Today it seems everyone has a blog, from your son’s best friend to your old high school gym teacher. While the growth is great for the blogosphere it makes it more important than ever for a serious blogger to stand out. Having a blog that is meaningful to your readers will help you to grow and your posts to be more memorable. This is the key to keeping readers coming.
Unfortunately this may be difficult for some bloggers who aren’t quite sure how to elevate their blogs above the scope of simply posting their day to day activities as if they are updating their Facebook status.
Here are some examples of what I mean:
Post 1: The “I made the best tacos tonight!” after dinner post
Unless you are a food blogger or are only blogging to keep Na Na and Paw Paw updated on the goings on of your life you should never do a whole blog post about your dinner menu.
The reason is that as a serious blogger your posts are your working resume. For anyone who may be interested in offering you an opportunity or who is a potential advertiser they can tell what you are about as well as what your potential is by your posts.
The solution: Have a consistent subject to blog about and stick to it.
Post 2: The “I really don’t have anything to blog about” post
These types of posts are the equivalent of wearing sweat pants to a dinner party. You have obviously given up and are now blogging because “you have to”. Not many want to read a just because post. It means you have no topic or focus so readers don’t know what to expect when they visit your blog.
The solution: Plan your posts ahead. Every blogger has days when they have nothing to write about and no ideas. So be prepared for when that day comes by having a couple of backup posts. This will save you from just posting something out of necessity. If you don’t have a backup just don’t post at all that day.
Post 3: The Title and picture with no explanation post
I see so many of these types of posts that consist of the abstract title above an even more abstract image. I always scroll down the page to see if there is some explanation for how the two are connected. Unless the theme of your blog is abstract titles with abstract images a serious blogger should never do this.
Solution: If you like to use images on your blog then make them interactive with your audience by having a regular caption contest. That way your post is more engaging.
Here are three things that you should do:
- Blog about what you are truly passionate about. That passion will ignite your readers.
- Be consistent and remember why you are blogging in the first place. If blogging has become a chore your posts will reflect that.
- Consider your audience and other potential readers to create more dynamic posts. If you are a serious blogger you have to consistently write for your audience.
Blogging affords you the ability to reach millions of people so apply these steps to take your blog from mundane to meaningful.
You can read more posts from me, Toya, at my blog, Tales of a Literary Nobody.
[...] means treating it like any day-job: you ought to work at it every day, and you can’t just cheat it. But I’ve been busy the last few days with my actual day job and, frankly, nothing has [...]
Thanks for highlighting the ‘purpose and focus’ factor to business blogging! I was just talking about this yesterday!
As a reader of business blogs I want to hear from the heart or pulse that drives the branding and passion of the company, not their stats.
It’s tempting to post just about everything in a single blog, although blogging consistently on a specific subject does makes sense.
I find that having “back up posts” in draft form, ready to be posted at any time, help a lot! I try to do one blog post per day, but when I first started I was so excited that I would blog more than once. Even now I have ideas but I try to drag it on…Otherwise on my down days I have nothing to post and I feel like I’m off my game.
[...] first published as How to Take your Blog from Mundane to Meaningful in 3 easy steps on Seeded [...]