How to Keep Your Readers Engaged and Interested

The average person's attention span is just 8.25 seconds long.

If you're a writer, then this statistic is rather depressing. You work hard to create high-quality content, only to find that many in your audience lose focus before they've even read your introduction.

Some people may choose to skim the remainder of your content, scanning to find the most interesting bits.

Others won't even bother to do that much. In fact, more than half of your readers are probably gone after just 15 seconds. Ouch.

But even though attention spans are getting shorter, long-form content is often recommended. Why? Because it tends to rank better in Google and get more shares on social media.

So how do you get people to actually read through everything you're writing?

Obviously, finding a way to capture (and retain!) people's attention is vital. Thankfully, there are methods and techniques to help you do so.

1) Start With a Strong Introduction

Do you share amazing facts and interesting opinions in the middle of your content? If so, that's awesome—but don't neglect your first few sentences.  

A dry or tired-sounding beginning could ruin everything. Instead of being thrilled with what you share, your audience will never even read the exciting part.  

Sadly, they'll be gone before they ever scroll down that far.

This is why you need to grab your audience's attention right away. Use your opening lines to pique their curiosity and convince them to keep reading.

How do you do this?

Well, you could mention the amazing story you're going to tell, give them a surprising fact or shocking statistic, or ask them a thought-provoking question.

Honestly, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.  

If you've got great content and know what your audience wants, then strategically placing an interesting bit of information at the beginning of your content shouldn't be difficult at all.

2) Keep Your Audience Curious (But Do Get to The Point!)

Have you noticed that most TV shows don't end with a complete resolution of conflict?

They leave everyone wondering what's going to happen next, rather than winding up every single loose end.

Why do they do this?

Because they want us to keep watching the show.

By leaving some things unresolved, they make us curious about what happens next. Instead of assuming that all of the characters live happily ever after, we're left with a feeling of suspense and a desire to see the next episode.

This strategy is solid, and it's one that you can copy to hold your reader's attention (Now, in excessive amounts this can actually be detrimental—more on that in a minute).

If you're telling a story, then it's going to be fairly easy to keep your reader's curiosity piqued.

If not, then you can accomplish this with other methods. 

How? Drop hints of what you're going to mention in a few paragraphs, create intriguing subtitles, or focus on compelling conflicts. 

But while you need to keep people curious, you don't need to string them along.

If you continually hint about something awesome while never delivering what they want, you're going to sound sleazy.

Get to the point, and promptly deliver the content you're promising them. If you're going to give them promises of something amazing, then you need to fulfill those promises promptly.

3) Make Your Writing Easy to Understand

The average person reads roughly 200-250 words every minute.

But when they start to read something technical, that rate plummets to a mere 50-75 words per minute.

What does that mean?

It means that you've got to avoid difficult copy. Most of the time, you're going to be writing for people with short attention spans. Write in an easy-to-comprehend style.  Long words and complex phrases generally don't make you look smart—they just make it harder for others to digest what you've written.

Being a writer doesn't just involve throwing information at a paper. If that's all it took, then we wouldn't have a job!

Instead, our job is to make information easy to comprehend and digest. Writing in a friendly, conversational way is almost always the best way to accomplish this.

Use examples that others can relate to. Throw in a bit of humor, and let your personality shine through.

If you're able to take boring facts and turn them into something that's fun to read, then keeping your audience engaged isn't going to be a difficult task.

4) Pay Attention to Your Formatting

Would this post be easy to read if I took out all of the spaces between paragraphs?

Nope! If this were a single mass of text, it would be an imposing blog post.

Now, I know that most of you already understand the value of adding white space. But it's still possible to forget and write painfully long paragraphs, so a reminder isn't going to hurt.

Subheadings, lists, and graphics are also beneficial. Because they stand out from the rest of your content, these areas may help grab the attention of anyone who has started to skim your post.

How do I know this?

Mostly because I've been guilty of skimming articles in the past.

The intriguing headline may have convinced me to click, but that doesn't mean I'm committed to reading the content.

Unless I know that the article is relevant and useful, I tend to scan for relevancy and leave if I'm not interested.

But there are many times when an eye-catching subheading or graphic makes me pause.

If my attention is thoroughly re-captured, I'll go back to the beginning and everything in its entirety. This rarely happens when the content lacks subheadings.

Of course, even the most perfect piece of content ever is going to fail to engage some people. There are literally thousands of reasons why someone might quit reading. These can range from utterly mundane (their browser crashed) to ridiculously dramatic (their computer suddenly burst into flames).

