This is my guide to creating a successful blog. These ten factors are things which I have learned from my time blogging - I began my blog in 2013, things I have stumbled across, found useful and think are important when it comes to my blogging experience. I wanted to share them with you as some people have asked me what I think makes a successful blog. Here are ten points which I think are essential to creating a successful blog.
Blog for you.
I put this point as number one as I think this is the most important factor when it comes to blogging. Yes we all want to be popular, if you say you don't then you're lying, simple as that. People blog in the hopes that someone will read their words and agree, support, admire, etc. but ultimately you should blog for you.
It's your blog so enjoy the process of preparing a post and writing about a particular topic that you enjoy. There's no point in wanting to be a beauty blogger and giving it a go if you have no interest in beauty at all, it's sure to say that if you're not into something you're not going to enjoy writing about it much and subsequently your posts may not be very engaging or interesting. Always read back on your past blog posts and think would this be something you would read if it was on someone else's blog or in a publication. Your blog is solely yours so make it you in all respects.
Choose a good and unused blog name.
Choosing a good name for your blog is important and usually this will establish what your blog is about and be used for all your branding. My blog name 'Dolly Dowsie' is a nickname my mother gave me as a child, but it slang for something being 'overly cute or doll-like' and I like to think it fits well with my photography aesthetic.
If you're stuck for a name for your blog, use a tool such as a name generator to come up with something unique. Make sure to do your research before settling on a name for your blog and make sure that it's not already in use or too close to the name of an existing blog as it could cause confusion.
Give yourself a dedicated blogging space.
If you're wanting to make your blog successful and put your heart and soul into making it a profitable and popular outlet for yourself, then giving yourself a dedicated blogging space is a great thing to do, as it means you'll have a space to be productive, focus on all things blogging and an office of sorts.
If you have space at home to make yourself an office or office corner then great! If you don't, then office pods could be a great alternative. Having an office space will help you to dedicate set time to your blog in an environment that is, hopefully, inspiring to you for creating great content.
I put this point as number one as I think this is the most important factor when it comes to blogging. Yes we all want to be popular, if you say you don't then you're lying, simple as that. People blog in the hopes that someone will read their words and agree, support, admire, etc. but ultimately you should blog for you.
It's your blog so enjoy the process of preparing a post and writing about a particular topic that you enjoy. There's no point in wanting to be a beauty blogger and giving it a go if you have no interest in beauty at all, it's sure to say that if you're not into something you're not going to enjoy writing about it much and subsequently your posts may not be very engaging or interesting. Always read back on your past blog posts and think would this be something you would read if it was on someone else's blog or in a publication. Your blog is solely yours so make it you in all respects.
Choose a good and unused blog name.
Choosing a good name for your blog is important and usually this will establish what your blog is about and be used for all your branding. My blog name 'Dolly Dowsie' is a nickname my mother gave me as a child, but it slang for something being 'overly cute or doll-like' and I like to think it fits well with my photography aesthetic.
If you're stuck for a name for your blog, use a tool such as a name generator to come up with something unique. Make sure to do your research before settling on a name for your blog and make sure that it's not already in use or too close to the name of an existing blog as it could cause confusion.
Give yourself a dedicated blogging space.
If you're wanting to make your blog successful and put your heart and soul into making it a profitable and popular outlet for yourself, then giving yourself a dedicated blogging space is a great thing to do, as it means you'll have a space to be productive, focus on all things blogging and an office of sorts.
If you have space at home to make yourself an office or office corner then great! If you don't, then office pods could be a great alternative. Having an office space will help you to dedicate set time to your blog in an environment that is, hopefully, inspiring to you for creating great content.
Explore different genres.
If you're like me and have a wide variety of interests then don't be afraid to evolve your blog and explore different genres in your spectrum of interests. My blog began solely as a beauty blog but after time this got quite boring for me so I decided to delve into the world of lifestyle and parenting blogging and you know what, I absolutely love my mixed bag of a blog now.
