First of all, blogging is not an easy task. It's actually one of the hardest things you can do if you're serious about it (especially if you're writing for a small audience). I'm sure that there are other bloggers out there who would disagree with me, but I've found that this is the case. Good blogging takes time to prepare content and write well; good blogging takes experience; it takes effort to make your blog look pleasing (I always like to use catchy graphics and bold fonts); good blogging means following certain rules (which I'll get into later in the post); good blogging requires effort on your part to stay consistent with scheduling posts irregularly throughout the week or month.
Having said that, let's get into how you should go about doing perfect blogging. First of all, consistency is key. I read the UBC business blog regularly, and I always notice that the posts are posted at the same time every week. This is important because if you don't post consistently, people will forget about you. It's only natural. I think it's always good to be consistent with blogging whether it's daily, weekly or monthly.
Secondly, your blog should be interesting enough to keep readers coming back for more. If you can post something that readers really enjoy reading over and over again then they'll keep coming back for more! If your blog is boring there's no way people will want to come back for more. Make sure your content interests people so they'll want to come back again! You have to figure out what kind of topics work best with your audience based on which websites are popular nowadays (imagine an article on college tuition being published around August). I think this was one of my biggest mistakes when I first started blogging...I didn't know what topics worked well so my traffic dwindled down after a while (and it wasn't high in the beginning). Although this isn't necessarily "blogging" advice; if you're interested in furthering yourself as a blogger then learn how others do what they do (i.e., read other blogs) and see which ones bring in an audience worthy of following them; borrow ideas from popular sources; discover the types of writing that gets shared most frequently; take note of how each person writes their posts...etc., etc., etc.
Thirdly, don't forget to take advantage of social media. Some people say that blogging is dead but I disagree. It's certainly not dead! Blogging has become an important part of the social media kingdom so you need to take care of it accordingly. You need to post your content on different platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest...etc) so that your readers can access your content at their own will. This may mean spending more time in creating posts for other social media websites than you would if you were just writing for one (i.e., writing a post on Facebook then compiling it into a blog post). Make sure your posts are interesting enough to be shared; make them short and sweet; write in enough detail; use funny pictures when applicable...etc., etc., etc.
Fourthly, you need to be creative. Blogging is an art form, so you have to practice being creative in your posts. Go beyond the basics and try something new every once in a while. Take advantage of your creativity to make interesting blog posts that will keep people coming back for more!
Fifthly, don't forget to keep a good blog layout. Your layout should be pleasing on the eyes and easy enough for people to navigate through your site without having trouble finding what they're looking for (especially if they're just looking for one specific article). It's important that people can find what they're looking for quickly when it comes time to visit your website because if they can't find it then there's no way they'll want to come back again! Keep a tidy layout by making sure all of your content is relevant; make sure everything is placed in the right categories; write good titles/headlines...etc., etc., etc.
If you've been blogging for a while and you're not getting the response that you think is necessary, it's time to take a step back and re-evaluate your blogging methods. If your blog isn't doing well, maybe it's time to start fresh...maybe it's time to create new content; maybe it's time to change the layout of your website or revamp yourself as an individual blogger; maybe changing things up will help bring in more traffic than before. There were times when I was thinking about giving up on my blog just because I wasn't receiving any traffic (I remember one day when I had only received 1 visit from 19 people). If you want people to come back again then make sure they have something worth coming back for (i.e., creative posts, interesting stories...etc.).
I hope this post helped!