Obviously, you can't control these sorts of things.

But what you can do is create attention-grabbing, easy-to-read content.

---

Hannah Callahan is a content strategist and copywriter who believes in creating high-quality content that is both relevant and engaging.  When she isn't busy writing Hannah spends her time eating chocolate, reenacting the Civil War & WWII or reading.  Would you like to read more of what she's written?  Then head on over to her blog!

3 of the Most Painfully Common Content Marketing Mistakes

Just like anything else in life, content marketing comes with its ups and downs. There are times when content strategies are effortlessly implemented and bring with them a mountain of positive results and, on the flip side of things, others that fail to really do much of anything. This is just the nature of the game.

That said, regardless of how long you’ve been a part of the content marketing community, the more aware you are of the most common content marketing mistakes, the less likely you are to experience their negative consequences. The following are four of the biggest, most typical content marketing blunders to continuously plague both novice and experienced marketers:

1) Focus On an Audience as Much as Possible

You already know your product or service extremely well. It doesn’t take a genius to know that. However, what very much has the potential to separate you from your competitors is how well you know your target audience. 

Instead of using your brain like a business owner, step outside of yourself and think like an end user. After all, awesome content marketing is geared towards widespread entertainment, education and help.

2) It’s Not About You or Your Product

Old-school sales tactics call for oppressive measures and hard closes at every turn. In today’s day and age, with so much marketing noise being force-fed to potential consumers, such measures couldn’t be less effective. 

Yes, the end goal of content marketing is to increase sales, but harder product or service pitches have their place and time. Needless to say, if something independently provides value, its more important.

3) If It Lacks Substance, It’s Not Going to Help

Be it through desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones, odds are high that your specific target demographic is constantly taking in new information. Because of this, consumers are no longer impressed by run-of-the-mill content. 

They’ll see it for what it is and will quickly tune you out. Instead, you’ve got to impress them both early and often to eventually convert them into paying customers.

Content marketing can be a tricky endeavor. However, when the aforementioned pitfalls are consciously avoided, the chances of success are most assuredly high. So, armed with a new outlook, make your next content marketing project your best yet.

---

Lucas Miller is a Freelance Copywriter and Founder of Echelon Copy. When not writing, editing or running, he's working tirelessly to perfect what he claims is the "World's Greatest Pompadour." Additionally, for what it's worth, his editorial works have been featured on Social Media Today, Business2Community, Ragan's PR Daily, Spin Sucks and many other top-tier comms publications.

Grunt Work: How to Write 10,000 Words In a Day

As of 2013, there were 7.13 billion people on earth. Flip on the news and you’ll see many of them doing completely idiotic things. Even worse, much of this is voluntarily done. 

Seriously, next time ESPN is hosting either the Winter or Summer X Games, you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. 

Sure, motocross racers, skateboarders and BMX bikers lead extreme lives, but my guess is that few of them have ever done what us bloggers would toss into our very own “extreme” category: write 10,000 words in one day. 

I did this once myself—emphasis on the word once. It took a great deal out of me.

I mean, as far as normal writing is concerned, I did the math a couple of months ago and, as a copywriter by trade, I average anywhere between 4,000 and 5,000 words a day. 

Honestly, as a freakishly hyperactive human, it doesn’t seem like all that much. That said, when it’s time to close up shop, I’m dead tired and ready for some real rest and relaxation.

So, when I busted out 10,000 words, I wasn’t all that surprised by how much the activity took out of me. Anyone can do it, but it’s substantially harder than what you’re thinking.

Whatever the case, if this sounds like something you’re interested in, I’d be happy to share with you the very tidbits that helped push me until I’d successfully finished “The 10,000-Word Challenge.” 

That’s not an official title or anything, but it sure sounds impressive, huh? Anyway, here’s what you should do if you feel like downing this editorial giant:

Work With a Schedule

If you plan to belt out a disgusting number of words in one 24-hour period, don’t think it’ll be one of those things you do after your evening shower and before sliding into bed. 

No, it’s going to take more time than that.

This isn’t a one or two hour ordeal; moreover, it’s something that you’re going to need to plan out and—here’s the hard part—execute.

If you’re a full-time copywriter, blogger or journalist, this isn’t all that hard to do. You write for a living. If this is your situation, by simply upping your level of production, you can make this happen. 

On the flip side of things, however, if you’re a part-time writer or simply do this sort of thing for fun, it’s going to to take a “sick day” or weekend to make this happen. 

