I am excited to be partnering with Mandi from Organizing Your Way on her 31 Days of Organizing for a Better 2010. Mandi asked if I would be willing to write about taking your blog to the next level, and since I love to talk about blogging I quickly agreed.
There are many reasons to create a plan for taking your blog to the next level in 2010.
1. Interested in developing online support groups or friendships. If you are the only homeschooler, wheat grinder, Republican, Democrat, or scrapbooker in your local area, creating a blog to promote and discuss your ideas is a great way to connect with like-minded people.
2. Journaling for your children or family members who live in another part of the country or world. A blog can serve as a continuous online letter for loved ones.
3. Creative outlet for writing or photography. Many aspiring writers and photographers start blogs to practice and improve their skills.
4. A blog can be a gateway to a home business. Graphic designers, photographers, organizers, cooks, and crafters can use their blog to help promote their business.
5. Help promote a cause or a ministry. Compassion International is sponsoring several bloggers on a trip to Africa next month. My sister-in-law has used her blog to encourage people to read the Bible in 90 Days.
6. Earn a part-time or full time income. I know several bloggers who have successfully turned their blogs into a business and are able to help support their families through blogging.
While people blog for a variety of reasons, if no one is reading your blog it is hard to achieve the goals I mentioned above. Here are a few things I did to help grow my blog in 2009.
- Consistent posting. Whether you post once a week or once a day, readers like consistency. If you are a once a week blogger, own it! Some of my favorite bloggers post only a handful of times a month. I look forward to each and every post.
- Relevant content. While I completely believe you need to be true to yourself, you also need to consider your readers. If people love your recipes consider posting an extra recipe or two each week. If they love your home decorating posts or coupon match-ups, try to make those posts a priority.
- Easy to read content. Use the enter key! Long paragraphs, centered text, poor spelling and punctuation make posts harder to read. Always preview your post before you publish. If it is hard for you to read, it will most likely be hard for everyone else to read too.
- Learn a little bit of SEO. I am not suggesting that everyone needs to be an expert, but basic knowledge of how to use keywords, tags, permalinks, anchor text, etc… can put your blog on the first page of the SERP’s.
- Partner with other bloggers. Teaming up with other bloggers on series, challenges or special projects can significantly increase your readers and subscribers.
- Guest post on other blogs. A well written guest post on a popular blog might be your big blogging break. Just remember, make your guest post your best post!
- Become active on social networking sites. By far the biggest boost for me was when I starting using Twitter. Most of the awesome giveaways I have hosted on this site came from connections I made on Twitter that grew into something more.
- Love what you do. I love blogging. I feel blessed by all the friends I have made over the past few years and really do look forward to every comment, email, tweet, and message I receive. If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t do it.
Don’t forget to visit Organizing Your Way, as Mandi shares some of her tips on how to take your blog to the next level in 2010.
Lots of great tips. Thanks!
These are great suggestions. Thanks for sharing. I am always trying to improve my blog so having a list to “check off” is a great help!
Good advice. Thanks.
Thanks for this post. It’s great to see a list of things I can work on.
Thanks for the tips…
XoxoGapGirl
And, we love you, girl!!! Great post!
Thanks Mommy Snacks! Love you too!
great post!! i love blogging and do it really for me but a lot of this is such great information and really things I need to start to do!
Excellent post. I wish I had the time to understand SEO… feeds… etc. I still have no clue how to read my google analytic reports but I feel like for as busy as I am in my personal life… at least I got it installed! lol My focus now as a full time nurse & mom who blogs on the side… is to be creative, write write write, and hopefully touch even just one person. If I start to obsess over numbers I get a little nutty about it all. I look forward to the day I can invest more time.
I always enjoy your tips and twitter updates… I don’t always take the time to say so, but I hope this counts.
Take care!
Thanks for this post! I’m excited about growing my blog in 2010! I was a little discouraged because I read a post by a friend who is quitting her blog. She has good reasons, but I’m not there and I LOVE to blog! So, thanks for making me feel better about the decision to continue on!
