The Bordering Disciplines of Blogging

Ages ago, when mankind first invented blogging, things were rather simple. Sign up for an account with some blogging service and write your heart out. Things have changed drastically.

If all you want to do is maintain a basic, personal blog, things remain fairly simple for you. Just grab an account with Wordpress.com, Blogger, TypePad or a host of others, and start writing. Tell your Mom and your co-workers and you’re all set.

But if you want to take blogging to the next level and generate buzz, stimulate discussion, build community, and drive traffic, then you’re going to have to think beyond the basics. To achieve success in the blogging realm requires us to have a fairly basic knowledge of some other related, and sometimes overlapping, disciplines, such as…

Graphic Design for the Web

I’m being careful with my terminology here, since semantics are rather important here. If your blog is going to have a unique aesthetic, you need to have a basic, working knowledge of the design side of the web. Is your site usable? By that I mean, do people know where to click, what to read, and how to respond to what you’re writing? A good design orders your information in such a way that people can navigate your site easily.

Understanding graphic design for the web also means people will find your site appealing. You need a good logo a nice layout for starters.

Writing

If I could summarize what I believe is the primary difference between mediocrity and excellence in blogging, it would be writing skills. Those well-known professional bloggers usually have this in common – they write persuasively.

Some write longer posts than others, but the common thread is quality, beginning with the opening sentence. Practice writing, and you’ll improve your blogging skills by default.

Social Networking

This wasn’t true just a few years ago, but if you want to grow a blog’s influence, you absolutely must have a grasp of the principles of social networking, or social media marketing.

When you have a grasp of social media marketing and its relationship to blogging, you begin to understand the power of reciprocal relationships. Help other bloggers out along the way and “what goes around comes around.” Essential networks include Twitter and Facebook, and there are scores of others to add to that list as time and attention span allow.

Marketing and Sales

I’m not cut out for sales. I could never sell an insurance policy or a vacuum cleaner door-to-door. It’s just not my thing. But online marketing brings some new dynamics to the table that level the playing field between sales-oriented people and we not-so-sales-oriented folks. The words “sales” and “marketing” may even put a bad taste in your mouth, but if you want to grow in the discipline of blogging, you’re going to need to understand the basics of online marketing.

Some sales tactics annoy a lot of people, but they work. Just because something works, however, doesn’t mean you need to do it, especially if it doesn’t fit with the longer term goal of expanding your influence. You must determine your target audience and decide what reaches them most effectively if you’re going to market something via your blog.

Search Engine Optimization

Some would argue that search engine optimization (SEO) may be fading away as a necessity while social media optimization slowly begins to replace it. If you’re going to be a successful blogger, you need a basic handle on both. At the very least, you should read up on the basics of search engine optimization.

Obviously there are other bordering disciplines, and more that can be said about each of these, which is why I’d love for you to weigh in with your own thoughts. What have you found helpful to know aside from the art of blogging itself?

Brandon has been doing web and logo design and this blogging thing for about six years. He’s also a Pastor at Saddleback Church in southern California, where he lives with his wife and kids. You can catch him on Twitter or Facebook.