10 Practical Tips For New Bloggers (From A New Blogger)

You’ve got your blog designed and ready to go. Maybe you have even written a post or two. While researching tips for new bloggers, you suddenly realize there are about a million things you are being advised to do with your new little piece of blogosphere real estate. It’s impossible to do it all, so where do you start?

I officially started blogging three months ago today. Definitely STILL a newbie! I’ve immersed myself in the world of blog writing and photography, search engine optimization and social media. I want to help fellow blogging newbies who are feeling a little overwhelmed and inadequate right now. To be honest, I still feel the same way many days. But I have learned a great deal, and I am three months further down the blogging road if you are just starting. I want to help you sort through the chaos and focus in on what will help lead you to success sooner than later.

1. Choose two or three experts, and follow their advice.

I traveled quite a bit this summer and was able to use those occasions to read several books and find the leaders I trusted. The expert I have followed most is Michael Hyatt. He has an invaluable blog and podcast, and he is the author of Platform, the most influential book I’ve read on the subject of blogging. In fact, I highlighted pages all over the book!

Another book that I found extremely helpful was Likeable Social Media by Dave Kerpen. It’s a great read and laid out in a way that makes it easy to go back and reread a section once I’ve learned more about a topic.  Same with 500 Social Media Marketing Tips by Andrew McCarthy. Snippets that are nuggets of wisdom!

A leader I’ve started following closely is Michael Stelzner, creator of the Social Media Examiner. He blogs on the topic almost daily and has an awesome podcast. I listen to his and Michael Hyatt’s podcasts when I walk or jog in the morning. It fires me up to come home and jump head first into the blogosphere that day!

2. Join weekly link parties.

I had been blogging for several weeks when I stumbled upon my first blog party, also known as a linky party or linkup. Here’s how it works. A blogger (often a group of bloggers) serves as a hostess of a weekly blog party. There is a link on the page of the hostess where you can link up one or more of your posts. Frequently the hostesses start the party by featuring their favorite posts from the previous week. I’ve been blessed to have been favorited several times! I was giddy with excitement the first time it happened, and I’m still thrilled when a hostess picks a blog written by little ole me! In fact, it happened again today. My Glittered Pumpkin Centerpiece is the post that has been favorited the most.

Obviously, I get the most success from a party when I am selected as a favorite, but I get lots of traffic from others at the party who click on my posts. Especially when I’m one of the first 50 or so to link up to a party. I won’t lie. It’s very time consuming. The parties usually have certain rules, the main one being that you must put a link back to their post from your post. But I promise, it’s well worth the time! I would estimate that readers have landed on my blog well over 1,000 times in three months after clicking from a blog party. Google Analytics will help you determine which ones are the most effective and worth your time.

3. Comment on other blogs.

The blogging community is really a sisterhood. It’s fun to meet fellow bloggers online, and you can do that by commenting on posts that you like. Let’s face it… we all appreciate when others comment on our own posts. We need to share the love! And make new friends in the process.

4. Post three times a week.

This is really important. If your goal is to develop a following quickly and increase your page views, you must blog often and as consistently as possible (say, Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Your readers will more quickly gain trust in you when you offer informative or entertaining content on a regular basis. And remember, you’ll get far more page views on the days you post.

5. Choose two or three social media platforms, and do them well.

In my opinion, you can’t tackle every platform and do it well when you are first starting out. Maybe never. Determine where your followers hang out, and focus there. I by far give the most time and attention to Facebook, whose biggest audience is people over 46. I also focus on Twitter and Pinterest. I post on my Facebook business page no more than once a day, but I can pin as often as I want and tweet several times a day without appearing spammy. The best way to increase your followers is to follow other people who are in your tribe. (I usually only follow those with 1,000 or more followers.) Often times, people in their tribe take notice and follow me. Same with Pinterest. Start following others, pin several pins a day, and your followers will grow!

6. Join a blog community.

There are hundreds of online blogging groups, especially on Facebook. You’ll frequently be able to share your posts, and you will also gain valuable insight and wisdom from others in the group. I was even blessed to attend a dinner with fellow bloggers from my midlife blogging community. It was so wonderful to make new friends with other bloggers, many of whom have blogged for years and are happy to answer questions. Plus, have you ever gotten that blank stare when you tell someone you’re a blogger? I can guarantee you that won’t happen at a blogger gathering!

7. Attend a blog conference.

I was blessed to attend my first blog conference, The Hundred, just a couple of weeks after launching my blog. I learned so much and had a blast making new friends. It was such an encouragement to meet ladies who, like me, had just started, as well as many who were quite seasoned and successful.

8. Tell your friends what they can do to help you succeed.

Anyone who isn’t a blogger probably doesn’t understand the importance of receiving comments on your posts and more fans and shares on Facebook. But chances are, they want to support you and will if you inform them of what will help you succeed. The weekend I attended the blog conference, I visited with two friends from college, now married. We don’t see each other often, and we have completely different spheres of influence. My friend Robin wanted to bless me, and so she invited all her female Facebook friends to like my page. And guess what? A couple of hundred of them did!

9. Pin an image from every post, and watermark every image.

You’d be surprised how many readers will stumble upon your blog because they saw one of your pins on Pinterest. It’s an easy, no-brainer way to promote the post you’ve worked on for so long. Before pinning, make sure to watermark your image. There are two reasons to do this. First, you don’t want your image to be stolen by someone who attributes it to their own work. Secondly, if for some reason the link back to your blog doesn’t work, they’ll see your watermark with your URL on the image.

10. Create an editorial calendar.

I have had a hard time with this one. I’m just not a big planner. But if you have a goal to blog three times a week, planning ahead of time will save you from stress and frustration. I just installed the plugin Coschedule in WordPress. It’s amazing because you can schedule your blog posts AND all your social media relating to it all in one spot. You can also make sure that your post is mentioned on social media far into the future and not just one time. This plugin is nothing short of life changing for the busy blogger who has a hard time keeping up with social media posts.

What about you?
Do you have a helpful tip to add from your early blogging days? Please share in the comments below! Happy blogging!

xoxo

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