The most important step in starting to write a sports blog is actually starting to do it! And there are some other aspects we want to tell you about.
So You Want to Write a Sports Blog… 4 Essential Tips!
It`s a brilliant idea, my friend, and you deserve to be praised for such a decision. It`s, in fact, a very brave step.
You might think that many people choose the path of a blogger because it seems so appealing, profitable, and interesting. But what you often fail to take into consideration is the percentage of really successful bloggers.
What does it even mean? A number of subscribers, advertisement offers (if you`re anti-commercial, it`s going to be very tough), overall interest towards your personality and your work.
WordPress experts claim that around 99% of blogs flop because of multiple reasons.
According to blogging statistics, every year writing one single blog post is becoming more and more time-consuming. For example, in 2014 it took a blogger 2 hours and 24 minutes to write a post. In 2017 this time skyrocketed to 3 hours, and 20 minutes.
The audience is becoming more demanding, and you need to check sources of information more carefully. So how can you make your sports blog really successful?
But don`t you dare think that we`re here to discourage you. Our team just wants to warn you about the possible dangers of blogging in general and sports blogging in particular. Our essay writing service has been swimming in that cyber ocean for quite some time and we`ve written on multiple topics, so we`ve figured out typical problems that you as a starting sports blogger may face.
Universal Soldier
You watch Wimbledon, taking notes. Then you write a blog post. The next day you go to watch a basketball match and decide to write a review. The day after that you share a personal story about how you learned how to play golf.
Stop it right now! Every good blogger has a specific niche when it comes to a genre and topic. It`s impossible to be a total pro at each and every kind of sport. There are way too many details, personalities, rules, and events. You won`t give an impression of a person with a relevant and trust-worthy opinion if you jump from a topic to a topic all the time.
There are dozens of factors that you need to take into consideration when choosing your niche. The most important one is your competence.
If it`s a sport that you`ve been practicing, it will be a perfect variant. Nevertheless, you can go a different way. Just look at professional sports journalists.
Honestly, besides being well-informed, you also need to love that certain topic because your audience will definitely spot your insincerity.
I Think… No, You Don`t
The following dilemma is very common among bloggers who write not only about sports but about politics as well.
Should you include your personal preferences and opinions while writing a post?
On the one hand, bloggers aren`t journalists, and technically, they aren`t supposed to follow all those rules of objectivity and unbiasedness.
On the other hand, high-quality content does include these characteristics, and bloggers have to remember it if they want to become opinion leaders. Championships and competitions are very passionate events, so bloggers will naturally root for their own country.
In most cases, bloggers have separate web-pages for their professional posts and for more personal stuff. That’s why your Facebook account can`t serve for both posting well-thought-out views on the Liverpool goalkeeper’s serious mistakes during the Champions League Final and for your drunk bathroom selfies.
By the way, Facebook is considered a bad platform for blogging in general.
Content and Audience! Audience and Content!
There is supposed to be that famous Bill Gates` quote about content. But hopefully, you just happen to know that it`s important.
Where there may be a blank space though is its cruciality.
Picture your reader. Who is he/she? What do they do for a living? What lifestyle do they have? What do they expect from your blog and what can you give those people?
As we`ve already mentioned, the audience is very demanding nowadays. There are many sources of information, and there are even more aspiring bloggers.
So a content plan is an absolute must. And it has to be diverse. You can write game reviews, analyze professional skills of athletes, react to sports news, or even publish your own interviews with sportsmen and their managers.
Post regularly and try to divide your publications into segments. For example, you may post game reviews on Mondays and add athletes` biographies analyses on Thursdays. Your audience should know when they can expect new content from you.
Commercial Break
It`s a tricky issue, and there is no way to find an absolutely universal solution here. So let`s try to be logical here.
Are you planning to turn blogging into your full-time job?
If yes, you won`t be able to survive without help of marketers of different sports brands, like companies that produce gym clothes, equipment, or sports nutrition. Many bloggers include adverts in their content, and it`s not a big deal. Your audience won`t run away from you unless you start selling products of very low-quality. In such case you`ll lose trust and respect. Always test products and ask yourself whether you`d buy it yourself.
If blogging is more like a hobby or if you want to gain more professional reputation (if you`re already a sports journalist or an athlete), then you can avoid adverts at all.
There is another marketing aspect though, and many aspiring bloggers forget about it.
You need to promote your blog on different platforms.
Some people think that producing high-quality content is enough. A blogger will just get thankful readers who will tell their friends about the blog, and that’s how he/she will become a popular opinion maker.
It can happen like that, but the chances are incredibly law. So be prepared for spending some money on marketing.
If you call it an investment, it will sound fancier and less intimidating.
And you thought that having a sports blog would be easy. Yeah, right!