Makings a Great Blog

I should have published this blog during my glory days here in Bitlanders a long time ago. LOL! Well, it’s not really that long time in the past because as far as I remember I left this site around October of 2015 to focus on my study, which requires my undivided attention at the time, and I didn't like the changes made by Bitlanders in the platform. I believe everything has already been sorted out for the better of all users.

Even during my nascent days in Bitlanders, I came to appreciate the importance of blogging as the best approach, if not the sole way, to make a good income. In this blog, I would like to share what I did before, which made me a household name in this site. In the next paragraphs, I will spell out what I think are the essentials to crafting a successful blog that will find favor in the sight of Hillary and the Bitlanders team.

Ingredients of a Successful Blog

What follows are the things that you should incorporate into your blog in order to give it the best chance of garnering 5 stars from Hillary come review time. The items are not arranged in order of importance. Just make sure you make a similar list and check that all items are considered before hitting the Submit button or even before publishing your work.

For me travel blogs are the best, because compared to articles, blogs tend to be personal and relate more to hobbies than learning. If you are into cooking, that’s also a good topic to write about.

Just ensure that you really know how to cook and you are just sharing the recipes you love. There are just way too many recipe blogs out there, and plagiarism is a common problem in this niche.

Movie reviews are a good choice too. They are easier to write than recipe and travel blogs because you just need to spend a given amount of time watching a movie and then write about it later with the help of a little research.

Of course, the best topic to write on is that which is requested by @Micky-the-slanted-salerno. You can never go wrong if you go by that topic, but it takes a bit of self-motivation to find the strength to write outside your comfort zone, although you know doing so is very rewarding.

Plagiarism is a big no-no anywhere online and especially when you consider submitting a blog for review. If you are not careful, you would throw away money when you find out later that your blog submission is rejected by Hillary due to plagiarism.

Remember, each submission costs money, so it pays to spend some time running your work in a plagiarism checker to ensure it is free of duplicate content. The best plagiarism tool for me that has been serving me for a long time is duplichecker, a free online service available to all. But you need to sign up first to be able to use the service without limit. After logging in to your account, you can start using this tool for free, 1000 words at a time.

#3 – Good Title

The importance of an impressive and descriptive title cannot be stressed enough.

In the online world, especially outside of Bitlanders, competition for ranking in the search results of the major search engines is stiff.

That is why content creators and bloggers are in continuous struggle for dominance over this matter. 

A good title is very important because it can be your only chance of attracting visitors to your writings.

In our case a blog with a good title, with some catchy phrases in it, has a good chance of being viewed by other users, which means better exposure that translates to better earnings. Whether readers would read or skip over your blog has something to do, with a good measure, on how they appreciate the title of your blog. Always keep that in mind.

#4 – Lengthy and Exhaustive

The text of your blog should be at least 1000 words. That’s my own rule of thumb I establish for myself. This is the only way to ensure I cover everything I want included in my blog. Details are so important in blogging, and explaining your point, if any, can be achieved only if you have enough space to do so.

Plus, you can’t include more photos and videos in your blog if you don’t have enough text to work with. Sometimes photos and videos are just there to remove the monotony and drudgery of reading a long article or blog composed only of texts. It is easy to check how many words have already been written with the use of Microsoft Word. 

#5 – Visually Appealing

Visual appeal is an important component of a great blog. Videos and photos must be interspersed throughout the content of your blog to make it pleasing to the eyes of your readers.

There should be enough videos and photos in the blog with good spacing as much as the text requires. In Bitlanders, at most 10 photos and a maximum of 2 videos are necessary.

Apart from the quantity, quality is also important. This is true for both photo and video. That is why you should spend enough time searching for the best photos and videos to add to your blog.

On this regard I don’t settle for anything less. Concerning photos, size and aspect ratio are important. Use a photo whose length is greater than its width. In short, the photo must be horizontal, not vertical. Meanwhile, a square photo is just a waste of space. Also, the resolution must be at least 1000 pixels. 

#6 – A Bucketload of Tags

Bitlanders wants to see a combination of generic and specific tags at the end of each post. Today, what is required of us is just 10 tags, but this wasn't the case before. I normally included more or less 75 tags in each blog before. With the new requirement, adding tags has become far too easy for everyone to do. So today's bloggers are luckier than we were in the past.

There is a simple guideline that needs to be followed in choosing tags to add to your blog. Make sure the tags are related to the post, or else this can be considered spamming. Tags are keywords or common phrases that help search engines understand what your blog is all about, but I wonder if Bitlanders’ blogs are search-engine friendly.

#7 – Photo Credits

I understood the importance of crediting the photos to their rightful owners when I was still writing at Bubblews before.

Unfortunately, that site ceased to exist and has now become a relic of the past. I’m glad that Bitlanders now requires users to attribute photos to their creators, because this is the right thing to do.

Using the work of others for commercial use and failing to give attribution is plagiarism in a sense. As a Bitlanders’ blogger, see to it that you put a line below a borrowed photo indicating the source of the file.

Other writing platforms such as HubPages are very strict when it comes to the source of photos and the format of the attribution. You can’t just go to Google Images and use anything as you please. So never forget to include this item in your checklist.

#8 – Readable Content

Readability refers to the level of difficulty of the language used in the blog as well as the format. Most online readers prefer to read content written in simple English. This makes it easy for them to digest the message of the content being read. It also eliminates the need to consult a dictionary when they come across an unfamiliar word in the course of reading. This translates to better understanding and time savings.

One way to ensure your readers take home the message you want to convey is the use of headings. This is achieved by arranging the text in sections and putting a heading in each section. Not only does this add beauty to the blog, but it also makes it readable. The readers can easily tell the content of the blog just by looking at the headings, and they can decide outright if the blog is worth reading or not.

I believe I covered all the items that need to be included in your checklist so that you don’t miss a thing when looking to submit a blog that will not only find the approval of your readers but also win the heart of Hillary. Now it is time to craft your next blog that would take the center stage in Bitlanders.

If you think the list I laid out above is not enough, you can add items you think are necessary to your checklist. YouTube provides a wealth of information about anything under the sun, even in blogging. One such video is found above. Enjoy!