Have you recently started a blog on WordPress? If yes, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we provide a few handy tips that can help you become a great blogger who readers will love to engage with.
Let’s get started.
1. Choose a WordPress website theme that suits your bespoke content vision
WordPress has so many different themes when it comes to websites. Go through each theme and select one that matches your goal. Not every theme is great for every purpose. For example, if you intend to only have a straightforward blog, choosing a theme that supports an online shop won’t help. The latter will have too many unnecessary features. You can actually test each theme before activating it, and take a look at how user-friendly and compatible it is with your need.
2. Find out what people want to read about through social listening
Log onto your social media and follow trending hashtags. These tags will let you know what people are interested in learning about online. You can use this information to create content for your blog. You can also keep track of the news and write about current news.
3. Keep your blog between 1500 and 1700 words
Studies show that the best performing blogs are those that are between 1500 and 1700 words in length. These blogs are long enough to provide solid information, without becoming too dragged out.
4. Let your post title follow the 4U’s rule
When it comes to getting your blog noticed on WordPress, the trick is to create a compelling title. To do this, follow the 4U’s rule. Your blog title should be –
- Unique
- Useful to the reader
- Ultra-specific and centered around the core message of the post.
- Urgent (to inspire reader action)
So, for example, this topic follows the 4U’s rule – “Double your profits, halve your expenses in 10 days by trying these tips”.
5. Intersperse 2-3 relevant keywords or key phrases that have a high search rate
Keywords and key phrases help your blog get picked up by the search engine when people search about the topic you’ve written. This is why it’s important to use Google AdWords to keep track of trending keywords and key phrases, so you can include them in your post. Be sure to revise and update these keywords every 2-3 months, since keywords can change in popularity very quickly. This will ensure your blog post will continue to come up in search results, even if you published it long ago.
6. Videos and images are a must – but create your original graphics
The days of using free-to-use images and videos are gone. Nowadays, people want to see bloggers create fresh content that isn’t available elsewhere. Use tools like Canva to create your own videos, featured images, and other graphic collaterals. Fresh graphics that you create can separate you from the hundreds of other competitors who use the same free-to-use graphics that make their content look outdated.
7. Link out to high DA websites
A website with a high Domain Authority (DA) is one that has been recognized by the search engine to contain premium-quality content. It is usually a website that many people trust and use. When you link out to high DA websites, you increase the value you offer your readers. This makes your post highly valuable and more trustworthy; and as a result, more readable.
8. Make your website disability-friendly
Your website should be for everyone. Not only is that the right thing to do, but it will also make you a popular WordPress blogger with many communities.
Some ways to make your website disability-friendly are –
- Enable screen readers to help people with visual disabilities read the post.
- Record an audio version of the blog post and upload a link at the top of the post.
- Make the text resizable and device/screen compatible.
- If your theme has the B&W option – enable it.
- Disable auto-scroll to help people read the post at their own pace.
- Disable auto video play to reduce stress on patients who have photosensitivity.
- Provide bookmarking feature within the post to help people save their reading progress.
- Add a visible site map to the bottom of your web page for easy navigation.
If you want to know how else you can help make the reading experience better for your audience, just ask them.
9. Encourage engagement from the readers
WordPress is a great place to get readers to engage with you in the form of contests, quizzes, and comments. End your blog post with a question and invite readers’ answers. Suggest tips they can try at home and ask them to come back and share their experience. If you’re running an email newsletter service, you can invite readers to participate in polls, quizzes, and games on WordPress. The platform has plenty of text box formats and plugins to support these engagement types.
Also, use the new story post feature for quick and daily interaction. This story post feature allows you to click a photo and post a simple tag line with it. Kind of like the story feature you’d see on Instagram. This is a great way to keep engaging with readers even when you don’t publish a new post.
So, now that you know how you can ace the WordPress blogging game, try out our tips today. Share your experiences with us here and let us know what other strategies you used to become a much-loved blogger in your niche.
Tracy is the Design Manager here at Redwood Creative. She’s been designing amazing graphics and web layouts for large and small businesses for upwards of 7 years.
