Bloggers command a powerful presence on the World Wide Web. The opinions and articles of some of the most popular bloggers can influence the decisions of powerful industries and affect how a product or person is perceived by the masses.
READ: How to Make Money Online from Blogging?
READ: Five Awesome Blogging Tips to Help Your Website Get Noticed
Not every blogger achieves these levels of success, but if you enjoy writing and want to vent your frustrations or share your opinions, writing a blog can be a fun and addictive way to leave your personal mark on the web. No technical knowledge is required and anyone can create or maintain a blog. All that a new blogger needs is a spark of creativity and an appealing writing style.
Choose a Blogging Platform
Registering a domain and creating a website can be a daunting prospect for writers who want to start a blog but have no idea about website design and coding. Thankfully, there are several blogging platforms that take care of all the technical know-how for you. WordPress is the most popular blogging CMS (content management system) and it is used to power millions of websites and blogs. The easy-to-use blogging platform can be installed in a matter of minutes and it automatically generates the structure and main body of a website.
READ: Content Management System – Why Every Website Needs One
Users can easily customise the design of their website and quickly create and publish new content. The WordPress interface is similar to word processing software so users don’t have to worry about HTML code when writing new content, and comment boxes can be added to all blog posts to develop a community and encourage readers to weigh in with their opinions.
Be Creative with Your Blog Design
WordPress has a huge selection of customisable plugins and themes that can be downloaded and installed on blogs for free. Plugins are extensions which can be used to add new features to a blog, and there are many different types of effective and powerful plugins that can greatly boost the functionality of a website.
A popular type of plugin for bloggers are social media widgets which, when installed, allow website visitors to easily share posts across different social networks in just a few clicks. Themes completely change all of the graphic elements on a website and there are thousands of free designs suitable for any type of blog, as well as plenty of choice for templates that make your blog mobile friendly – essential in 2013.
Develop a Writing Style
With thousands of blogs competing for readers, it’s important that new bloggers develop an engaging writing style to keep their website visitors coming back. Blog posts should have an interesting voice or personality that readers find entertaining and informative, and the writing style should reflect the subject of the blog and its target audience. For example, a blogger writing about relationships may feel confident adopting a personal writing style which readers can identify with, while a blog focused on technology or gadgets may find it more suitable to adopt a more formal, technical writing style.
READ: Blogging For A Cause
Bloggers need to be consistent with their writing and realise that it is their content that will keep readers coming back to the blog.
Plan Your Content
It can be tempting for new bloggers to immediately go on a writing spree when they first create their website. However, this is a common mistake many new bloggers make as they often get their best ideas out in one go and then fall into a creative slump while they try to think up new content. Bloggers need the discipline to regularly update their website if they want their readers to keep coming back.
Blogs which go through weeks or even months of no new content will find that their readers will quickly drop-off while blogs with frequent new posts will be more likely to gain a dedicated readership.
Like every website, the aesthetics and design of a blog is important, but new bloggers need to realise that the key to keeping readers interested is creating new and exciting content. There are thousands of blogs covering almost every subject imaginable, so new bloggers who want to stand out in the crowd need to be creative and develop a fresh and appealing writing style.
This post was wwritten by Zani, a student at top London University studying for her English Masters (MA) Degree. Zani is a keen to blogger who loves to write about her life and experiences in London.
hi thanks for this article the new bits for the new blogging are very nicely presented and will be shared wit my friends