I registered with Problogger for a course on 31 days to a better blog. Here are my learnings. I can not share everything from that paid course here. But I wish to outline a few highlights of what I could achieve this month. The target habit for this month was- “Better blogging”. The problem that I was looking to solve was to improve the reach of my blog to more crowd and right crowd.

#1 Blog Goal:

I set the goal for my goal this way: My readers are stuck in the rat race of the daily routine that makes them anxious, restless and uneasy at the end of each day. They need to redesign their lifestyle to accommodate recovery, be productive with minimal effort and focus on essential positive aspects of their life. When they leave my blog, they will rethink their lifestyle and find ways to improve it.

CHAOTIC UNEASY LIFESTYLE —> POSITIVE MINIMAL LIFESTYLE

#2 Content Ideas:

To brainstorm for ideas that take my readers to this goal, I took this approach: Gather reader questions, Extend popular series like this one (Habit Series), Schedule ideas in blog calendar, Research keywords that resonate with my site.

To present my ideas on the blog, these were the categories that I shortlisted:
‘list’ posts, ‘taking readers through a challenge’ post, ‘travel’ post, ‘training’ post, ‘tips’ post, ‘life hack’ post.

#3 Channels for promotion:

I decided to post twice a week on social media channels. They include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I have been promoting through Instagram, FB, and Pinterest for a while. But I now realize that Insta and Pinterest are not where my readers reside much. Instagram does not even have clickable posts yet unless they are sponsored Ads.

#4 Reach out to peers:

Joining a WordPress group or a blogger’s club has not been easy in Bangalore. Usually, the meetups are far off from my place, Whitefield. So I subscribed to some blogs and podcasts that align with my vision for my blog. I will continue with my hunt for finding a writing group or a buddy. Meanwhile, I wish to connect with some influencers, followers, peers or try teaching a course on my blogging experience so far.

#5 Pillar Content:

This is something that I have already thought about and am working on. The popularity of my Minimalism blog gave me an avenue to create this pillar. The pillar was “Habit building”. This Habit Series blog is a part of that idea. The other types of pillars could be – How-Tos, Guides, Research Results and so on. Ideas for pillar content could also come out of the content mind map which is created to line up the content calendar.

#6 Search Engine Optimisation:

I have been optimizing my blogs through Yoast plug-in within WordPress. But other ways could also be better keyword research, networking with pro bloggers for backlinks, invite guest bloggers that bring their audience, leave comments and build links on other sites preferably B-listers. Proofread the blog before publishing every time. Maintain a publishing checklist.

#7 Understanding the readers:

Some may argue that this should be the first step. When the blog goal is determined, a reader avatar is already in mind. Some of the questions that help define the reader are – Who is my reader? What are his/her problems? Interact with them through Facebook, Twitter, Linked In. In my eyes, the reader persona has always been an active working individual who wants to optimize his lifestyle and get better with his fitness. This persona, of course, needs to be further refined.

This course has opened up my eyes to how many aspects are involved in building a successful blog. I am far from completing all the action items from the course. But my journey is on.

Please like and share your comments below on a habit that you are trying to build.