5 Tips On How To Improve Your Blog Right Now

Re-Read your last 10 posts

After you read these posts, ask yourself something: are they a direct reflection of who you want to be seen as in the blog world? If yes, congratulations! You’ve accomplished something that’s very hard to come by sometimes. If not, look at what you like and don’t like about your blog posts. Add more of what you like and remove some of what you don’t like.

Browse your blog

Peruse your blog as if you were a potential reader, brand spankin new to your blog. Check all of your pages and ensure that all of your information is correct. Similar to the first tip, make sure that all of your pages (primarily an about page) is a direct reflection of who you want to be seen as in the blog world. Check all of your links and navigation to make sure you don’t have any broken links or irrelevant information in these locations.

Write down 5 things you love about your favorite blog

And figure out a way to apply them to your blog without copying them. Do you love how they interact with their readers? Or maybe how their pictures look? Or maybe the content that they share? Find a way to incorporate the things you love into your blog with your own style. If you don’t know how to do something (such as make pictures look a certain way, or add a blog feature) – ASK! Ask the blogger or your readers for advice/a tutorial on how to accomplish it.

Remove something you do “just because”

Something that I have a real love hate relationship with is the non-existent blogging handbook. There’s plenty of books, and blogs, and posts on the matter, but there’s no real right or wrong guideline that ensures instantaneous success. While it’s great that there’s a ton of freedom for blogging, it also leaves a lot of room for fake rules – rules that we follow just because someone else does/said we should. And our blogs suffer because of this. If you can’t stand 110% behind what you do, can you expect someone else to? Find a way to take something you do “just because” and make it your own in a way that suits you, your blog, and your readers. Maybe it’s sponsors, or photos, or content – whatever it is, make it yours and follow your own rules.

Celebrate

Do you know how often I lose sight of why I blog? More often than I can count unfortunately. But every time this happens, it’s for one reason and one reason alone: I forget how much I’ve accomplished. Because of that simple little thing, I lose focus. I compare myself to others and slowly but surely am unsure that this endeavor is the right journey for me. So I’ve started incorporating small celebrations into my work schedule. Acknowledging the work I’m doing, all of my accomplishments, and how far I’ve come since day one. No matter where you are at with your blog, you have something to celebrate. Even if you just launched your blog or you’ve been blogging for a week, you made it this far. You can find something to celebrate – even if it’s something incredibly small and miniscule to everyone else – almost everywhere.

The How-To/5 Tips is a weekly series that will be moving to Thursdays next week! It is dedicated to answering some of the most popular questions I’ve been asked through consulting and on my blog. Want tips on something similar in nature? Or maybe you want more personalized advice? Send me an email at afterninetofive@gmail.com.