Blogging in India may seem like a solo job but it doesn’t have to be a lonely journey. One of the easiest and most effective way to find partnership online is through collaboration with other bloggers who share the same vision as you do.
However, the first step - before you find your online community - is how to create content that they would like to read, and resonate with! Fortunately, writing a blog is something everyone can be good at with a little bit of knowledge about the basics and a lot of practice writing about things you love.
If you want to rise above the competition in the blogging world and have your voice reach a bigger audience, all you have to do is publish high-quality content. Sounds pretty easy, right? Except, there are a couple of problems with this :
a) Everyone thinks that their content is the highest quality out there.
b) High-quality content is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of SEO to define. Too often, people are focused on all the wrong things such as word count, keyword density, or formatting.
So, what exactly is 'quality content'?
To put it extremely briefly, this is what quality content looks like:
- It’s comprehensive
- It’s useful
- It’s helpful
- It’s educational
- It’s accurate
- It’s the best answer for the searcher’s query
After all, knowing how to write quality content helps you get more visitors, lower bounce rates, and higher conversions, but who determines the quality of your content? Your users. This makes creating the right content even more difficult because every user is different and has a very particular search intent. Every user knows what they want but unfortunately, you might not - not exactly, anyway.
Phew, sounds exhausting, doesn’t it?
If good, ‘quality content’ is purely subjective and based on the reader, how do you, as a blog writer, ensure that you consistently create content that strikes the right chords every time - or, at least, most of the time.
How do you make sure you’re creating ‘quality content’?
Remember, when we said you’ll need a little bit of knowledge and a lot of practice to understand your audience thoroughly and then go on to create content that’ll consistently resonate with them? Yeah, we weren’t kidding! Rome wasn’t built in a day but we have a couple of easy tricks up our sleeve to help you out - we are one of the most popular personal blog sites in India, after all.
1. Craft a Compelling Headline
Let’s assume, for the sake of this example, that you get 100 people to visit your blog. On average, about 80 of them will read your headline copy, but only 20 will go on to read the rest.
In simpler words, your headline has a major role to play in deciding whether people will be drawn to read and engage with your content.
A good headline provides specific information and gives a little detail to draw people in but stops short of telling the whole story.
2. Know Your Search Intent and Call to Action
Search intent is the reason behind your reader seeking out information on the internet. They may be searching for general information about a topic, looking for an answer to a question, seeking a solution for a problem, or browsing for a product to buy.
Before you start creating your content, you need to understand how your readers will be finding and using it, as well as what outcome you want to see.
How can the needs of your audience work hand-in-hand with your marketing goals?
All of this needs to be factored into your content strategy so your call to action can align with your content goals and user intent.
3. Hook Your Readers in with an Interesting Introduction
You’ve lured your readers in with the help of your exciting headline, but now you’ve got to make sure they are compelled to stick around and actually read your post. Not everyone who lands on your page or website will want to scroll down the page and read your content. In fact, a research study shows that approximately 57 percent of page-viewing time is spent above the fold, before readers need to scroll. For the second screenful of content, that figure plummets to just 17 percent, and only the most interested make it much further.
Simply put, if your intro doesn’t immediately grab your readers’ attention, they’re not going to stick around to read the rest of your post.
4. Know Your Audience and Write for Them
Different types of content appeal to different people. Your headline and introduction have done a brilliant job of bringing in a member from your target audience - but how do you make sure they stay?
Make sure you know who you are targeting and tailor your content to connect with your desired audience from the get-go. You need to write your content with this specific audience in mind.
Write for a small subset of people, not for everyone - If you end up creating content for a lot of different audiences, you’re likely to not hit the mark for any of them.
Additionally, make sure all your content is edited. Poor grammar and spelling mistakes are a fast way to lose credibility – and your audience.
5. Build Trust with Your Audience
As important as it is to be able to consistently provide your audience with quality content, it is also extremely essential to build trust. Especially when someone is not that familiar with your site yet, you have to show them that you’re trustworthy. The best content focuses on educating, entertaining, and delivering value to an audience rather than a hard pitch for a product or service.
As important as SEO is, writing in a clear and user-oriented way is what really helps you lay the foundation. Don’t clutter your audience’s time with pointless content geared for SEO juice and links.
Another way to build trust with a new reader is to try and stay away from stock photos - genuine photos create way more trust and give your site a personal feel.
It also helps to include an ‘About’ page on your website where you can add pictures of yourself or your team, and talk more about your vision and intent with writing this blog.
Lastly,
6. Keep Your Content Up to Date and Be Sure to Include Actionable Tips
A key element of quality content is making sure it’s up to date and relevant at all times. Creating a piece and publishing it is not the end of the game - you have to keep updating your content from time to time to make sure people are able to find the right information, no matter when they might visit your blog.
This also helps in building trust and will keep your readers coming back to your site. Moreover, it is important for SEO, as rewriting your content shows Google that your site is ‘alive’ and relevant.
Ultimately, your writing goal should be to ensure that your readers learn something valuable. That way, there’s a better chance they’ll share it and come back to you down the line. They might even sign up to your mailing list.
The simplest way to teach your readers something is to provide specific, actionable tips spelling out exactly how to do whatever you’re talking about.
To do this well, you need to be an expert in your field - and that’s where the hours of practice come into play.
So, you’ve cracked the code to create content that works best for your website, is aligned with your goals and is perfectly suited for your target audience.
