Tuesday 20 January 2015

Tips for Bloggers

Hey everyone :)

tips for bloggers shoutjohn


So I've not been blogging for long (since June) so I wouldn't call myself a 'seasoned' or 'experienced' blogger but I have most definitely picked up some helpful tips from other bloggers and from ... well blogging.

1. Social media - use it, utilize it - it can do wonders for your blog, from tweeting your posts with a few hashtags, to using Google Analytics to creating a Facebook page - it can be crazy to manage them all but your blog will benefit.

2. Put thought into your posts - research, write, edit, edit again, edit more, publish it - I cannot stress enough about the editing - many times have I re-read posts and discovered incorrect grammar or really bad spelling mistakes or sentences that don't make sense.

3. Be honest - pretty much speaks for itself - don't lie or exaggerate the truth. This touches again on research - you can't go and buy some face cream and then instantly do a blog post about how its done wonders for your skin - did you try it for a few weeks to see if you got results or did you decide you wanted to brag about it even though you haven't used it? Do the research!

4. Consistency - I did touch on this on another post. Consistency can be about different parts of your blog - to keeping the same text throughout the blog, to the same colour themes, to keeping your pictures the same size or posting on certain days. I feel that it makes your blog look more professional and well-thought out.

5. Pictures say a thousand words - I live by this statement. This goes back to when I was young - I loved books with pictures (I still do - especially cookbooks) and it's no different with blogs - they help to explain what the blogger is trying to say. It also helps to divide/split up the text. Plus it looks good - plain and simple - a blog with some nice pictures is more appealing that a whole load of text.

6. Networking - use things like Bloglovin to follow other blogs - you'll get nowhere just keeping yourself to yourself. Bloglovin is great - it categorizes blogs by category so you can look through lots of blogs such as Fashion, Food, Lifestyle and Beauty to name a few. If you find some blogs you like - leave a comment or two to show the blogger your interested and have found their blog. Then if you want - follow them on Twitter to keep updated when they post again (and you ever know they may check out your blog and follow you).

7.  Statistics - many bloggers say not to worry about this for ages, but its good to get it setup in the background and leave so it tracks whose visiting your blog over time and what pages are most visited. I setup Google Analytics when I first started - all you do is register, then add your tracking ID into your Blogger setting page and then it will automatically start tracking everything for you (Obviously not straight away - takes a few weeks to a few months).

8. Blog Design - Remember the saying first impressions count? Well its the same for your blog - when a person first visits the first thing they'll see is your main page and your blog theme/design. So put thought into it when you choose your first design. When I first started I got a free design, however after 4 months I bought a design from a designer on Etsy and its the one I'm using now. Obviously I've changed things like the font and colours but I love it and think it looks good.

9. Have a point - this might fall under 'put thought into your posts' but basically make sure your post has a point - readers don't like word-vomit. I always try to focus on one or two things and I'll admit sometimes I go off and talk about random things but I normally manage to bring it back.

10. Scheduling -  this point can depend on what your general life is like - if your at school then you probably don't need to schedule your life yet (lol) but I work full-time and so scheduling helped me greatly. I have a MacBook and so I use the calendar app - which syncs via my MacBook, my iPhone 6, my iPad and iCloud so I can access it anywhere. I then schedule when I'm going to post what, what time I have to shoot videos, when I'll post my videos etc ... it's a really great way to make sure your organised (I actually could spend an entire post talking about this - but I won't).

So these are my 10 tips that I've picked up so far ... let me know in the comments if you think the same or if you have any similar or different.



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