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68 AWESOME BLOGGING TIPS

General Tips

• Select a reliable webhost. (click here for web hosting discounts.)
• Blog about something you’re passionate about.
• Determine your niche and focus on it.
• Be consistent. Schedule your blog posts.
• Read other blogs. Find inspiration to stay motivated.
• Take time to explore. Learn something new.
• Create the necessary pages: “About Page”, “Contact Page”, “Privacy Policy”.
• Backup your blog regularly.

Optimize Your Layout & Site Structure

• Choose a great theme that best suits your brand/personality.
• Have a mobile friendly (responsive) site.
• Use clear and uncluttered navigation.
• Avoid using flash.
• Pick a right color palette combination. Search for inspirations.
• Add a search box.
• Display related posts at the bottom your blog posts.
• Add most popular posts on your sidebar.
• Review how your blog looks like in other browsers. Use Browsershot.
• Have an optimized custom 404 page.
• Use Disqus or Commentluv as your commenting system.
• Add sitemap to your site.
• Validate your site.

Polish Your Blog Post

• Write original and useful content.
• Use Copyscape to review duplicate content.
• Craft killer headlines. Include main keywords to your post title < h1 >. Click here for catchy title templates.
• Keep your paragraphs short. The use of whitespace makes your post easier to read.
• Use headings and sub-headings (H1, H2, H3).
• Use lists to break up content and to make your post scannable.
• Use images and/or videos on your blog! Don’t be boriiiingg.
• Add 3-4 relevant tags.

Make An Interesting Blog Content

• Avoid jargons.
• Provide freebies. I love free stuff myself. Who doesn’t anyway?!
• Use infographics.
• Offer some interaction: surveys, polls, contest.
• Use CTA (Call To Action). Put some wordings or line of text (within your content) that urge your readers to take an action. Remember those social media posts with “Like and share if you agree!”? You would want to do the same on your blog posts. You can either add a question below your content that will encourage them to leave a comment or ask your users to share your content around if they find it useful.
• Add an e-signature (awesome way to personalize your content!).
• Proofread. Use spellchecker.
• Review the quality of your content. Ask yourself: “Does it make sense? Does it add value to my readers?”

SEO Implementation – Optimize For Search Engines

• Set your preferred domain. It’s either www or non www. You can’t have both.
• Shorten your post URL – long URLs aren’t good for SEO.
• Make your content URLs search-friendly. Use: twelveskip.com/blogging-tip instead of twelveskip.com/12345
• Keyword-optimized your post, but don’t overdo.
• Use ALT tags to images.
• Use short, descriptive and unique meta title (max 65 characters) & meta description (max 155 characters) for each page.
• Include related internal links on your content.
• Install Google Analytics to track your visitors, most-used keywords, pages, etc. Use Google’s Webmaster tools and get useful tips to optimize your site.
• Check broken links.
• Review your link count in each page. Should be less than 100. Use Submit Express.
• Speed up your site. Load times should be less than 2 seconds. Analyze your site speed using Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
• Avoid link exchange programs.

Promote Your Blog. Share & Spread!

• Let people follow you. Integrate your social media accounts to your site.
• Share your articles to social media networks right after posting. Use #hashtags when applicable.
• Find the best times to post to social media. Track and experiment.
• Include social media “sharing buttons”. Let your readers spread the word for you! I use SumoMe‘s sharing buttons.
• Put an RSS Feed to allow your readers to subscribe to your blog. I recommend FeedBurner.
• Put an email newsletter form to your site. I recommend Aweber.
• Check your competitors and see how they promote their blog.

Interact. Grow Your Network. Gather Ideas.

• Respond to your readers. Answer comments and emails.
• Create your Gravatar account. This will get your photo/avatar with your comments to show up online.
• Participate in a conversation on Twitter using this hashtag: #blogchat.
• Join in LinkedIn Groups, Facebook Groups, Google+ Groups that are related to your site. Share insights and useful stuff.
• Or you create your own group on social media sites and invite people to participate.
• Take time to read your favorite/competitors’ blogs and interact.
• Share useful and relevant posts from other blogs. People will love you for that!
• Guest blog to quality sites.
• Join forum sites related to your niche, and/or install a forum on your site.