Basically, as long as there’s plenty of time and a plan in place, you’ve won half the battle.

The Tortoise Still Wins the Race

Writing 10,000 words isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. Yes, the whole “Tortoise and Hair” narrative is painfully overused, but it works here. 

You’re going to be writing 10,000 words and—more than likely—much of what you produce won’t be your best work, but it doesn’t have to be your worst either, right? 

Think about it—there’s an ever-present dichotomy in the world of copywriting. If you write too quickly, you’re not focusing enough on quality. 

Conversely, if you focus too much on quality, you’re missing out on thousands of dollars each month due to your lack of pace. 

The real solution? Write both quickly and beautifully. You can have both. Nobody’s saying you can’t.

Needless to say, the “slow and steady” method not only helps you create awesome content in a calm and collected manner en route to 10,000 words, it prevents you from linking your name to complete and total garbage.

Eliminate Distractions While Writing

Think you’re immune to the ever-present pull of distractions? I’ve written entire pieces on this before, but it’s especially huge when tackling 10,000 words. 

You might be good, but come 6,000 or 7,000 words, you will most assuredly feel the urgent need to respond to that Facebook message you’d forgotten about from a second cousin of yours over three weeks ago. 

I’ve been there. It’s rough. 

This goes back to the whole scheduling thing. When it’s time to write, it’s time to write. When it’s time for a break, it’s time for a break. Save the email, smartphone, snacking and even trips to the restroom for those built-in moments for clearing your thoughts. 

Otherwise, you need to be at your computer working on the next project.

Commit Mentally

You’re not a professional cyclist or marathon runner, so don’t start acting like one. 

Yet, one of an anaerobic athlete’s greatest weapons comes not only from the strength of his or her physical muscles, but from raw mental tenacity. 

As the day wears on, you’ll need to call upon the powers of your brain to keep your fingers flying. 

I’m no motivational speaker, so I’m not entirely certain as to what needs to be done to keep you churning in these moments of difficulty, all I can say is that you need to be prepared to face them and overcome them on your own. 

The upside of this, however, is that when you have finally typed your last word, you’ll officially be able to say that you’ve joined the 10,000 word club.

Before signing off, let’s focus on you for a minute—have you ever managed to dominate 10,000 typed words in a single day? If not, what’s your max? Also, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your average? 

So as to better give Echelon’s readers a better idea of what can be done in a single day, please post your answers in the comments section below.

---

Lucas Miller is the Founder of Echelon Copy. When not writing, editing or running, he's working tirelessly to perfect what he claims is the "World's Greatest Pompadour." Additionally, for what it's worth, his editorial works have been featured on Social Media Today, Business2Community, Ragan's PR Daily, Spin Sucks and many other top-tier PR publications.

4 of the Most Effective Ways to Repurpose Blog Content

Hey, if recycling is important for the environment, it should be just as important for your old blog posts, right? Well, not so much, but you get the idea. 

Simply put, there’s a better use for old blog content than to just sit in a dark, clammy corner of the World Wide Web. 

Dust off those blog posts of yours and repurpose them. Seriously, it’s not a hard thing to do and the resurgence in driven traffic you’re certain to see will make the small sacrifice a worthwhile one. 

Still a bit lost? The following four ways are some of the most efficient for reusing old blog material:

Transform Old Blog Posts Into Guides and E-Books

Any booming site worth its proverbial salt makes a point of selling something. That way, there’s yet another source of income for their owners, in addition to any offered professional services. 

More often than not, digital guides and e-books are what they’re pushing.

If you don’t have the time to sit down and hammer out a 30-page e-book on something you’re passionate about, reorganize some of your old blog posts into something worth offering valued customers. 

Charge a few bucks and—voila! You’ve got a bit of extra money for Disneyland in your pocket and an ever-expanding email list. Pretty sweet gig, if you ask me.

Internal Blog Data Can Make for a Nice Case Study

You can hop on SurveyMonkey and pay $100 to collect new data for a personalized case study, or you can revert back to data you’d collected a few months prior for a blog post.

Using the same data, produce an awesome case study with a new spin on things. 

However, just a word to the wise—seeing as how the communicative fields of copywriting, content marketing, social media management and digital public relations are constantly changing, make certain your data is still relevant to what’s going on.

Otherwise, you might come off as a bit out of touch.

Whip Up a Slideshare Presentation From Old Entries

If you thought infographics were awesome, you’ve clearly never flipped through a slideshare presentation. 

