Building blocks of blogging

Building blocks of blogging - try and say that after a few drinks!

Today we're going to talk about what you should be doing to take your blog to the next level. I'm still at the stage of blogging 4 to 5 times a week and not really looking beyond that, so I'm learning here too...

First and foremost - you're writing great content and getting hits, you also have a plan of action for future posts. Now, spend some time going through your most popular posts and figure out why. This will be the foundation for the rest of the advice I'm about to give you.

Search out a handful of writing blogs you really like and do two things - guest post and comment. Think of each blog post as a magazine article. You need to be pitching your most popular content to similar bloggers, just like you would when pitching to an editor of a magazine. This is the best way to broaden your online audience and build relationships with other bloggers. Also comment on these blogs and include a personal life experience to bring their advice back to how it's helped / or is helping you.

To enhance your guest posting experience, come up with 10 blogs relevant to yours and find ways to link your content back to theirs. Try to substitute one of your blog posts for a guest post each week.

Finally there is the matter of monetising your blog. Of course, you have to have a product to sell first. If you have a niche within your writing, or your day job (which you blog about) provides a basis for a product, then the product will most likely come from this. The point is you need to do some hard graft "behind the scenes" to build your product portfolio, so eventually you can regularly introduce these when blogging - and make money.

However, one step at a time and it really is up to you how fast you go with all of this. The important thing is to enjoy your blogging and forge lasting relationships where you can support each other.