This year is going to be the year of blogging on a completely different level. Dozens of brand new questions and ideas on ‘how to blog even more successfully’ would obviously overstuff search engines with queries like this. Some strategies, though, remain classically profound and widely used, thanks to their effectiveness.
We’ve decided to figure out what the ‘next big thing’ is going to emerge in the blogging dimension and asked the most influential bloggers to answer 3 short questions:
-What blogging platform would you choose in 2017?
-What useful tools for better blogging you can recommend?
-Your best hints and tricks to make a good blog in 2017?
Let’s see what are the answers and why we were pleasantly surprised 🙂
Jacob Cass,
Identity Designer, Logo Designer, Graphic Designer, Web Designer at JUST™ Creative:
“WordPress for blogging. Buffer for social sharing. Spend 20% of your time writing, 80% of your time promoting.”
Tomas Laurinavicius,
Lifestyle Entrepreneur and Blogger:
“I’ve been using WordPress since 2007, and I love it. I think it’s more than a blogging platform now, but I still recommend it to everyone who wants to build a business around a blog. It has an amazing community, tutorials, themes, and plugins. All that make it a very valuable platform.
Everyone should use Grammarly, it makes your writing cleaner and better. I also like Headline Analyzer from CoSchedule, it makes writing headlines more efficient. Automation should be every blogger’s concern, Buffer and IFTTT are great tools to get started.
It’s not a secret that email marketing performs significantly better than social media marketing. I recommend using MailChimp for list management and OptinMonster for lead generation. For SEO I recommend using Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress and Google’s Keyword Planner for insights on what people are searching for.
Design and speed matter. Make sure to invest into a good looking theme and fast hosting. I recommend checking designs on Creative Market and ThemeForest.”
Joyce Grace,
WordPress Web Developer, SEO and Freelance Web Copy Writing:
“I always stick with WordPress. It’s proven itself to be a comprehensive content management system running a significant portion of the Internet. For development, it is very flexible.
For SEO, with some plugins and skill added to it, it can make processes very smooth and easy. For blogging, it gives control and blogging-specific software features.
I would say to do keyword research to find out what your industry is looking for. You may be surprised. You can also get creative with your titles this way. Many keyword research tools exist out there, both free and paid.
It’s important to stay focused. Make sure your headline delivers on its promises to the reader. Fill your content with ‘meat’ – not ‘feathers.’ And, be sure to source all your facts. Take time to make a good blog post – it’s better than being quick to write a poor quality blog post. And don’t state the obvious. I see a lot of blogs that say things as obvious as, “rain helps to water plants.” Don’t do that sort of writing just to fill up space and take up
Take time to make a good blog post – it’s better than being quick to write a poor quality blog post. And don’t state the obvious. I see a lot of blogs that say things as obvious as, “rain helps to water plants.” Don’t do that sort of writing just to fill up space and take up word count. Don’t include redundant information either – make sure each sentence and paragraphs brings out a new point, not a repeated one. Bring in a new angle, delve into deeper details, and use current research.”
Marshall Kirkpatrick,
Product Director, Influencer Marketing & Research, Co-founder of Little Bird:
“If I were to start a blog again today, I’d use WordPress still but I might consider .com instead of .org. I am interested in Tiddlywiki too though.
The most useful tools for blogging success are: persistence, mental models to apply in analyzing various subjects you’re writing about, and a good RSS reader to keep up with the broader conversation. I use Feedly.
I also use Little Bird, my own software, to discover and monitor the most influential people online in various fields of interest.
Blogging about your perspective on their work is a great way to level up, engage with thought leaders as a peer, and create new opportunities for yourself.”
Robert Cringely,
Technology Journalist, Owner at Robert X. Cringely:
“I use WordPress and am happy with it.
There are already too many blogging tools for me to be able to keep track of them. All I can argue is to be a follower, not a leader. Wait a bit to see if a new tool actually works well for other bloggers before trying it.
The best tip I can give to bloggers is to have something to say. It may seem stupid but many blogs say little or nothing. And when you’ve decided on a point of view find a voice to go with it and stick with that. Readers like familiarity and generally dislike change.”
Hillel Fuld,
CO Founder ZCast, Startup Advisor, Tech Blogger
“I use WordPress but prefer Medium and a tip is that consistency is more important than anything when blogging. Just keep at it.”
Like our ‘Experts Insights’ series? Check out also what CMS experts have to say about CMS in 2017.
That’s right. These are blogging experts’ tips and the way how blogging should look like not only in 2017 but everytime, when it comes to useful content creation and its management, deciding on posting frequency and, of course, blogging platform choice which would provide you with all the creation comfort.
We’re done guessing how much CMS migration would cost in 2017, at the time, when there is already an accurate data. Get to know the numbers in “How Much Does the CMS Migration Cost in 2017? Best of Services & Pricings Reviewed“.
Doesn’t feel right using your current blogging platform? CMS2CMS offers you to run Free Demo migration to try out something new.