Blog Success

You know there is something to be said for someone who can handle all the duties involved with a successful website all by one’s self. From graphics creation to site maintenance to writing to link requests to SEO to social networking, the list of tasks required to run a successful website can sometimes feel overwhelming, and sometimes actually be overwhelming.

So what’s an overworked frazzled web site owner whose knowledge and talents are stretched past their limits to do? How about outsourcing?

When it all becomes too much there is nothing wrong with buying a little help. In fact, you may actually find that tasks like content and graphics creation or site maintenance can be outsourced at a price that is much cheaper than the time investment you would have to make otherwise.

The trick with outsourcing is to be able to pinpoint the one or two tasks where your expertise or talents are overly stretched, or where your time is being consumed in huge chunks, and then finding the right person or service company for the job. Once this is done its just a matter of making sure everyone is on the same page and that your expectations are clearly stated.

If you decide outsourcing is the right path for your business there are precautions you need to take though. For one, its a good idea to have a written summary of the project that includes all the goals you expect to be met. Budgets and time lines also need to be clearly understood and agreed upon and checkpoints, or intermediary goals should be defined. A good method for keeping up with the progress of outsourced projects is to make a comprehensive list of duties in spreadsheets which are to be turned in weekly. You can then keep a tabs on progress with a minimal amount of intrusion and time investment.

Its also beneficial to make certain that the image you want to project and the message you want to push are clearly understood to avoid any conflicts in style or approach to the project that might otherwise arise.

In the end, outsourcing provides you with just the expertise you need, often at a very reasonable cost. When it all gets too much take a look at outsourcing a bit of the load. You might just end up finding it saves you more than money.

When writing articles for your niche blog its easy to lose focus. Especially for those who keep up daily posting schedules, keeping on track, on topic and keeping it interesting and relevant can become difficult.

One way to combat this problem is to ask yourself these five questions about every article you write. If you have good answers to these questions, then go ahead and write the article. If you don’t, you might want to think about writing something else.

Who? Who am I writing for? Is it for me or for my audience? Always make sure you consider the perspective of your audience as you write. If you’re writing for yourself, put it in a journal.

What? What is the topic? Am I staying on topic throughout the article? Blog posts that try to cover too many topics at once get confusing. Stick to one topic per article.

When? When is this information from? Is this article timely? Am I writing about some topic that’s no longer relevant? Especially when responding to or working off of information you’ve found online make sure you check the dates and make sure that you article is something people will find interesting today.

Why? Why am I writing this article? Does it offer something; a unique point of view, helpful advice, a useful review? Sometimes it is easy to create content just for contents sake, but if it isn’t offering anything to your readers, they won’t read it so you might as well not write it.

How? How is this article related to my niche? It doesn’t always have to be specifically about the core topic of your niche blog, but at least make sure its related enough so that the same audience will find it interesting.

Give the questions a try and see if they don’t help you to know when you are writing good niche blog content and when you are just writing.

Great content does not exist in a vacuum. Much like trees that fall in a forest when there is no one there to hear them, writing with no one to read it can’t make a sound. In order for writing to be great it has to be considered as great by someone. All writing is only as good as any given audience interprets it to be and that is why its so vitally important, anytime you write anything, to know the audience you are writing for.

An audience can be broken down any number of ways. Marketers and television producers look at all sorts of demographics when they consider their campaigns and viewership, and there is a reason they do this. The more you know about your audience, the easier it is to guess or predict what they will like. If you want to write great blog content then you need to make sure you are both writing for an intended audience and writing for the correct intended audience.

When you write for an intended audience then you have a much better chance of attracting those who will consider your blog to be well written, interesting and informative. For example, if my intended blog audience is professionals in a given niche, say auto repair, then it should probably be written in a more technical manner than if my audience is for a generally less automotively informed audience of teenage girls. You don’t want to have a blog audience of professional auto mechanics and write a post on how to change a flat tire or an audience of teenage girls and write a post comparing the 289 HiPo to the 302 BOSS.

