How to be a good blogger? Find out in 7 steps

How to be a good blogger? Someone who threw this question on the air would receive as many different answers as people have ever opened a blog at some point in their life.

Good images, unique content, digestible paragraphs .but what are the maxims that differentiate a good blogger from a mediocre one?

Generally, one will wonder if he writes well , if he manages to convey an idea, if he is able to enrich it with the elements of the online medium and that is part of being a blogger, but not everything .

What is being a good blogger? It's a tough question , and I don't have all the answers, but there are certain things that are often overlooked and crucial.

1. For you, strategy is everything

If they ask you what your blog's strategy is for the next two years, you know how to give the concrete answer: what formats do you use, what frequency are you going to adopt, what is the maximum and minimum number of collaborators , how many redesigns are you going to carry out , how you will get links to your blog or plan the dissemination of your post , for example.

What's more, you have 5 or 6 very outlined ideas about things that you are going to try, you know when you are going to do it, and how to measure if they work or not to adopt them in the future: For example, optimize your CTAs to facilitate conversion or  start use slideshare . That is having a clear strategy, so that your blog does not stop growing.

2. You know how to organize your time

Being a blogger is a full-time job, but unfortunately, most of us can only dedicate a fraction of the time it deserves, and that by eliminating hours of sleep, partner or family. Making your blog compatible with the rest of the aspects of your life should not be like juggling, if methodologies like GTD and tools like Pomodoro don't ring a bell, you may have something to learn.

Hint : Strict Workflow for Chrome works great and tools like wisemapping allow you to have a mind map so you never run out of things to write about.

3. You have many blogger friends

The world of blogging is like a family , or a small town. People get to know each other, do favors, and help each other as much as possible. Having a good relationship with a circle of trusted bloggers (from your field or another) opens hundreds of doors:

• Publish in other blogs to improve the positioning of yours
• Receive third party posts to make your content more varied and rich
• Participate in joint initiatives
• Get a greater diffusion for your publications
• Have more weight as a blogger at conventions or events
• etc, etc, etc.

Don't forget about twitter, linkedin and in-person events to meet and build relationships. And if you're little, this is like the first day of school . If you make an effort to integrate you will discover that most people are not as idiots as they seem, but if you do not take the first step you can be left out.

4. Brands are constantly addressing you

If you are doing it well, you are generating quality content and you have a loyal and happy audience, brands will want to appear on your blog . In this regard, the image is as important or more as the traffic you attract, and providing alternatives that generate additional value for advertisers - new formats, different proposals ... - will allow you to get more money for your blog and, if you do it extremely well, give more value to your users.

Hint : Don't sell cheap. The best brands don't look for price, they look for value . If you go with anyone at the first exchange, brands will not want to be seduced.

5. You want to know everything

A blog is not just knowing how to write and have criteria . That is a very important part, but to have a blog that is top of its niche, it is essential to surround yourself with a series of technical knowledge that the average user does not usually have.

• Web analytics : It allows you to know what is happening within your website. Without a good analysis you don't know where you are and where you have to go. Analytics and your criteria should be your map and your compass.
• SEO : SEO is perhaps the technical knowledge that will contribute the most to your blog. Google rules when it comes to sending traffic to your website, and the more you know about SEO, the better you will know what you have to change to attract more visits. Of course, when writing, always with the user in mind.
• Usability and user experience : They are the guide to make the lives of your users easier. From what text to put in the links to the position of the "like" button, small changes can bring you great improvements, but you have to know where to look.
• Social Media : Essential condition for a blog. If you know how to create a community on Social Networks around it, you have half the battle won. And beware, every day it has more weight.

6. You know what works and what doesn't

You know which are the most viewed posts on your blog , what tone and what type of content your audience likes, and you are more or less clear about what tends to go viral on RRSS. What's more, when you see other people's posts, you know how to differentiate the wheat from the chaff, which makes you an exceptional content curator , and allows you to condense that information into very popular content .

7. You never stand still

You know that even if things are going well, you can't accommodate yourself . That it is essential to be in constant change , trying new things, learning, making small modifications and leaving it as before when they do not work. Until the day that a tiny change triggers your blog, and back again, because you never know what the next key is going to be .

As always, there is no easy way. Building a successful blog is a job that requires curiosity, dedication, and intelligence to know how to invest that effort in the right way.