8 Ways to Be a Better Blogger

It’s hard to be a blogger. It’s especially difficult if you are blogging for business, and not personal reasons. Here are a few tips to help the process, re-energize you and your content and improve your life as a business blogger.

1. Read a lot of content (blogs) outside of your industry for inspiration.
2. Make a list of what you see on other blogs that you like. Is there a technique, a style or a format you find especially appealing?
3. Share a link to a blog post you have published and are particularly proud of, to a select group of trusted friends and advisers. Ask for honest feedback — a review, if you will — and ideas for how you can improve.
4. If you don’t already have this in place, work with someone to provide a “second pair of eyes” on your content, to eliminate distracting grammatical errors and typos.
5. Brainstorm an “editorial calendar” of topics to get you through the next dozen posts. Don’t do it alone — invite a group to help you think out loud over lunch.
6. Write a post for someone else’s blog — sometimes stepping off of your own web page can provide unexpected inspiration.
7. Strive for consistency in publishing. It doesn’t matter when you write; it matters when you publish. Select days and times and stick to them, to meet your community’s expectations.
8. Regularly review your analytics. Is your content trending the way it should? Are people finding your content because of appropriate search terms?  Paying attention to what’s popular and, if it’s on target, replicating that success will help you build your online community.

What other tips can you offer to business bloggers?