7 Ways To Spice Up Your Blog To Make It A Versatile Weapon Online

Posted by Jason Kienbaum on Dec 28, 2010 in Small Business Marketing | 6 comments

For many of us that blog we have a certain structure that we like to follow with our blogging. Usually it is focused on one topic of interest and produced in the format that is most comfortable to us whether that’s text, video, or audio. But at times it is necessary to shake things up and provide the content our audience is looking for with a new twist or different spin from the mundane to keep things interesting.

Here are a few simple ways you can spice up your blog:

1) To inform your community and customers

Now this might not seem like a way to spice up your blog at first, but if done in moderation and not on daily use it can provide value to your audience. Many will recommend online that is not in your best interest to blog about your company and/or product. However, at times it is perfectly fine to talk about what your company is working on. If you provide products that people love to use, many will find it exciting to learn what you are working on and when it will be made available. You can actually lose transactions with your loyal customers and followers if you don’t inform them first and they find out from another source; so in reality using your blog correctly to inform your audience makes it a valuable weapon for you online.

2) Ask for guest posts

Having someone do a guest post on your blog is a great way to change things up as long as they talk about a subject that your audience can relate to. Change is a good thing with blogging; we like to hear what other people have to say and with their own personalities thrown into the blog entry. Ask yourself this, how many blogs do I follow? I bet you follow a handful of go-to blogs because you want to hear what others have to say on the similar topic of interest you talk about. Well, so does your audience and why not bring in those other voices of influence to them instead of having your blog audience leave your blog to find them out. I like to keep visitors on my blog as much as possible and this is one way to do so.

3) Speaking your mind – Stating your opinions

One major thing with blogging is you can’t be afraid to speak your mind! You have to talk about something that you are passionate for even if others choose to disagree with your opinion or research that you have presented. In most cases it will lead to good discussion in the comment section of your blog post. If you usually have a more reserved type of a blog why not incorporate one day a week where you can let loose and talk about something new in the industry that might be off the wall or what some may consider a crazy idea that could someday be reality in your industry, you could call this Out-Spoken Friday’s.

4) Proving reviews

How about implementing some book reviews or product reviews into your blog. As entrepreneurs we are always reading and coming across products that can help us improve the way we work, well why not share this information with your following, as long as whatever it is you are reviewing is something that you believe in and is something that has actually helped you.

5) Do some Q &A

Why not at the end of the week take some time to answer a few questions that others have asked of you. One blog that I follow is Social Media Examiner and the thing they do that I find really cool is how they have a social media expert answering questions on their Facebook wall every so often. It’s something different and it just continues to build their authority as a resource for social media. If you have valuable information to provide why not look to do a similar Q & A session on your blog for your viewers.

6) How to demos

One of the things that has worked well for me in the past is doing some how to demos for my audience. These are some of my most popular videos on YouTube and it has been awesome to see them spread. If you identify a new hot product or service that is available to anyone why not take the time to show others how to use it? This is usually pretty easy to do since you have used this product or service before. Sometimes the product or service becomes a part of our daily use so it is as simple as showing how you use this certain product or service from day to day.

7) Video or podcast

Most of the blogs that we come across on the web are in text format, mainly because I think that is the format that many of us are most comfortable with, myself included, but if we want to shake things up a bit, why not push ourselves to do a some sort of video or podcast? If you are not completely sold on this, try to do a video or podcast with a colleague of yours. Sometimes it eases a person’s nerves and builds confidence to have a trusted person next to you to help facilitate the production. Also try doing interviews with others in a casual conversation; this type of content seems to be working well for a lot of people online right now.