Guest Post: Three Tips for Creating a Blog Audience

By Mariana Ashley

Writing a blog is a very difficult task. All too often, people enter the blogosphere thinking that they can simply use the space as a personal journal and readers will automatically follow. While using a blog as a diary for your thoughts is not necessarily a bad thing, you cannot expect to gain a steady audience with material that lacks focus and consistency. Blogging is all about finding an area of interest, writing with a steady tone, and keeping things interesting.

Find Your Niche.
One of the most important aspects of a successful blog is its focus or niche. Not by accident, finding an appropriate and enticing niche is also one of the most difficult tasks when developing a blog. A niche is a specialized area of focus. This focus is important for creating and maintaining the audience for your blog. You should choose a niche that you are truly interested in and begin writing from there. Pick a general topic that you are actually passionate about and stick with that focus as you post. A successful focus must be broad enough that you will not feel limited by it, but also specific enough that you attract a regular audience.
Be sure to identify your blog's focus so that new visitors can know immediately whether your blog aligns with their interests. While this may seem like a bad strategy for gaining as many readers as possible, it is more important to gain a consistent audience. In blog writing, it is important to have a direction and purpose. Writing from a focused perspective will help you get somewhere with your writing. Writing towards a general goal will encourage your readers to see that goal accomplished.
Be Clear and Concise.
Finding a focused style of writing is also immensely important in blog writing. Creating a tone that is even and consistent is important to maintaining your audience. If you are going to approach a topic from a comedic standpoint you should try to use a similar tone in all of your posts. By this I do not mean that every post should sound the same. However, readers should feel that they can get to know you and gain a solid feel for your tone with each post that you deliver.
Finding an interesting and unique voice in blog writing is what sets you apart from the masses. As with most any writing (but especially blogging), your posts should be concise and straightforward. Your readers should not have to guess at what you are writing about or where you are going with your posts. Because the internet is such a fast paced world, blog readers expect material that communicates to them quickly. Keep your posts focused and to the point so as to not lose your readers to the pops and buzzes of the internet.
Mix Things Up.
After stressing the importance of consistency and focus, I am now going to emphasize the importance of variety. While your niche should stay focused and your tone should stay even, you should not write the same thing over and over. Mix things up some. Give readers something to look forward to with your posts. Obviously, a blog that doesn't change much will get fewer readers.
A great way to mix things up in your blog is by having guest bloggers. This way you are able to stay committed to your stance and your tone, while also featuring other points of view and voices within your page. Guest bloggers demonstrate to your readers that you are willing to explore other perspectives on an issue or topic. By displaying a variety of different bloggers, you will gain an audience that is also varied and open minded.

Following these three steps when writing your blog will help you to create the kind of audience you would like to address. Knowing your audience is the first step to gaining more readers. Once you know who you are writing for, you are better able to cater to their interests and needs. While it may sound contradictory, writing with your audience in mind allows you to write a more successful and honest blog.

Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 AT gmail DOT com.

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