15 Steps Every Blogger Should Take…Today!
Last Saturday I attended Bloggy Boot Camp in Las Vegas and it honestly has changed how I look at blogging in almost every way imaginable. I learned sooo much in just one day – it was amazing! I went to the conference expecting to gain some valuable information and I came away with so much more! The inspiration that I found at the conference was phenomenal. Listening and learning from experienced, successful bloggers really gave me the courage and motivation to take my blog to the next level.
I have always been fairly satisfied with Mom On Timeout. I realize now that I should never be satisfied and should always be striving to better myself as a blogger with the goal of making my readers experience better and better.
One of the main reasons I chose to attend Bloggy Boot Camp in Las Vegas was because Laurie Turk of TipJunkie.com was speaking. I think Laurie is the epitome of success in blogging and I was eager and anxious to hear what she had to say. I was not disappointed. The conference was jam-packed with amazing speakers and information designed to help bloggers become more successful. I have lots to share but I wanted to start with 15 simple steps you can take today to improve yourself and your blog.
1. Work smarter – not harder. This is something that I struggle with daily. No, hourly. I find myself wasting so much time at the computer because I don’t sit down with a clear purpose in mind. Know what you’re doing and how you’re doing it and figure out ways to save time and energy on that task. Identify you most important task and start with that.
2. If you want your blog to be a business – treat it like one. Fill out a one-page business plan to kick-start yourself and your vision for your blog.
3. Develop a brand. Your brand is your business and it should represent you. Don’t have a brand? Get one! All images should have text, URL, and a logo. People will steal images – so be careful! {I sat next to one blogger at the conference who casually told me that she searches for recipe images that look like what her recipe “could” look like and uses them – IN HER BLOG! She passes them off as her own. I had to literally hold myself back and calmly explain to her why this was SO WRONG! It happens people!}
4. Never automate something that can be eliminated; never delegate something that can be automated. Laurie talked about using time-saving tools such a HootSuite to schedule tweets. Every minute you save is a minute you can be doing something else productive for your blog or your family.
5. Let your readers in. Share yourself and your life with your readers. In order for someone to become invested in you, they need to know you. This is really hard for a lot of bloggers but is essential for building relationships with your readers.
6. Avoid blog envy. This is a huge trap for bloggers. Let me just tell you right now that there will always be a blog bigger than you, a blog doing better than you, and a blog with more opportunities than you. Get over it! We should be working together and supporting one another. You have to be the best you can be with your expertise and strengths. Which brings me to the next topic…
7. Know your strengths. What is it that you do best? Don’t know? Look at your top five posts. Your readers are telling you right there! Focus on developing your strengths and delivering your expertise to your readers.
8. Set goals. Set a 3 month goal, a 6 month goal, 1 year goal, and a 5 year goal. If you know what you are hoping to achieve you can more easily plan out the steps to help you get there.
9. Use your profile picture in every post – not your avatar! People do not connect with avatars no matter how cute they may be. People connect with people!
10. Your blog should load in 3 seconds {one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three} – check it and then come back….Longer than three seconds? Look at your blog and start eliminating. What really needs to be on the front page? Can certain things be moved to other pages? Can they be eliminated?
11. Are you on Blogger? I am – but not for long! Making the switch to WordPress can be daunting but it’s worth it. Presenting a professional appearance is super important if you want increased opportunities and visitors to return.
12. What browser do you use? Guess what? It doesn’t matter! What does matter is that you open your blog in every browser you can think of to make sure it loads and looks right.
13. Your header should be 250 pixels or less. Guess what mine is right now? 400 pixels! Ouch! I’ve already designed my new header that is 200 pixels that will be used in my new WordPress design.
14. The top left area of your blog is the most viewed. What do you want readers to see when they come to your blog – an ad or YOUR CONTENT??
15. Make sure you back up your blog! Too many people have been devastated by the loss of their blog – don’t let it be YOU!
Okay. So I realize this is a lot of information. Pick three steps you can take right now and start there. When you’ve got those taken care of, come back for more 🙂
I’d love to know how long you’ve been blogging and what platform you use. If you could give a new blogger one piece of advice, what would it be?
Other posts you might find helpful…
How To Create A Custom Watermark in PicMonkey
Goal Setting for Success: 5 Tips for Bloggers
Connect with me!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Linking up here, Home Stories A2Z, Savvy Southern Style, Serenity Now, and My Repurposed Life.
Bridgitte Seiber says
Can you move your “blogger post” over to Wordpress? I enjoy blogging for personal gain mostly but would love to make a business out of just say, DIY ideas, baking, homeschooling and get paid for sponsers! I’m just confused on a lot of the details!