Every post I write I enjoy and it's great to share so many things that I love about the world. It also means that I have a wide variety of topics that I can write on so I never get bored! with the possibilities of a post and the direction which it might take.
If you're like me and have a wide variety of interests then don't be afraid to evolve your blog and explore different genres in your spectrum of interests. My blog began solely as a beauty blog but after time this got quite boring for me so I decided to delve into the world of lifestyle and parenting blogging and you know what, I absolutely love my mixed bag of a blog now.
Every post I write I enjoy and it's great to share so many things that I love about the world. It also means that I have a wide variety of topics that I can write on so I never get bored! with the possibilities of a post and the direction which it might take.
Interact with other bloggers. Being a mixed bag blogger I am involved with different blogging communities, I have to admit that I have a slight penchant for my fellow parenting bloggers these days! No matter what your blog topic I can guarantee that there is a blogging community for it whether it be on Twitter, Facebook or some other social platform there are many Twitter chats, Facebook groups and now even Google+ groups where you can discuss different topics with your fellow bloggers, gain advice, swap links and read some great content. I have even been lucky enough to become friends and pen pals with some of my fellow bloggers and it really is such a wonderful thing to make friends through your hobby.
Write about what you want when you want.
There is no limit to how many times you can post a day, if you have something on your mind and just have to share it with the world then do so. Your blog should not be constrictive to your creativity so write about what you what whether it be how you're feeling, a topic you would like people to be aware of, a new fashion trend, etc.
I've found that some of my 'spur of the moment' posts have actually been my most popular, perhaps my thought process was easily distinguishable in these posts and that's why people like them the most, who knows?! Yes it's always good to have a bit of a set schedule to your posts but hey, if the inspiration takes you and you just can't wait to publish a post then why should you have to? It's YOUR blog!
There is no limit to how many times you can post a day, if you have something on your mind and just have to share it with the world then do so. Your blog should not be constrictive to your creativity so write about what you what whether it be how you're feeling, a topic you would like people to be aware of, a new fashion trend, etc.
I've found that some of my 'spur of the moment' posts have actually been my most popular, perhaps my thought process was easily distinguishable in these posts and that's why people like them the most, who knows?! Yes it's always good to have a bit of a set schedule to your posts but hey, if the inspiration takes you and you just can't wait to publish a post then why should you have to? It's YOUR blog!
Use your social media.
My blog has almost every social media account you can think of and I use the majority of them to promote each post I publish. The way I see it, if you don't promote a post then not many people will be aware of it and lets be honest, the majority of us bloggers write for people to read our words and be made aware of something.
I always promote my posts on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Instastories. I use scheduling apps such as Hiplay (which is only $10 per month) and Tailwind (a lot more expensive at over $200 a year for the package I currently use) to schedule posts even when I'm not able to get online, which helps to promote my posts and gain my site more traffic.
Ignore the haters.
There will always be people in life who don't like what you do and instead of simply clicking off your blog they will feel the need to leave a nasty comment or even go to the extreme of starting a 'discussion' on you on a pathetic forum, as discussed in a previous blog post, Blogging - What's the Problem. In my opinion it's better to ignore these types of people, usually the more they see how upset you are the more they will continue to berate them.
Pathetic people like this aren't even worth the effort of a reply. People are very brave when they are faceless words on a screen, I can guarantee you that they are probably the meekest person in reality who wouldn't have the gaul to say something nasty to someones face. Turning off access to anonymous comments and reviewing each comment before allowing it to be published is a good way of counteracting troll comments being left on your posts.
There will always be people in life who don't like what you do and instead of simply clicking off your blog they will feel the need to leave a nasty comment or even go to the extreme of starting a 'discussion' on you on a pathetic forum, as discussed in a previous blog post, Blogging - What's the Problem. In my opinion it's better to ignore these types of people, usually the more they see how upset you are the more they will continue to berate them.
