Starting a blog isn’t as easy as people think. I, for one, thought the same way as most people but was surprised at how difficult setting everything up can be. Even when I’ve completed the logistics part of the blog, I had issues spreading the word about my content and the blog itself.

There were many things that I learned along the way and, in hindsight, I can see that I could have done things differently. However, that is in the past and I’ve managed to follow the advice that I found, which gradually led me to perfect my blog.

I’m here to help you out so you don’t make the same mistakes I did, and so you can start doing what you’re supposed to do immediately. What I can guarantee you is that having a blog and writing quality content is a lot of fun, especially when people like it and spread positive thoughts to others.

Here are six surefire tips to help make your content more shareable and advice on how to start a blog.

Make your content valuable & remain socially active

The road to success is paved by being active and original. If you fail to write on a regular basis, there’s a very low chance of success and you’ll mostly have only a handful of readers at any given time.

This is the first thing that I’ve learned: At the beginning, I thought that I would have enough freedom to write blog posts whenever I feel like it. However, fairly quickly I learned that this is the wrong state of mind because, even though I had more freedom before, I almost didn’t have any readers.

The only positive thing that I did at the start was that I had original content. I picked a niche that was popular at the time or some timeless classic themes (such as abstract questions) and wrote what was on my mind. Even though it was deemed great by my readers, I had too few of them.

Take my personal experience as an example of what you should and shouldn’t do. Write on a regular basis and be original – you will steadily gain new readers and, in turn, you’ll be more motivated to continue writing!

Adapt your content for mobile users

Another mistake that I made was not optimizing my content for mobile users. Considering I write articles and blog posts with the use of my PC (and at the beginning of my career as well), I didn’t even think about mobile users.

For whatever reason, I thought that everyone would read my posts with their PC’s as well. Little did I know this is a fairly big rookie mistake. Most people actually read articles and blog posts with their mobile phones when they’re traveling to work, or lying in bed, and other similar situations. Optimize for mobile, don’t forget about them and they won’t forget about you! This process doesn’t take long but has massive benefits.

Utilize high-quality media

This goes without saying, but do try to use high-quality media at all times. No one likes blurry videos or incredibly small pictures that have been expanded so much that you can’t figure out what’s in it. I’ve run into blogs that feature low-quality media that damages the overall look and feel of the blog.

If using video, 720p is ideal for both computers and mobile phones as it’s great in quality and also doesn’t take too much memory space. This is great because mobile phones are slower than computers, so you’ll be able to provide all of your readers with quality content in every meaning of the word. Just make sure you have the rights to the media you use (or simply use creative commons and similar copyright formats, assuming you’re not embedding).

Become a thought leader in your niche

We come back to the idea of originality. Being a copycat will bring you nowhere, and it’s frowned upon if you copy other people’s work. Being unique will always bring you success when you least expect it.

People value new, creative, and unique ideas; you must embrace this if you want to become a leader in your niche. Choose a playing field and show them who’s boss! We know that it’s difficult to be one-of-a-kind in today’s world, especially because new things are popping up all the time, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try.

Give your best; even your personal opinion is unique and will be appreciated by your readers!

Add native social sharing buttons

Most people (especially on mobile phones) who would want to share something you created only to find out there aren’t any dedicated social sharing buttons will give up on doing so. It’s annoying and tedious to copy and paste a direct link or URL from your website. Don’t allow this to happen.

Use native social sharing buttons so people can easily share your content on their social media pages. This should be done on day 1 of the existence of your website or blog, so you don’t run into any issues when posting that first article.

Become invested in the social community

The community which consists of your readers (and people on other blogs and websites) is much more oriented to people and authors that have a relationship with them. If you only treat them as readers and ignore their messages, they will leave for someone or something better.

Give them the respect they deserve, as they are crucial to your success — not the other way around. Invest your time in the social community, get to know them and you will be surprised in more ways than one.