These days, most content comes in the form of some sort of quantitative list. Because of this, transferring a blog post to a sleek slideshare presentation is fairly easy.

Though you might need the help of a graphic designer to make this an aesthetically appealing project, if you can get one, it’ll be well worth the extra effort on your part.

Q&A Sites With Meaningful Backlinks

No, Yahoo Answers isn’t only the biggest trailer park [seriously, check this out if you haven’t already done so] on the Internet; it’s also a great place to push links. 

The whole point of content marketing is to interact with the masses, all while providing valuable information, right? What better place to do just that than on a Q&A site. 

Though Yahoo Answers has been around for quite some time, the best place to repurpose blog content on a Q&A site is currently Quora. Quora has an incredible community of users from all over the world who are passionate about everything you could ever imagine.

Obviously, this is by no means a comprehensive list of ways to repurpose content. In reality, these are just a few of the methods I’ve used throughout my career to squeeze as much life out of each and every blog post as is humanly possible.

Now the time is yours—what methods do you use to repurpose old blog content? If you’ve yet to have commented on a blog post of mine, take this opportunity to get involved for the first time. Rest assured, all comments will be met with a prompt response.

---

Lucas Miller is the Founder of Echelon Copy. When not writing, editing or running, he's working tirelessly to perfect what he claims is the "World's Greatest Pompadour." Additionally, for what it's worth, his editorial works have been featured on Social Media Today, Business2Community, Ragan's PR Daily, Spin Sucks and many other top-tier PR publications.

5 Lifelong Lessons Learned From Blogging

Blogging. It seems everyone is doing it these days. From stay-at-home soccer moms to college professors, anyone can hop online, build a site and blog until their hearts are fully content. 

That said, blogging is much more than simply a way to put digital pen to paper. Moreover, it’s an outlet through which many of life’s greatest lessons can be learned. Here are a few of them:

1) It Requires a Self-Starter Mentality

Truthfully, blogs are pretty easy to create; however, they don’t start themselves. The self-starter mentality of everything comes into play once an account has been made and it’s time for actual content to be up and running. 

If you lack the ability to motivate yourself, your blog is likely to crumble in a matter of weeks. The best bloggers realize this and continuously publish.

2) Work Is Never Finished

In high school or college, it’s possible to have finally checked everything off of an agenda’s daily to-do list. Blogging is different. There’s no end to production. 

Even more intimidating, once you’ve finished a day’s work, the mental wheels must keep turning so as to keep an ideation bottleneck from occurring. Blogging, believe it or not, is more of job than anything else.

3) Practice Makes Perfect

This famous adage is said with such a frequency that its core truth is often weakened. It’s really quite simple—if you want to get good at something, you’ve got to stick with it. During a blog’s initial weeks and months, driven traffic can be fairly weak. 

Also, if completely honest, you’re writing could probably be better. Give things time and keep working. The results will come.

4) Consistency Is Key

There’s a reason behind why there are so many abandoned blogs out in the darkest catacombs of the World Wide Web—their creators gave up. Sure, it’s easy to publish a post or two when blog motivation is fresh, but—in time—that will fade. 

It’s at that point you’ve got to decide what you want to do. Regardless of inspiration level, keep publishing. There’s no excuse for not doing so.

5) Efficiency In All Things

If you’re going to brainstorm, write, publish, promote and engage, time will need to be properly managed. While taking things to the extreme is certainly frowned upon, if you don’t feel that you’re stretching your editorial capabilities, you’re going about blogging incorrectly. 

Don’t enjoy that feeling? Minimize it through disciplined time management.

Blogging is an incredible pastime. It’s a great tool for building an identity, communicating with others and obtaining more knowledge on a regular basis. If you don’t have a blog, strongly consider making one. If you do, keep at it. 

Before long, as production continues, you’ll most assuredly start to notice that blogging has become more than a journal of sorts; rather, a great channel for constant learning.

Now, let’s hear from you—what do you think? As a blogger, what sort of struggles do you frequently encounter? More importantly, how have you managed to learn from them? Tweet to @EchelonCopy to share your opinions. Also, while here, share a few words with everyone in the comments section below.

---

Lucas Miller is the Founder of Echelon Copy. When not writing, editing or running, he's working tirelessly to perfect what he claims is the "World's Greatest Pompadour." Additionally, for what it's worth, his editorial works have been featured on Social Media Today, Business2Community, Ragan's PR Daily, Spin Sucks and many other top-tier PR publications.

Is Syndication a Good or Bad Thing for Your Blog?

