Reaching out via the internet through a blog can be one of the most effective ways to build an audience. Whether you are pursuing a passion or starting your own business, blogs can be the centerpiece of a content distribution system built to sustain a brand’s online presence.

Ultimately, building a blog that is truly successful takes time and dedication. Many bloggers start out with no idea of how to be successful, but the foundations for a great blog really revolve around just a few simple things. Today, we’re going to share with you tips for building the foundations of a successful blog, so that your hard work will ultimately pay off in time.

Build Your Mailing List

One of the main characteristics of every successful blog is a large mailing list. If you’re wanting to build a blog empire, then you need to be dead-set on building as large of a relevant mailing list as possible. Every page on your blog should feature a subscribe option, as well as justification/motivation for individuals signing up. This could be anything from a free e-book or resource to early access to important blog posts.

Utilize Analytics

Every successful blog knows how to measure its progress in multiple ways. As such, you absolutely need one or more analytics solutions monitoring all of the important metrics of your website. From total visitors and bounce rates to on-page time and sources of traffic, pinging your website for this information is absolutely crucial. With this information in hand, you’ll be able to measure whether your strategies are working and whether long-term goals are being met.

Improve SEO Elements

Even if you have the best content imaginable within your niche, building a successful blog cannot be done if people can’t find you. Because of this problem, it is vital that every blogger focus on improving search engine optimization protocols in order to be visible. There are numerous guides on the basics of SEO and how it can impact your blog’s prominence in search results. Long story short: improving SEO increases visibility within select search results, which helps deliver more traffic and boost your blog’s prominence.

Optimize Your Website’s Technical Elements

Last but not least, every blog needs to be concerned with how their website performs for both users and search engines alike. The best and most successful blogs in existence utilize a variety of techniques to improve user experience. One such example is responsive design, which ensures that your blog looks as you want it to on every device, regardless of resolution. It’s also worth noting that search engines now basically require responsive design for websites to be visible in mobile device search results.

Additionally, another prime upgrade you need to make is securing a secure HTTP certificate for your blog. Search engines are pinging your website constantly, deciding how credible and trustworthy it is. Without a secure HTTP certificate, you are less likely to rank above competitors who do have a HTTPS certificate.

Building a strong foundation for your blog means focusing on signing up subscribers, improving SEO elements, optimizing the website’s technical elements and utilizing metrics to measure your progress. Once you’ve done these four things – and continue producing quality content – you’ll be able to build a strong and successful blog that’ll prosper for many years to come.