Blogging has become an effective way for businesses to gain more business, provide information to the masses and to create a stronghold in a particular field.
In a sense, your blog is a good representation of what you stand for, how well you represent the topic/information and your authoritative stance on the matter. If the blog does not contain well thought-out, concise knowledge that your audience needs, then it is pretty much worthless.
But in this day and age, virtually every company, artist or individual with a purpose has a blog. This soon-to-be saturated market can be compared to searching for a needle in a haystack. In this haystack of the internet world, you want your blog to stick out like the shiniest and largest needle so everyone in your target audience can easily locate it (and continue returning!).
For any given blog topic or blog based on industry, you will find that there are hundreds to thousands of competing blogs all trying to grab attention. Adopting methods to ensure your blog sticks out is key to the reputation and possibly even survival of your online business.
Here are five ways to make your blog unique and set it apart from the rest:
1. Be an Expert on a Particular Niche
The broader your blog posts are, the more competitors you’ll have. For example, you can have a fashion blog but nothing will set that apart from the other uncountable fashion blogs. But, if you choose to become the expert on a particular niche (scarves, collared shirts, etc.) within that generalized topic area of fashion, then you can guarantee more traffic to your site.
Imagine creating a blog about fashion and finding it hard to generate consistent traffic so you turn it into kids’ fashion, fashion of the 80’s, spring fashion, what to wear when traveling to XYZ place, you name it. You’d instantly become one of the few bloggers who have an authoritative edge on that matter.
2. Create Contests or Other Engaging Material
Social networks are the #1 internet marketing method of our time. If you post a challenge, contest or some type of activity on your blog that behooves others to engage, then you increase the chances of receiving new traffic, it being referred to others, or even going viral.
Any form of engagement should be encouraged to share through social networks — after all, the nature of our society is very competitive.
3. Use Images & Videos
Let’s be honest, not as many people like reading now as people did ten, twenty years ago. Your blog has to have mixed media in order to gain and retain traffic from those who naturally aren’t keen to just reading text on a page.
Images and videos are a way to get the viewer engaged on a level where they want and crave reading the entirety of a blog post.
4. Conduct Interviews
If possible, try to interview others who are true experts and professionals on the subject matter. A credible source will make your company, product and/or service stand out from the rest.
5. Feature Guest Writers.
Allow other credible bloggers the opportunity to create guest posts on your site. When others are able to showcase their craft or knowledge in other places, then you’d best believe they will assist in driving traffic to it. Writing is a form of artistry, and it gives the artists sheer bragging rights that they were able to publish a post or article in an area different from their typical channels.
Setting your blog apart is all about getting creative, seeing what works best for your business or company, and knowing your target audience (and how they digest information).
