As I said in Part I of this series, I’m on an “improve things about my life” binge, and one of those things I want to better is my blog. Hopefully, dear readers, we can learn together how to make our blogs better.
Without further ado, here are some tips for blogging.
1. Edit your post for at least 30 minutes. Lindsay Kolowich at HubSpot writes in “13 Blogging Mistakes Most Beginner Bloggers Make”that you should spend at least 30 minutes on editing your post. My problem is that I take a little longer . . . okay, a lot longer sometimes, which may not be an effective use of blogging time. 
2. Make your posts “keyword rich.” SEO Tips says to make a “keyword-rich site map” for your blog to provide “an easy access point [for readers] to find what they are looking for.” SEO Tips states that this will help with your blog’s search engine optimization (SEO). Goodness, how fancy. I think that this essentially means you’re making your blog more Google-able, and you’re dropping breadcrumbs by putting in links that lead to other posts on your blog. But I could be wrong.
3. Add a variety of media. This tip also comes specifically from SEO Tips, but I’ve seen this elsewhere. The idea is that you want to give readers a lot of things to click on, look at, listen to, and interact with, because it makes your blog more interesting. In particular, SEO Tips suggests making podcasts. Hmmm, something where I could ramble on and I don’t even have to do my makeup? Genius.
4. Work on your headlines. I referenced Cristian Mihai at The Art of Blogging in my last post in this series, but gosh darn it, he just gives so much good advice. He writes in“90 Super Easy Tips That Will Turn Even a Novice Blogger into an Expert” that “Most of the times, it’s not the blog post that sucks, but rather the headline and the first paragraph.” Who knew that the headline was so integral? Should headlines be more clickbait-ish? More straightforward? More alliterative? I’m not sure. This is probably connected to #2 in this list—being SEO-minded. I found this tool—a “headline analyzer” from Capitalize My Title—the other day to check the SEO level (they call it “headline score”) of your post title/headline. Please feel free to use it.
5. Be consistent. Vee at Millennial Life Crisis (love the name) has this as one of her biggest blogging tips in “Blogging 102 – Tips for Blog Growth.” She suggests that you post 2-3 times a week. She also states that you should have a “consistency schedule that you can keep up with.” Maybe something that could help with this is writing several blog posts and scheduling them out and/or keeping a folder of backup posts. This could help you not to miss a post when life gets in the way, such as when your mother tells you that she has to have surgery in three days . . . just a random example . . . no connection to real life whatsoever . . . .
Works Cited
“13 Blogging Mistakes Most Beginner Bloggers Make” by Lindsay Kolowich
“90 Super Easy Tips That Will Turn Even a Novice Blogger into an Expert” by Cristian Mihai
“Blogging 102 – Tips for Blog Growth” by Vee
“Must Know Tips for Effective Search Engine Optimization” by SEO Tips
At the Foot of the Sierras 
Well that’s a good binge to have 🙂
Thank you! 🙂😁
Great tips – I especially like the “keyword rich” tip because I think it’s easy to get away from that idea. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Love reading Christin Minhat’s blog too! I tried to be consistent in my posting but it hards 😂
I totally agree. Sometimes, I’ll choose a cute or funny title over the “keyword rich” title.
Thank you for reading! 🙂
It is hard! I love that blog. He’s quite funny too. Thank you for reading! ❤
Never look at blogging as though there is something being done wrong. Just look at it as though there’s always room for improvement.
Ooo, I like it! Thank you for the positivity! 🙂
I have to say I follow few of the pro blogger tips. No SEO, little thought to planning, etc. Mostly I write from the heart. Story telling.
What’s key, to me, is engagement, not stats. I try to acknowledge comments, and express myself on other people’s blogs via comments as well.
What drives me to blogging is the dialogue and community.
Looking forward to reading how things work out for you. 🙂
I like that approach a lot. Every time I talk to someone in “the industry” (whether that be screenwriting or publishing), they always say that storytelling and voice are the key to anything. Why should blogging be any different?
Ah yes, the community on WordPress can be so supportive and positive. I’ve heard that it can go badly, but I haven’t experienced it myself.
Thank you! I’m looking forward to reading your blog too. 🙂
🙂