Five Things That Make Your WordPress Blog Look Professional
It is estimated that nearly one hundred new blogs are started every minute. Simple math dictates that a single day presents tens of thousands of potential new competitors that are intent on stealing your readership. How then do you construct a successful WordPress blog that will allow you to stay ahead of the competition?
Obviously, your blog needs to contain interesting and useful content. However, regardless of how captivating the content may be, it won’t turn heads and capture the number of visitors that you are looking for unless it looks and feels professional.
Purchase Your Own Domain
Any Joe can hop on the Internet and create a blog in a matter of minutes. There are many free platforms for doing so, and thus, there are countless blogs that are virtually indistinguishable. Breaking away from this anonymity is the key.
Step one is using your own domain. Through WordPress, you can purchase your own domain and retain their platform usage. It isn’t free, but will only cost you around $20 annually. This small pittance is more than worth the legitimacy your blog will receive for having its own domain.
Choose Your Theme Carefully
There are a lot of pretty cheesy themes in use today. The key to a professional looking layout is balance and above all, simplicity. Don’t clutter your blog with too much to distract from the text.
This is, after all, where you want readers to focus. WordPress’ themes are already quite professional looking. You should be able to find a proper one without too much trouble. If you aren’t satisfied with what’s available, you can upgrade to be able to fully customize your theme.
Define Your Place
Determine what your niche is and remain true to it. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to constantly hover on the same topic. Be creative. Set down a core subject for your blog and explore it fully along with its peripheral topics. By doing so, your blog will be more centered, balanced, and easy to connect to for readers.
Spelling and Grammar
This should be a given. However, a quick jog around the blogging world will show you just how little attention is given to being consistent with spelling and grammar. There are really no excuses for this – a blog simply will not appear professional without always having proper spelling and grammar.
Spell-check is helpful, but it will not fix every problem. Ultimately you need to proofread – and proofread again. If you’re not confident in your proofreading skills, enlist a friend or colleague to look over your articles when you’ve finished them. Once they’re posted, read through again.
Be Consistent
Consistency is a major factor of professionalism in any sense. To look and feel professional, your blog should be updated on a consistent timeframe. Posting four times in one day, then not at all for a few days will likely appear amateurish to any tuned-in reader.
Instead, set up a schedule for your submissions and do your best to remain true to it. Beyond looking much more professional, it will assist you in establishing a consistent mindset and routine for your blog.