The Blogging Rules that Don't Work Anymore (They Never Did Actually)

Have you ever been told of certain blogging rules that you must follow for you to become a successful publisher? I wager it has been more than once. At times, it is some web experts  who saw your blog and felt an urge to leak out their blogging wisdom towards you without you even asking for it, and at other times, you read about those rules on the Internet (apparently, the Internet is already filled with massive literature on blogging tips, so you don't need to branch out and seek help from someone in person).

But it's not just you, a truckload of individuals who are exceptionally good at their job (i.e. writing) keep drawing a blank when it comes to determining the right approach while blogging so as to draw maximum readers towards it. In such a scenario, one can hardly be blamed for believed every bit of 'expert' help that comes along, even if unsolicited.

Now, these aficionados of the blogging realm (most of whom are self-proclaimed ones) are everywhere. And the ridiculously easy accessibility of the Internet and the fact that anyone can publish anything for the world to read has meant hat they have ample freedom to dole out their own blogging advices for others to read. And this is where those with little or no experience of content marketing are deceived as they take the words of the self-professed gurus a much too seriously.

Leaving whining aside, here are some such rubbish rules that bloggers DO NOT need to follow:

Keep the Article Length at an Average of 500 Words Per Post – No One has the Patience to Read Longer Posts

The word 'patience' is tossed around like a hot potato on the web. It has been assumed, rather arrogated, that the patience of the web readers runs far too thin and that even a 500 words post is longer than the ideal length. The truth however is abysmally off the tangent. The surveys on the Internet have proved that instead of short posts, it is the longer posts that grab more eyeballs and get more shares across the web. On social media, it is the posts with the length of more than 1000 words or even 1500 words that have a greater presence. More importantly, Google likes content heavy websites that is providing ample of information for the visitors to read and not just tossing at them a post of mere 300 words.

Crisp content works for taglines, not so much for articles. If you believe the information you are providing is exceeding a certain word limit you had set for yourself, go ahead and exceed it. The greatest advantage web has provided us that it has given us the freedom and the space to express ourselves. Leverage that space and write as much as you want to.

Let Your Blog be Just About Every Damn Thing on Earth

Have you been led to believe that if you are writing on different topics that bear no resemblance to one another will bring diversified audience to your blog? Let's say you started your blog writing poetry, articles around humor and movies and all things leisure and entertainment (now all of this does fit in to one theme in a way). And then, out of a sudden, you decided to add more category to your website and started writing on political affairs and how the specific election candidates hold great promise for a state. Now here is an attempt by you to draw in a section of audience which was probably totally absent from your blog.

The strategy is flawed at its very premise since by this you are not pulling the attention of new users, you are putting off the ones who have been following your blog and don't like this randomization happening on your blog. There is nothing wrong with injecting some political spice on your blog; if you spin it in a way that you create a satirical article, or for that matter, a poem on some issue, that would serve your blog well. It might bring in some new visitors while not off-putting the current ones.

Always Keep the Titles Short

No, you don't have to do that “always”. Yes, shorter titles are crisp and more readable, and if you are choosing a right set of words, they do make an impact and induce the reader to check out the piece of article they are headlining. However, the recent trends have suggested (anyone seen the buzzfeed headlines) that longer headlines are equally potent if you are making the reader curious enough to click the URL and reads the rest of the content. If however the long title looks cluttered and makes it abundantly clear that you could send across the same message in lesser number of words, that might just end up creating a wrong impression.

Write With SEO in Mind

The biggest disservice you will be doing to your blog site is when you will begin writing strictly for SEO. Writing is an art that depends on instincts and creativity. But when you have a set of liner words and phrases that you are meant to spin your content around, it is killing your instincts as a writer and stifling your imagination. And once that happens, you can be rest assured that your blogs will cease to be interesting.

Blogging, as iterated before, has to be about writing from instincts. You have some information for your reader that needs to reach them. But being the writer that you are, you have to craft it in a way that leaves you stamp all over that piece of info. At the same time, getting more people read it is on your agenda. So, instead of relying on the tips of people you don't know or those with no credentials, start looking at some statistics and also trust your instincts. But don't let mythical facts make their way into your writing.

About the author
Sarah Parker is a creative Web Design professional in Designs2HTML Ltd. and possess vast experience in Research and development vertex of Design technologies. She is well known as one of the best HTML to Wordpress Conversion Expert. She use to share about the same on Twitter and other social media platforms.