9 tips to help you experience the power of blogging

I’m a blogger. I love sharing my expertise and perspectives in my blogs. The mayor of Kitchener has described me as a prolific blogger.

I’m a firm believer in the power of blogs. I am confident that I can make the world a better place starting with a better Kitchener as I do in my personal blog. I’m just as confident that I can help you change the world by sharing my expertise in communications and social media in this blog. Doing so is part of my plan for growing my business in a genuine, organic way.

A blog is a great way to make your voice heard. It also helps you to stand out from the crowd. If you want change, you need to attract support. A blog is a great way to show how you think and share what you think. A blog can help you develop a community that helps your ideas be taken seriously and provoke change.

If you’re not trying to change the world but to build your business, a blog is a great way to demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about. You develop credibility that way. It can also showcase your skills and creativity. By being helpful, you become a go to resource for people looking for assistance in your field. When they need more help than they can get online, you’ll be top of mind.

9 tips for blogging

Here are nine tips to help you become a blogger:

Have a focus - It helps to start with a focus but that is something that could develop as your find your “voice.”
Take a position - If you want people to pay attention, you need to say something. Being neutral means you get lost in the crowd and ignored.
Offer value - Another great way to get attention is to offer content that people find interesting and useful. Strive to do that with each post but you can also stand out by offering a package of content that can’t be matched elsewhere.
Know your audience - Who are you talking to? What are you trying to achieve? Your blog stats can help you learn about your audience.
Blog when you have something to say - My best writing comes when I believe strongly in something and I feel inspired. Believe it or not, that includes things like how to use Twitter! Don’t feel like you have to write every day.
Don’t let your blog get dusty - On the other hand, you’ll never build up any loyal readers if you don’t blog regularly. You also don’t want someone to go to your blog it hasn’t been updated in forever. For organizations and businesses, having a plan for content or whose turn it is to blog can help.
Have some variety - Not every post needs to be a heavy, thoughtful piece. Allow yourself to have some fun. Show different aspects of who you are and what you do. Use different formats for content such as video and tools like Storify.
Interact with your community - When someone leaves a comment, show that you care about what they have said. Try to respond individually or at least acknowledge their contribution to your online conversation. If you get a tonne of responses, you can do some of this by responding to a block of comments.
Acknowledge your sources and your inspiration - If you’ve done research, you should provide a link to the source. If something has inspired a post, share what inspired it by using a link. If it’s another blog, its also good etiquette. I’m writing this post in part because of great posts on this topic by Mitch Joel (How to start a blog in 2012) and Mark Schaefer (My five biggest blogging mistakes).

If you’re setting up a personal blog, I highly recommend using WordPress.com. I love it! For organizations and businesses, best practice is to have your blog integrated into your website.