What next?
How do you find a platform where you are able to connect with like-minded people, and make sure that your voice is heard and appreciated?
The internet is chock full of popular personal blog sites that can help you get started. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, you just have to use the present resources in the best way in order to create original content that your audience would like to read and enjoy. In such cases as well, partnerships help. If you collaborate with someone who already has a blog and has been writing for a while, it offers you a very different (and much better) perspective on what your audience expects and hence what content you need to create.
This is where blogging communities come into play. A blogging community is, simply put, a group of people with shared interests and passion coming together to create content that matters. Communities, in general, play an important role in every aspect of our lives. We have communities in our friends, our families, our employment, our neighborhoods, and in so many other places. So, why not in our blogging journeys as well?
As a novice in the world of blogging, getting traffic to your website or blog isn’t always the easiest. It gets even more difficult if your website is newly established because that means less results from search engine searches. Blogging community websites like Blogchatter help promote your blog, amongst other things.
So, why join the best blogging community website?
At Blogchatter, we believe in growing together. We try our best to create a safe and supportive environment where you can meet and interact with other bloggers, engage with them and ultimately drive a good amount of traffic back to your blogs. Since all community members are active, real-time bloggers – you can also share your thoughts and ideas with them and take inspiration whenever needed!
Our recently released feature – BlogRolls – is a step forward in the direction of our constant effort to bring the community together. BlogRolls make it easy for you to read and reflect upon posts from the entire community comprising of bloggers with different niches, interests and writing styles. So, even if you get a little lost in your journey – you will always have a strong constant support backing you up and showing you the way!
So now that you’re all set to join our community, we’re sure you’re wondering…how to make the most out of the blogging community at Blogchatter?
Well, here’s a few pointers to keep in mind:
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Networking - Being on the internet already puts you in the midst of a large digital community but finding your tribe in this vastness requires a little extra effort. The best way to find like-minded people is by using social media tools like hashtags on Instagram and Twitter and keywords on Facebook to find groups that might be the right fit.
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Engagement engagement engagement! – Once you successfully build a network, the next important step is to interact. Like, comment, share others’ posts – this will not only put you in the limelight as a supportive community member, but also encourage other users to come check out your content. Don’t feel shy to reach out to someone who strike a chord with you! (But always remember to be respectful and kind!)
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BE YOURSELF: The internet comes with an added benefit of the freedom of being able to mould your personality and show what you want people to see rather than what’s real. This might seem fun at first but it almost never works in the long run. At Blogchatter, we celebrate authenticity and encourage our community to create content that is genuine and true to them. Every learning experience; good or bad, adds to your expertise. Being yourself is the only true way to learn, improve and evolve in a blogging community like ours.
If we haven’t been able to convince you thus far and if you need more reasons as to why you should join the best blogging community website, check out this post by Jhilmil and get an idea of what it’s like to be a community member with an active blog!
Even though bloggers mainly function online, joining a blogging community website like ours often helps create strong bonds akin to close friends or family through honest communication and an in-depth understanding and respect of each other’s work.
And now for the part you’ve been waiting the most for…
In addition to building a vast and supportive network of bloggers, the best blogging community website also helps you earn money! There are various ways in which you can earn through your content at Blogchatter – guest posts, brand campaigns, etc. In fact, Blogchatter is one of the most popular guest post websites in India. To find out more information on you can earn with the best blogging community website, check out this post.
To learn how you can earn money through blogging, check this post.
Apart from this, Blogchatter has a number of activities, campaigns and workshops spread out through the entire year, designed to aid your personal growth as a blogger and content creator. Or maybe even help you write and publish a book! We’re full of surprises.
Through our year-long tracks #CauseAChatter and #TBRChallenge, we make sure that you find value through our association even if you are not a consistent content creator.
As a part of #CauseAChatter, we introduced the idea of ‘Blogging with a Purpose’, in 2020. Each of us blogs by themes, niches, or random things we have opinions on. Does each of us also have something we deeply care about? Maybe you have a new idea that could better the world, maybe you care a lot about human rights, or animal rights, maybe you have something to share on how you can better the lives of the less fortunate. Maybe you want to talk about all of this and more - and Blogchatter’s #CauseAChatter is the place for it!
You can read more about #CauseAChatter here!
Another one of our original tracks, the #TBRChallenge was motivated by a community of passionate readers - it’s a space for every kind of reader! Whether you’re new to reading and want something to keep you on track, or you’re a former reader who’s trying to get back into the habit and need someone to keep you accountable - the #TBRChallenge makes sure you keep reading throughout the year. We have a plethora of wonderful activities and incentives lined up along the way to make your journey easier and enjoyable!
You can be a part of the #TBRChallenge in 2022 and build for yourself an enviable collection of reads.
Furthermore, if you’re looking to explore new genres and writers, we have an exclusive Book Review section on the website where we put up a limited number of exclusive copies that are available for you to read and review!
Community teaches you all about networking and growing together. Being a part of a community can make us feel as though we are a part of something greater than ourselves. It can give us opportunities to connect with people, to reach for our goals, and makes us feel safe and secure. A blogger can better blog only if he has a community to share his talent.
But remember – as much as you gain from the community, it’s important to give back as well! The more you engage with Blogchatter and our community - via campaigns, chats, lives, and BlogRolls - the better will be your visibility.
So, what are you waiting for? Join the best blogging community website today!