Blogging: Sticking it Out vs Taking a Break

If you’re a blogger or a writer, then burn-outs are no news to you. However, if you’re new to writing, then burnouts are something to be aware of; being prepared for such an occurrence can save you a lot of stress and help to ascertain that your blog doesn’t suffer in the meantime.  

Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award

Today’s post is very different to the usual content on LikeCubed, but it’s my very first blogger award and I’m extremely excited to be a part of the Sisterhood of the World. I’d like to give a huge thanks to Carina from Stepabout for this nomination, and would love it if you guys would check out her blog! It’s probably like no other blog you’re following… Now onto Carina’s questions!

1. DO YOU MIND RAINY DAYS OR DO YOU FIND SOMETHING POSITIVE IN THEM?

Considering that I live in the UK, rainy days have to be taken advantage of or you’d never go anywhere or do anything. In small quantities they’re great for a cozy day in with books, blogs and movies; but when it’s such a common occurrence, life goes on as usual.  

2. HAVE YOU GOT ANY SIBLINGS?
I have a little sister who’s turning 10 tomorrow. Everyone says that she’s a mini-me and I couldn’t be happier about that. She’s already much smarter than most kids her age, sarcastic beyond belief, and quite the comedian. Honestly, I often forget how young she really is…

3. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT SETTING BLOGGING GOALS, DO YOU FIND THEM MOTIVATIONAL?
Blogging goals are great for those of us who can get organised and stick to a schedule. There have been countless times when I was lacking in ideas and creativity and simply wanted to take a break from blogging, knowing all too well that the break would end up being much longer than planned. But my goal of posting every Tuesday and Saturday at 4pm is now public knowledge and it really keeps me on track, posting on a regular basis.

4. TALKING ABOUT BLOGS, NAME THREE OF YOUR FAVOURITE ONES.

My current favourite blogs would have to be Stepabout (no, not because Carina nominated me for this award!), Loved By Laura; and Ms Mistry Blogs. All three of these blogs are very different, discussing various interesting, helpful, or relatable topics.

5. IF YOU COULD CHOOSE ANY LANGUAGE COURSE FOR FREE, WHICH LANGUAGE WOULD YOU LEARN?

Having existing knowledge of the ‘big’ languages like English and Spanish as well as the relatively useless Lithuanian, I’m all about value. And what’s more valuable these days than Mandarin? It would be incredible to learn Mandarin or maybe Arabic, but with no similarities to any languages I already know, it would be a huge undertaking.

6. WHO’S YOUR CELEBRITY CRUSH?

I’m not really one for celebrity crushes any more as I get more obsessed with a show than its actors. Nonetheless, I guess I always have a soft spot for Joseph Morgan (The Vampire Diaries / The Originals) and basically all of the boys from Pretty Little Liars. I might even be starting to finally appreciate the work of art that is Tom Hardy…

7. HOW DO YOU SPEND A PERFECT DAY?

The perfect day would probably be far, far away from home, in some exotic country that I’ve always wanted to visit, with my boyfriend by my side. Sun, great views, and exotic animals are probably a good start to a perfect day. And well-developed photos to share on LikeCubed, of course.

8. WHAT ARE YOUR BELIEFS? DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH A SPECIFIC RELIGION; ARE YOU ATHEIST OR ANYTHING ELSE?

I don’t identify with any religion. It’s a nice thought that there could be someone out there looking out for you but I simply cannot buy into it with so much awful stuff happening in the world. Good die young? He needed more angels? That’s too much even for someone who reads a lot of fantasy books.

9. VERY ROUGHLY, HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND ON YOUR BLOG?

Officially, I spend about 10 hours a week writing up posts, creating/editing photos, and promoting the content on social media. Unofficially, I spend all of my time racking my brain for ideas, creating organisers, or learning about how to improve the craft of blogging. 

Blogging is not an activity; it’s a way of life.

10. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A BLOGGER EVENT AND IF YES, HOW DID YOU LIKE IT?

