There are hundreds and thousands of blog-related articles on the Web. A lot them teach how to blog differently and uniquely among others, and some even offer crazy Web tricks to get clicks and readers. They always reiterate that we should think outside the box, with a clear goal in mind, a specific target niche and market. These are good ideas and reading them repeatedly on the Web is helpful as well. But all these things can be simplified and summarized into three simple essentials.
Learn SEO
Whether you like it or not, if you really want to have a decent place in every leading search engine, you have to learn the basics of SEO. There are still bloggers who see no good about search engine optimization, but if you are into business and not just casual blogging, having at least the rudiments of it is an advantage. Nowadays, it really is hard to rank without knowledge of proper keyword research, sturdy link building network, and organized traffic management.
Also, having a knowledge of search engine optimization is like protecting yourself from ubiquitous Black Hats and spammers that may invade your site for harmful reasons. If you understand SEO, you’ll understand how this frauds work and you’ll definitely learn how to wedge them from invading your blog.
Respect Online Reputation
Since your blog operates in the online world, you should understand online reputation as well. If you want your blog to get a positive name on the Web, you should be extra careful in promoting it in social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, especially in replying to your follower’s queries. Remember that one wrong reply or wrongly conveyed message can lead to a massive online reputation downfall. Moreover, you can utilize the newly launched “Me on the Web” by Google to track the status of your identity on the Web.
Be mindful not only with your offsite interactions but also with your onsite moves. Your blog is still the most important part of your online reputation, so better be careful in replying to your commenter’s comments, posting your articles, and even commenting on other blog post as well. You should know by now that once Google has indexed a page ( a post, a comment, or anything) from you site, it would take months and years to completely make it unsearchable; deleting won’t even help. Therefore, you should always think before you click anything.
Write by heart
It sounds a bit off compared to learning SEO and respecting online reputation, but this is the most important thing in blogging. Blogging about things that don’t interest you is like doing a job that doesn’t fit your qualifications and skills. If you blog, always write about the things you like by heart. In addition, you should find your own voice and never copy some other else’s writing technique and style.