5 Tips To Realistically Build A Popular Blog

It’s frustrating, isn’t it?
Knowing all of the things that you know and still not being able to take your blog to the next level. The level that’ll catapult you into “popular blogger” status.
I mean, isn’t that the goal that we all have – aside from making money?
Sure you know the things you thought you needed to know. Things like traffic tips. Both on and off page SEO. An enticing “bribe” to capture more readers. Sharing you content on social media platforms.
But regardless of doing these things for months … even years … you’re still not at that point you want to be. And you’re getting frustrated, aren’t you?

I’ll even bet that you’re probably thinking that those popular bloggers just want to keep the “secrets to become a popular blogger” all to themselves. That they don’t even want to share it. That if you’re lucky enough to become a popular blogger someday, you’re lucky enough to have stumbled across the secret.
But you know what?

Shame on you for thinking that way because the actual answer has been in front of you for your whole blogging life.
Listen, I’m no popular blogger but I do have and use common sense. But besides that, the one thing that I do better than almost anything else is pay attention.
I pay attention to what’s going on around me, in blogging, in the news, wherever. And by paying attention to these popular bloggers, I’m strategically putting myself to be in their position one day.
In the meantime, not to be a glory hog, I’ve decided to share with you a few of the more important tips I was able to come up with. By following these tips, you’ll get a better understanding of how they built their blogs to become so popular and how you can do it too.
So, get out your magnifying glass, Sherlock … we’re going to have a look at 5 tips right now.

Tip #1: Emulate What Successful Bloggers Are Doing.
It always amazes me when certain bloggers, who obviously wants to prove that they can make it, try to do this by being original. By being different. By not following what others have previously done.
These bloggers always leave me shaking my head and asking one question.
Why?
Why try to be original? Why try to be different? If others have done it before you, then what sense does it make to re-invent a completely new wheel?
Listen, being original is one thing but the best thing you can do for your blog is to copy other bloggers in your niche. Now, let me clarify what I mean by copy them. I’m not saying for you to blatantly go and copy their content – rather copy certain things they do.
For example, if they have a post that’s very popular, write a post of your own on that topic. If they have a certain “bribe” to get readers to join their mailing list, come up with a similar “bribe” of your own. If you notice that they’re very engaging and active with comments and on social media, do the same.
Emulate them as much as you can, while still being yourself, because they’re obviously doing something right to succeed – and you want to be just as successful as they are.

Note: Make sure that you emulate one successful blogger at a time and do it for considerable amount of time (6 months) before starting to see the results that you want.

Tip 2: Build Relationships With Other Bloggers.
I’ve only been involved with blogging for a little over a year, but it really amazes me how much blogging has changed in the short time I’ve been involved in it. Not too long ago, to be successful blogging, it was all about SEO and choosing long tail keywords to rank for.
While to some degree it’s still that, the blogosphere has drastically changed. More and more it’s all about building relationships with bloggers and relationship marketing – and I couldn’t be more happier.
While I think SEO is important, I feel it’s much more important to build relationships and engage with others.
This can have a longer lasting effect on the success of your blog. But the greatest thing about it is that it’s fairly easy to start.
Here are a few example of how you can start:
Commenting regularly on other blogs.
Sharing other bloggers content on your social media platforms.
Emailing them personally about a specific post they wrote that you enjoyed.
Doing these things on a consistent basis will quickly get you on that bloggers radar and they’ll start to pay more attention to you.
Once that happens, you could be well on your way to building strong relationships with many bloggers. And that’s a great thing since it’s difficult to be successful blogging if you try to make it on your own.

Note: Always do this for the right reasons – meaning your goal is to create new relationships and engage. If you try to do this for the sake of getting a back link, those bloggers will quickly see right through it.

Tip 3: Give Your Readers What They Want.
If you don’t already know this then you’re about to get a rude awakening.
What you write on your blog isn’t for you. And as harsh as it sounds, nobody really cares about what you think. See, what you write in your blog posts are for your readers. Every last word.
That’s why it’s important to always try to give your readers what they want. And that’s quality content aimed to helping them or teaching them. Once you deliver on that, they’ll steadily start coming back for more.
So how do you do this? Here’s a few suggestions:
Ask them questions on your social media platforms. (Eg. What is it that you struggle with blogging?)
Visit forums and post a thread. (Eg. What’s the one thing you wish you had known about blogging when you started?)
When you give your readers what they want, chances are very high that they’ll start relying on you for advice and go to your first before they consider someone else.

Note: To know exactly what they want requires alot of research so while it may take a while to write the content, be prepared to work just as hard researching what they want.

Tip 4: Stand Back And Assess.
Sometimes it’s just best to take a step back and look at what you’re really doing with your blog. Many times, we can get wrapped up with blogging and certain strategies that we’re implementing, that we don’t take the necessary time to find out what’s working and what’s not.
This is a very important tip that you need to do in order to be a popular blogger. And, there are certain steps you could take to figure this out:
Take a day, a few days or whatever it takes to look at your blog and see if there are any changes that you could make to get even better results. This means looking and testing certain things such as color, layout, formatting, etc.
You can even ask regular visitors/readers or a fellow blogger to give their honest opinions on your blog. Chances are they’ll be very critical, which is good. In a sense, that’s how you want them to be so you can work on those things you need to improve on.
Use heat map tools like Crazy Egg to see where on your site people click, and more importantly, where they don’t click at all.

Note: This is something that many bloggers don’t do and you should at least be doing this every 3 month or so. It’s fine to implement a new strategy but you have to assess things and find out what really works and what doesn’t.

Tip 5: Be As Active As Possible.
Hard to imagine that when I first started out with my blog, I started it off as a static website. Meaning that I only had a few posts on there and new content wasn’t added on a regular basis.
Thankfully I smartened up because to build a popular blog, you have to be active.
That means coming out with blog posts consistently, replying to all comments, commenting on other blogs, staying active on the social media platforms you use and communicating with your readers.
With there being so many blog out there you have to always be active to (1) build those relationships and (2) stay relevant in the eyes of your readers.

Note: While you want to be as active as possible, you have to be strategic as well. So only be active in places that provides you a great source of traffic and engagement.

Bonus Tip: Show Your Personality.
This is probably the most overlooked thing that so many bloggers aren’t doing on their blogs but letting your personality show through does wonders not only for your blog, but for your brand.
People identify best with other people.
When you’re willing to show off your personality (funny, quirky, inspirational, etc.) you’ll start to connect more with your readers because they’ll see that they’re dealing with a real person who isn’t afraid to show who they are.
Some of the most popular bloggers out there show their personalities in every post that they come out with and how do you think that’s working out for them?

Over to you
Building a popular blog is a goal for many bloggers, including myself. Do you have any additional tips to add to this conversation? Let me know in the comments below.

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