37 Ways to Make Your Blog Awesome and Standout [Ultimate Guide]
We discuss traffic generation, and monetizing traffic a lot here on HotShot Blogger, but with over 152,000,000 blogs on the internet, I think its time we share some ideas on how to make your blog awesome, and really standout. We’re all competing for our viewers attention and so I've compiled these 37 ways to make your blog awesome and standout.
These are ideas that you should be able to implement right away. Like many of my lists, these are not in any particular order of importance.
1. Love what you’re doing – If you don’t love the subject that you’re blogging about, find one that you are.
2. Be an Active Member – This should go without saying, but if someone posts a question, answer it. If you’re doing Social Media, the same applies. You should be accessible, and as active as you can be.
3. Breakup large articles with appropriate headings, and images. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.
4. Content is King. Live by that rule. Over-optimized content is no fun to read, and will not build the following that you’re looking for. Your focus should be great content.
5. Convert some of your how-to articles into short videos. To get the most views you should try to keep them under 3mins when possible.
6. Try to keep adverts to a minimum. Sure, we all know that making money is important, but things like flashy ads, or pop-ups will drive away your audience in droves. This is an example of making your blog standout for the wrong reasons.
7. Be honest with your audience. Readers have an uncanny knack about being able to detect a wolf hiding in a sheep’s clothes. Once you loose credibility, it is very difficult, if not impossible to recover.
8. Collaborate with other bloggers to promote each others content on social media.
9. Ask your audience questions. This will usually get a good back-and-forth conversation going.
10. Give them what they want. Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience, then answer a question they might have, or speak directly to that person.
11. Why So Serious? (Joker, Dark Knight) – Don’t be afraid to allow a little bit of humor to slip into your site, or articles. People appropriate people being themselves. Obviously, don’t force it, but don’t feel as though you must be serious at all times.
12. Don’t Give Up! I almost feel like this should be in this list twice. Fact of the matter is Blogging can be a hard gig in the early days. Traffic is usually low to start. You’re working on a million and one things, and sometimes you ask yourself “why?”. This is where passion of your topic comes into play, and the knowledge that it gets a lot better. Keep at it.
13. Have a clean design that is appealing to your audience. You might like white text, on a yellow background, but most people don’t. Take the time to find a nice, clean design. There are thousands of free themes available for WordPress, so don’t feel as though you need to purchase one right away, but do make sure its appealing.
14. Be genuinely helpful. Don’t make every post a sales pitch, or an offer. Give value, and you shall be rewarded.
15. Perform interviews with influential people in your niche. In many cases the person being interviewed will link to the interview from their website, Blog, Facebook page, or Twitter account.
16. Link your blog on all of the popular social media sites, also ensure each post has the ability to share your content with those sites. This will build engagement, and help your SEO efforts.
17. Be consistent – Posting once in a blue moon is not going to get readers coming back on a regular basis. Post on a consistent basis. If that means once a week, then do it once a week.
18. Tweet your content to Twitter multiple times. Don’t do it too often, but due to the hectic states of most of our feeds, we most likely wont see it the first time you post.19. Have your content proof-read. This should go without saying, but I suggest having your content proof-read. This will ensure no glaring mistakes are made, and that your content has good flow, thus pleasing your audience.
20. Add some controversy. Now, don’t misread me here. I am not suggesting you get into a flaming war, or anything of the sorts. Rather, if everyone is saying go left, try and add some insight into why someone may want to consider going right.
21. Start a Mailing List. These are gold. Most people don’t focus much attention on them, which is exactly why you should. We run one, and we spend a lot of time giving our subscribers unique, quality material. (As a side note, use aWeber, and only suggest it. Yes, that is an affiliate link)
22. Include multiple media formats – Do videos, Slideshows, or audio. This will help you distinguish yourself somewhat from your competition, if of course they’re not also doing it.
23. Run a contest to get potential readers engaged. This could be offering your services for free, or something as simple as a T-Shirt branded with your logo.
24. Share the Linkage – Linking to other relevant content is a great way to add to your post, and also lets other sites know about you, and your content. Don’t be surprised if they reciprocate in the near future.
25. Keep your load times to minimum. This aspect is critical to your bottom-line. People just wont wait for your page, they will leave, promise.
26. Write about industry news. It adds content, and gives your users a reason to check back regularly.
27. Write a great story. Incorporate stories into your posts and you’ll have readers wanting to read to the end.
28. Share some insight into mistakes you’ve made. This can include your business, your blog, or your personal life. It adds some credibility.
29. Include a picture of yourself. People like to see who they’re talking/listening to. This builds on #28 in that you’re adding additional credibility. You’re a real person, Yay! 
30. Get behind a cause. There are too many great causes out there, that this shouldn’t be an issue.
31. Spotlight a readers question. Choose a question that has been submitted by a/few readers, and answer it/them within a dedicated post on your blog. People will love being mentioned in a public way. That said, I’d suggest getting approval prior to posting.
32. Don’t be Boring. We’ve all been guilty of writing a post, then re-reading it and realizing that it was lacking a “little something”. Try and make your articles as compelling as the topic will allow.
33. Post when you’re readers are reading. Over the course of a month, or two, you should get a pretty good idea when you’re receiving the bulk of your traffic. Whether that be during the AM on Weekdays, or PM on Thursday & Friday. Point being, try to organize that you’re posting fresh content for those viewers.
34. SEO-Friendly content is important, but I almost hate to recommend it as people can sometimes take this to an extreme, causing a negative affect to their rankings. With Google constantly tweaking, and updating their algorithms one must be very careful to use some common sense, and to write naturally. Show some restraint in this area, but be sure to include keywords in your content, naturally.
35. Create Awesome Headlines. Its estimated that only 1 in 5 readers will read beyond the headline, so be sure you captivate them with this part of your post. I also suggest keeping it under 120 characters from an SEO perspective, and also to ensure you get maximum tweets, and shares.
36. Guest Blog Post – Ask someone in your industry to guest blog post on your blog. This adds a new voice, extra content, and chances are high your guest will link back to the article. I mean, who doesn't like to self-promote from time to time.
37. Be Passionate. Yes, this bring us full circle. #1 was love what you’re doing. This trumps all else in my opinion. Well, aside from the content itself that is. Unless you love what you’re doing, and you’re doing it with passion, you’re setting yourself up for failure. The fact is, unless you’re passionate about your blog, and love the content you’re writing about, you wont push yourself. You won’t decline drinks with your friends because you need to get a post up. You won’t work late getting a new article ready. Plainly speaking, you won’t do the little stuff.
In closing, I hope that these tips help you make your blog awesome and standout in the crowd. I hope you get at least a few tips out of it, or that the ideas create the catalyst in your mind for new, and better ideas. I welcome you to please post any ideas you might have in the comments section below, and help others in their efforts.
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