Blogging is getting competitive. These days, with every passing moment, many new bloggers enters the blogosphere. Most people start blogging the same way which means they aren’t any different from the next blogger.
In a situation like this, it is important to set yourself apart from other bloggers who are working on your niche. If you have a unique voice, a unique personality, your content and design sets you apart from others then you have started on the right foot.
Here, in this article, we will discuss several ways in which you can set yourself apart from your competition.
1. Share your story: If you want to look different among other bloggers in the crowd then start with your story. If you have a unique story and you are able to present it well, then you will be remembered.
Stories which are heart touching can spread faster than any ad. Your competition might have more money and connection compared to you, but your story has the potential to reach an even greater audience. That is the power of emotional connection.
2. Get a custom Theme: There are tons of themes and designs on the internet. Most people look for free themes and thus they all look the same. However, some of the bloggers do spend a bit in buying a premium theme and they look better and get premium support. But at the end of the day, there’s many blogs with the same themes, so they too look pretty much the same.
If you have the funds then get yourself a custom theme designed. This theme will be available on your blog alone and if you can make it well, it will stand out and look much better than any other blog.
3. Find your Voice: Each of us has our own voice. This voice is the reason why our content reads different from the next blogger. But we don’t utilize this power well and end up writing content which sounds like boring essays. Once you start to write directly from your heart, you will find your true voice and it will indeed sound unique and personal.
4. Show your personality: Just like the voice, each of us has a unique personality which will show up in our content if we stop holding ourselves behind and let go of the invisible shackles and write more freely.
5. Make a Lasting Relationship: When a new reader lands on your blog, or your social media channels, try to make a first impression that lasts a lifetime. Do the basics well, like replying to their comments, following them on the social media, liking and sharing their content. But don’t stop at that, take the further step and post a comment on their blog, share their content further on your own time line and if possible signup to their newsletters and courses to make your connection stronger.
6. Keep the newsletter rolling: When someone joins your newsletter, it is important to make sure that your auto-responders are running so that your new guy gets hooked right away.
7. Get busy in the comments section: This is where all the fun happens. If you are active on the comments section then you have already made sure that you are better than the competition as several popular people on your niche does not do it. Responding to individual comments is a difficult task but it builds stronger bonds, if you skip this step then there will be no difference between others and you, but if you are ready to take the extra mile then much can happen in the long run.
8. Remember your customers and their important events: People forget that the business works when you stop talking about yourself and start listening to your buyers. It is their birthdays and family occasions which are important and not yours. Do your homework and make sure to keep a diary with the details of your customers. Send them social media updates, newsletters and other notifications on their important events.
9. Be consistent: Once you start to become popular, you will forget to keep a posting consistency. This is where you have to stand out from the rest of the bloggers and make sure to deliver content on time, day after day, year after year as people will always expect more from those who always deliver on time.
10. Read other people’s Blogs: It is important to stay updated and the easiest way to do so is to keep reading more content. Reading and understanding your competitors will help you to know why you are different from them.
11. Keep learning new Skills: Learning new skills that are relevant to your niche can help you in crafting content which will have an edge over your competition. You will be able to give something more to your readers and this extra information will keep pushing the quality of your content to new heights.
12. Reward Loyalty: When you see loyal readers who always stick with you, it is perhaps time to start planning on rewarding those readers. Think of a way by means of affiliate system where you will be able to reward those readers who are loyal to you.
13. Do something good for your readers: Plan on gifts, contests and giveaways where you can give something back to your community. This way, you will be able to retain your audience base and make them further loyal to your blog and your business.
14. Work on your Weakness: Look for the areas in your blogging which might need more work. Perhaps your writing isn’t good enough, in a case like this, try getting yourself some courses where you can improve your writing and make it better.
15. Deliver actionable and real information: People are always on the lookout for real information. It is a general habit of the people of the blogosphere to skim through the points in an article, looking for tips that they can implement right away. If you are able to deliver actionable tips consistently then you have already managed to set yourself above your competition and your readers might never have to look somewhere else for good content.
Being a true expert in your niche and doing things differently from the competition always helps in keeping you ahead from the rest of the lot. Sometimes it becomes extremely difficult when the niche is heavily competitive and yet, one still needs to keep working hard to achieve their goals.