I’ve never been to a blogger event even though I’m just dying to go. Unfortunately, most blogger events take place in London or the surrounding area and I’m all the way up in Scotland (which is a 10 hour bus ride away). So if anyone wants to organise a lil thing up in the north, don’t forget to invite poor little old me!

I WOULD LIKE TO NOMINATE…

Laura from Loved By Laura

Becky from BKYStewart

Jodie from Joie de Jodie

Ms Mistry Blogs

THE RULES:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link them in your post

2. Answer the ten questions you have been sent

3. Come up with 10 questions of your own

4. Spread the love and nominate up to 10 bloggers

MY 10 QUESTIONS FOR YOU:

1. Why did you start blogging?

2. If you hadn’t started blogging, what would you be doing instead?

3. How much of your personal life do you share with your readers?

4.If you could trade lives with anyone for a whole day, who would it be?

5. How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

6. Do you believe in the existence of luck or fate?

7. What’s your earliest childhood memory?

8. What TV show are you embarrassed to admit you watch?

9. Are you an organised blogger, or just make it up as you go along?

10. What’s your favourite thing about running a blog?

○ Till next post ○

10 Things You Should Do Before Hitting “PUBLISH”

You’ve written a fantastic blog post and think it’s ready for the inevitable future of praise and glory. But wait. Did you forget something? Have a look at the 10 Things You Should Do Before Hitting “PUBLISH” and make sure you haven’t!

1. CHECK YOUR POST TITLE

Your post title should give a rough indication as to what the post will discuss, so try to keep it relevant to the post. Misleading titles may result in a higher number of clicks but the readers will quickly notice if your post does not deliver what it promised, leaving you with a higher bounce rate and lower session time. 

The optimal post title will usually have between 6 to 10 words and include some powerful or emotional words that will peak your readers’ interest.  If your post contains a list, you should also specify how many points will be discussed (like I did in the title of this post). To check the quality and effectiveness of your blog post title, type it into the Headline Analyser. Then, tweak it word by word until you’re happy with the score. Just remember that a better title is one that flows and reads naturally; not one with the highest score. So use with caution.

2. ADD LABELS

Much like your post title, the post labels will act to describe what your post is about. By crafting relevant labels you will be able to sort your posts into categories, link to related content and your content will be more easily located through Google search.

3. ADD LINKS TO PREVIOUS POSTS

Whether your post mentions something you’d previously discussed or if it is simply written on the same/similar topic, it wouldn’t hurt to link a few of your previous posts. This can either be done throughout the text (if the information is truly relevant and either adds to or explains your point), or at the beginning/end of post to direct your readers to previous posts within the series or other relevant content.

Not only will you increase your SEO by building links to your posts, but you will also reduce your site bounce rate as readers will be far more likely to click on a suggested post rather than go searching for it through your archives. Win.

4. CHECK YOUR LINKS OPEN IN A NEW TAB

Any links you decide to include in your post should open in a new tab so as to not redirect your readers to a different page halfway through your post. Not only is that annoying for you and your readers, but there’s also a good chance that your reader will not come back to finish reading the rest of your post.

If you blogging platform does not offer you the choice of opening the link in a new tab, simply add target=”_blank” to your link code. 

Example: <a href=”webiste link” target=”_blank”>Phrase/Image that will send readers to the website</a>

5. ADD IMAGE PROPERTIES

I won’t pretend to know much about SEO because quite frankly, it scares me. What I do know is that describing the image or using the post title within the ALT text field of the image properties is a quick little thing that will go a long way. Firstly, keywords will push your image up through Google Images; secondly, users who cannot see images (whether due to a slow Internet connection or their own browser preferences) will be able to see the ALT tag and know what the image space should contain.

6. SHORTEN PERMALINK

Unless you decide to do it yourself, your blogging platform will generate your blog post links for you using as many words from the post title as it can fit. All too often this will result in a very long link that doesn’t really indicate what the post is about as the last few words of the post title did not fit into the link. Generating your own link will allow you to be more concise and descriptive, keeping the link slightly tidier.

