I’ve been doing this whole blogging thing for over six years now and I never dreamed that I could make a living out of it, but here I am doing exactly that. I do try to avoid ‘blogging about blogging’, not least of all because I certainly don’t feel like I’m in a position to be telling other people HOW to blog, but I have picked up a few things along the way which have taken my site from unread to having several thousand subscribers, so I thought I’d share a few of them here.
Invest in a Good Camera
If you intend on taking photos to go on your blog, investing in a decent entry level camera (Sensible Reviewer has some great suggestions) will help you to take your images to the next level. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with natural. off-the-cuff photos taken on a smartphone or compact camera but all of the most successful bloggers I know also throw well-styled images in, especially if they’re working with a brand.
Get a Proofreader
Before I hit ‘publish’ I always proof-read my own posts, but it’s still really common for mistakes to fly below the radar, especially when you’re reading your own work. Many bloggers fall into the “spelling and grammar doesn’t matter” school of thought, and that’s fine for them, but I usually feel mortified if I read a post back from a while ago and see a mistake which has gone unnoticed all that time. Husband casts an eye over things for me now to see if I’ve made any glaring mistakes!
Formatting Consistency
This one may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I like to format my posts a certain way to give consistency down the page. All of my posts are aligned justified down the page to give nice straight lines as I just think it makes my whole site look tidier and my images are usually centred, which also makes the page look neat. If I go onto sites where the text and images are all over the place it often puts me off of reading further.
Don’t Blog for the Sake of It
I know a lot of bloggers who blog to a schedule and that’s fine if you’ve actually got something to write about, but I also see people blogging simply for the sake of getting something published so that their site doesn’t sit dormant for any length of time. Blogging shouldn’t be forced and it’s really easy to spot posts which have been thrown up simply as ‘filler’.
Don’t Be Scared to Promote
Writing a blog is all well and good, but if no-one reads it you’re basically doing the digital equivalent of shouting into an empty room. Utilise social media to its fullest potential, don’t be afraid to write posts with the words “If you like this please hit share” and don’t forget to join some of the Facebook groups for bloggers which are a great place to join in with comment posts and sharing circles.