Also…..how do you get followers? It seems people look at mine but never “follow” is that important? The #1 reason for starting my blog in the first place was to update family on “life”…but I don’t know if family even looks at it! lol
Thanks for your taking the time to share what you learned!
Bri says
This comment has been removed by the author.
Val @ Home Made Modern says
Thank you for this! I’m bookmarking this and coming back to it to implement some of these things when I have the time. Again…I appreciate you passing this along to those of us who haven’t had the opportunity to attend a conference yet. 🙂
mnemosyneblog says
These are great tips! I’ve been blogging since my preteens (I’m now 23) and I’ve changed my ways so many times. I currently run two blogs, one contains my postcard project and the other is just a little corner of the world wide web that allows me to express myself.
Right now I’m in the process of considering starting a third blog that allows to me review either random products as well as review books, but turning it into a potential business. It’s all very difficult because I’m trying to consider whether I want to start on a platform like Wordpress (the other two are already run by Wordpress) or to buy a domain name and run with things.
Any advice?
I don’t know how economical buying a domain would be at the moment, but I was told that it’s the best way to get ahead of all the other reviewers out there..
Allison @ House of Hepworths says
This is a great post!
Ginger says
Featuring YOU today! Thanks for linking up to {wow me} wednesday!
You were the most viewed link! Yay!
Ginger @ gingersnapcrafts.com
http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2012/11/take-look-at-you-my-favorites.html
Lorraine says
Great stopping by and reading these tips! 🙂
Sonja @ practical-stewardship.com says
How do you back up your blog? I know we need to do it, but I would love an economical way to do it. Any hints? Thanks!
Laura says
fantastic tips- thanks for sharing!
Jessi @ Practically Functional says
Awesome, great tips! Thanks for sharing at The Fun In Functional!
Anne Kimball says
Hi Trish, I’m Anne from Life on the Funny Farm (http://annesfunnyfarm.blogspot.com), and I found this post through Pinterest.
Very interesting and informative! My immediate goal is going to be to figure out how to effectively use Hoot Suite to schedule my links. I think I like Blogger’s user-friendliness better than Wordpress, so I’ll probably stick with it.
Anyway, thanks for posting this. I hope you can pop by my blog sometime to say hi…
Kelley Wilson says
This was great thanks, I am curious why is a wordpress blog considered more professional than a blogger blog?
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
HI Kelley! That’s a great question 🙂 In general, brands consider WordPress blogs to look more professional because they tend to be cleaner in design. Basically, they look more like a website than a blog.
Diana - FreeStyleMama says
There are LOTS of very clean & professional Blogger blogs out there, such as http://sixsistersstuff.com/ & http://www.artsyfartsymama.com/!
Ellora says
This is so helpful! I’m currently using blogger and I see so much about switching over to Wordpress, but just haven’t done much research into the reasons, how-to, etc. I’m definitely going to be looking into this and using some of your other tips as well!
Thank you!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Hi Ellora! I’m currently in the process of switching over {hope to be done in a week or so} and it is definitely not something to take lightly. They is a lot of time and money to take into consideration. I plan on sharing my experiences when I am all finished, that is, if I’m still sane 🙂
Gina @ Kleinworth & Co. says
Oh such great info! I would have come unglued if someone told me that they just steal images like that. How does she sleep at night?! What makes people think they can just take whatever they want. No conscience! It drives me mad. (can you tell I have experienced this before?) I hate having to garble up my image with a watermark but I do it- with my URL so someone would have to work for a while to remove it. Unless they are brazen enough to use it with it on there. I also right & left click disabled my blog. I know there are other ways around it- but it at least deters the casual thief. I figure if they are too lazy to create their own images then they are probably too lazy to go through all those steps to take my image.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I have to say I was pretty floored by her comment. It was funny because the next session was on legal issues and she assumed that the number one topic would be “using your own images”. I was like – umm, what do you mean??? Who doesn’t take their own pictures??? She acted like it was totally normally and lots of bloggers were doing it. I know I would be extremely upset to come across one of my images on another site. Images take at least as much time as the actual writing up of a post for me and that’s just WRONG. Thanks for sharing your experiences Gina!
Nicole @ WonkyWonderful says
Thanks for all of the wonderful info! Sounds like I should make my way to a Blog Conference too. First on my list is figuring out how to back up my blog!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
That is a very important first step! I have heard so many horror stories of “lost blogs” – can you imagine? Thanks for stopping by Nicole! Have a Happy Halloween!