Pathetic people like this aren't even worth the effort of a reply. People are very brave when they are faceless words on a screen, I can guarantee you that they are probably the meekest person in reality who wouldn't have the gaul to say something nasty to someones face. Turning off access to anonymous comments and reviewing each comment before allowing it to be published is a good way of counteracting troll comments being left on your posts.
Remember the aesthetics.
A good blog is ultimately about the quality of writing and how engaging, informative and interesting it is to readers, however, people notice a blog with their eyes first and if I'm honest, when I see a blog which looks quite sloppy, is riddled with spelling mistakes and has blurry pictures it really puts me off reading the blog and I usually won't come back to it. It only takes a few minutes to perfect these things.
Blogger comes with a spellchecker, use it! I understand that lighting may not always be fantastic for taking pictures but these can easily be edited with a free photo editor such as Canva. If photography isn't your thing you can find great quality copyright free images from sites such as Unsplash to make your blog posts and social posts look better. You can use a social content creator such as Adobe Spark for free to create graphics for Pinterest, etc. and this also allows you to source and use copyright free images. If your blog looks as appealing as your writing is then I think it really helps to entice new readers.
Enjoy what you do!
For me this is one of the most important aspects to blogging - enjoy it! There's no point in doing something if you don't like it, otherwise it will end up as a chore, something which you feel you have to do and this is not the case at all.
If you ever feel like blogging is taking over your life in a bad way then take a step back, maybe even take a break for a few days and re-think your blog, reevaluate what you want to share with the world and refresh your mind. A hobby should always be enjoyable and if you find it to be a hindrance or chore in your life then maybe it's not for you.
Remember why you began blogging.
I began blogging as I began experimenting more and more with makeup and decided that it would be fun to share these quirkly looks with the world even though I am far from being a professional makeup artist, it was all about the fun for me. I had never even thought about getting freebies through blogging or being paid for posts and even now these factors don't cross my mind but I have seen bloggers become rather obsessed with the benefits aspect of blogging rather than the enjoyment of writing the blog itself. If someone begins a blog purely for the chance of getting a freebie you should not be blogging, simple as that.
I have come across blogs which have become nothing more than a product reviews site and it's sad to see as I know these particular bloggers have a true skill at writing and to see it so diluted is a sad thing. Do not sell yourself out just for a freebie. Feel free to say no to an offer if it doesn't fit into your blog criteria and don't fall into the trap of being a blogger who will review just about anything just because it's free, that's not a good direction for a blog. Also, I will say that you shouldn't become too caught up in statistics, page views, subscriber numbers, etc., yes these milestones are fantastic to reach and really give a boost to a bloggers confidence but these things should be a bonus to blogging, something which you should absolutely love whole-heartily anyway.
If you're wanting to make blogging your full-time job like me then you can read about how I did it here.
I have come across blogs which have become nothing more than a product reviews site and it's sad to see as I know these particular bloggers have a true skill at writing and to see it so diluted is a sad thing. Do not sell yourself out just for a freebie. Feel free to say no to an offer if it doesn't fit into your blog criteria and don't fall into the trap of being a blogger who will review just about anything just because it's free, that's not a good direction for a blog. Also, I will say that you shouldn't become too caught up in statistics, page views, subscriber numbers, etc., yes these milestones are fantastic to reach and really give a boost to a bloggers confidence but these things should be a bonus to blogging, something which you should absolutely love whole-heartily anyway.
If you're wanting to make blogging your full-time job like me then you can read about how I did it here.
I love this, so much of the advice is about keywords and encourages us, not to write about what we love but about what people are searching for. That's all well and good but as you say 'it's your blog!' It's nice to have a viral post that everyone wants to read but sharing what you love with the world is why most people start to blog.
ReplyDeleteMaya Angelou said something along the lines of 'success is liking what you do and liking how you do it' , that's my kind of definition!