How To Be A Better Blogger

Written by Julia Giantomasi
Published on March 16, 2023

Even though short video form has become more popular in social media, that doesn’t mean traditional blogging has fallen by the wayside. People consume content based on their needs and lifestyle, and many prefer to scan quickly through a blog to pull out the key points that apply to them, rather than sit and watch a video. Those who enjoy reading (essentially all of your library patrons) still appreciate a well-written and informative blog post. Here’s how to make your blog the best that it can be, based on research collected from successful bloggers.

Write Longer Posts

It may seem counterintuitive in a digital world with waning attention spans, but blogs originally were meant to be more long-form writing online. The average blog post in 2022 was 1,376 words long. We’re not suggesting anyone write long posts just to meet a word count, but it seems as though the longer posts perform better because they’re well-written, well-researched, and informative to the audience they’re written for. Making an effort counts to readers, and the more time that is spent writing the content and the more thorough (longer) the content is, the better the blog will be. In the draft process, feel free to refer back to our blog about boosting traffic because incorporating the correct SEO keywords will also help make sure your hard work gets noticed by the right readers.

Include Resources

Your blog may be fueled by opinions or your library’s perspective on a particular topic, but what will make it more legitimate is citing other resources as backup. Journalists cite sources, and bloggers should cite the facts or figures that they’ve researched on the topic. We could sit here and blog about marketing tips every month just based on our own experiences, but what gives this blog credibility is our links to other marketing resources. It not only gives the reader more content to consider, but allows them to bookmark the resources that apply to them. This doesn’t mean just linking to outside articles, but also including quotes from other contributors or graphics created by third parties will enhance the quality of your blog. Your patrons seek out your perspective, but they’ll also learn more about the topic from a variety of sources if you include them all in one place on your blog.

Publish Frequently and Consistently

The age-old advice for successful marketing emphasizes frequency and consistency, and blogging is no different. Create a schedule that works best for your library and your staff. Keep in mind that the more content you put out there, the more chances you have to connect with your audience on topics that they care about. The average blogger posts weekly or monthly, but those that see the most success publish blogs multiple times a week. Anyone who is writing many blogs a week probably isn’t spending a lot of time crafting the perfect almost 2,000 word think-piece. That’s why it’s important to find the right balance between significantly researched blogs and frequency. Not every blog has to be a masterpiece, but try to find the right publishing schedule and stick to it so readers know when to expect new content. Once that is set, you can get creative and play around with the genres and formats of your blog—feel free to reference this guide to library blogs for inspiration and more tips!