For most people, a website is the one thing that links what they do to their potential customers, whether that is creating a website for their business or an ecommerce site to help them take their side-hustle full-time. But selling something or marketing your brand isn’t the only reason to have a website. In fact, one of the areas that is growing faster than any other is blogs.
A blog Is your chance to run with your passion, become an expert in a certain area, help others in similar situations, give advice on something you know loads about or answer the questions people keep asking.
That last point has a lot to do with why I am writing this post: I receive so many emails asking for advice on how to start a blog, how to blog, about what blog topics are best, and about how to create valuable content.
If these same questions are dancing about on the tip of your tongue, then here are some of the answers and recommendations I always give.
The 4 Top Tips To Become Succesful At Blogging
1. You Need A Niche
This isn’t a must have by any means, but having a niche will drastically help you grow your blog. Becoming a blogger takes a lot of time and effort, so knowing what you’re passionate about is super-important. It could be cooking, law, honest parenting, business, finance, content writing – anything that you can write about.
Please know that you do not have to be a complete expert in a subject when you start your blog. If it interests you and people are looking for answers in an area of your subject then you will learn as you go along. If you pick the right niche for you then you will become an expert in no time. Every time you write a blog post you will have learnt a little more.
If you need help in deciding on a niche then please go read my post on the subject and how you can whittle it down to your own perfect niche.
2. Know Your Audience
When you have decided on your passion fuelled niche, your next step is to know exactly who will, or who might want to be reading your blog. If you are doing a blog about your mad little family, then it will be young parents. If it is a classic car blog, you will have petrol heads. If it is business law, you will find it is entrepreneurs and startup business owners. Once you know the answer, you will need to tailor your writing to suit your readers.
The only possible way for your blog to become a success is if you add value to the lives of your readers. It is the only way you will start to see people reading, keep reading, and constantly coming back and tell other people about your blog. It is about getting people to be a long term follower of your work and advice.
You might use your experience as a premises liability lawyer to help employees and business owners better understand the rules, you might use your life as a new puppy-owner to educate people on the hilarious reality of owning a sofa-biting, show stealing animal, or you might use your Crohn’s disease to help new sufferers understand what help is out there. Anything, so long as it adds genuine value.
4. Originality Is Key
Unless you have a blog that strictly focuses on flip-flops made out of chunky peanut butter, you will need to accept there are other blogs out there that focus on the same thing you are planning to write about, which is why you need to do something different. You need to be original. To be original all you need to do is be you. That could be a fresh perspective, humor, creativity, imagery, anything so long as it’s fresh and you are true to yourself.
Not everyone is going to get you and not everyone is going to want to read your work but if you find the confidence in yourself to be you when you write then I promise you, you will find your own tribe of followers who will be loyal to you.
Final Thoughts
Most bloggers will want to earn money from their blogs and rightly so but if you do not put in the work with the advice I have given you above then earning money will be hard. People buy from people they like and trust.
Your first few blog posts won’t be perfect and that is okay. The more you write, the better you will become at speaking to your audience. I am not going to lie there is an awful lot to learn about blogging and being a successful blogger and it will take time. My advice is to get some training. I personally get all the training I need from Wealthy Affiliate which is also where I happen to host my blogs or websites ( they are the same thing really )
Many bloggers take the hard route and go searching around the internet getting advice from other bloggers. I personally appreciated the structured step by step training that Wealthy Affiliate gave me. It also meant I got to monetise my sites much quicker than most bloggers do. Take a read of my post on where to learn how to build websites or blogs for more information if you think you would also like to learn in a structured way. It’s free to join so it’s worth giving it a try anyway.
I do hope that you have found this post useful in your quest to learn about how to become successful at blogging. If you have please give it a share on your favourite social media platform.
As ever if you have any questions or just want to share your thoughts please leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Hi Peter and thanks for reading my post,
We were all new to this once and I’m pleased that you found my post useful and it will be great to have you as a regular reader.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Hello Karen,
Thanks for these great tips. Very informative and helpful.
These are indeed very important for the newbies, especially the “originality as the key”.
I’m also a proud member of Wealthy Affiliate and it’s highly recommended for everyone who wants to start their blogging career.
Best Regards,
Che
Hi che and thanks for taking the time to read my post,
It is always great to find that other Wealthy Affiliate members are reading my posts especially when they find them useful.
Wishing you every success with your own ventures
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Love this! Because people don’t understand how easy creating a website is it sounds hard but when throw in the right program and you actually understand fully what to do its very easy! Thanks!
Hi Jamaar and thanks for stopping by my site,
You are absolutely spot on with your thoughts. It can seem hard but with the right training it is quite a simple thing to make money from blogging.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Hi Karen ? You give some very insightful tips here. You’re right. You won’t get it right in the beginning but the more you write the better you will get at it. And if you follow your tips you will be successful. It’s really good to be passionate about what you’re writing about.
I also couldn’t agree more about knowing your audience and what readers are looking for.
I always give my readers the best value I can with originality.