It is strongly advisable to do this before publishing your post. While it is completely possible to change your permalink after publishing, you should keep in mind that all links shared on social media to promote this post will break and no longer lead to the post-in-question.

7. ADD A CUSTOM SEARCH DESCRIPTION

Unless you write a custom search description, Google will simply use the beginning of your post to appear as a blurb within the Google search. While this may work perfectly well for you and your blog, results will depend strongly on your writing style. 

Your search description should ideally be one of two things: a captivating sentence that intrigues the reader into clicking the link to learn more, or a very brief description of the post letting the reader know what they will get out of clicking your link.

8. PREVIEW POST

You should always, always, always preview your post before publishing to make sure that your post layout has no awkward spaces or unwanted text formatting. Bad formatting will hurt your views.

9. PROOF READ

With a million ideas running though your head followed by the countless different ways you want to phrase your sentence, it’s all too easy to forget to check whether the rest of your sentence/paragraph still makes sense. So when you think you’re ready to publish your post, give it a quick read over and make sure it flows nicely.

10. BACK UP

We’re the generation that is very much accustomed to the digital life and feel relatively safe with all our content and data being stored online. But do you ever worry that all those photos you’ve been meaning to print off will just disappear with a little glitch or a virus? How about your blog posts that exist only on your blogging platform? Website shut-down, disabled account, or a simple anger or sadness driven “delete all” can result in the loss of all that hard work. Back it up into a Word Document and store it on an external hard drive to be safe!

○ Till next post ○

How To Give Your Old Posts a Boost

Are you disheartened by the low view count of your old posts? Are you putting your best ideas on hold until you build up a larger readership? It’s an all too common dilemma of wanting to hold off on posting your best content until you’re certain that enough people will see it, but if you save your best for last, how will you ever grow your blog?

Regardless of the size of your following you should always post your best and brightest ideas. But if you’re worried about them getting lost amongst the archives and not getting the attention they deserve, here are 5 tips on how to give your old posts a boost and bring a new wave of traffic:

1. ADVERTISE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is your blog’s best friend and highest traffic source, so you have to learn to use it regularly and expose your content to new audiences. Many bloggers are in the habit of promoting their newly published posts but completely forget about mentioning some of their older content. Remember that social media is a very fast-paced environment and promoting your old content is just as important as promoting your new posts. In doing so, you will reach new readers who weren’t around the last time you promoted said post and remind your long-term followers of content they may have previously missed or found irrelevant at the time.

Here’s a few things you can do to give your old post a boost right now:

• Tweet about it. Craft a witty tweet and make sure it’s seen by hundreds (if not thousands) of blog readers. Learn how to promote your content on Twitter. 

• Pin your best post image to Pinterest. Create a board dedicated solely to your blog posts, but don’t forget to also pin your content to other relevant boards. For maximum exposure, join a group board dedicated to the subject of your posts, or blogging as a whole. 

• Share your post on a Facebook group for bloggers. There are many Facebook groups dedicated to helping bloggers improve their blog, make contacts and promote their content. Here’s two to get you started: Blogging Boost & The Blog Loft.

2. UPDATE YOUR CONTENT

This is a very subjective point that relies heavily on your outlook on blogging and personal preferences. Some bloggers will be all for updating their content to remain relevant and be the best it can be, while others will decide that what’s done is done and old posts present the journey of their blogging career, and thus should be left untouched. That’s your decision to make. But as time goes on, some of your posts will become outdated due to no longer relevant information or simply the lack of new additional information. 

Having personally written a post about useful blogger resources, it would only make sense for me to go back to the list and add any new resources I find. However, that’s not to say that you should be updating your posts on a regular basis – let your “update” information accumulate, rather than updating with every little bit and bob. 

P.s. If you don’t wish to update your old content, you could write a more up-to-date post and link to it from the old post!

