what can you do to make your Blog BIGGER & BETTER?
chapters:
the LIBRARY: ideas to make your blog BIGGER & BETTER
If you are ANYTHING like me, then I am constantly looking to evolve myself, and my Blog!
I am ALL FOR bettering myself with all the typical personal development content and habits we know about, but one aspect of myself that is related to my Blog is…
The ambition to keep striving to make my Blog BIGGER & BETTER, until it becomes my full-time income and beyond!
Even though I have little to no people reading my Blog, I won’t let that stop me because I KNOW where my Blog will be, very soon!
I won’t stop blogging, and I am committed to making this Blog my full-time business, so it will HAVE TO pick-up at some point and become the big and supportive community I know it will be!
With that being said, my mind is constantly working ahead of where my Blog is currently at, to keep thinking and coming up with different ways and creative strategies to make my Blog continuously BETTER, continuously BIGGER.
In this blog post, I share how being an ambitious woman blogger displays itself in real-life ACTION:
IDEAS for those blogger girlies who have already set-up their Blogs and have content consistently being put out !!
the LIBRARY: ideas to make your blog BIGGER & BETTER
Making your Blog bigger and better is ALL about what you can DO to elevate and level-up!
By this, I mean: what you can do to:
increase your reach- so more people can get to know your Blog!
improve the quality- whether it’s the brand image, the quality of content, the art of blogging in itself, the networking, this one is all about making your blogging better from the inside-out!
make you money!
For this, we can do a NUMBER of things!
However, these ideas are mostly for the girlies who have already set-up and launched their Blog (checkout my blog post here if you would like to know how to launch a successful blog EASILY).
We can’t elevate something that doesn’t yet exist, am I right?!
If you already have a Blog, here is an intensive and specific LIST OF IDEAS for you to take your Blog to the next level; targeting different points of your blogging journey:
change your Blog over to Squarespace for a better aesthetic and less time spent on outdated and techy platforms like Wordpress.org (I can bet most of you girlies are on Wordpress.org as I once was also, as that’s what all online gurus tell us to do but fear not! Squarespace is the level-up you need for your Blog). Here’s a blog post going further into why I changed, and HOW I changed.
invest some time into BRANDING. Create a brand palette (set of colours that will be used all over your Blog, marketing, and brand), logo, and brand mission. This establishes your Blog as a BRAND, rather than any other blog. It sets you apart, makes you more memorable, and conveys more clearly what you are about, and finds your audience more efficiently!
AESTHETIC is worth your time. Many bloggers online will tell you to not bother with blog aesthetic or brand image, and to focus solely on content at the start, but I say you should take a little chunk of time for aesthetic! It will speed-up your growth, make your audience want to stay on your blog for longer, remember you better, and set the best impression you want to give (over a glitchy or dull-looking blog). Even if it means just a clean, simple look with a few photos - it makes a difference!
don’t just write, make your blog posts ENGAGING. Engagement is what will make your community want to stay on your content and navigate your wider Blog, for longer! Blogging is NOT just about what you write, but it’s about HOW you write, and HOW you convey your message across. To create more engaging blog posts, remember to spread your writing into short sentences and sections, add in photos and Pinterest boards, and a super cool one (I love!) is to add in gifs to add in extra personality and flare!!! This is how you will successfully CONNECT with readers, and consequently, CREATE a likeminded community.
social media is a MUST. This one might be obvious, but in case you haven’t thought of it - social media will help you get more eyes on your content and website! HOWEVER, be intentional with your strategy or goal behind each social media platform, since our time is precious and we need to be strategic with it!
be SPECIFIC with which social media you choose to promote your Blog on. For example, Pinterest is great for outbound clicks and inspiration, Instagram is great for community building and brand awareness, Twitter is great for brand awareness, Tiktok is a spectacular way to increase your reach and likelihood of going viral, Facebook is perfect to create groups and exchange support. I personally, and currently, only have a Pinterest but in-future I plan to expand my social media for inherFullEffect onto other platforms such as Instagram and Twitter (for brand awareness and building a community).
