How to Become a Blog Expert

Becoming a blog expert takes time, effort, and dedication, but it can be rewarding and fulfilling. Whether you want to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry or simply enjoy sharing your thoughts and ideas with a broader audience, starting a blog can be a great way to connect with others and share your expertise as an integral part of your Blogging efforts. Ultimately, blogging done right is all about the impact your blogging efforts will drive.

If you're creating fuzzy content that reads all over the place, you're wasting your time, and your audience's attention will be lost. Your audience wants content that is informative, makes a solid point and does so quickly. 

You see your content creation as one of the fastest ways to jump from journeyman to expert blogger.

Here are some tips on how to become a blog expert:

1. Choose a specific topic or niche to focus on. By specializing in a particular area, you can become an expert in that field and attract a loyal following of readers interested in your perspective and insights.

2. Write consistently and frequently. To establish yourself as an expert, you must produce high-quality content that your readers will find valuable consistently. This means publishing new blog posts regularly, whether weekly, biweekly, or monthly.

3. Engage with your readers. Building a community of loyal readers is crucial to becoming a successful blogger. Engage with your readers by responding to comments and encouraging them to share their thoughts and experiences.

4. Learn from other experts. Many other bloggers are already well-established in your niche. Learn from their successes and mistakes, tips, tricks, and tools they use, and use their insights to help improve your blog.

5. Promote your blog and blog post. To attract new readers and grow your audience, you must promote your blog through social media, email newsletters, and other channels. Share your blog posts on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and consider guest posting on other blogs to get your content in front of a new audience.

6. Be authentic and transparent. To establish trust and credibility with your readers, it's important to be authentic and transparent in your writing. Share your own experiences and insights, and be upfront about any limitations or biases you may have.

Here are some other things expert bloggers do to ensure their work is as impactful as possible.

Make Content Shareable

To use content marketing to build your audience and grow your business, you need to get that content found by the right people: those who might buy your product or service. Format and present your content so more people want to share it, expanding your reach and increasing the likelihood of that content reaching the right people.

More people, particularly those with substantial numbers of followers, will share your content if that content makes them look smart for having shared it. So your content needs to speak to the audience about something they care about and do so in an exciting way. 

• A large number of people share content without first reading it. They share based on the headline and an image. This provides an opportunity for your content to surf the web until it finds the perfect person for your project or business.

• Make your headlines accurate and enticing—without being clickbait. Choose images that grab attention and encourage the reader to look at the excellent content you've created.

• First impressions matter. As people click through to your article or are deciding whether or not to share it, the impression your website makes is essential. Be sure your site is readable and looks good by incorporating enough white space and using headers and subheaders appropriately, so your content is accessible to scan/skim.

• Placing social sharing buttons on your site is quick and straightforward. They make it easier for your content to be shared. Of course, someone could just cut and paste the URL, but it's always best to remove friction and make it as easy as possible for them to spread your content.

• Don't hesitate to ask your audience to share, give you links, leave comments, or post reviews. But don't forget that the audience still has to like your content and find it valuable. If you've got a solid piece of content that's worth sharing and you give readers a clear call to action to share the piece, they usually will.
  
  

Be Specific

Adhering to solid writing fundamentals, in particular, the need for specificity, will put you ahead of the competition. Use creativity to get people to read your copy without the use of any confusing hyperbole or jargon. Less is more.

Like the time-honored saw, it's not how short you make it; it's how you make it short. Be sure that the introduction to your content moves directly to the point before audience boredom or annoyance can settle in.

Don't be vague. Reveal the facts of your offer, but don't be too technical or confusing. Be prudent about using big words in your attempts to be credible. Do your research and know your audience. Don't forget that, as Nathanial Hawthorne once said,  “something easy to read is damned hard to write.” 

There is no substitute for excellent copy, and one word can make all the difference. While we're quoting famous authors...

"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter, 'tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." ~Mark Twain

Copyedit Like a Pro

What do all the pieces of content that are liked, bookmarked, and emailed to others have in common? Quality vs. quantity. They serve the audience, not the content creator. Your goal is to help readers optimize a part of their daily life through the topic you're sharing. And strengthening your ability to create shared content includes improving your editing skills.

Regardless of the media used to circulate your content, the editing transforms text into powerful stories that persuade the audience to take action. Turn your articles, landing pages, webinar content, podcast episodes, and videos into shareable works that get readers to make a move.

After you produce a draft, do these tasks.

• Assess your work's urgency. Unless there's a strict deadline, walk away from it for at least a day. Fresh eyes edit more effectively.

• Disengage your writer’s ego and assume an editor mindset. When doing so, you have no problem evaluating and deleting to produce a more coherent and complete piece of content.

• Write notes without changing the draft as you lightly read your content. This is to record ideas you thought you included but didn't. You'll use them later.

• Draft a headline and edit until you have a headline that is ultra-specific, unique, useful, and urgent. Be sure your intentions are clear and benefit-driven.

• After each sentence, ask yourself how that information helps your reader. Scrutinize each word to be sure it's the right fit for that sentence. Every paragraph should provide comfort, be memorable, share knowledge, or list resources.

• Don't rush to proofread. Your content needs to be solid before you proofread.

• Create a style guide for your content that lists proper names, terms, and phrases so you can be sure you have no inconsistencies when you refer to the same word or phrase throughout the content. Or consistently follow one of the industry standards, like AP or Chicago, depending on your personal preference.

Do More     

Remember that in-person communication allows you to rephrase if you observe a puzzled or clueless look on someone's face. When you're writing, you don't get the luxury of that feedback until after you've published. Then you don't get to explain; the reader just quits reading.