“To syndicate, or not to syndicate? That is the question.” Sure, Bill Shakespeare didn’t ever ask anything similar, but countless bloggers have done just that while attempting to drive more traffic back to their respective sites. 

Depending on the content marketer with whom you speak, you’re bound to get a wide variety of differing responses. Some feel strongly about the promotional powers of blog syndication, while others insist that the practice is doomed to fail.

I’m not one of the latter. I believe in blog syndication and feel it’s a worthwhile means by which a blog can grow and experience a heavy bump in traffic.

However, as far as the naysayers are concerned, generally speaking, at least one of the following is cited as a reason for why syndication should be avoided at all costs:

• Google is incredibly opposed to the publication of duplicate content.
• Instead of dragging readers back to your site, they’ll remain on a host site.
• Author authority is weakened due to content being published on many networks.

Needless to say, let the cross-examination begin:

Dealing With Duplicate Content

Any reputable syndication network will include a link at the bottom of the post to the very page on which an article was originally published. 

Fortunately, in today’s day and age, Google’s ever-evolving algorithm is sophisticated enough to know where a piece was originally published. Ranking authority is awarded accordingly.

Driven Site Traffic

Studies have shown that blog syndication does in fact lead to higher traffic. As long as there’s a link at the foot of a republished post pointing readers in the right direction, there’s nothing to worry about. 

Additionally, assuming that what you’ve written is both informative and engaging, through the aforementioned link, readers are immediately provided with a channel through which more of your editorial work can be consumed. 

That alone is reason enough to strongly think about blog syndication as a viable digital marketing practice.

Hindered Expert Reputation

If your blog is just getting started, there’s no real reputation that’s taking a hit. More often than not, this is why bloggers choose to syndicate their content.

However, even if you’ve already built a name for yourself and are worried about what syndication might do to the expert status you’ve worked so hard to achieve as a digital publisher, consider Buffer’s take on the matter:

“We feel that the benefits of syndication outweigh the downsides … It should also be mentioned that part of our joy with syndication is in getting to share our content with anyone who might find value in it. In some ways, we feel that keeping content only at Buffer is a rather selfish act. If others can use it, then we don't want to stand in the way.”

Simply put, few are the content creators who don’t stand to benefit from blog syndication.

From Business2Community and Social Media Today to BizSugar and AllBusiness, make it a priority to syndicate your blog. By so doing, your content will be seen by more eyes than ever before. In the end, that’s what’s most important. 

After all, it’s the quality of your content that will drive permanent, long-lasting traffic. Success or failure is yours and yours alone

Convinced yet? If not, I’d love to hear why. Agree with me or take me to the proverbial cleaners in the comments section below. Or, if you’d rather share your thoughts through a different medium, take to Twitter and tweet at @EchelonCopy to make your reaction to this piece public.

---

Lucas Miller is the Founder of Echelon Copy. When not writing, editing or running, he's working tirelessly to perfect what he claims is the "World's Greatest Pompadour." Additionally, for what it's worth, his editorial works have been featured on Social Media Today, Business2Community, Ragan's PR Daily, Spin Sucks and many other top-tier PR publications.

The Beauty of Imperfect Grammar Within Blog Posts

Regardless of what your mother, grandmother or girlfriend says, you’re not perfect. Sure, you might’ve rocked your second grade spelling bee or even taken the prettiest girl in school to the senior prom, but if we really do a bit of digging, we’ll find that you’re just another imperfect person like the rest of us. 

However, seeing as how real writing excellence is often closely linked with the complete and total absence of error, those who put pen to paper for a living often insist upon celestial quality with anything they’ve produced. This isn’t a good thing, especially when blogs are the medium through which content is being pushed.

Why Blogs Work

To more fully understand why this is, let’s take a closer look at what’s made blogs so popular in recent years. For starters, they’re great because of how approachable they are. There’s a stark contrast between the content found within a blog post and that of an academic paper. One sounds like an actual human wrote it, and the other as if the author spent half of his or her time on Thesaurus.com trying to make things sound as complex as possible. 

Also, blogs are much more communal than other writing types. In my opinion, blogs are the Irish football pub of editorial endeavors. Oddly enough, I’ve never been to one, but I imagine that everyone knowns everyone, there’s little judgement and plenty of great conversation. When done correctly, minus the foul language and public inebriation, blogs take on a similar form.

Grammar Should Never Be a Blogger’s Biggest Concern

Now, with all of the aforementioned in mind, how important do you seriously think grammar is within blog posts? Truthfully, it’s not the most pressing of issues. This isn’t me saying that grammar can be completely tossed out the proverbial window. I’m just making a point as to where energy should be allocated. 

