A blog is literally short for "web log." Blogs began in the early 1990s as an online journal for individuals to publish thoughts and stories on their own website. Bloggers then share their blog posts with other internet users. Blog posts used to be much more personal to the writer or group of writers than they are today.
In short, a blog is a type of website that focuses mainly on written content, also known as blog posts. In popular culture we most often hear about news blogs or celebrity blog sites, but as you'll see in this guide, you can start a successful blog on just about any topic imaginable.
Bloggers often write from a personal perspective that allows them to connect directly with their readers. In addition, most blogs also have a "comments" section where readers can correspond with the blogger. Interacting with your readers in the comments section helps to further the connection between the blogger and the reader.
This direct connection to the reader is one of the main benefits of starting a blog. This connection allows you to interact and share ideas with other like-minded people. It also allows you to build trust with your readers. Having the trust and loyalty of your readers also opens up the door to making money from your blog, which is something I discuss later in this guide.
On top of that, there's been an increasing trend toward plummeting (free) social reach and engagement on the major platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. According to the latest blogging statistics, most blog posts actually get less than 4 social shares and 0 backlinks.
And while it comes as no surprise, competition for eyeballs is skyrocketing with more than 4 million new blog posts published every day.
There's truly a race to the top when it comes to providing genuinely helpful, well-researched, transformational content for readers today.
But despite more competition than ever before, therein lies the opportunity. If you're willing to put in the time and effort to learn how to write a blog post that can balance the delicate tasks of both entertaining and solving your readers challenges, then you'll have no trouble rising above the others in your industry.
In spite of all these challenges to learning how to grow a blog, blogging remains one of the most effective ways to teach, inspire, and engage an audience.
So what's a blogger to do in today's world?
After spending hours analyzing my most successful blog posts (articles that have been read millions of times), I've put together my 11 steps to write a blog post that will help you increase traffic, build your audience, and keep them coming back for more. Plus, I'm including access to a free blog post template you can use as a framework for getting started on your own high-traffic blog posts.
Now first, if you're totally new to blogging today, I've put together the ultimate guide to getting started with your blog. Actually getting your blog online and well-optimized is the first step to learning how write a blog post that attracts readers, and my 25,000 word guide to starting a blog will position you best for going on to bring thousands of readers to your blog in the near future.
