The Basics to Becoming a Blogger

Over recent years and the prevalence of the web into every corner of our lives, blogging has gained increasing popularity and recognition. In fact there are many out there making a good income from their blogs alongside their paths as content writers for others and speakers / guides in their niche. Whilst many are quick to realise that the internet has also contributed to a wide-scale saturated market of writers offering their talents, it should equally be acknowledged that casting our talents far and wide has become easier than it's ever been before.

Whether you are blogging as a personal pass-time, looking to launch your writing career or mobilising blog posts as a means of growing your crowd / network and marketing your services, the core principles are simple and easily defined ;

1. Identify your goals - understanding what you want to achieve from your blog posts will help direct your content and the ways in which you intend to reach out to your audience. 
2. Write content and lots of it! - write write write. Very few serious bloggers write the bulk of their content in the publishing moment. Most are writing and developing their content constantly with scheduled publishing of posts. This not only helps build a 'catalogue' of content to fall back on, it ensures a steady flow of blog posts from your site / platform, encouraging readers to follow your content and stay engaged. 
3. Find inspiration - there are many ways of finding inspiration for your blog content from web / app generated resources to being aware of the news and social network feeds. Watch, read, listen and then discuss to in order to work topics which attract audience to your work, but be warned, writing for writing's sake in this way will do you no favours. Responding to 'hot topics' with genuine thoughts and opinions will help your audience feel that they are getting to know you, whilst having the added bonus of potentially increasing your exposure as you write about the topics people are searching. 
4. Be productive - this 'tip' is less about writing and generating blog content and more about optimising your workflow and understanding your strengths. When and where do you work best ? Do that. How much time do you lose to reading emails and responding to tweets ? manage and restrict it. How much time do you waste using the wrong tools for the job? Invest in the things you need to save time, effort and frustration especially those which make your work flow more simple. 
5. Build your crowd - I've posted about this recently HERE, a blog with no audience would be better defined as a diary. If that's your aim then great, but if you are seeking readers and following then putting yourself out there in the virtual world is a must. Share your content with others via social networks, directories and information pages but do so with a view to gaining genuine followers and readership rather than 'numbers' - keep your interactions authentic, read others' work and respond when you have something genuine to say, follow those who inspire you or interest you, step outside of your box and engage outside of your 'niche', very few of us are confined to just one interest and often find our audience is engaged in lots of different areas. 
6. Understand shifts in social networking - social networking has evolved a great deal over the past decade, with people looking more and more towards genuine / valid interactions and posts they can 'relate' to. Working on this more personal level is a great shift from older techniques of marketing which used key words to target audience and people are less likely to respond to a 'sales spin' than ever. Getting to know your audience and engaging with them these days takes time, effort and commitment on your behalf and this is especially true in the social networking arena.  When engaging on a particular platform watch how others gain success in what they do for ideas of how crowds are best engaging. 
7. Develop your online presence - a polished website isn't necessary in your early days of blogging. Instead there are various blogging platforms out there all good for the job. As content evolves a natural flow of topics / niches and priorities will evolve, giving you an opportunity to truly start developing your online presence. Watching and noticing your traffic flow, user engagement and topics will enable you to identify ways in which you can improve your blog over time. i.e. add a menu  or categorise your posts, add links to older posts in sidebars, or direct traffic to your other sites. Being aware that your online presence is an ongoing work in progress will ensure that you optimise your web front as the need arises, consequently meeting the needs and demands of your audience. 
8. Ask - if you are looking for shares to raise awareness, likes to improve your visibility, or opinions / feedback, ask! Openly inviting people in to engage with your blog gets better results than expecting them to read your mind and know what you want / need. 
9. Learn the very basics of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - to gain exposure on your posts you will need a basic understanding of SEO. This will enable readers who are not following your social networks to find your content in their searches. You don't need to be an SEO whizz and following the very basics will help towards increasing your exposure in search results. Look online for information on how you can improve your content for keywords, use plugins and apps to help identify your SEO strengths and needs in a post and make it standard to incorporate these skills into your every day writing. 
10. Commit - Blogging success doesn't happen over night. But if you are prepared to work regularly and methodically towards building your online presence, content and audience, it will come.