Before setting out to write a professional blog, there are many things you should plan first. Here are some blog writing tips to consider.
Decide why you want to write a professional blog?
Is it for personal satisfaction? To share your professional experience? To demonstrate that you are a subject matter expert?
Pick the subject you want to blog about.
Personal experiences? Observations? Criticizms of your industry? Would you read it?
The best advice always seems to be to write about what you know or what you are most passionate about.
Define the audience you are writing for.
A specific niche? An industry? Your clients? Your colleagues?
Decide what you are willing to invest.
How much time a week will you commit? Do you want to own a domain name? Do you want to host yourself?
Commit to publishing your blog for at least 12 weeks. If you get that far, it should become a matter of routine for you and you’ll know whether you’ll stick it out for longer.
Owning your own domain name and hosting yourself provide more control, but come at a nominal annual cost.
Define a publishing plan.
Publishing quality content, at minimum once or twice a week, is important to keep your content fresh. That will encourage readers to treat you seriously and search engines to come back regularly.
Create your personal publishing rules.
To appear professional you need to act professional. I’ve decided that my two Web sites each have a specific subject matter and focus. Therefore, every time I write, I try to make sure the article topic fits appropriately. If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t get published.
Get to the point. I try to write with a problem/solution mindset. If I’m writing about someone else’s article, I try to add solutions in addition to what the original author provided. That way I’m truly providing value.
Give credit where credit is due. The Internet is supposed to be a community to share and spark ideas. So cite your sources. Link to the originating article that gave you an idea. Give credit to where ever you got your artwork or tools from.
Keep it clean. While it may be easy to use profanity, step up to the challenge of getting your point across without profanity. That will make you appear more professional.
Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Through trial and error, find out what works for you and what your readers respond to.
Stay objective. Avoid politics.
Keep politics out of the conversation. There’s no reason to polarize your audience. It’s a cheezy way to stir up controversy.
Don’t be cheezy.
The blog/website is an extension of you. Think of it as your personal brand. Don’t include amateur things like site counters, animated email icons, or bad usability and design — all of which discredit you as a subject matter expert. There are plenty of elegant and functional blog themes to choose from and modify with care.
Define how you want to monetize the website.
I’d suggest to write to define your credibility as a subject matter expert. Don’t worry about adding advertising. Instead, focus on publishing quality content and developing a subscriber base. Then you can evaluate different methods to run sponsor advertising in the future.
Checkout other support videos and articles.