Hello everyone!
Today I’m bringing you a new post about blogging. My blog has been growing immensely for the past few months, and I’ve kept record about the things I’ve changed on my blog that helped it to grow. Now I am going to share them with you and maybe it can help you. I am in no way expert, nor am I saying that it will help you. This is just something I’ve learned and want to share.
1. Improving photography
This is one of the first things I did, that actually brought me more views and more followers. At first I didn’t really care about photography, I thought that it wasn’t as important as what I had to say. I was so wrong! Photography really helps the blog to look nice and kind of more professional. So, as soon as I stopped using my green couch as my background and started trying a bit harder- it showed. Here’s a before and after:
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| Before |
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| After |
I think you can see the difference! I am still using my iPhone camera to take pictures, which is not the best option out there, but I am planning to buy a better camera soon. For editing I am using PicMonkey, and that is just for little touch-ups like brightness, cropping, color enhancement and blemish fixes, as well as making covers for my posts, like the one at the beginning of the post. If you would like me to talk more about how I set up my background and edit, let me know and I will write a post about that 🙂
2. Tracking pageviews
The next thing I did was start tracking pageviews. You can’t know if your blog is growing if you don’t track it. As soon as I started doing that I realized that my blog was growing more and more every month and it made me so happy! Just make sure you write down your number of pageviews on the same day every month.
3. Writing about things you love
This is something I’ve done from the very beginning, but not everyone does. You know when a new product comes out and everyone is raving about it, but you don’t really like it and you still decide to write about it because it’s ‘cool’? Well… you shouldn’t! It shows. If you write about things you don’t like, it makes no sense. If you don’t like a product, just say you don’t like it! Or if you don’t like doing hauls on your blog, but everyone else does it and you want to keep up with the trends? Just don’t do it. People can sense when you love writing about something and when you don’t. Write what you’re passionate about and people will see that and you will have more followers and pageviews really soon! And have your style! Write any way you want and write like you’re talking to a friend. Don’t be too formal just because it’s a blog. I’m very often writing like I would speak and I don’t care that it’s not the ‘normal’ way of writing a blog.
4. Brainstorming
Do you feel a bit uninspired? You can’t seem to think of topics for your blog? Just sit down and start writing everything that comes to mind. I always read other blogs and watch YouTube to find inspiration. So every once in a while I sit down and start writing every single topic that comes to mind, sometimes even just random words that help me think of multiple topics. I now have a few series on my blog, but I still need something fresh every once in a while. This is my favorite method for thinking of new topics to write about. What is yours?
5. Having a calendar
At first I was writing about whatever came to my mind, but I realized that I was running out of things to write about. That is when I applied the brainstorming I talked about above. After I finished brainstorming, I took my planner and I wrote for a few weeks in advance what I would talk about. That way, I could just look in my planner, know my topic and I can start writing. Of course, if something comes up I change it up a little, move something for a week later, or sometime in the future, but I stick to my plans pretty well.
6. Interaction
I have realized that interaction in blogging community is everything. At first, I didn’t talk to anyone. I just wrote, kind of just for myself. I didn’t have comments, even if I had some pretty good posts and I didn’t understand what was going on and why no one paid any attention to me. Then I realized that bloggers interact among each other and that is how they gain more views and comments. As soon as I started commenting on all of those blogs I read for inspiration, I had more views and more comments. I even made some great friends, as well as some girls that I interact with regularly. Just to mention a few: Kim from Londonstagraam (the person who helped me the most and I appreciate her and her, I dare say, friendship), Kay from Shoes and Glitters, Olena from Keen on Beauty, and Lauren Powers. I am sorry if I forgot to mention someone, but these are girls who have been very supportive of me and my work, and I would like to thank them 🙂
7. Using social media
Which ever platform- I’m there. I am not active on all of them, but the ones I use are my main tool for reaching out to new viewers. My most used are Pinterest (you saw that one coming, didn’t you), Google+ (this is the first platform I share my posts on, as soon as I write them), Instagram (I am not as active as I would like to be on Instagram. I use it mostly to share new posts, but I would like to start posting more soon #goals), Twitter (when I share on Instagram, I automatically share on Twitter, too, but I would like to start posting there more, as well) and Facebook (I am not nearly as active there as I would like to be, but that is another goal to meet). My best advice is- share, interact with people, interact with brands (especially the ones you’re writing about- make sure you send them those posts), use hashtags and you will be discovered sooner or later 🙂
8. Bloglovin
Yes, I know that this basically is another social media platform, but it deserves to be talked about more. When I discovered Bloglovin, I thought this was the most amazing thing in the world! If you want to check out my profile, you can click here. Now, this is a platform where you open your profile and then link it to your blog. Whoever follows you sees all of your new posts in their feed, and you see new posts by bloggers you follow. So you don’t have to share anything… everything is automatic. How amazing is that! I have discovered some amazing blogs via Bloglovin, and a lot of people have found me there too 🙂 The more people you follow, the more people will follow you back. Also, if you really like a post, you can save it and read it again later. (No, this post is not sponsored by Bloglovin, haha, I just really like it and think it’s super helpful!)
9. Linking
When you write a blog post, and mention something you’ve already mentioned in some of your older posts, make sure to link it! That way, if people are interested in it, they will click and there’s more pageviews for you right there 🙂 Also, make sure to share old posts, too. No where does it say you can only share new ones.
10. Write more
I have started with one post a week, than even that was too much for me, and then I started writing one post a week continuously when I began writing for Cafe.hr. And I was meeting my goals, but I decided to write more. Now I am posting on Tuesdays and Fridays/Saturdays depending on my free time, and I have to say- it really does work! The more post- the more you share- the more people see your blog. Just try it! My next goal is 3 posts a week, but at the moment I just don’t have enough time. But goals can be long term, right?
That was a lot of goals here, haha. I’m sorry there are not many pictures in this post, but it just wasn’t a kind of post that would require pictures. I really hope it didn’t bore you.
Just a little disclaimer… I am not all about pageviews, and that is not why I write blog, but I put a lot of time in my posts, and I want people to see it 🙂
That is it for my post! Do you like my advice? Do you have any of your own to share with me?
Thank you for reading!
See you soon xx
