There are two things that matter in the field of blogging.
The first one is your content.
The second is your traffic.
If you have these two things, then you have a good blog.
So, the trick is just mastering these two things.
Let's start with the first thing- Content.
I guess you know what the content means. It's what your blog contains. It's what people see and read in your blog. And it is with this content that you attract people. And hence, content matters.
This is what happens to general people who start blogging these days- You find out blogging can be a good and a fun way to generate income. You also find out it can be done part time. Then you start writing something that you know, that you have knowledge on. Its fun for a few days but now you see that there are plenty other blogs that already offer what you have, even better. You wish you had started on some other specific niche. But you already started this and
you don't want to give up. And you also find out you can't compete with the rivals that are already well established. And now you start to look for lessons and helps. You wonder, " HOW DO I STAND OUT FROM THIS CROWD?"
This is every beginner blogger's story. Mine too.
So, here's the answer I came up with.
How do you stand out? Before asking that question, ask yourself this - are people going to hear your voice as of now ? Who are you ? And why should people listen to you ? Are you some popular successful guy whose lessons are worth reading ? Or are you just some wannabe that is trying to make money from blogging ?
Most possibly, right now, if you are reading this, you are a beginner and not that popular in the web. Sorry to say that. But face it. So, here's the first question you must be seeking answer to. How do I make myself/ my blog known to people? I hear many of you crying out loud -'MARKETING'. But, no, you don't do marketing right now.
Because, what do you have to offer if people visit you? Is your content attractive enough yet, so that people keep coming back? Let me tell you, if you do marketing without good content, people will come and go and nobody will keep coming back. That's not how you run a blog. You attract people so that they keep coming back for more. That's what you must be focused on.
So, how do you do that ? Bring people to your blog ?
First, you write something new and better than others. Something that others are not writing or covering in their blog.
Go to other blogs. See what they are doing and how they are doing. Read the comments. Read and involve in forums. Visit web communities. Find out what people want. Find out what people are talking about and address them by writing something new that others haven't written yet. Do it over and over and over until your content becomes better than your rivals/ or at least as good as theirs. That's the first thing you must do- create good content. Don't focus on anything else. Don't worry about traffic and monetizing and popularity. Just focus on creating good content.
Note : Keep a time frame for this. For example, give 3 months time to create absolutely amazing content that people will want more of.
Now that you have good content in your blog, it's time to bring in the people.
Now is the time for second thing- Traffic . How do you increase traffic in your blog?
Marketing and SEO. That's how.
But, how do you do content marketing? And what's SEO? These two are different topics I'll cover someday. Anyways, you must look into these topics seriously. Not just some articles, read some books on content marketing and SEO. You can start from 'Creating Fat Content' by Dr. Andy Williams.
Let everybody know that your blog exists. Let everybody know about your content. Let everybody know what you have to offer. Create pages or groups or whatever in social media. Increase your social media communication. Make people talk about your blog. That's what marketing is. And SEO is, in short, bringing your website in the first search result page in Google. Just read a lot about content marketing and SEO. Then implement your knowledge.
And you'll make it.
Now, see the result. If your visitors increase, then you have successfully made a good blog. If not, you are still lacking the content part or the marketing part. Just do both the parts better than your rivals or at least as good as them. I repeat it again- writing great content and content marketing are the only two things you must focus on.
Now that people know your blog and who you are, you can discuss about the old lessons(but give them a little of your own twist). Trust me, people will hear you now.
Keep doing this over and over and over. Learn new things everyday. Love your visitors and be good to them. Answer their questions. Talk to them and make more friends. Help them. Create a forum in your blog. Involve yourself in it. If somebody offers you to write guest posts, write for them. Offer others to write guest posts on your blog. Keep reading, keep learning and never stop.
Voila, my friend, you have made yourself a successful blogger.
Note : Blogging is not for people who want returns in few months. It requires time. Plenty of it. Maybe a year or two. Don't stop working and don't give up hope for at least 2 yrs. If you work hard enough and blog consistently, it won't take more than a year.
Thank You for reading !! :) :)