9 Things Bloggers Should Do

9 things… 9 months. That’s how old my grandson is. My blog is 9 months old, too… just about 3 weeks older than our sweet boy!

In those 9 months I’ve learned much! I’ve learned that you have to be really quick when you change a baby boy’s diaper (I had girls…) and I’ve learned that blogging is work, HARD work!

So hard, in fact, that if you don’t keep up with the learning curve, it can be a slow, slow process. It has to be something that you absolutely love to do and want to take the time to do well!

While I’m by no means an expert, there are a number of things I’ve learned that make my life much easier, and I suspect, might improve my reader’s experience as well.

9 Things Bloggers Should Do

{The first few points have to do with photos. Not that it’s the most important, but people are visual… and visual content can make or break your blog.}

1. Edit Photos

And for me this is the fun part! When I first began taking my photos, they were often too dark, or poorly composed. Part of this was due to my amateur status as a photographer and part was the quality of my camera. Although I’m still an amateur, I acquired a better camera and that did help! I’ve also learned that it’s amazing how much can be corrected with some good editing software! Whether it’s Photoshop or PicMonkey, use photo editing tools to make your blog more attractive, thereby attracting more readers!

2. Re-name Photos before uploading

When you take a photo with a digital camera, a file number is automatically assigned to that image. It may say ‘IMG_1144’, or something similar. The problem with not giving that image a new name is at least two-fold:

a)     For SEO, if the photo has the name of your blog and/or keywords, it can be found using a search engine (optimally, Google), and conversely, if it retains the IMG title, no one can search and find your photo based on the subject of the photo.

b)     When someone wants to share your photo on social media (Pinterest or other), it will not be shared with the name of the photo and/or blog post UNLESS you give it a new name! Have you ever gone to pin a photo and all it says is IMG – something? You want people to re-pin your photo with a built-in reference to your post!

3. Re-size Photos when uploading

Unbeknownst to me when I began, most of the photos I took were waaaaay too large to be uploaded to my blog page and be properly viewable (I told you… I was clueless!). What I found to be the perfect size for my site is a width of 600 mp (mega pixels). For some, it might be slightly smaller or larger, but it will be in that ballpark. The really cool thing I didn’t know back then is that there is a ‘plug-in’ that will automatically upload every photo at a size you preset. (I use Imsanity)

4. Link Photos

Similarly, you can assign a link to your photos. If, for instance, you refer to a previous post in a blog, you can insert a photo, and go into your info on that pic and plug in the link to that previous post to make it easy for your reader to check it out… thus spending more time on your site! I will actually link the following photo to the post where it originally appeared:

5. Write with Passion.

Passion and excitement about what you’re doing will come though in your writing. We hear it everyday: If you want a successful blog, you must have great content. And it’s true. It’s not so easy to do consistently, but true it is! Honor your reader with material that is worthy of her time. Some people say you should post every day. Part of great content for me is NOT posting every day. I’d rather focus on quality, not quantity!

6. Optimize SEO

Most of what I know about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) I learned at Haven Blog Conference from Brooke Ulrich and her brother Court Tuttle! They gave a fabulous workshop. If you get a chance to take anything like it or attend a blogging conference, you should! A few things I learned:

a)      Assign each post a keyword or keywords

b)      Title each photo and give an alternate title… can be the name of the post, along with your blog name.

c)       Write out a custom Meta Description, using the keyword(s) in it.

8. Spell and Grammar Check (this should be a no-brainer!)

The fact that bloggers are human and everyone makes mistakes means that we all make writing and editing errors occasionally. What IS unnecessary are misspelled words! All blogging software sites offer spell check in the editing tools. It is imperative that you use it!

We all love to read good writing, including those bloggers who write like they talk! That’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m referring to misspelled or misused words, like using ‘their’ when it should be ‘there’, etc. Try to make your sentences easy to read, with as few grammatical errors as possible.

9. Develop Relationships

Just as networking is crucial to a ‘real’ job, so it is with blogging. Visit other blogs, find those that you admire and comment on them! Find link parties and link up your creations and awesome posts. If you’re unwilling to read other blogs, should you really expect them to read yours?

Try to help and support fellow bloggers as much as you can. Join or form a group or ‘tribe’ where there is mutual support for each other. The sharing of information is wealth!! A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

This list is by no means comprehensive! These are just some things I have learned over the last few months that help me on a daily basis. Many of my readers will have other suggestions and I do hope you’ll leave a comment because I’d really love to know your best blogging tips!

And if this post has helped you in any way, please consider sharing through social media… on Facebook, Pinterest, or by way of any of the buttons below his post! Thanks again!!

Have a fabulous weekend!!