3. UPLOAD NEW PHOTOS

The value of an image within a blog post cannot be overstated and similarly to having outdated content, you will often look back on your older posts and realise that the photo you had chosen is of low quality, irrelevant to the post, or you’ll find that there’s no photo altogether. But whether it be for lack of skills or resources available at the time of posting, you should rectify the situation with a new high-quality, relevant, and Pinterest-friendly photo that will give your post a more professional look and attract more readers.

4. UPDATE YOUR LABELS

Your labels act as keywords and using accurate and popular keywords can put your post on the map, attracting a whole wave of new readers. Not only that, but labelling similar posts with the same labels will allow you to create post categories and display them in your navigation bar. As such, a reader who may only be interested in your recipe or how-to posts will no longer have to scroll through endless posts to find what he/she is looking for. Instead, they will have easy access to both old and new posts on a topic that interests them. Easy navigation will also keep readers coming back to a multi-topic blog. 

5. ADD RELATED POSTS

Put your recently updated labels to good use and introduce a Related Posts section at the end of each post, linking your readers to similar content within your blog. Not only will your old posts be advertised with every post, but it will also encourage readers to click on other articles and reduce your site bounce rate. Remember that new readers will have no idea what topics you had previously written about and will only stay on your site if you intrigue them with another post. 

Do YOU try to promote old posts, or focus solely on your new content?

○ Till next post ○

How To Promote Your Content on Twitter

You know what’s better than writing a great blog post? Writing a great blog post that gets the attention it deserves. There’s nothing worse than pouring your heart and soul (as well as hours of your precious time) into crafting a blog post you’re proud of, and then being the only one to read it. So here are 8 ways to promote your content on Twitter and ensure you’re not the only one to appreciate your content:

1. CRAFT INTRIGUING TWEETS

If you want to capture your audience’s attention, run-of-the-mill tweets saying “read my latest post” are simply not going to cut it – at least not until you have a vast and loyal readership that want to keep up-to-date with your content. “Read my latest post” is simply not an inviting phrase that would attract new readers – especially if you don’t even mention what your post is about. 

So instead of tweeting “Hey, read my latest post on xyz” why not try a more provoking “X things you didn’t know about xyz” or “things you should know about xyz before you purchase it!” These tweets tell your audience that you’re not just fishing for views – they will get something out of reading your post too.

2. CUSTOMISE YOUR TWEETS 

In order to have the most success at attracting new readers, you will have to advertise the same post more than once a day and ascertain that your tweet has the chance to be seen by everyone, including those who live in different time zones.

You should however, keep in mind that these tweets will remain on your profile for all to see, and a profile spammed by the same tweet is not going to do well to attract new followers. So every time you promote a blog post, find a different way to introduce it: describe what your post is about; ask a question that your post will answer; quote a part of your post. Then, alternate between these tweets.

3. DON’T OVERDO IT 

Publishing a new post is exciting and it’s only normal to want the whole world to see it, but keep in mind your current followers. Trying to appeal to new readers is all fine and well but remember that your current audience would not want to be spammed by the same tweet 20 times a day, so find the balance between promotion and regular tweets, as well as promoting some of your older posts or your blog as a whole, for variation.

4. USE  IMAGES 

Yes I’m aware that an image takes up 23 characters of your already very limited space for expressing yourself. But you know what? When your whole dashboard is full of text that changes every minute, it’s an image that will make you stop and read the tweet. It’s the image that will catch your readers’ attention amongst the sea of writing, cause them to pause, and hopefully click the link. A picture’s worth a thousand words, and you only need 23 characters.

5. MENTION RETWEET ACCOUNTS 

Every time you advertise a blog post on twitter, make sure to mention a couple twitter accounts that are dedicated to retweeting bloggers and exposing their content to a larger audience. My favourite retweeters are:

@LovingBlogs, @blogginggals, @FemaleBloggerRT, @UKBlog_RT, @UKBloggers1, @TheBloggersPost, @RT_Bloggers, & @BBlogRT (for beauty  related posts). I use at least 2 of these in every promotional tweet.