For example, as far as I’m concerned, the following are much more important for a successful blog than flawless grammar:

1. Memorable Storytelling
2. Central, Well-Developed Theme
3. Unique Tone
4. Calls to Action
5. Passionate User Engagement

Don’t kill yourself over grammar. Far too many bloggers allow their fingers to hover over the publish button out of a genuine fear of what their readers will think if a grammatical mistake or two are found. My take on the matter? The occasional misspelt word does wonders for proving just who’s behind the creation of a blog: a human being.

Beauty In Error

I’m not going to get on a soap box with this one, but this kind of fallacy almost makes the whole blogging experience all the more beautiful, if you think about it. There’s no hiding behind anything. What you see is what you get and audiences of all kinds appreciate this.

So, the next time you finish a well-crafted blog post, read through things a time or two and then share them with everyone. Don’t hesitate. If sincere, your post—mistakes and all—will be enjoyed by many.

You guys know the routine—what are your thoughts on grammar and blogging? Have I taken things a step too far here, or is there really something to be said for worrying more about quality content than perfect grammar? Can both be present 100 percent of the time? Follow Echelon on Twitter at @EchelonCopy and share your honest comments. In no time at all, you’ll receive a response. Sound too good to be true? Try it out and see what happens.

---

Lucas Miller is the Founder of Echelon Copy. When not writing, editing or running, he's working tirelessly to perfect what he claims is the "World's Greatest Pompadour." Additionally, for what it's worth, his editorial works have been featured on Social Media Today, Business2Community, Ragan's PR Daily, Spin Sucks and many other top-tier PR publications.

Move Over Medium: Why Blogging Is Best Done On Independent Websites

In recent years, more than ever before, blogging has taken off. Because of this, a number of companies of risen up from the ashes of traditional journalism and transformed themselves into kings of the blogging industry. Think about it: Medium, Tumblr, HubPages, Quora and LiveJournal have all, in addition to other things, become extremely well-known for the blogging platforms they provide. Heck, even the atrocity that is Blogspot sees a great deal of user engagement.

The Easy Way Out

Simply put, if you’re serious about blogging, do yourself a favor and create your own website with its very own web domain. Blogging, wrongfully associated with only stay-at-home and soccer moms, isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’re going to put the necessary time and effort into growing a blog, don’t do it on the backs of some corporate entity; moreover, develop your own plot of metaphoric land out on the World Wide Web through WordPress, SquareSpace, Weebly or Wix.

The argument for using blog-specific sites is that they’re innately built for audience growth and consumption. Truthfully, it’s a strong argument. When people create a Medium account and use it, they’re not hopping online to shop or use social media; instead, they’re fully intent on reading. Ultimately, this is what bloggers want: people to read their posts.

Complete and Total Control

Sure, initially, Tumblr or HubPages might be better for widespread readership, but there’s a definite ceiling on what can come about in the ways of success. Should a booming blogger on Quora or LiveJournal ever hope to build more than editorial credibility or individual brand, he or she will need to venture out into choppier waters. 

When a site is individually owned and operated, not only is a hefty reader base still possible, but it’s substantially easier to branch out and truly own the project. Writing is one thing, but there’s so much more to blogging than run-of-the-mill, rudimentary posts. Additionally, endeavors involving web development, graphic design, search engine optimization, video production, social media marketing, advertising and e-commerce are made possible.

This is why innumerable bloggers from each of the world’s four corners make money as professional bloggers. It’s not easy, but it’s better than cutting corners and taking the easy way out. Right from the get-go, know that taking on a blog of your own is going to be difficult. That being said, if you plan on wholeheartedly embracing the grind mentality and tremendous effort associated with the practice, there’s no reason to blog through an overly intrusive, controlling publication.

As is customary in our industry, most PR pros have a digital portfolio, website or personal blog. More than likely, many of you are actively engaged in an editorial project, such as a blog, outside of your workplace duties. If so, what’s your hot take? With respect to blogging, is it better to embrace a reputable host site or go out on your own? Voice your opinion in the comments section below.

---

Lucas Miller is the Founder of Echelon Copy. When not writing, editing or running, he's working tirelessly to perfect what he claims is the "World's Greatest Pompadour." Additionally, for what it's worth, his editorial works have been featured on Social Media Today, Business2Community, Ragan's PR Daily, Spin Sucks and many other top-tier PR publications.