5 ways to take your blog to the next level

5 ways to take your blog to the next level


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SALT LAKE CITY — Blogging is big in Utah.

More and more men and women are choosing to express themselves and share their knowledge and experiences online. Women bloggers in Utah compose an estimated 35 percent of all female U.S. bloggers — 12 percent more than any other state.

There is no one way to blog. A blog is simply a personal website, contributed to regularly to record opinions and share content.

If you are looking to start blogging or improve an existing blog, consider the following five tips. Perhaps not all will apply to each situation, but hopefully you can find some ways to make your blog better.

1. Write for your audience

Not everyone will enjoy every blog. Define what your blog will be about and stick to it. Your blog can be about anything, but narrowing the scope of your blog will make it easier to find a niche audience in the blogging crowd. For example, your blog could be about:

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  • cooking
  • parenthood
  • technology
  • politics
  • DIY projects
  • fashion
  • news
  • travel
  • entertainment
  • happiness

The list of blog topics goes on and on. Zemanta has a helpful "What kind of blogger are you" guide. Take a look through it and see where you fall. Hedonist bloggers are very active in Utah. You most likely know a number of people who have blogs about finding happiness in their lives.

One of many good examples of a nicely-focused blog is Your Cup of Cake. Done by Utah resident Lizzy Early, its posts are solely cupcake recipes. The blog has had so much success there is even a recently published cookbook available of recipes from the blog.

2. Connect with fellow bloggers

Once you have a blogging focus, the challenge becomes promoting your blog and obtaining readers. One of the best ways to do this is by linking with other blogs with similar target audiences.

#poll

One great way to do this is to contact other blog authors and prepare to feature a post from their blog on yours, and have them feature a post from your blog on their blog. These kind of posts can attract a lot of readers to both blogs.

Sometimes "blog link-ups" will be hosted in which one blog creates a forum where any blog author can promote their blog. This can be the quickest and easiest way for new blogs to create a small following.

It is also important to make your blog easily accessible both to other bloggers and readers. Make sure you have "buttons" or nicely formatted images with links back to your blog for other bloggers to put on their page. Also be sure you have a way for people to follow your blog through RSS, email and across all social media networks. Some blog authors choose to have a personal account on these networks, and some choose to have an account that is only for the blog.

3. Use a clean design

Using a nice layout and design is very important. For example, if you use a font that is hard to read, people will feel a subconscious desire to leave your page as quickly as possible.

Using large pictures to break up blocks of text is also an important part of a blog's design. Make sure that your blog isn't visually overwhelming, with too much going on. Make sure you have a proper balance of white space and text.

Many bloggers put a lot of thought and effort into creating their header (the large banner at the top of the page). A blog's header will be noticed first, so be sure to leave a good impression. It will set the tone for the rest of your blog.

A great example of a clean blog design is Utah resident Brooke Emery's blog Silver Lining. It uses a clean, two-column layout, has appropriate use of white space to break between posts, uses large pictures to break up text, and uses an easy-to-read sans-serif font in high-contrast colors.

4. Make a custom URL

The URL is the Internet address of your blog and what people will type in their Internet browser to get to your blog. While many services offer free blogs, they will usually append your blog address with their own company name. For example, you could have mycoolblog.blogspot.com, or mycoolblog.wordpress.com.

While free URLs work great for beginning blogs, it is the first thing a serious blogger will want to change. URL names can be purchased from most blogging services (Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, etc.). They can also be purchased from domain registrars, such as GoDaddy or NameCheap.

The process of upgrading to a custom URL is usually very easy. Most domain names will cost about $10 a year.

When picking a domain name, try to pick something descriptive of your blog or use your name.

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5. Make money on your blogOnce you have your blog going and have a few readers, it can be very easy to make a little money with your blog. This can be done by displaying ads or promoting other services or products.

To put ads on your website, create an account with an ad service like Google AdSense. Once you create an account, they give you some simple HTML code to add to your blog. As people visit your blog and see the ads, you get paid.

Affiliate programs are a great way to get paid for promoting other people's services or products. The two most popular affiliate programs are by Amazon and Google. They instruct you to only promote products or services that you actually use and like.

When you introduce ads or affiliate links to your blog, be sure to do so in an unobtrusive manner. Your blog is about whatever topic you have chosen. Ads and affiliate programs should be just a small, barely noticeable part of your blog. Don't let them take away from the content you create.

Hopefully you can use one or more of these tips to take your blog to the next level.

Are you a Utah blogger? What tips for blogging do you have? Let us know in the comments.


Taylor Wilson is an IT professional at a small Utah company. He has a passion for helping people with technology. Email: taylorwilson@testonetwo.com Online: www.testonetwo.com or www.twitter.com/twil6

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