6. MENTION COMPANY ACCOUNTS 

If you’ve written a whole post about a company or its product, why not mention them in your tweet using the company’s handle? Not only will your tweet become visible to all who search the handle, but it may also be retweeted by the company to all of their followers. And really, once you’re on their radar, who’s to say they won’t offer you a partnering opportunity?

7. BE ACTIVE 

Twitter is probably the most fast-paced environment on the internet; one second your tweet is there, and the next it’s buried under a 100 new tweets. It’s old news. Worse yet, it’s no news. With the tweets rolling in at a 100 posts a minute, it’s far too easy for your tweet to get lost amongst the sea of others and get overlooked. 

That’s why you have to be active and persistent, making sure that if one tweet was overlooked, the next one will be noticed. And don’t forget to appeal to the audience from across the globe and schedule tweets for when you’re out or asleep.

8. LINK TO YOUR BLOG IN YOUR BIO 

Regardless of whether you’re online or not, your earlier activities and scheduled posts will be bringing people by your profile throughout the day, curious about who you are and what you do. So why not leave them a link to your blog so they can learn about you and decide whether or not they’re interested in what you have to say?

How do YOU promote your posts on Twitter?

○ Till next post ○

8 Tips That Will Improve Your Photos

Have you ever heard the saying “eyes are the windows to the soul”? Well, images are the windows to the blog and whether you like it or not, your readers will judge your blog based on its visual appeal. 

So here are 8 tips that will improve your photos and make your blog more visually appealing:

Disclaimer: this post contains sponsored content.

1. GET TO KNOW YOUR CAMERA

While (semi)professional cameras are not necessarily the only way to shoot decent photos, they do offer more flexibility, customisation and higher quality results. If you’re looking to buy a semi-professional camera, I would strongly recommend the Panasonic Lumix G5 or any of the other Panasonic Compact Cameras. 

I’ve had my G5 for just over a year now and I’m gonna be honest, I’ve only just now begun to experiment and learn more about it. Up till now it was a point & click operation, with some hoping and praying for a good result. But whether you use a smartphone or a semi-professional camera, you have to know how to work it before you can achieve the best results. So go and dig up your camera manuals, watch some YouTube videos, and break away from only using the pre-set options.
 

2. CHOOSE AN APPROPRIATE BACKGROUND

No matter what the subject of your photo, you should always choose a simple, uncluttered background that will help your object stand out to the viewer and not attract attention to the background of the photograph thus distracting from the focus of your shot. To achieve this, it is best to use single colour backgrounds or very soft patterns that do not draw unwanted attention. To make the process easier you could buy a light box or make your own.
 

 

3. LIGHT UP YOUR SET-UP

I’m sure you’ve heard that when it comes to quality photos, lighting is key. Well, it’s true. Dark photos which vaguely display the object’s silhouette without showing its key features are next to useless for your readers. Truth is, if you’re reviewing an item that could be bought in stores, the readers can just as easily look the image up on the internet. So why have it on your blog? Visual aesthetic. And badly lit photos are not at all aesthetically pleasing.

Most bloggers would swear by natural lighting and recommend nothing else, but if you live in the north of UK or some other perpetually overcast country, you may realise that natural light is simply not enough. In some cases, a room light will do the trick, while others you may require a video or studio light. I have a simple LED light attached to my camera that does the trick no matter what the weather outside. 
 

4. EXPERIMENT WITH ANGLES & PERSPECTIVES

Remember when I said that blog pictures are mainly there for visual aesthetic? That means you should try to make every image as interesting and attractive as possible to appeal to your readers. One way to do this is to try out different angles and perspectives of the same object. Try taking photos straight-on, from ground level, or from up top is a good place to start. Same object can look extremely different from a different angle, so find the perfect sweet-spot of your object.
 

5. FOCUS ON THE SUBJECT

Nothing says professional like a close-up with a blurred background (a.k.a macro picture). And when it comes to the blogosphere, we eat them up like candy. Lowering the aperture setting (f) of your camera will help to create a better distinction between your object and the background. Lower aperture = blurrier background. 