You also want to make sure you are writing for the correct intended audience. If you don’t know a whole lot about auto repair and are having to research everything you are writing then you would probably be better served writing to an intended audience of less informed readers. This would mean that you would want to concentrate more on writing about less technical topics but make your writing stand out by focusing more on style. If you are more of a technical writer than a stylish one, then you may need to find another blog niche that you are better acquainted with.

When you know your audience, and know your topic well enough to write about it, then writing informative and interesting content becomes a lot easier. Simply consider your blog from your audience’s point of view and ask yourself what you would want to read about if you were visiting your blog. Then write, edit and, if you like it and find it interesting and informative, post it. There are very likely others out there who will enjoy it as well.

When I’m reading something on the internet, I can deal with a few typos. One or two words that have transposed letters or an omitted word here and there I’m basically fine with. I even do it myself from time to time. I won’t lie, it bothers me. I notice it and cringe and wonder why didn’t they catch that when they proofread it, especially when its my writing (it makes me shiver just thinking about it), but I can deal with it.

But that’s it. Anything more than that and I’m a goner, never to return, adios muchacho, goodnight and goodluck.

Am I being unreasonable? Is my reaction unusual? You know, I don’t think it is.

If you look around the internet at popular blogs one thing you will notice about all of them is that they are well edited. Is that a coincidence? I, again, think not.

There are plenty of blogs out there that are full of typos and misspellings and horrific bone chilling grammar and, lo and behold, none of them ever amount to anything. Some of them may even express some interesting concepts and offer great insights into particular niches but it doesn’t matter. If your blog is not well edited, it will never be successful.

That’s why the most important step to creating great content for your blog is to make sure you edit, proofread, edit again, spell check, edit, read it aloud and then do some editing. Okay, that might be overkill, but I hope you are getting the idea that good editing is crucial to the success of your blog.

Its not that people are inherently grammar Nazis. Its just that reading is a lot to ask of people. If they don’t think you are putting forth as much effort in producing the words as they are putting into reading them, you aren’t likely to attract many return readers.

In my opinion, the best method for self editing your content before posting it to your blog is to first use a good spell checker and then read the writing aloud. By actually speaking the words aloud you will greatly improve your chances of catching omitted words or improper usages.

Whatever method you use just make sure you take the time to edit to the best of your ability. Trust me, there is no such thing as great writing that is full of errors and there is no error free writing that is all that bad. If your content is well edited then you are already over halfway to the well written, informative and interesting content your blog needs to be a success.

If I wanted to start a new blog on some niche topic and make it successful I would not start a blog on dog grooming techniques. I like dogs, especially well groomed ones. I also know a little something about starting blogs. And a blog on dog grooming techniques has a reasonable chance of being a successful niche blog. But there is one major problem. I don’t know anything about, nor am I overly interested in, dog grooming techniques.

I won’t go as far as to say that it is impossible to have a successful blog on some niche topic you know nothing about. I’m sure with the investment of enough time and effort it can be, and has been, done. What I will say is that if you want to produce great well written, informative and interesting content for your blog, especially without having to spend hours on research for every blog post, then writing about a subject you have some knowledge of is the only way to go.

If you hope to gain any sort of audience for your blog, one of your major considerations should be whether or not your posts would be considered informative or interesting by your intended audience. The chances of meeting either of these criteria for people who have an interest in reading about a particular subject (which hopefully your intended audience does) when you have no interest or knowledge of that subject yourself, is slim to none. Your best bet for creating content others will consider great is always going to be writing about a subject that you know more about, or have more information about, than your audience does.

Not that you need to be an expert on any particular subject to start a blog. That’s not what I’m saying. But you should have at least a cursory knowledge of the topic and an interest in learning more about it. This way you will hopefully be able to understand any interesting relevant information you run across that you can then include in your blog posts, as well as present topics and discussions that your readers will find beneficial.

Most readers are pretty savvy and can spot a phony from a ways off. So, even if you aren’t overly familiar with the subject, make sure you’ve done sufficient research to know what you are talking about before you start talking about it.

If you do know your topic well, then writing great content is easy. The better you know it, the easier it will be. When you are writing on a subject you are familiar with and enjoy discussing, you will be amazed at how effortless it is to create content that others will come back for again and again.