools available to you. Plus, you can look at your content to see which posts are popular and repurpose them or revive them with a fresh new angle. If you have a niche blog, coming up with headlines and blog topics is a lot easier then when you have a general blog with no core theme. People crave quality content and will seek out blogs that meet their needs. Having a niche blog fits nicely with people since you can provide consistent and relatable content to them. They’ll come to know your niche, learn from your experiences and will want your personal take on things.

Bailey Cooper — AMA on blogging, vlogging, getting started in the industry.

Create a blog content plan.

OK, first things first. You have to get a bit realistic. These days, with all the other content we create, no one is expecting you to be posting daily, or multiple times per week. As a business owner, you can see that content marketing and blogging is one of the most powerful marketing tools you have at your fingertips. Content Marketing drives traffic to your website, and you’ve already heard of other businesses that get spectacular results. Content planning is simply the process of taking a look at your editorial calendar, and then deciding what to create and where to publish it. Content planning involves a few primary criteria:

• When will you publish the content?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Where will you publish it?
• What will you write about?
• What are your keywords?
• What’s the purpose of the content?
• How can you repurpose the content?

Consistently creating interesting and useful content is key to gaining loyal readers. For most blogs, whether they’re fashion or lifestyle, seasonal content is key, so that what you’re blogging about reflects what’s happening in your readers lives. For that reason, it’s great to work a few months ahead on an inspiration gathering level, so that certain events don’t sneak up on you. Preparation is key!

Toni Elston — AMA, 20-year-old lifestyle blogger that loves life

Stay motivated when you’re starting a blog.

Do you ever have days when you want to blog but you just can’t face sitting down and writing? Staying motivated to keep blogging for the long term isn’t easy. Learning how to stay motivated is one of the most important aspects of working as a self-employed blogger. Why? Because blogging as a job is a long-term investment of your time and energy. Like any type of work, it gets boring and frustrating.Focusing on the end game is much more motivating than seeing each task as an individual chore. Find a way to visualize your motivation for pursuing your work. Focusing on the big picture is great for motivation, but remember to celebrate successes along the way, not only when you achieve your big goal. You can create a blog schedule by taking your planner and using the monthly calendars to plan out what blog posts you want to be up by what day, write down goals, fill your space with things that motivate you or find a genre of music that inspires you to write. This will help you from getting sidetracked by checking your social media or texting a friend back.

Siobhan / Vegan Babe Life — A health, food & lifestyle blogger

Define your blog’s target audience.

It is a great way to identify and connect with your audience; to share your thoughts and opinions, to keep people up to date on your writing progress and a great way to blow off some steam. Some bloggers might be a bit disillusioned when it comes to what sort of content they should be writing. A big part of running a successful blog, especially for those who aren’t already table-names, is the strategy behind getting up to speed. It can go far beyond merely picking a topic and rolling with it, and the better prepared a blogger is, the more likely he or she is to get results. The keywords you should target, social platforms you promote your content on and even the blog design you present to the world will all fall into place if you understand the audience you’re going after.When defining your own audience, understanding who it is that you want to write to as opposed to who it is that you are actually writing to will help establish your preferred connections.

Agamonee Barbaruah — A content writer/editor and a blogger

Importance of Social Media.

While many bloggers think that blogging is about lovingly crafting each post, the reality is that you need to promote your content to ensure each post reaches its widest possible audience. Social media has been a goldmine for bloggers and marketers because you can drive massive traffic to your site from Social Media marketing. It is your hub from which all social media spokes spin-off of. After writing an excellent piece of content which is both informative and a delight to read, you need to get traffic to your site to make sure your hard work doesn’t go to waste and people actually read your expertly written post. This is the main reason to utilize social media whilst blogging, as it will guide more traffic to your site and get your content out there for all to see.

Most people know about search engine optimization, or SEO, to drive traffic to their blog, but what is equally as important is social media optimization. People aren’t going to share content that they don’t find interesting. So make sure what you’re writing is useful, important, and that you have a featured image. People are more likely to share articles that have a good looking image or graphic.

Supriya Nigam — Marketer | Analytical | Passion for Digital Marketing

Choose the best blogging platform.

While there are numerous blogging platforms available, choosing one that is the best is essential to you establishing yourself as a blogger. While it’s fine to make a transfer one time, you shouldn’t really be jumping around from platform to platform, right?

The most popular free platforms are: Blogger, WordPress & Medium. If you’re not interested in a ton of customization options, WordPress.com is the way to go. You won’t be able to add plugins, install custom themes or edit your HTML, but you will get a basic blogging platform that’s free and easy to use. If you ever want those options, it’s also very easy to switch over to WordPress.org. If you want a very simple set-up, Bloggercould work for you. It’s easy to edit and publish posts and it has a ton of tools built it. Be warned though, as you grow your blog, other blogging platforms will have more options available to make your life easier. Medium is ideal for users who want to publish stories they’ve been dying to write but want to avoid the hassle of creating an account with any other CMSs and setting up, designing and hosting their own site.

Patrick Lumumba — a digital marketer/SEO strategist and full time blogger

Market yourself as a blogger.

There are many ways to earn from one’s blog but certain factors must be taken into consideration. Regardless of your niche, it is of utmost importance that a blogger establishes an online presence. And this should not be limited to just one social networking platform but in most of the popular sites, today if possible such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Your blog itself should also be a professional one that people will find appealing and useful particularly in terms of content. Once you have a strong online presence and following, it is time to market yourself to brands that you’d like to collaborate with. You need to make an effort to let companies and businesses know that your blog exists and promoting yourself online is a good start. Make sure that you do it professionally, though, and not in a way that can be seen as too much bragging.

Nicole Clements — A 21-year-old Professional Blogger and Business Owner

Enjoy what you do!

Blogging is meant to be FUN. If you don’t enjoy it, why the heck are you doing it? If you’re creating your own blog, you have free-reign to choose whatever you want to focus on so pick something you love. There is nothing greater than waking up and talking about what you are passionate about. Blogging is all about talking (or writing) and sharing what you know for sure with other people who are interested. It’s a great way to bust myths, keep people enlightened, and help support other people with their passions.

Plus, the more you research and write about your passion, the more of an expert you become. And as an expert, you have the ability to create information products in the form of eBooks, courses, or membership sites, which will help you pull in even more income from your blogging venture and making focusing on your passions a full-time venture. Happiness is so interesting because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. So enjoy your journey and you will see that it will pay off. Good luck, blogger!

Marina — Blogger at tinylovebug.com.

Written by our genius blogger Tina based on advice from our great Hosts in www.BloggingAMA.com and originally published on www.AMAfeed.com