13 simple ways to make your blog valuable

Do you make your blog valuable for your readers?

A lot of bloggers are totally consumed in delivering what they consider to be important information.

But that’s not always the content your readers are looking for.

They won’t think you have a very valuable blog unless it contains what they are looking for.

So be sure to research your target audience very carefully.

Get to know exactly what your readers are looking for and expecting from your blog.

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Then, make it your business to give them the content that will fulfill that expectation.

When you do that, people will find your blog to be valuable.

At that point, they’ll start reading it often, sharing it with others and help you to build the foundation of a successful blogging business.

In this article, I’m going to show you 13 simple, but crucial ways you can make your blog valuable, and build your business.

What is the value of your blog?

Before you try improving the value of your blog, though, take a moment to assess its current value.

What value does your blog currently offer its readers?

Are you offering solutions to their biggest problems and challenges?

In fact, do you know exactly what those problems and challenges are?

How do you know?

Do you spend plenty of time on social media groups, blogs and forums?

Are you having conversations… real conversations… with people who are part of your target audience?

Do you know how to locate them and initiate or join those conversations?

And most importantly, do you embed solutions to their problems in your conversations, social media threads and in your blog posts?

Does your blog stand out in the crowd?

If you’re doing all those things, then you’re on the right path.

But if not, then your blog will not stand out in the crowd.

It will simply look like all the other blogs that offer the same old information as everyone else.

But it will never really help people to solve their problems and improve their lives.

Ready to do things that will help you stand out in the crowd?

Here are some things you can do to get on the right path, right now.

How do you give your blog value?

1- Publish high-quality blog posts

To have a valuable blog, you need to write really high-quality blog posts.

There are just too many good blogs to think you can get away with mediocre material.

People want articles that address their concerns.

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And they want you to put your thoughts together for them in a well written, clearly organized manner.

Be sure to start with a good outline that will include the most important points you need to cover.

Then go about the business of filling in the outline with excellent content.

That’s what high-quality blog posts look like.

2- Publish regularly and often

You also want to publish your blog posts regularly.

In other words, whatever rate you publish at, do it consistently.

If you publish once a week, then stick to once a week.

But if you’re writing blog posts five times a week, then stick to that routine.

Don’t keep switching your posting routine.

People look forward to your articles on a regular interval, so deliver them in that fashion.

3-Write attention grabbing headlines

Your blog is only going to be as valuable as the attention it gets.

So if a lot of people are clicking onto your blog links from social media, or from your blog home page or search engines, your blog is going to be popular.

As popular as the amount of traffic it gets, anyway.

But you won’t be getting too much traffic if you don’t generate attention grabbing headlines.

Make sure to get people interested enough to click on your articles just from the title alone.

The best way to do that is to write titles that promise to solve a common problem in your niche.

Things like…

• “how to (solve this problem)” or
• “tips to overcome (a specific and common obstacle)”

…are great ways to grab people’s attention.

That will make your blog valuable to your readers.

And that, in turn, results in more clicks, readers and traffic.

4- Compose attention retaining blog posts

Once you get readers to your blog posts, you want to keep them there, or “retain” them.

The retention of your article is dependent to a large degree on the variety of content you include.

People get bored just reading.

They are far more interested, and will spend much more time on your site, if you create blog posts with visual appeal.

Things like images and videos make your blog post easier to consume.

Links to relevant articles, also keep people’s interest.

So don’t just write blog posts, compose them, carefully and artfully.

5- Create a clean format

A clean format in your blog means it looks good, and it looks simple.

Again, this is about making your blog posts visually appealing and user friendly.

Don’t clutter your website with ads and too many calls to action (like click here, join this, buy that, etc.)

Most readers want clean and simple.

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They will consider your blog more valuable if you can accomplish that look and feel.

6- Write on unique topics

You have to write about common problems in your niche.

Everybody in your target audience is looking for solutions to those.

But don’t be afraid to write on some unique, different topics, too.

As much as people are all struggling with the same problems, they also like a change of topic once in a while, too.

It keeps them awake and attentive to your blog posts.

Plain language also keeps your readers attentive.
See how to write clearer in plain language from the above MossMedia article.

And even if you’re not writing on a terribly unique topic, you could take a different slant or perspective.

This can make your blog post seem like a unique experience because it is taking a unique focus.

All these things keep people’s interest, and give value to your blog.

7- Write on popular topics

For the most part, you want to write blog posts on popular topics.

Now, I’m not talking about popular in the broad sense.

Articles about making money or living a long, healthy life might be popular with a wide audience.

But when I say to write on popular topics, I’m talking about topics that are popular within your niche.

+So if your niche is “dating and relationships,” popular topics might include things like
“what to do on a first date,” or
“how to keep your marriage from going off the rails.”

But if your niche is fashion, then you will be writing entirely different kinds of blog posts.

Popular topics in fashion might include things like…

• “the best boot styles this winter,” or
• “could bell-bottoms be making a come-back?” etc.

So just write about what most people in your niche are really interested in.

Usually, this means things people struggle with.

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Think of your niche.

