We often talk about ways to make your blog more popular and more visible in search results, but there is a third element that often goes missing. If you want a loyal following, try making your blog posts more authoritative. That's a fancy word for "knowing what the heck you're talking about". Journalists (for the most part) know all about sticking to vetted facts and obtaining confirmation from independent sources. Editors (for the most part) know all about making sure that the stuff that they publish is fair and balanced and backed up by the facts. Why not try some of this in your blog?
It's true that blogs are by definition personal accounts, observations or opinion pieces, but the best bloggers, those with the most subscribers, are popular for a reason. In most cases, they provide valuable, reliable information that readers can depend upon. I'll give you an example. I read Mashable every day because the contributing bloggers are good writers, they always cover the latest "tech" news first and each post is well researched. In other words, you can rely upon what you read in Mashable. Can you say that about most blogs? Here are some pointers to make your blog more authoritative.
By making your blog more authoritative, you will gain the respect of your peers, followers and competitors. They are far more likely to subscribe to your blog and to post comments on a regular basis. You are far more likely to attract other influencers, which in turn helps to build your personal and company brand. Most of us are not professional journalists, but the more we try to adhere to journalistic standards, the better our blogs will be.
For help turning a blog into a content marketing machine download our Blog Post Optimization Cheat Sheet.
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