For even more definition to your close-up object, you could get a macro close-up lens for under £10, which I use for all of my close-ups.
 

6. EDIT YOUR PHOTOS

Editing your photos (whether you’re using filters or simply adjusting the brightness & contrast) is a quick and simple procedure that can have significant results. Next time you take a photo, try adjusting the white balance, sharpness, and brightness & contrast to improve your image. If you don’t have a photo editing program, here’s a list of blogger resources including some great photo editing websites. You can also see my step-by-step photo editing process here.
 

 

7. TAKE A LOTOF PHOTOS

Simply put, more snapshots means more choice. Your friends and family will most likely throw suspicious glances in your direction as you proceed to take 30 shots that seem to be identical, but don’t be put off; allow yourself the luxury of selecting a photo rather than being stuck with the only one you have. Remember that a slight change of perspective or a brighter light can mean the difference between an average photo and the perfect snapshot. 

8. SAVE IN .PNG & .JPEG FORMAT

Saving your photos in .png format will offer best results as it will preserve your photo resolution and avoid a pixelated finish once uploaded to your blog. However, keep in mind that .png format can often take up a lot more storage space and clog up your hosting site, as well as result in a longer load time for your blog page, so use carefully.  When it comes to my blog, I usually opt for uploading a .png cover photo (as this will be pinned to Pinterest and needs to be of higher resolution) and upload the rest in a .jpeg format, though re-upload a .png version if the previous turns out to be too grainy.

Have YOU got any other tips for taking better photos?

○ Till next post ○

35 Resources That Will Make You a Better Blogger

Blogging is an art. And much like with art, you have the choice to paint with your fingers or use all of the paintbrushes in front of you. So here’s my list of 35 resources that will make you a better blogger (but will probably not help with the painting). Let me know in the comments if you already use some of these!

Buying a Blog Domain

Are you a blogger who’s ready to ditch that long blog address for a snazzy new one? The idea may seem simple enough, but there’s a little more to the deal than simply handing over the cash! Let me share my experience with buying a blog domain…

Hosting a blog on Blogger or WordPress is an extremely easy and convenient way to get into blogging; not only is it free, but it’s also hassle-free. Ideal, right? But if you stick to blogging and develop a loyal readership, you will sooner or later realise that the blog address provided by WordPress or Blogger will no longer cut it – it’s not professional enough and you really really want your own domain! And until you get it, the hosted address will sit there mocking you until you get rid of the .blogspot.com or .wordpress.com extension of the address.

This is where domain sellers come in. Don’t ask me how they can sell something that technically doesn’t exist, or what gave them the right to do so – I haven’t got a clue, so you’ll just have to go with it! To begin you will have to choose a domain seller from a nearly-endless list of possibilities. Here’s just a few of the most popular ones:

• EasyDNS • GoDaddy • 1&1 • Name • Namecheap •

Once you’ve picked the best deal, proceeding to buy your domain name is easy: fill out your contact details, payment details, and checkout. Congratulations! You own a domain! Now what? Now you need to equip that new domain onto your blog hosting website. If you use WordPress, you have an abundance of help and information available to you, so click here for directions on how to do this. If you’re using Blogger, solving problems will be more difficult but closely following this guide should avoid any problems.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find this guide immediately and picked up little bits and bobs of information from various other websites, making the process much more difficult than it should have been. I bought my domain from GoDaddy for £8.93 (for the first year) and went on to add my third-party domain to blogger; added some values into the DNS settings and… Excitement sets in. It works. Life is magical. 

An hour later, LikeCubed is down. 

PANIC.

What you need to keep in mind at this point is that I have no patience. I don’t have the time to read manuals as it is, never mind when they’re not shoved in my face upon buying a product. Google instructions? Yeah, good one. Had I read around the subject (or found the guide I linked above) I would have known that they’re not just saying that the change will take time – it will take time. So if it happens to you, don’t stress. It’s all good. If you followed those simple instructions closely, it will work soon! Don’t start messing around with information you don’t understand and actually break things (but if you do, there’s a lovely little reset button to help you out).

