We often see articles about the habits of successful people. Whether it’s waking up early in the morning, working hard, or even doing yoga, it seems many people have their own opinion about what breeds success in life. After reading another article this morning in the Harvard Business Review about successful habits, it got me thinking about the whole thing from a blogging perspective.
Are there things that successful bloggers do differently than other bloggers? I’m fortunate enough to follow many very successful bloggers on Twitter, and I’m always watching what they do, and how they do it.
I’ve decided that there are some things that successful bloggers do differently. I could probably write a list of about 20 different things, but for this post, I will focus the top 5 things that I’ve noticed.
1. They aren’t shy about promoting old posts
Good content is good content. Unless the post is about a topic which dates it (i.e. an event, breaking news or something just released), there is nothing wrong with continuing to promote those older posts. It is a common misconception that bloggers should only promote their most current posts. Here at Bit Rebels, we continue to share posts that go back twelve months, and we still get meaningful feedback from readers who are just now reading them for the first time. Don’t put limits on yourself or your writing. Share your older articles as well as your current ones.
2. Their blog maintains formatting consistency
Consistency is important to all successful bloggers, and I’m not just referring to the consistency regarding how often you publish your posts. The kind of consistency I’m talking about is really in the details. Are all your embedded YouTube videos the same size? Are your photographs the same size? Do you credit your sources the same way in each post or do you mix it up depending on the day? Are your titles all formatted the same way, or do you capitalize the first letter of some words but not others? By making sure these details are covered and you maintain some sort of consistency, your readers will always know they can count on a nice, neat, well put together post from you each time. You won’t have those straggly loose ends that need to be tidied up like what you may notice on so many blogs. Nobody’s perfect, of course, but even just making a small effort in this area goes a long way.
3. They take the time to learn SEO
If you are like I used to be, you would rather poke your eyeballs out with an ice pick than learn SEO. However, what I’ve found is that reading about SEO and hearing people talk about it is waaaaaaaay scarier than actually doing it. One of the reasons successful bloggers are successful is because they have a lot of readers. One critical way to make sure you are capitalizing on the number of visitors you could potentially have is to SEO optimize your posts. It’s not hard, honest! It takes me about five to ten minutes extra on each post to do the SEO. Read about it, study it, learn it.
4. They write from their heart
Successful bloggers build relationships with their readers and write from their heart. They don’t try to be someone they aren’t, and they don’t behave as if they are above their readers. Instead, they respond to comments and have fun with it all. They don’t take themselves too seriously, and they know, at the end of the day, they provided their audience with the best content they could for that day.
5. They give back to the blogging community
Successful bloggers give back to other bloggers. One of the most successful bloggers I know is @2morrowKnight who writes for @Huffingtonpost. You would think that with over 202,000 followers on Twitter he might not need to give back. However, he is constantly retweeting other people, making new Twitter friends and spreading joy all over the Twitterverse. He is always thankful and understands the importance of giving back to the community. He is a wonderful example to follow. Thank you Sean!
Image Credits: [Jakub Krechowicz / Shutterstock] [Login / Shutterstock] [Ladyann / Shutterstock] [Gunnar Pippel / Shutterstock]
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