More Quick Blogging Tips

The following are some tips on how to make blogging a pleasant experience for you and your readers.

Blog for you.  After you blog for a while you can lose your way easily with trying to get more traffic. You might start trying to copy more popular blogs instead of sticking with your style of blogging. The popular blogs became popular because they were unique and had a voice behind them. Copying won’t get you anywhere and it will make you lose interest in blogging quickly. Stay true to the reasons why you started blogging and blog for yourself.

Don’t let blogging take over your life. Blogging can take a lot of time and energy. Some bloggers spend up to 3 hours or more each day on blogging and even more on reading blogs. While there is a temptation to spend time in the blogging world because it is so awesome – don’t let it take over your life. Spend time with your loved ones without the computer getting in the way. If blogging starts to get in the way of your other commitments take some time off – living your life is more important than blogging.

Stick with a schedule. Having a blogging schedule helps with making sure blogging does not take over your life and it also keeps you more focused with your blogging. Most blog readers don’t expect you to stick with a super strict schedule – we all understand when life is more important – but it is nice to know when bloggers will be posting. Setting a schedule, like blogging once a week or 3 days a week or daily, will remind you to blog and help you regularly check in and build content. You don’t have to always stick to your schedule, but having one helps. Another schedule trick is to create an editorial calendar – basically plan out the content of all your posts for the next month or even up to a year.

Be consistent. Once you’ve set a schedule to follow (even if just roughly following it) you will have something to be consistent with. Bloggers who are very inconsistent in posting have trouble building up a consistent readership. If you want to start building a blog that will bring in both readers and money you will need to be consistent with your blogging habits. You don’t have to write eight times a day, just consistently.

Do your research. If you are posting fitness information online, you better have credentials or point to someone who does. Exercise science is in fact a science and something that can injure people when they receive bad information. Additionally, if you are posting any information based on studies, read the studies thoroughly and research them. There is no faster way to turn people off than by posting wrong information. Be meticulous when you are blogging, and do your research if you aren’t writing from personal experience.

Be passionate. If you are planning on becoming a successful blogger, make sure your blog is on a subject that you are passionate about. Time is one element that helps a blog become successful, so make sure the topic is something you feel you can write about for months and years to come. When you are passionate about something like nutrition or fitness or living the best life possible, you will always be inspired and your writing will easily engage your readers. If you are not passionate about the subject, prepare to face blogger burnout after writing about  the same topic for a long period.

Believe in your blog. This tip is important in the beginning when you don’t have comments waiting on you and you feel like giving up. Don’t. Believe in your blog and it’s power to be great. Believe in it because no one else will until you prove it’s worth something. Eventually that belief will become a reality and others will recognize the worth.

For more blogging tips, check out these great blogs about blogging: Problogger, Copyblogger, Health Blog Helper, Food Bloggers Unite.

BLOGGING TIPS FROM TOP HEALTH BLOGGERS

But don’t just listen to me. Here are some great blogging tips from other health bloggers:

Have fun with it!  It shouldn’t be a chore. :)

Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point

Be yourself! Write from the heart, honestly, with a consistent message, and your readers will love you for it.

Erin from Fit Bottomed Girls

Blog from the heart. Im a firm believer in the do what you love and the money will follow adage yet that can not be a motivating factor for why one blogs. Nothing is more evident or transparent than someone who is merely blogging for the Benjamins. Write what you love and if the money doesn’t follow the readers surely will. When all is said and done the virtual community you create is far more gratifying than cash could ever be.

Carla from MizFit Online

Just write and enjoy it, don’t do it to try and create revenue or get a high amount of readers. That will come with time and effort. Also I feel website design is important do something different and well designed, people will want to visit your site…….

Chris from Zen To Fitness

It’s tempting to stop blogging when get stuck in a weight plateau or begin to gain back some pounds, but keep writing, if only because typing burns calories. Your readers have had hard times too, and they’ll appreciate your honesty about your struggles. No one’s perfect. If your weight loss seemed easy, we’d probably start to hate you anyway :)

Jennette from PastaQueen

If you want to make your healthy living blog stand out from the hundreds, maybe thousands of others, get out of the “journaling” phase as soon as you’ve built a small following of, say, 100 subscribers. By journaling, I mean writing about yourself, rather than a particular topic, with each post. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there are so many food-and-exercise journals out there now that it’s a very hard road. When I made this shift to writing about actual topics, and not what I did or ate today, it made all the difference in the world for my blog, and more importantly, for my own fulfillment from writing it.

Matt from No Meat Athlete

Stay true to your voice. Simple as that. Readers will come and readers will go don’t let that change who you are or how you write.

Roni from Roni’s Weigh

Just keep producing content – whether in the form of blog posts, photos, or videos. At the end of the day content is what matters most, and the only way to improve your craft is to practice often.

Esther from Faint Star Lite

Give your best material away.

Josh from World’s Strongest Librarian

Keep writing through the tough times. So many bloggers disappear when they fall off the wagon. But that’s when you need to write more than ever! Share your setbacks as well as your triumphs. The support and encouragement you’ll get from your fellow bloggers will help you get back on track quicker than if you just moped in private. Everyone has tough times, and the more you write about your struggles the more you will learn from them.

And…

Beware of blogger butt!  Blogging can be very addictive, so make sure you don’t get so wrapped up in your writing that you forget to switch off the computer and get your exercise done!

Shauna from The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl