Writing the first blog is always a nightmare for most people. You know your niche and you know you are good at it but what is stopping you from writing? The first post is the most important of all because it sets the tone for both the reader as well as the writer. It marks your journey into the world of blogging and hence the tension regarding your first blog. But trust me it is fun to write that first blog.
Your first blog should be special, it should be mind blowing, it should set the benchmark for yourself and set the expectation standards for the readers!
There is No Trial and Error here when you invite people to read your first blog, it should be the MASTER PIECE and not LESS!
Here are 12 things we need to keep in mind before starting to write that first blog-
1. Keep Fear At the Bay and Focus on Framework:
“What will I write about?” is the first most basic fear in the minds of the blogger. You just need to write your mind out. Fear is something that will only stop you from thinking freely and will limit your imagination and creativity. You should create a content bucket first after deciding your niche. Before you develop a story focus on the Framework! Create the storyline and break it up. It becomes easier when you have a clarity on how you want to develop and what you want to develop.
2. Introduce Yourself:
A small introduction about yourself as to “Who you are” and “What you do” before you start toward your topic is a necessity. This will be useful for people who read your blog to be able to trust you. Building the trust of your readers is important because they are the ones who will constantly be involved with you and your blog. Adding a picture to your blog will bring that personal touch to your blog and also people will be able to relate with you and your blog. Personalisation is essential.
3. Tell Them Why You Blog:
This will tell the audience about your intentions. Tell them why you are blogging or will be blogging. You might want to just share your views on what’s happening around you or you might want to promote a business. You might also want to impart your experience or knowledge to the readers on that particular subject you are skilled at. Whatever it may be, tell your readers about your intention so they can decide whether they want to be part of your blog.
4. Come Up With A Topic:
Once you decide to write a blog, choosing a topic is the next most difficult thing. Always write on something that you are most familiar with. It can be a humorous piece of writing, something that you’ve experienced or something that is newsworthy. Your readers follow your blog and you should be able to give them something that they understand. Knowing your core audience is important in order to create topics that will interest them.
5. Analyze Other Blogs:
Before writing your own blog, browse through other blogs and check out what other people blog about or what their first post was. This will give you a clear idea as to how to go about with your first blog post. You might also come across blogs that resemble your niche. You can go through such blogs and their comments and work on your blog depending on the feedback by readers. There are various tools in the industry that you can use to analyse the popular blog posts of other bloggers.
6. Add SEO Keywords-
For your blog to get noticed among hundreds of other bloggers, it is important that you use words that are most commonly searched or SEO keywords. Positioning these SEO keywords is important for your blog to get noticed. Position them either in the introduction or conclusion of your blog. The SEO strategy must be very subtle and inserted at appropriate places in your blog. This way your blog will appear among the top of the search results.
7. Design A Wireframe-
Before starting your blog, think about what you will be writing and make sure that you are confident enough to write about it. Think about how you will go about arranging your points on whatever you will be writing. Have a rough idea as to how your blog must look once it has been written. Work towards making it look even better than how you thought it would look.
8. Add Your Social Profile Links-
Add your own social media links so as to let the reader know who you are and develop trust on you. This allows people to connect with you through various social media sites as well and get to know about you and your business directly. Also when a lot of people start following your blog, add links of social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+. This will help them share your blog on such platforms and add more readers to your blog.
9. Include Rich Media And Pictures-
Having monotonous text alone in your blog will make the readers get bored. Add pictures or videos and make it look interesting. Infographics are a popular way to share info with the readers. Blogs with pictures and videos are more likely to get shared on social media as well.
10. Share reference links-
Add links that are related to your topic on the blog. This way, readers will know the authenticity of the information posted on your blog. Also it saves time for the readers to look for more information on that topic. Sharing related links will educate the reader further about the topic of the blog.
11. Proofread Your Blog Several Times-
Many a times, people are so excited about posting their first blog that they seldom check for grammatical errors. The last thing you want to encounter would be comments that tell you about your poor grammar. Before posting your blog save it as a draft, take time to check your spellings and grammar and re-check them again.
12. Encourage Comments For More Engagement-
Firstly you need to write content that compels them to interact and comment on your blog. Encourage them to write to you in the comments section and let them know that you appreciate feedback. In case of queries ask them to write to you personally by providing your e-mail id. This will help you to either improve yourself through the comments or give you a chance to interact with your readers which is a very healthy sign of maintaining a blog.
Hope this post helps you go about with that first blog post of yours. Do let us know of your comments or queries on this and we will be glad to help you out further with your blog post.
This article was contributed by Karthik – Digital Marketing Head and Varshaa Social Media Intern at echoVME.