Standing out from the digital crowd requires a consistent effort on multiple levels: from building a website that fits your particular needs until creating real value through meaningful content. None of them happen overnight.
Having an eye-candy website that matches your personality is not enough. Even though it suits your goals — whatever they are: business or non-business — you need to push the boundaries and build a community around it.
As a storyteller (both freelancer and now employee) I’ve seen dozens of websites that look stunning, but they remain in the shadow because they lack a strategy about how to maintain a certain rhythm for an audience.
I’ve learned from my mistakes and accomplishments, but from other people’s experience as well, that growing a tribe around your digital activity it’s a long-term endeavour.
Paul’s Jarvis course is one of the best resources out there concerning this playground. I attended all the lessons from Chimp Essentials, and I deeply believe in the great value of some of them.
I’ll not insist on how important is to create a blog that is unique regarding the look-and-feel but also solves digital pains in the right way. We created Pixelgrade Club as a comprehensive approach to cover this hot topic.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, here’s a quick note on what you should know: continuous updates to keep your website relevant and performant, top-notch customer support, advanced customisation options, and a nice bonus of choosing between nine (and counting) of our best blogging WordPress themes. With other words: you have everything you need to succeed.
Let me walk you through the main actions you can take to expand your blog’s audience and interest.
#1 — Build an honest communication playground
No matter if you have a magazine or a food blog, it’s highly essential to write down what defines you regarding communication. Align everything at who you are, the values you stand for, and the overall attitude that you manifest in general.
If you’re informal and relaxed concerning tone-and-voice, make sure you reflect that within your content. If you prefer to write very straightforward and to the point, do that on every channel you use to share your stories.
Small tip: be authentic and start from what makes you-you, not what’s cool or trendy out there.
#2 — Develop a content calendar
Make sure you build trust by keeping people interested in what you’re doing in the long run. A great way of creating stronger bonds is by writing on a constant basis, and content calendars are a great way of discipline in that sense.
Take time to understand what’s relevant for you and your audience, develop ideas that solve problems (sometimes, a different perspective is more than enough), invest in shaping thoughts in alignment with your inner-why. Don’t write about what’s hype, write about what’s necessary and suitable for your tribe.
Small tip: build consistency and foresee what you are going to blog about and how often you plan to push the publish button.
#3 — Come closer to your main audience(s)
The truth is that you don’t need to be everywhere to spread the word about your stories. There are dozens of social channels that might seem relevant and catchy, but they don’t bring any value. Once you know who the people you’re talking to are you will automatically know which mediums fit your goals best.
Bear in mind that most of them are out of control from a certain point (and can drain you out of energy), while others are far easier to explore. Paul Jarvis recommends newsletters and MailChimp as a solution to keep the dynamic alive with your tribe. And so do we.
Small tip: initiate and nurture dialogue, don’t create a habit of talking only about yourself and your particular interest.
These three directions are a good entry point if you’re a blogger and you plan to expand the network healthily and consistently. No matter the core of your website, as long as you are true to yourself and everything you do seems from the same landscape people will appreciate, trust, and talk about it. And this is the beginning of growing an audience around your blog.
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