No Degrees Required: 12 Simple Tips for Writing a Good Blog

Writing a blog can be a simple, enjoyable, and lucrative effort. Here are some of the best blog writing tips I've discovered over the last six years while building the #1 blog in my niche...

1. Write about something you know and understand well, if possible.

There's a lot of noise out there when it comes to blogs. That is, a billion blogs are competing for the attention of the same people. The good news is that the majority of them are just noise. In other words, they provide stale, generic information. Most are simply copying other people's blog posts and changing a few words here and there (and some don't even bother).

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This is where writing about something you know and understand well pays off... If you decide to write about something you don't know much about, you have no choice but to copy what others are doing. When you write about something you know well, you can discuss original ideas that others aren't. This makes you stand out.

2. If you aren't an expert in anything, try this instead...

This is an exception to tip #3: If you don't feel like you know anything well enough to have your unique perspective on it, that's fine; you can compensate by learning about the topic you want to write about. And you don't have to wait years to become an expert.

You can be a novice and an expert at the same time, which may seem odd. I've spent the last few years, for instance, mastering the piano. I'm certainly not an expert on the topic, but I am a guru on stage at this moment! I can teach someone the fundamentals of the instrument better than many experts. This is because of my years of practical experience. Therefore, feel free to get started on something before writing about it. Everyone must begin somewhere.

3. Review the blogs of your competitors (but not for the wrong reason).

Remember how I argued that the majority of bloggers merely duplicate one another and repackage the same old stuff in marginally different words? Allow them to do that since you're going to take a different approach. Instead of you to find content to steal, you'll rather do the opposite: To learn what your rivals aren't doing, you'll read their blogs. What details are they skipping over?

A topic that may have been made much more fascinating, (perhaps by introducing a personal anecdote) was it written in a boring but dry article? Do you have a distinctive viewpoint on a subject that no one else has addressed? 

For instance, when I read the blogs of other freelancers, I discovered that many of them (for some strange reason) discouraged using freelancing websites to find clients (such as Upwork, Guru, Fiverr, etc.). So I published a blog describing how, in just a year, I had made over $$$ on Upwork. This set me apart from anything else available and helped me attract lots of readers and attention.

4. Share some helpful knowledge.

Some bloggers treat their site like a public journal, which, while intriguing, doesn't position you for success. This is the reason -  compare a "diary" blog with a blog that instructs readers how to do something. 

When you teach someone something practical, they will value it highly, as well as the information you post on your blog. When people value you highly, they'll keep visiting, share your content with their friends, and contribute to the success of your blog.

5. Make something complex simpler.

Making something complex easy is one of the best ways to impart knowledge to others. The problem is that there are many excellent blogs written by professionals out there, but experts have a tendency to complicate everything, whereas the majority of blog readers are searching for straightforward solutions to their problems.

For instance, my blog piece titled Simple Steps to Becoming MTN, GLO, Airtel Sim Registration Agent is one of my most read. I wrote the article because I noticed that other bloggers were providing time-consuming, tough, ambiguous, and challenging paths to becoming copywriters, when I had developed a lot easier one. My theory was entirely accurate, as evidenced by a large number of comments at the bottom of the article.

6. Limit each post to one subject.

This relates to the notion of keeping things straightforward. Keep in mind that it can be tempting to try to pack everything you know into each piece, especially if you have so much knowledge about a subject and are anxious to share your knowledge with others. 

However, there is something we refer to as over-informationalizing a blog. For example, I once wrote a blog post titled What Skills Do You Need For SEO? 8 Expert Skills. I could have written a lot about this subject, but I stuck to the title and kept it short. It was well received.

On the other hand, including too much information in the post may have resulted in it becoming long and rambling, and no one enjoys reading someone else's rambling.

7. When possible, include screenshots/images.

Adding images to your blog is a simple and free way to spice up your posts. They also break up the text, making longer posts easier to read. My blog posts usually include a lot of screenshots and images, and I don't even have to pay for them because I get them for free from Flickr Creative Commons. 

8. Conduct basic keyword research.

Writing articles that match what people are already googling is one of the best ways to get people to read your blog (words people type into google are known as keywords or keyword search phrases). For example, if you google "best copywriting books," the first result will be a blog post I wrote that is exactly about that topic.

How did I know people were searching for that keyword phrase? I discovered it by using a simple keyword research tool. These tools are simple to use and can provide you with hundreds of topic ideas that directly match what people are searching for, increasing the visibility of your blog.

9. Tell a story.

It's great to share your knowledge through blog posts, but it's even better if you can incorporate stories. People enjoy hearing stories. They're entertaining, and they make your blog content more impactful, memorable, and engaging.

Stories have a way of capturing people's attention in a way that dry facts alone cannot. You can tell short stories, as I have done here. You can also tell longer stories, such as this one in which I discuss 5 times I quit my job. Mini stories can even be used as introductions to teaching posts, as I did in this one.

10. Include useful links.

Did you notice how I've included links to tools, resources, and examples to make this post more useful and in-depth? You probably noticed, and I'm guessing you found them useful as well. This is a simple way to improve your posts tenfold without doing any extra work.

11. Don't get too worked up about minor details.

Many people become obsessed with minor details such as how long their posts should be, how frequently they should write, how to promote their posts on social media, how to write the perfect headline, and so on. I don't give much thought to any of those things. 

I've written long posts, short posts, and medium posts; I've written frequently at times, and infrequently at others; and I don't do any fancy promotion. I simply concentrate on creating great content that people enjoy and let the chips fall where they may. Because my content is of high quality, the chips always fall in the right places!

12. Simply write.

If you've tried some of the suggestions above and still don't know what to write, just start writing. Don't worry about whether you have something interesting to say, what topic you should write about, or anything else — just write something! Why? Because the act of writing itself will aid in the clarification of your thoughts.

I deleted my first dozen or so posts (possibly more) because I didn't find them interesting, and half of them were so disorganized that I had no idea what I was trying to say at all. However, by taking that route, I was able to clarify what I was trying to say, generate more interesting ideas, and so on. Just allow yourself to write without judging it.

Insight