What are the main obstacles people need to overcome?

Those are the most popular topics in your niche, and you should be writing about them regularly.

8- Write on evergreen topics

Evergreen topics are another great way to make your blog valuable.

These are topics that just always get people’s attention.

They don’t get out-dated and people are always wanting to know about them.

So for instance, if your niche is fashion, an article about the latest style boots will get dated really fast… as soon as the hip style you’re writing about goes OUT of fashion.

An article like that will have a very short shelf-life.

But if you write a blog post titled “a positive attitude turns more heads than your hairstyle,” you could keep getting readers for months and years to come.

That topic is evergreen and it adds a great deal of value to your blog.

9- Write with a personalized style

I told you earlier how you can make your blog more valuable by writing on unique topics.

Well, it’s also important to develop a unique, personalized STYLE of writing.

Do you have your own style?

Ryan Biddulph shows you how to develop your own blogging style on Blogging from Paradise.

Or do your blog posts sound like all the other blog posts in your niche?

You want to be personal.

It’s so important for people to feel engaged when they read your articles.

And they won’t unless you let them know who you are.

Show them you’re a real person with real feelings, and with a real desire to help them.

The best way to do that is to develop your own style, and stick with it.

When people become familiar with you, they will value your blog that much more.

10- Write for readers, not Google

You have to let people know you’re looking out for them.

Let them know you’re really trying to give them great information, and that you’re trying to improve their lives with your blog posts.

In other words, write your articles with your readers in mind.

But wait.

What about Google?

Why not write for the Search Engines?

Don’t you have to write blog posts for Google bots in order to get high rankings?

Shouldn’t your focus be on SEO (search engine optimization) and keywords?

Well… not entirely.

In fact, the most important people to please are not Google geeks.

You have to write for your readers.

So, yes, do great research on your topics.

Link to other key articles.

Be personal and magnetic.

And always let people know who you are, and why you are blogging for them.

Not for anybody else.

They will truly value having this kind of relationship with you.

11- Be a valuable free resource

You can make your blog valuable by seeing it as a free resource for your readers.

That’s right, a free resource.

Many bloggers I’ve worked with are overly focused on monetizing their blogs.

There’s nothing wrong with making money.

In fact, I often tell bloggers that their monetization strategy is one of the first things to consider when designing their blogging business.

But the monetization does not have to happen on your blog.

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It can happen as an outgrowth of the goodwill and credibility you develop as a blogger.

Focus on giving

Just keep giving readers things they want.

Here are some of those things…

• top content
• free content upgrades
• engagement
• free downloadable printables
• ebooks
• checklists
• cheat sheets
• pdf versions of your article
• podcasts
• slide shows
• a video summarizing your article or bullet points

Which ones can you include in order to make your blog a valuable free resource?

Keep in mind… the more you give, the more you will get in terms of success.

12- Offer valuable paid products

Now, talking about monetizing, there’s a way to do it while actually improving the value of your blog posts.

Offer paid products and services that are highly relevant to your blog post.

Darren Rowse at Problogger shows you how to sell products on your blog.

So, if you’re talking about how to build an email list, let your readers know some of the best tools they can buy to help them do that.

Maybe page editors to help them set up landing pages.

Of course, you’ll want to let them know about email autoresponder services to handle their email list.

And so forth.

Your readers want to buy things

You see, people actually want to buy things that will help them solve their problems.

So when you show them things they can purchase, it increases the value of your blog posts.

If you’re just offering them all kinds of things that have little or nothing to do with your article, then sure… It looks cheesy and salesy.

It’s not a good look for your articles, and it will take away from the value of your blog posts.

But when done the right way like I just showed you, then it makes your blog more valuable to your readers.

13- Solve problems

Solve your readers’ problems.

Offer them solutions that will help them move forward with their lives.

This is the single most important thing you can do.

And it really underscores everything else you do.

Because it’s the reason you have a blog to begin with.

So get intimately involved in the obstacles, issues and problems in your niche.

Offer solutions.

That will make your blog more valuable than anything else you can do.

Does your blog give enough value?

So, how about it?

Are your readers getting enough value from your blog to become regular readers?

Do you instill in them enough confidence that they’ll keep coming back to read more?

Maybe they’ll subscribe to your email list, buy your products and services and become loyal followers.

But for all that to happen, you have to do your job of communicating your burning desire to help them improve their lives.

And you have to demonstrate on your blog that you have the ability to do just that.

I’d like to hear from you.

Please leave me a comment below.

Tell me what you think you could do to improve your blog the most.

And which might be a priority for you to pursue at this time, among the 13 simple ways I’ve described to make your blog valuable?

-Donna

PS: Don’t forget to share this article on your favorite social sites. Much thanks 🙂

• Bio
• Blogging Magic

Donna Merrill

Donna is a well known blogger and creator of "Blogging Magic" - an intensive guide to blogging. "Blogging Magic" is for beginners who are trying to figure out how to bring their blogs to life with tons of visits, comments and social media interaction. It's even for advanced bloggers looking to reach new levels of authority and engagement with their audience.