Last things last, you want to make sure that the naked domain (yourdomain.com) leads to your website (www.yourdomain.com). I thought this would have been automatic since we had already ticked that option in blogger, but no. Instead, log into your domain provider and locate the settings of your domain. There you should find forwarding. Create a 301 forwarding to your www.yourdomain.com. Now typing yourdomain.com into the address bar should lead to your blog 🙂

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. I am not an expert but I will help in any way I can or direct you to someone who can help.

○ Till next post ○

How To Get Your Content Seen

Writing just for the hell of it can be a fun and rewarding experience in itself, but most of us write in the hopes of reaching an audience, connecting to the readers, and developing a lasting relationship. 

So how do you get your content seen online?

 1.  Social media is the biggest and baddest wolf in town, so it wouldn’t hurt to spend some time getting to know the most popular sites and set them up to work in your favour! Twitter and Pinterest are some of the highest traffic source sites for bloggers and should therefore be at the top of your interest list. Craft witty tweets and attractive photos to pin, but be sure to keep in mind the peak sharing times of each platform for best results (check out this post for the best sharing times of each platform). 

    » Join Twitter chats to meet more bloggers within your community

    » Tweet your blog post at blog post retweeters like @LovingBlogs or @UKBlog_RT for extra exposure.

 2.  Interact with the blogging community and develop real connections and friendships with fellow bloggers. Read and comment on their blog posts regularly and try to appear on their blog as a guest poster. Not only will they appreciate some new and different content, but you should also be able to snag a couple of new readers. It’s a win-win for all.

    » You can also retweet or pin their new blog posts for better exposure which is sure to win you some brownie points or a favour in return. Promoting your own blog is good, but it’s even more valuable coming from someone else.

 3.  Join Bloglovin’. WordPress and Blogger are probably the two biggest blogging platforms that we use, but they’re so different that simply following a blog from a different platform can be a difficult ordeal. And if it’s difficult, the reader won’t bother. Making your blog available on bloglovin’ assures that readers can follow your blog instantly without having to look around for a follow button that may or may not be available on your blog AND it keeps their feed updated with your latest posts. Exposure to the full.

    » Readers can also “save” your blog post, thus sharing it with their own followers.

 4.  Make links between your posts and in doing so you will achieve two things: first, you will undoubtedly increase your post exposure as a reader will be interested to read more about a certain point that is linked within the current blog post. Secondly, by making links to your previous posts you will increase your blog’s chances of appearing higher in the Google search (thus bringing more readers) as Google will recognise that your links are well established within the web and appear more often than those of bloggers who do not link back to related posts.

    » Linking the related post within a different post informs the reader of the existence of this information AND makes it quick and easy to access via 1 click, rather than searching through your archives.

For more tips to increasing your success, check out the Blog Post Checklist and make sure that all of your posts contain these 5 must-have qualities!

○ Till next post ○

Future Blog Goals

Despite having had this blog for over 2 years now, it’s only in the last 3 months that I began to take it seriously by posting more valuable content on a regular basis. This new routine, however, doesn’t always come easy and often results in a burnout of ideas and inspiration. So to continue growing my blog, I thought I’d create and share my goals for this blog.

1. Try to note down a blog prompt or idea every day to avoid feeling overwhelmed with no content on posting day.
2. Start writing about my monthly favourites and discuss the beauty products, food, movies, video games, and whatever else I’ve been loving that month.
3. Start hosting guest posts.
4. Become more active on social media.
5. Finally write all those posts that have been sitting in my drafts for months!
6. Create a spreadsheet to keep all of my posts and their posting dates organised.
7. Organise my post categories and sort all posts to fit into them.
8. Update old posts that could be enhanced with more, better, and/or more up-to-date information.
9. Start meeting more bloggers and become a real part of the blogging community.
10. Do not give up.

What would YOU like to see on this blog?

○ Till next post ○