As someone who may well be competing for the world’s most disorganised blogger (check my non-existent posting schedule for evidence of this), I thought I’d share some of the top tips that I definitely employ to help you with your own blogging.
So, without further ado, let me share with you some blogging wisdom.
1. Enjoy what you write
The worst thing you can do is force yourself to write about something you hate. From experience, I have a much better time writing when I have an idea and run with that, rather than when I sit down and force myself to write about something I’m just not interested in.
2. Write when you want to
The worst thing I can ever do is make myself write when I’m just not feeling it. Of course this may well lead to issues with long periods of time with no post (we’ll get to some solutions to that later), but a few really good posts are better than lots of really, really bad ones. Take a look at my ‘Rona Ramblings series to see what happens when you focus on quantity of posts, rather than quality.
3. Know what you’re actually writing about
A large quantity of the posts I write and later end up hating are me basically saying “I need to write something, but I don’t know what.” Don’t do this. Sit down before writing a post and think, “what do I actually want to say?” I mean sure I don’t actually plan my posts but the idea is to learn from my mistakes.
4. The scheduling function is your friend
Remember how earlier I said you should try to write when you want to and not force yourself to sit down and write if you don’t want to or have anything to say? This method will help you produce better posts but may mean that you end up going daaays without posting a blog post.
Here is the solution: write more than one blog post if you’re feeling it and simply schedule your posts for a later date. This way you can post more regularly, without having to do a writing session if you’re not feeling it. Keep a few posts in your drafts for those days where you simply cannot be bothered.
5. Photos are great but unless you’re a photography blog, they’re not everything
Sometimes I end up spending ages trying to take/choose/edit a nice photo. That’s all very well, photos will give your post some extra visuals. However, if you’re like me and you want the focus of your blog to be your words, you don’t need to spend hours on the photo aspects. Most smartphones will give you a decent enough picture and have some pretty good editing apps available too, so you don’t need an expensive camera and awesome Photoshop skills.
5. Photos are great but unless you’re a photography blog, they’re not everything
6. Cross promote
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and whatever new social media site comes out next are all great places to promote your blog. You can reach so many more people if you use these platforms to announce you’ve got a new blog post up than if you just hit publish and do nothing with it.
7. Make a schedule (and stick to it)
Okay, okay, call me a hypocrite. But life is so much easier when I’m actually creating posts on a set schedule. Maybe I’ll have another crack at that and write a post about how to make a blogging schedule? Seriously though, even something as simple as “I’ll post on Fridays at 9PM” will make your life simpler, and will mean your readers actually have an idea when your next post will be.
7. Make a schedule (and stick to it)
8. Grab a cuppa
You need a hot (or cold, I suppose) beverage while you blog. It’s just the done thing.
9. PROOF READ
This will save you the embarrassment of your mates picking out your typos (or spelling mistakes, but let’s call them typos so no one realises I’m terrible at spelling). Or get someone else to proof read for you, after all a fresh pair of eyes will help. If you don’t have someone to help you, one of the best ways to proof read is to take your post and put it in a different font or preview how it will look on your site. You’ll be able to pick out mistakes more easily (I don’t know the science behind this, but it works).
10. Enjoy!
Trust me, you can tell if someone hates what they’re writing. Keeping a blog can bit a bit of labour, but make it a labour of love. If you honestly absolutely despise keeping a blog, I have one question for you – why bother?
Boom! Ten Top Tips from a not-so Top Blogger (me).
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Ellie May Sibley 