As a blogger, I am constantly asked what my top tips for bloggers are. I even have people in the offline world ask me to spend a day with them and teach them.

Blogging is something that I don’t think that you can exactly “teach.” Learning as I went is what worked for me. However, there are some things that new bloggers can learn in order to improve their blogging skills.

Have direction.

No, you don’t have to settle on one niche or settle on one direction, but it does make things a little more easier. My main website, Making Sense of Cents, is sort of a mix of everything possible, but I do try to make everything relate to money in some way.

Are you a beauty blog? Lifestyle blog? Personal finance blog? Mom blog?

Determine why you are blogging.

Are you blogging anonymously? Are you trying to get your freelance services out there? Is your blog a part of a business? Are you blogging for money? Determine why you want to blog.

Don’t copy others.

Yes, you might like that post that someone else wrote. However, should you copy it? NOOOOOO!

If you are looking at an article for inspiration or research, don’t copy it word for word. Read the article and then look away. If you read it sentence by sentence, then your article will most likely be exactly like the article you are researching.

Publish interesting content.

Yes, you can run a content mill where all you do is crank out articles that no one will read. However, if you are looking to entertain and keep readers, then having high quality and interesting content is key.

Start a Twitter account.

I didn’t start my Twitter account until maybe a year or so after I started blogging. I really regret that because I was missing out on an important way to interact with readers and other bloggers.

Allow sharing on your blog.

If you want to gain new readers, then having a share plugin such as Shareoholic is key. This way readers can easily share your content.

Do your social media icons actually link to something?

Something that really bothers me is when I find a new blog that I really like, and they have social media icons on their sidebar that lead to nothing. Does your Twitter button just link to Twitter’s homepage? WHY do you do this to me?!

Try not to look at your stats too much.

I know that as a blogger, it is hard to just ignore your blog stats completely. However, stressing over them and looking at them multiple times each hour will not increase your stats.

Network.

Just like with everything else, networking is very important. Talk to other bloggers. Interact with readers. Reply to emails. Have conversations on Twitter. Attend blog conferences if you can. Guest post on other websites.

What tips would you give a new blogger?

What’s something that you wish you knew when you started?