From print publishing to digital magazine publishing, a blog can be hard to start with a good strategy behind it
Some publishers are only familiar with providing content. They don’t necessarily understand how to share content in a blog that’s open to the entire Internet in hopes of building a robust audience.
To facilitate the creation of an audience development blog, here are five suggestions for providing content and interacting with your audience.
Digital publishing blog tip #1: Introduce audience to new worlds: This first tip is derived from Laura Hazard Owen’s article on paidContent. We as publishers can sometimes forget that we create a world of knowledge, often brand new to first-time visitors. At the same time, we provide advanced information to long-time audience members.
To serve both types of audience members, there needs to be a variety of long and short content, articles that explain the basics, and more in-depth content that is recognized immediately (putting “advanced” in the headline may work the best).
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Digital publishing blog tip #2: Contextualize images: Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but pictures with added descriptions have even more value. Add keywords and context to images, especially those that are inconspicuously aligned with your content.
Digital publishing blog tip #3: Publish frequently and consistently: Don’t leave audience members guessing when your next featured blog post is going to publish. Inform them about your publishing schedule and keep a consistent frequency so they do not have to ask or guess about your next piece.
Digital publishing blog tip #4: Mind your links: Most reputable publishers probably aren’t going out to look for every spam-filled website to link to. It just doesn’t sound like a productive strategy. At the same time, it’s important to keep an eye on who is linking on your website. Don’t let spammers and websites supporting malware link to your site, or penalties might come your way.
Digital publishing blog tip #5: Develop a social hub: Your blog is such a central component to your website. Starting and facilitating conversations is your job, and you should be doing this around your content. Provide content that others aren’t, or at the very least, add insight where it is needed to get others to think. Getting comments keeps your blog fresh, and shows Google you have a social component going on that others like.
How have you turned towards blogging? Have any personal stories to share? Please add them to the comments below.
