Blogging 101 Pt. 1

Hello there! You guys seemed to really enjoy my last blogging tips post here so I decided to do another one, but this time on blogging! If you are a beginner blogger then this is for you! 🙂 I will also be guiding you to a few other blogging tips posts at the end of my post!

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Note: I am in no way a professional blogger. AT ALL. Today I feel like I’m more just giving you some pointers about how I do things and how to grow your blog, with some hopefully helpful tips! 🙂

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-Design-

Let’s say I have a bright pink background and a neon purple header. It just hurts your readers eyes. If you still want bright colors on your blog such as yellow or bright pink, use a white background and use the bright color as your accent color, such as for your tagline.

Also, make sure to check out this DIY Design course created by Megan and Clara (both amazing graphic designers) Check it out here.

If designing just isn’t your thing, then there are many great and talented graphic designers that will do it for you at a very small amount or for free! 🙂

And remember, you want a design that will reflect your awesome content, not distract from it. Keep that in mind whether you are asking someone else to design your blog or if you’re designing it on your own!

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–Grammar and Punctuation-

 I know you’ve heard it a million times, but still, it’s important. Using proper grammar and punctuation is something that everyone struggles with, I mean how easy is it to misspell a word? To avoid this make sure to spellcheck your post before publishing it and it is also helpful to get another set of eyes on it as well!

Another quick point is to use uppercase letters, when needed. I mean sometimes it can look cool to not use uppercase (such as in my tagline) but in blog posts, it’s just a no-no.

Remember, put time and effort into your posts, nobody wants to read something that took you 2 seconds to write!

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-Good Quality-

As I just stated above, you need to put time and effort into your posts. That means not just posting 5 pictures with, “Cute photos right? See you later, bye.” I mean, that just wouldn’t be worth the time for your readers.

For my blog I use have a little rule of between 500 and 1000 words per post and anywhere from 15-35 photos. I’m not saying you have to follow this rule exactly, what I am saying is this is a great guideline to follow if you aren’t sure! 🙂

I think this is probably the most important tip, because even if you have a pretty, clean design, proper spelling/punctuation, use tags and categories, post featured images, and all that, your blog isn’t going to get a lot of attention if you don’t post worthwhile posts.

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-Photography-

A few weeks ago, I posted photography tips post that has a bunch of useful info about this topic, but I will mention just a few thing here as well.

Photography is really, super important. It breaks up you writing and generally makes your post more interesting to read! On the other hand, it’s also fun to show off some of your gorgeous photos in a well written blog post!

And a quick tip for fellow craft/DIY bloggers. I think that if white photos on a white background aren’t completely white, it looks rather tacky. I mean I’ve done it probably a million times, but still if you use a table-top or colored piece of paper, then I find it looks quite a bit better! 🙂

As always photography quality is always important too. Believe me, nobody wants to see a bunch of blurry, dark photos on your blog. And don’t worry if you only have an I-phone to take pictures, a dslr is definitely worth saving up for, but if you can’t afford one right now, it’s totally fine! You can take great photos with an I-phone or less expensive camera! 🙂

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-Formatting-

This is something I am actually just getting started with! I have found that formatting posts makes them a lot easier to read, more clear and better quality! Using the enter key, headings, bolding, italic’s and different font sizes all help with this.

Following these tips will make your posts a lot easier to read and much more professional looking! Who doesn’t want that?

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-Tags and Categories-

Tags and Categories are like the icing on a cake. They make your site easy to navigate and easier to find on the web and WordPress Reader.

For example, when I type in “blogging tips” in the Reader, then the most relevant, viewed, and newest posts will pop up.

As shown in the example above you need to be specific with your tags, you can’t just put “tips” as it could mean tips for anything, not specifically tips for blogging. See what I mean?

As for categories, these just make it easier for you to navigate my site. They’re important too, but for navigation purposes, not just for searching purposes.

I have 13 categories and hundreds of tags, so don’t be afraid to put quite a few tags on your post, but stick to 1-2 categories.

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-Featured Images-

Featured images are also another important part of blogging. You want an image to represent your post, right? Maybe it’s a picture of the DIY project you are posting a tutorial for, or maybe it’s your favorite picture from the photography post you are posting.

Personally, for my featured images I like to put the title of the post and something about the post, here is an example:

It has the title (Sunsets, Selfies, Sisters), it has the theme of the post (recent photography), and it has my url (thestripedplaid.wordpress.com). This way when someone views my post they will see that it is from my blog, is about photography, and they will also see the title. Adding your url is important (even though I often forget) because if someone shares your post, they want to know who it is from.

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-Tips from around the blogosphere- 

Here are some other blogging tip posts from around the blogosphere:

Blogging tips by Allison

Blogging tips + Post ideas by Rebecca

A bunch of helpful blogging tips by Charis

Make sure to check out these great posts! They really are super useful! 🙂

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I hope you enjoyed these tips, and found them helpful! Best of luck with your blog! Also if you liked this post make sure to share with the sharing buttons below! Thanks! 🙂

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Do you have a blog?

Did you find these tips useful?

Any tips for me?

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