Blogging can be really difficult and a serious time investment. However, if you keep focused on these 10 tips you will better speak to your audience and ultimately produce the best-possible material.

1. Know your stuff

   • This is so painfully obvious but also dire to include in this list, if I am to truly explain what makes or breaks a blog post. Whether you’re looking to create content pertinent to the reader, or you’re looking to provide entertainment, or anything in between, you must know what you’re talking about. This doesn’t require you to be the expert, but it does require you to have a voice that proves you know the material and to have done research to back up any claims you make, solutions you provide or conversations you begin.

2. Know your audience

   • Although in your day-to-day life you may enjoy talking like Shakespeare, your audience could very likely not be up to that reading level or simply not enjoy such an intense caliber of copy. It’s ideal to know who your audience is- in terms of demographic information especially- but it’s arguably most important that you know how to write for your audience. Look at your word choice and syntax and think critically about how you’re getting your message across and how it’ll be received.

3. Bring something new to the table
   • Even looking at this blog post one can guess that there are many more blog posts out there about the same topic. This is true with about every blog idea, in today’s day and age, but shouldn’t dissuade you from sharing your voice, perspective and opinion. Any time you write a post you should be thinking about what your angle is, what you bring that’s fresh and relevant and why somebody should click your blog post over a similar one written by somebody else. This will help you to set yourself apart and get more views!
4. Use visuals
   • Blog posts without images or charts are boring- plain and simple. Use relevant graphics and pictures to help tell your story and create little breaks in the reading. Place these intentionally and think about where they can be most effective in continuing your ideas but also creating a pause. (Sorry that this post deviates from its suggestion!).
5. Cut to the chase
   • Don’t create a giant lead-in to what you’re trying to say. Know what you have to say, how you want to present it and then do it.
6. Be concise
   • As with the point above, don’t waste time dancing around the words, phrases and ideas you’re going for. The more direct you are, the most succinct of wording you use, the better your audience will understand your material and the better your blog post will be!
7. KISS
   • This has proven to be one of the most important concepts I have ever been taught: Keep It Simple Stupid. Along with cutting to the chase and being concise, this underscores another idea. Your blog post doesn’t need to be complex to be important or worthy of being read. By keeping your ideas simple, and even using this as an excuse to separate multiple ideas into their own posts, you will create more meaningful content.
8. Use a great headline
   • Tell people what they will be reading, first of all. People don’t want to think they’re going to learn about how to write a good blog post and then get the story of how you became a blogger. Be straight-forward and honest and make it clear what is on the other side of that headline link.
9. Make connections
   • I love littering my blog posts with hyperlinks to outside content. If I allude to material that would be difficult to explain, and that most people would probably already know something about, I will hyperlink that material. This makes it so those who have already been exposed to the material aren’t forced to read in-depth about it again but also that people who are unfamiliar with the material can learn about it if intrigued.
10. Follow up
    • Finally, follow up. Look at what material you post is performing well and do more of that. People will keep reading what they believe is good information and if you’ve found a niche that you excel at every time, focus on that. You can use analytics to grab this information or just ask your readers for their opinions and questions at the end of a blog! Most enjoy sharing their points of views, so you’re likely to get many candid answers that can help generate future content.

Thanks for reading! What would you add to this list if you had the chance?

Christin Tang is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is studying Marketing and International Business with a Latin American focus. She will be doing Digital Marketing this summer for KOHLER. You can contact her via LinkedIn or Twitter.