It’s hard work to attract an audience and get people to show up regularly. But if you focus on adding value to your blog, the task will be many degrees easier.

When you start blogging, it can be a struggle just to get yourself to the page regularly.

In trying to overcome that challenge, you can get so stuck on prioritizing consistency that you lose focus on your content.

And once that happens, you face the risk of ending up with a blog that’s just there, with stuff on it.

If you’ve been through that cycle, and now you’re at the point where you want to make your blog more appealing and engaging, here’s a new guideline:

Don’t just post content. Post content that matters.

By that I mean be informative. Answer questions surrounding your topics. Really deepen your readers’ understanding of things. And teach them.

You’ll also boost your blog’s appeal by diversifying your posts.

If you write the same type of articles over and over again, your readers are likely to get bored.

Think of your blog like an album. You don’t want every song to have the same beat, tempo, and tone.

So, how do you go about diversifying and adding value to your blog?

Publish Researched Posts

Opinions are nice but everybody has one, and alone, their value can be limited.

Some conversations benefit from more solid information, like reliable stats, findings from studies, and relevant quotes from authoritative sources.

A lot of people don’t want to mention outside sources much less link to them because they’re worried that: a) referencing others makes them appear less informed and b) readers will abandon their site for one they link or refer to.

On the contrary, referencing other sources can boost your credibility. It shows you’re well-versed on the topic and you aware of the who’s-who in your subject area.

And the benefits of external linking can outweigh the risks of losing traffic.

External links help you build readers’ trust. You conveniently direct them your readers to additional information that they need, which is a service.  And external linking adds context and qualities to your post that can help them rank better in Google’s search results.

Now, if you’re worried that research will make your posts boring, remember it’s all about what you include and how you present it.

Create How-To Guides

A lot of people complain that they’re told what to do but not how to do it.

One of the top reasons people visit blogs in the first place is to get insight from someone they think is more knowledgeable.

If you add useful how-to guides to your blog, you’ll boost your odds of success.

You’ll be adding value to your blog, diversifying your content, showing that not only do you know what you’re talking about but you have first-hand experience, and most importantly you’ll be helping readers develop, improve, or grow.

Readers are more likely to follow you closer if they leave your blog knowing exactly how to do something they want or have been advised to do.

Build Lists

People enjoy lists and they’re a wonderful resource for your readers and for your business.

For example, here on KnowGoodWords.com, there are lists of quotes, movies about writers, and often-overlooked tax deductions.

Those lists a convenient way to provide fun and useful information.

There is also a page dedicated to listing resources for freelancers and content creators. That list is not only helpful to readers, but it’s also a great way to plug in affiliate links that can help generate income to cover operating costs.

You can also consider lists of books relevant to your genre or topic, helpful apps, and even other non-competitive websites to source information.

By non-competitive, I mean if you cover women’s lifestyle topics, you could create a list of online health resources.

So, when you’re creating posts going forward, ask yourself, have you given anything? And, has all of my delivery been the same recently?

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Are there other ways you’re adding value to your blog? If you want to share, do your thing in that comment section down there.

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