Personal blogs are still very much a trend in 2020. Last year, online blogs reached 500 million in total. For 2020, it’s expected that the number of people with a blog in the U.S. alone will reach almost 32 million. Many of these are personal blogs where people share their experiences and thoughts from a first-person perspective.
If you are among these people, you already know that this field has become quite competitive. You need to constantly find ways to keep it fresh and exciting for your readers. In this article, we’re bringing you some tips on how to do that:
1. Try Introducing Fresh Voices
When you are looking for ways to surprise your audience and provide a fresh perspective, the best way to do so is to allow a guest to write for your blog. This is a great thing to do from time to time because it will increase your blog brand awareness among the guest’s audience. It also shows that you know how to provide versatile, interesting content.
2. Interact with Your Readers
Social media used in a business context can do wonders for self-employed bloggers and online entrepreneurs. The reason is that it allows you to directly interact with your readers. Up until recently, the only way creators and personal bloggers could interact with their audience is through the blog’s comments or via email. Now, there are dozens of different resources that allow you to reach out to your audience.
Interaction is not only a recipe for high engagement, but it’s also useful in storytelling. Your brand’s positive impression is built strongly on positive relationships with your audience. In some of your blog posts, you can include some good stories about your interaction with readers.
3. Don’t Be Afraid of Being Vulnerable
Showing vulnerability and intimacy is actually the secret recipe of success for personal blogs. People love reading pieces from people who are down to Earth, honest and authentic. No matter the exact things you are talking about, people want to see that you are a human being and that you make mistakes, too.
For example, one of my friends frequently blogged about her PhD, dissertation and her process of writing. She had a solid readership, but it was mostly other PhD students. Then, she published a frank and open post about how she ordered a dissertation discussion chapter from a writing service. This post blew up and went viral because it was the first time she showed that she was experiencing any issues with her dissertation writing.
4. Find the Right Channel to Promote Your Blog
The key to successful marketing is planning your content ahead of time. Of course, it’s fun and exciting to post and improvise as you go, but that definitely doesn’t guarantee the sustainable growth of your blog website.
Notice how different audiences across different social media platforms react to your content. Learn how to adapt your message and storytelling for each particular profile you are using.
Storytelling practices for blogs and personal brands change frequently. The best example of this was the recent crisis, where blogs had to quickly adapt and learn how to align their voices and plans to fit the current situation. Given that there is no end in sight, personal blogs will need to learn how to take 2020 issues into account, but also optimistically stride into the future.
