For those who’ve been at it, it’s time to get reflective. If you’re new to the game, maybe you’ll save yourself some heartache. We all have regrets, and bloggers are no exception. These are 3 things every blogger wished they knew when they first got started.
1. They Should Have Put Headlines First
The headline decides whether a user clicks through from the search results. It decides whether it gets shared again after somebody sees it in their Facebook stream. The headline is what people write comments about, and it’s what might eventually make its way to the news.
And when the content doesn’t live up to the headline, it falls flat.
When you put keywords first, you lose any opportunity you might have had to go viral. When you put content first, you write a blog post that can’t live up to an enticing headline.
Keywords and content are crucial, but headlines come first.
2. They Should Have Been More Actionable
When bloggers think about going viral, they think about being quirky, surprising, and hilarious. They lose focus and they try too many things. Their marketing strategy is founded on luck.
When they focus on keywords, they stop thinking about the user. At best, they write encyclopedic resources that may be informative, but that few people find interesting. At worst, they write miles of crap that serves no purpose but to take up space and mention a keyword. Their marketing strategy is built on the whims of algorithms.
When they aim to sell, bloggers write sales pitches and fill their content with exclamation points. They use vague adjectives like “best,” “cheapest,” “easiest,” and “prestigious.” They write to convince but they don’t have an audience to convince in the first place, because digital audiences are voluntary. Their marketing strategy is built on short term profit.
When you focus on actionable content, advice and facts that people can use, you give visitors a memorable experience. You give them something they would recommend to a friend, and you give them a reason to trust you. Your strategy is founded on relationships, your audience grows, and the lifetime value of a new visitor grows with it.
3. They Should Have Done More of What Worked
This one’s sneaky because it feels so obvious. Who doesn’t want to keep doing what works?
Unfortunately, most bloggers.
All too often, we get drawn in by the latest marketing trend, or we convince ourselves that what we’re doing isn’t creative or unique enough and we need to try something new. There’s always room to learn, but odds are good you’ve already discovered your most successful strategy.
One of your posts is more popular than all the rest. One of them converts better than all the others. One of them stands out as the post you should learn from and emulate as much as possible. And you’re afraid to do that, because you don’t think it’s creative enough.
I’m not suggesting you should write the same article twice or necessarily narrow down your subject matter. I’m suggesting that you find a winning formula with the way you write your headline, the way you arranged your content, the tone of your writing, and the way you pick your subject matter. Find the formula, and repeat it.
What do you wish you knew before you got started?