Video Credits: Brian Tracy via YouTube
Image Credits: Sharon Lopez via Bitlanders
The year 2017 is now in its final part. There are only 5 days left before we finally say goodbye to the current year. If up to this time, you haven't made a plan with sets of strategies on how to face the challenges in the coming year, you will be facing a chaos. Planning is crucial in every endeavor and without a solid plan, we are more likely to fail in achieving our goals.
Image Credits: Geralt via Pixabay
Remember the popular quote often attributed to the father of time management, Benjamin Franklin?
"Failing to plan is planning to fail"
Planning is a crucial part of success. Planning is creating a set of activities that we aim to accomplish on a specified date for the realization of our goals. Our plan should come with an attainable task at a reasonable timeline. Setting our priorities will help us stick to the created plan. Being an online blogger, writer, and entrepreneur on top of the day job that I have, I deem it necessary to make a solid plan for my online activities.
How to Know if We Created an Effective Plan?
Have you asked yourself this question? "Why I am here?" "What do I want to achieve?"
If you have a clear answer to these questions, you are ready to make a plan. Because those answers that you have are your objectives. Be specific about what you want to achieve. Don't say, I want to be successful. Because this statement may mean a lot of things. An objective should be specific and measurable.
We can instead say, I want to buy a Toyota car - this may be too broad but its okay. We can break down this objective into smaller goals. Say, "I want to earn Php 50,000 ($1,000) per month from blogging.
After setting our goals and objectives, we can now work on with the set of activities we need to do in order to reach the goal. Defining each process that we need to undergo will simplify the whole thing.
Setting Our Blogging Strategy
Since we are into blogging, we need to concentrate on this area of activity.
Image Credits: Tumisu via Pixabay
I would assume that we already have our goals and objectives. Going further, we need to identify what needs to be done as far as the realization of our goals and objectives is concerned.
The first thing is our content. What do we need to write about? How often do we have to write?
My Bitlanders' experience has taught me some good points when it comes to choice of content. Although I mentioned before that the site does not set a specific topic that we should write about. Through the short span of time, I realized that having a certain niche where we could focus on is better than having different topics every time.
This is because talking about different topics may lead to confusion as far as our readers are concerned. It doesn't mean that we should not write on different topics. My point is, we should organize our topics to create the continuity, balance, and focus. Say, for this month, we will write about family and for the next month, about love, etc.
It is also a good thing ponder that being an online blogger, we should create our own brand and identity. Create your own name in the blogging industry.
The Content
As a blogger, content is our end product. We should not settle for an average post. Being ordinary will only lead us to nowhere. We should see to it that what we offer is only the best quality. Something extraordinary - an absolute answer. A content of value.
There may be times when we seem to run out of ideas. A successful blogger should never run out of topic. Let the HubSpot's blog ideas generator do the job for us. At this early, we should know what to write about in the coming days, weeks or months. This tool is free to use and can give us a peace of mind.
Here is an example of blog ideas generated with the use of Hubspot's blog ideas generator:
Image Credits: Sharon Lopez via Bitlanders
"Screenshot of the Hubspot's blog generator page"
These ideas are only given as suggestions. We can tweak and modify the phrase based on our preference.
Always remember that our content should provide value. A high-quality content.
Related Post: 5 Tools Everyone in the Blogging Industry Should Be Using
Length Matters
According to Orbit Media, a typical blogger writes a blog post which is just over 1,000 words. That is including me.
Image Credits: Orbitmedia.com
Based on the site's analysis, bloggers who write longer posts, get better results. Looking into the graph, the average length of contents that could grab attention are also increasing over the time.
It means 1,000+ words nowadays would not be enough anymore to get ranked in Google.
Image Credits: Orbitmedia.com
According to this data from backlinko.com, a long-form content performed better in Google.
Image Credits: backlinko.com
But it is not enough that we make a lengthy post with a low-quality content. It's about time to improve the length of our posts without compromising the quality. A long post is also an indication of a high-quality and in-depth content and it can help in SEO building.
Looking further, a one thousand word content may not be enough to cover the whole subject deeply. Such length may just be enough to give a background and some part of the main topic especially if we are explaining a long list of items.
Moreover, adding relevant videos, images, infographics, lists for added points and quotes from reliable sources will add to the quality of the content.
Why Do We Need to Add Videos and Images to Our Posts?
Image Credits: Geralt via Pixabay
If you would notice the current trend in social media, videos and other moving pictures are being given much priority. Even in text messaging, we would notice that nowadays, the use of emoticons and Giphy are very popular. Less texts more visuals.
This is because the people are more likely to appreciate visual contents over those contents which consist mainly of texts.
Similarly, relevant images play a big role to gain an audience. Having a good design graphics and high-quality images is a must if we want our content to be noticed. Online tools which can help us create good images and blog graphics are now available.
I personally use Canva for my blog graphics and other forms of images for my blog. With their thousands of designs available, we can create fantastic designs and eye-catching blog graphics for our content.
Let it be known that people's interest can change over the time. Our main concern is to gain an audience, to sell our products and to gain control of the market. Making research of what the current trend is very important if you are in the blogging industry.
Related Post: 4 Must-Have Skills You Need as a Blogger
Make a Schedule
Image Credits: Tumisu via Pixabay
Having a schedule is a crucial thing in blogging. Though, we can be able to write during our free time. Oftentimes, having this "write when able" mindset will never allow us to get things done. Having a schedule to follow will help us make use of our time effectively.
One of the best tools that we could use for this purpose in the Google Calendar. We can simply enter the activities we need to do on the specific date and time and we will be notified ahead of time, based on our preference. If you want a more comprehensive organizer of all your blogging activities, you can use CoSchedule. The site offers to schedule from content creation up to marketing schedules for a minimal fee. You can also avail their 14-day free trial.
Here is a sample of a schedule I made with Google Calendar. Since I am working on weekdays, I scheduled writing during weekends. Though, it is best if we can write a post every other day. I am also thinking of hiring writers for my own blog site just in case I decided to continue with it. As of now, Bitlanders is my main priority.
Image Credits: Sharon Lopez via Bitlanders
Remember: If you want to earn more, you should write more. A study shows that those who write more often will likely to be more successful in the blogging industry.
Content Marketing
As I mentioned in my previous post, the work of a blogger does not end in writing a content. It is our concern to market our product.
Using different social media platform and bookmarking sites can truly be a big help if we want to gain more view of our contents. As of now, I am experimenting on Facebooks ads and I will study on what it can do to help me earn more with my contents.
For Bitlanders, I can get a lot of help from social media in terms of referrals. As of now, I have more than a hundred of referrals. Although, I wish that they are also active.
Here is another video that will show us the digital marketing trends in 2018. Hope this could help us in planning for our blogging career.
Video Credits: AeroLeads via YouTube
On the final thought...
We should always remember that people are changing. What they like today might not be the same thing that they like tomorrow. We have to be fast in adapting to any changes that may come along. Learning the industry where we are is the best way to do if we are aiming for success in this field.
Lastly, we need to take care of ourselves. That is why we need to plan in order to lessen our burden. A disorganized work environment may mean more work to be done and later we realized we are not getting anywhere.
Thank you for dropping by. Have a wonderful day.
Meanwhile, here is a Querlo Chat for you...
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Written for Bitlanders
by: Sharon Lopez
Thank you for reading.
Please visit my blogs for more articles.
Sharon Lopez is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Commerce Major in Banking and Finance and currently working in the government handling programs on Business Friendly and Competitive LGUs.
You may visit me on Facebook.
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Would you like to earn from sharing your ideas, videos, and photos? Join us in Bitlanders!
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are that of the author and does not in any way represent the agency or department she currently belongs.
Additional Note: The sites mentioned in this post are for information purposes only and links are provided for easy access. The author does not receive any remuneration from the said companies or sites.
