Learning how to become a better blogger occurs naturally when you write and blog with a purpose. It stands as the natural progression of writing and expressing yourself. When you blog you learn the art of self-editing, and when you click publish your blog influences the Internet.
Your human mind and psyche only grow and develop in communicating thoughts and ideas, thus improving your craft and skill. Yet, not everyone remains open to the process of change. You might shift how you write or change genres, but you may never grow as a writer if you refuse to yield to the art of truly learning how to write better. Honestly, to blog means you change and grow into a better person.
Follow These Steps To Become A Better Blogger
Some days you may blog and write for bread, you know? You write to earn money, but creativity may be an impossible feat. Yet, bear with me, because you can still learn to become a better writer even in the face of a lack of creative expression. Become a better blogger with these tips.
Follow Structure and Order
You cannot write without some level of structure or order, unless you are simply journaling for your own self-improvement. Whether you are writing an article, a paragraph, or even an entire book, you must follow the beginning, middle, and end structure. Blogging really isn’t any different.
When you write to just get the words on a page in a stream of consciousness, then you lack the ability to hold a reader’s attention. When you read someone’s work and all that it contains is sentence after sentence of thought without direction, you stop reading. Don’t you? I know I do.
Keep it structured and follow the natural progression of writing from beginning to end.
Stay Open To Learning
Do you know that time when you learn and grow so freely? What were you doing? How did you feel? Focus on the art of learning and growing as you write. Some of us are excellent at it, and still, others work hard at it, because it means they must change themselves in order to learn.
Learn and grow. Research new topics or learn deeper about old topics you need to expand your writing in. Writing a blog post and then later editing it and expanding it simply make your blog better.
Get your mind in a learning framework and realize you simply do not know all there is to writing. We all need to learn more. Always.
Write With Others
Writing can be such a solitary job. You write to make money or simply please your muse. But, when you write with others on a hill, you really being to write. Your work grows and gains a purpose because others are reading what you write. You are no longer an entity to yourself.
Connect with other writers across many genres. Find them on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Adding #writingcommunity or #bloggingcommunity to your social media posts work well at finding other writers to share your work with. Plus, when you read their work, you learn and grow in your own craft.
Then, Write For Others
If you write only for yourself and your own personal amusement, then that will be the end result. But, if you write to please others, to serve them, or even change their world, you are really writing. If others do not understand what you are writing about, then you fail to write well.
Share your work on social media to help someone. If you find a need in one social media community, write about it and share it with those who have a need for it. But, beware, becoming a better blogger does not mean, you find their pain and then sell to them.
Go beyond the self and write for others so that you make your impact on the world. Write for yourself later, but write for others so that you become a better writer. Use your writing as a communication service.
Sure, others can pay you for writing, but if you write as a service, then do that.
Set a Writing Schedule
Before you do anything else with your day, write. Set aside time to write every day. If you must, find a time to write behind closed doors, no excuses allowed! Set a writing time and then a separate time for the technical and social media aspects. Honestly, don’t do both at the same time. You won’t get anything done that way. Read these time management tips.
Become a better blogger by separating your writing time from the rest of your blogging activities. It isn’t just about spitting content out, but writing well. This improves your craft not just for yourself, but also for your written interactions with others.
Then Set a Technical Schedule
As I said, blogging is part writing, part technical and part social media. You write, and then you work on the technical aspects of your blog. If you need to update software or links, then do that. Blogger runs pretty well on its own, but WordPress requires updates to plugins you use.
I would not use automatic plugin updates unless you trust the company’s solidity. Big name plugins like Jetpack or even Yoast update find without any problems, but some lesser-known (but awesome) plugins, should be updated one at a time. If you set them automatically, it can shut down your blog for some unknown reason. Then, you have to go back and disarm all the plugins to find the answer. If you get stuck and need help, just message me; I can help!
Set a Social Media Schedule
If you want to become a better blogger, then set a social media schedule as well. Think about how much time it takes to connect with others on social media. Now, think about it as a blogger.
As a blogger, you use social media to connect with others, sure, but it also works well as an advertisement. Chatting, recognizing other’s work, and then sharing your own work all remains part of the blogger “job.” However, sitting by your phone and using social media really does not help you finish your blogging tasks like writing and upkeep of your blog.
Take a Writing Course
Even if you simply think you do not have time, take a writing course of some sort to become a better blogger. This improves your writing and creates useable work for later. Learn and grow from a writing course. Become a better writer from what you learn, and you become a better blogger.
There are plenty of online courses to choose from, from LinkedIn to Writer’s Digest. Find a course that meets you where you are and still fits your budget. Learning writing skills from someone else more experienced than you are, or even knows something different from you do, always teaches and helps you grow as a writer and person.
Wrestle With Your Weaknesses
One day, you believe your words are incredibly witty, and another day, you may believe your words are dirt on the page. Blogging, like any profession, pushes you to improve your weaknesses. Knowing your weaknesses, equals assessing how to improve your blogging and writing.
Are you struggling with the technical aspects of running a blog? Research some answers and find out how to do it. Does social media have you stumped? Find someone better at it than you, or take a course to learn how to master one social media strategy at a time.
The act of improving your weaknesses, as a blogger, makes you a better blogger.
Look at Why You Don’t Write
Did you give up writing for a week or more? Have you stopped even putting pen to paper or tapping out your words on the keyboard? This occurs to many bloggers when they simply are not sure their work even matters.
Go to a list of writing strategies and then come up with say a list of ten different ways to write about your topic. Start a digital notes page and keep a running list of ideas to write about on the dry days. Read this post for more tips on getting through writer’s block.
Then, when you see the true reason you stopped writing, get going at it again. Write until you must take a break, but don’t stop writing, throwing in the towel. If you are a writer, you will not be able to keep it up anyway.
Never stop writing over an extended period of time, unless you simply have a life crisis keeping you from doing this. Truly, to become a better blogger means you write, even if you think it is garbage, and edit it when the fog in your brain lifts.
Becoming A Better Blogger Takes Work
There simply is no way around the work. If you haven’t read my post about what blogging is, you might want to read it, to answer any questions you have about blogging. You cannot skip the parts of not writing, improving your blog and using social media. To improve your blogging, you must put in the really hard work and long hours.
If you are a blogger, your purpose is to blog your best, and deliver a message to the world you truly believe they need. So, get going, write and become a better blogger. The world is waiting for you to shine the light for them.