Hi Rob and thanks for stopping by and sharing your own thoughts on blogging,
I wish you every success with your own ventures
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
I’ve always wanted to do something during my free time which has the potential to make some extra cash and that’s when I came across blogging as a way to not only share your passion to others abut also to earn money. I had no idea at first how people do it but they really piqued my interest to the point that I started reading every blog about “making money through blogging” and watched every video I found helpful in starting a blog site. When I thought I already learned what I needed, I went on to build my own blog site. Only to get stuck a couple of weeks later.
These 4 top tips on how to become successful at blogging are very helpful indeed. I do have a question with regards to selecting a “niche.” I always hear people say that the “making money online” niche is already saturated so what other niches do you suggest new bloggers like me should go for?
Hi Alice and thank you for reading,
I’m pleased that you have found my post useful and that you have already started blogging.
I think it is a fallacy that the make money niche is saturated. Yes, sure there are a lot of people in it but we all have our own unique take on it and if you do a good job there’s no reason why you cannot be successful in it.
If you read my post on deciding on your niche as I suggest in the post then this will give you a great strategy to work out the best niche for you. But please do not be put off from the make money online niche either.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Thank you for your help. These tips will definitely get me going into the right direction. Trying to get visitors to my site has been very challenging. Judging by the information you have given me, I will have to revisit my approach and content. Being sure to help my readers was my main focus. Maybe I need to visit your article on understanding your customers to get more pointers.
Thank you again for your knowledge and help on these issues. I am glad that I came across this information.
Hi lee Ann and thank you for reading,
I’m really pleased that you found my post helpful and I’m sure my post on understanding customers will help you further.
If getting traffic to your site is causing you challenges then my free ebook may help you too. Ebook
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
simon
atHey Karen,
Great Article you’ve written there! The tips are straight-forward and useful and you have a catching way of writing.
Karen Noone
atHi Simon and thanks for reading and your kind comments,
Wishing you every success with your own ventures.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Peter May
atI’m new to all of this and you have given some great pointers and advice I will be checking your posts on a regular basis from now on thanks
Karen Noone
atHi Peter and thanks for reading my post,
We were all new to this once and I’m pleased that you found my post useful and it will be great to have you as a regular reader.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Che
atHello Karen,
Thanks for these great tips. Very informative and helpful.
These are indeed very important for the newbies, especially the “originality as the key”.
I’m also a proud member of Wealthy Affiliate and it’s highly recommended for everyone who wants to start their blogging career.
Best Regards,
Che
Karen Noone
atHi che and thanks for taking the time to read my post,
It is always great to find that other Wealthy Affiliate members are reading my posts especially when they find them useful.
Wishing you every success with your own ventures
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
jamaar
atLove this! Because people don’t understand how easy creating a website is it sounds hard but when throw in the right program and you actually understand fully what to do its very easy! Thanks!
Karen Noone
atHi Jamaar and thanks for stopping by my site,
You are absolutely spot on with your thoughts. It can seem hard but with the right training it is quite a simple thing to make money from blogging.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Rob
atHi Karen ? You give some very insightful tips here. You’re right. You won’t get it right in the beginning but the more you write the better you will get at it. And if you follow your tips you will be successful. It’s really good to be passionate about what you’re writing about.
I also couldn’t agree more about knowing your audience and what readers are looking for.
I always give my readers the best value I can with originality.
Karen Noone
atHi Rob and thanks for stopping by and sharing your own thoughts on blogging,
I wish you every success with your own ventures
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Alice
atI’ve always wanted to do something during my free time which has the potential to make some extra cash and that’s when I came across blogging as a way to not only share your passion to others abut also to earn money. I had no idea at first how people do it but they really piqued my interest to the point that I started reading every blog about “making money through blogging” and watched every video I found helpful in starting a blog site. When I thought I already learned what I needed, I went on to build my own blog site. Only to get stuck a couple of weeks later.
These 4 top tips on how to become successful at blogging are very helpful indeed. I do have a question with regards to selecting a “niche.” I always hear people say that the “making money online” niche is already saturated so what other niches do you suggest new bloggers like me should go for?
Thanks!
Karen Noone
atHi Alice and thank you for reading,
I’m pleased that you have found my post useful and that you have already started blogging.
I think it is a fallacy that the make money niche is saturated. Yes, sure there are a lot of people in it but we all have our own unique take on it and if you do a good job there’s no reason why you cannot be successful in it.
If you read my post on deciding on your niche as I suggest in the post then this will give you a great strategy to work out the best niche for you. But please do not be put off from the make money online niche either.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Lee Ann
atThank you for your help. These tips will definitely get me going into the right direction. Trying to get visitors to my site has been very challenging. Judging by the information you have given me, I will have to revisit my approach and content. Being sure to help my readers was my main focus. Maybe I need to visit your article on understanding your customers to get more pointers.
Thank you again for your knowledge and help on these issues. I am glad that I came across this information.
Karen Noone
atHi lee Ann and thank you for reading,
I’m really pleased that you found my post helpful and I’m sure my post on understanding customers will help you further.
If getting traffic to your site is causing you challenges then my free ebook may help you too. Ebook
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen