How to Start a Successful Blog

There are a wide variety of different reasons why someone might choose to start a blog. If you're an individual, it's a great way to put your thoughts out into the world in a way that allows you to meaningfully connect with like-minded colleagues. If you're a brand, featuring a blog on your website is the perfect way to give yourself as much as a 434% better chance of ranking higher on search engines like Google.

But regardless of what your motivations happen to be, starting a blog and starting a successful blog are two entirely different things. If you wish to fall in the latter category, here are a few key tips to keep in mind:

Define Your Audience

One of the most important first steps to beginning your blogging journey involves defining the audience that you're going to be speaking to. While your instinct might be to target "anyone and everyone," for true success you need to go a bit deeper than that.

Defining your audience also helps you identify your niche - it gives you a bullseye to aim at. You should narrow your focus down to a few core areas that are incredibly relevant to your average ideal reader. This not only helps you in terms of deciding what type of content to create but also what perspectives those readers will find helpful. Never forget that your #1 goal is to provide genuine, helpful, valuable content to your audience - So it stands to reason that in order to achieve a successful blog, you need to first understand your target audience.

Settle on a Theme

Next, you're going to want to decide on a unique look and feel for your blog - a design that not only stays in-line with the overarching theme that you're going to be writing about, but also differentiates you from competitors at the exact same time.

Your color scheme will play a big role here, as colors often evoke different emotions in different kinds of people. Red creates a sense of urgency, black can make something seem serious, etc.… For the best results, try to design a color scheme and a general theme that matches with the ultimate message that made you want to start blogging in the first place.

Post Regularly

Once you lay the foundation that is your blog, you're going to want to make an effort to create new posts on a regular basis. Keeping your blog updated regularly doesn't just train your readers to keep coming back for more - it also helps in terms of SEO (search engine optimization).

Refreshing content also means Google will index your site more frequently, which will help increase your authority potential at the same time. It'll also get you in a mental "groove" so you can habitually post as often as possible.

Get Visual

While your words can speak for themselves, never underestimate the opportunity to add a little visual flair to your blog. Human beings are visual learners - there's really no getting around it. Not only is it easier to digest complex ideas when they're paired with images, but people also retain more information for longer when assisted by visual aid.

Furthermore, blog posts that use images tend to get 94% more views than those that don't. Get crazy and test different types of images! You might be surprised to see which ones convert more loyal readers.

Be Persistent & Consistent

Never forget that Rome wasn't built in a day and your hugely successful blog won't be, either. It's less a sprint and more a marathon. Provided that you focus on delivering relevant content to your defined audience regularly, you'll slowly but surely begin to amass the type of readership that will make a lot of people envious of your success.