Great post and advice!!
Thanks for sharing. These are some great tips and come at a time when I am just starting to blog again
These were great tips! Thanks Toni!
I agree that Twitter is very useful. I have only been active on Twitter for 8 weeks and I have seen tremendous growth. Not only in forming relationships but there are so many great tips offered up by fabulous bloggers! Thank you!
Great things to consider that I hadn’t thought of yet. Looking forward to learning more!
Wow what great tips. Thank you for sharing, encouraging and inspiring. I actually printed this to go in to my to -do binder!!!
Thanks!
How did you use twitter to generate traffic/and sponsorships? I’m active on twitter but have a ton to learn! I’d love to see a future post on how you leveraged your social networking.
P.S. Thanks for your help!!!!
Thank you for this post! I really needed it! I’m in the process of creating a blog and was having trouble getting myself organized and focused. I’m excited to get it going! Thank you!
Angela
Great advice. I’ve learned more from you about blogging than anyone else.
Before Twitter, I only read the occasional blog and usually only my 1 friend’s blog who blogs…once in a blue moon. She’s the one who encouraged me to give it a go if for nothing but posterity for our homeschooling.
After you started sharing about meeting your dh, I was able to finally share the story of my daughter. Until then, I always had a story to tell & no viable means to tell it.
I’ve had a blog for maybe a year now and it’s not much, but it is an occasional outlet for my thoughts. I don’t know where I’d like to go with it…forward, yes…but I haven’t set any lofty goals. My first goal would be the consistency issues…finding a schedule and a flow. I suspect it will grow & develop once that’s in place.
Thanks again for your wonderful tips.
Thanks for the tips. I really hope my blog grows this year!
Thank you!!
Great post! Bunch of wonderful tips.
Thanks so much for sharing these great tips! I’m about to revamp my blog and these tips will definitely help!
Thanks for all the good advice. I have to admit I was on a roll, last year, with blogging and then when to Europe. I did get a little discouraged with things that were happening within some blogs. I also go sidetracked with school starting etc and then just did not blog. I really want this to succeed. How to decide your niche for your blog?
I also need to get my family on board, that this would be a job if I got it going. I might not make much, but I would feel fulfilled. Let my creativity out, while being a stay at home mom.
Thanks for sharing.
So what do you do if you’re faithfully implementing all of your action steps and still not gaining much of a readership?
I’m working hard to do a great job on all of your bullets. The only ones I haven’t worked on are learning a little SEO and partnering with another blogger.
Yet I still have a pretty low average number of visits per day.
Any suggestions? I’d love to hear any and all advice and (nice) criticism!
I should mention that I’ve only been blogging for 6 1/2 weeks. Think my expectations are too high?
Thanks for any help you can offer!
-Lauren
For 6 1/2 weeks I think you are doing well. I wish I could remember my stats for my first few months, I am sure I didn’t have many readers at all! Since you have a very specialized blog (laundry) think learning SEO, so that would be a big benefit to your site. You are probably going to get more visitors from searches than anywhere else.
I see you are already on thesis and wordpress, so you started well! I look forward to meeting you at Savvy!
And remember growing a blog takes time.
Toni
Toni – Thanks so much for taking the time to answer me personally.
I’ll take your advice and bump up the SEO knowledge. I’ve stayed away from that because it didn’t seem all that interesting to me. And laundry is
So it is much easier to focus on.
Yes, I just launched my new website this week! I’m thrilled with it!
Thanks again for getting back with me! Can’t wait to meet all of the fab ladies at Savvy!
-Lauren
Great post! It’s funny that the things that take your blog to the next level are all basic things (grammar, friendship, consistency, etc.). Makes me realize I need to focus on that and not get caught up in other bloggy stuff!
a
Thanks for the great tips! I notice that when I post elsewhere, as I do occasionally, more visitors visit my blog.
I might just have to take a few minutes to visit Mandi’s website. Thanks for sharing!