To create a successful blog, you’ll need to focus on more than just content. What you write and publish is important, of course. However, there are certain elements your blog will need to have to reach its full potential.

From design to functionality to user experience, there are multiple essential components to consider. Optimizing these areas of your blog helps you attract more readers, keeps your audience engaged, and can even improve the ranking of your articles in search engines.

How to build your blog to be the best it can be

In this post, we’ll be taking a look at eight of the most important elements you need to build a successful blog. The goal is to give you a deeper understanding of how these components benefit your blog and why they are important. We’ll also let you know the tools you’ll need to do the job.

Without further ado, here are eight elements that all successful blogs should have.

1. SEO-friendly post titles and content

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a major focus of website developers and content creators, and with good reason. If you want to have your posts reach the widest possible audience, you need your content rank higher on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

When you write a blog post, make the title something catchy that you would be tempted to click on yourself. Avoid using long titles and tell the reader what they will gain or learn from reading your post.

If you are writing a post about a specific topic, choose a keyword and focus the post around it. For example, if you are writing about which dog food brands are the best value, you could choose a keyword like “what dog food to buy” and make sure to use the phrase throughout your post. This is what is known as “keyword density,” and most estimates recommend your chosen keyword should make up around 1-2% of all content in the post.

2. Google Analytics tracking

The best way to improve your articles and attract more readers is to know how your posts are performing. Once you add Google Analytics to your website, you can track where your readers are coming from, see what they do while on your page, find the top referral sources to your posts, and much more.

This information is essential to adapting your content and blog approach. It’s also a game changer if you want to grow your audience quickly.

Our team of professionals can set up Google Analytics on your site today.

3. Mobile-friendly design

Since 2016, mobile browsing has been the main way internet users access the web. If your blog isn’t designed to be both functional and appealing on mobile, you risk losing a huge part of your potential audience. Google and other search engines put an emphasis on mobile friendly design when determining SEO rank as well.

To make your website mobile friendly, start with designing a mobile version of your blog. Make sure that page load speeds are quick as well, since slow loading pages will drive readers away before they see your content.

4. Detailed author page

Author pages serve a few purposes, namely giving your readers background about who you are, what you know, and why you run your blog. This helps foster trust and builds a more personal relationship with your audience. Author pages are also required by Google’s Publisher Center in order to have your posts be included in Google News.

Your author page can include some background about your expertise or why you are sharing your views. Linking to your social media on your author page is also a great way to get readers more engaged with your blog, and gives you the ability to cross promote your content to them on multiple platforms.

5. Buttons for readers to share your posts

Reader referrals are key when growing your blog. They are a simple but essential way to increase blog traffic. Give your readers the opportunity to share your posts on their own social media pages, by email, or by direct link all with a simple click by adding share buttons. This element is quick to set up, and can make a major difference for your blog’s total reach.

6. Modern and appealing design

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but most readers will judge your blog by its design. Having a cohesive and modern-looking theme goes a long way to keeping your blog readers engaged. If your blog uses an outdated style, it can affect the opinion readers have of your content before they give it a fair chance.

Appealing blog designs are often simple and understated, which keeps the focus on your content. You don’t want to use distracting colors and wacky fonts that take away from your work.

7. An active comment section

Your readers are the most essential part of your blog. The blog comment section is one of the best places that you can connect with your audience, as it helps you create a devoted community of readers and can also increase the SEO power of your posts.

You can start generating comments on your blog by posting comments yourself on other blogs that cover similar topics. This allows you to promote your work to a relevant audience and grow your readership quickly. When you have comments on your posts, be sure to reply so you keep your readers engaged and broaden your core audience.

8. “Contact me” page

Developing an engaged audience will be crucial to your blog’s success. By adding a contact page for your readers, you establish a personal line of communication and build trust with them. Contact pages are also a great place to add links where readers can receive more of your content, like a newsletter signup form. The more opportunity you give your readers to engage with your work, the higher the chance they will keep coming back to your blog.

Wrapping it all up

Whether you’re just launching a blog for the first time or need help taking your blog to the next level, these eight elements are essential for any successful blog to have. Google Analytics is your key to unlocking insights that can help you build your blog efficiently, while SEO-optimized content will get your work in front of a wider audience. Mobile-friendly and appealing blog design keeps your audience on your page, while your active comment section and dedicated contact page give you the chance to deepen your readers’ connection with you.

Adding these elements to your blog will set you up for growth and success, and is easier than you think. If you’d like an expert’s guidance in adding these elements to your blog, reach out to the Safetynames team to get started with our Managed Website Service.

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