consider other forms of media to connect to your Blogging! You can LEVEL-UP your Blog, without doing anything particular ON your Blog. By this, I mean, looking at other forms of MEDIA such as audio or video. Not everyone enjoys or has the time to read blog posts, so diversifying your brand’s media TYPE, by creating a podcast or a Youtube channel, where you speak about things related to what you Blog about, helps “recruit” more people to recognise and connect with you and your brand! This can bring more people to your Blog, without it being directly through your Blog.
build an email marketing list from your Blog. Place a sign-up form on your Blog, where your community can exchange their email address for updates on when you post, a freebie or something else you may want to offer! The BENEFIT of doing this, is that you have a list you OWN. If social media and your blog platform were to disappear tomorrow, your email list is YOURS, and is something that creates financial security for yourself.
LESS IS MORE. I know you want to impress your audience and DO THE MOST, but sometimes doing the most is what is holding you back! If you have a lot going on, visually, on your blog homepage, and it isn’t easy on the eyes, it’s a good idea to cut-out a lot of the unnecessary elements on your Blog so you don’t overwhelm your audience! You want it to not be over-stimulating, so it can be more appealing to stay and explore your Blog through easier navigation. This way, you create an EXPERIENCE, rather than a quick pit-stop.
pitch yourself / guest-blogging! Don’t think just because your Blog hasn’t been monetised, that you can’t be making BIG MOVES. The way you decide to act and MOVE FORWARD with your Blog does NOT need to match the number of pageviews you currently have. PAUSE, AND READ THAT AGAIN. You are serious about blogging, right? So, you’re going to make it anyway! Pitching yourself, even if you have 2 pageviews in 30 days, can only bring you GOOD, and take your FURTHER, FASTER. Pitching yourself to major established blogs like HuffPost, for example, can get you MANY views and accessibility to different audiences who wouldn’t have known of you otherwise! It uses the HUGE TRAFFIC from these blogs to your advantage! Also, pitching does not need to be a HUGE, scary thing; it can simply be an email or filling out a form (depending on the requirements). Think of it like applying for a job - what’s the worst that can happen? Get rejected? Okay, we move onto the next. But, you would win a lot more if things go well!
add credibility to your homepage! As you grow and evolve your Blog, don’t forget to showcase your milestones throughout your Blog; whether it is in the blog posts you publish, or on you Blog homepage. For example, getting one of your blog posts accepted into major Blogs like HuffPost, is something that can bring you credibility, and increase the trust your audience has in you by associating your brand and Blog to other big reputable brands online. This is where you see a lot of bloggers use the “As seen on” banners on their Blogs.
increase the QUANTITY of content you publish. If you have already most of your Blog running and being promoted on social media, you may want to consider creating and posting more content so that Google can recognise and rank your Blog higher, so more people can find you more easily when searching on Google to related topics to your Blog. Of course, this one is dependent on your time availability and life circumstances but is something to invest time in, if you can! I, currently, publish one blog post per week, every week, but after giving birth, and the newborn months, I would like to take it up to 2 posts per week (after finding my feet again with life!).
learning to better your skill and knowledge of Blogging! This might be in the form of free learning on Youtube, or paid forms, such as online courses or reading books. I personally prefer to invest in free learning, UNTIL I feel I need that extra push in my Blogging level. This is something I would take-on when I feel like I have most of these ideas in-effect, and need that EXTRA something to really take my Blogging game to the NEXT LEVEL.
out of your comfort zone and into networking! Using events of like-minded bloggers in your area, joining online community groups, or directly contacting other Bloggers, can get you more AHEAD than you can ever imagine or plan for. Getting to know other girlies who also Blog, or earn money online in other ways, and have similar goals to you, places you in a position of OPPORTUNITY; opportunity to learn and exchange experiences and lessons WITHOUT having to go through them yourself, connections for potential partnerships, collaborations for mutual professional gain, or simply a new friendship that can serve to motivate you both in your Blogging journeys!
diversify your income streams! Instead of just blogging, start integrating other ways in which your Blog can make you more money in different ways, than originally desired, such as affiliate marketing! Adding in affiliate links (ethically - adding in disclaimers and policy into your Blog Footer) can help you earn money sooner, and earn MORE money over-time, specially in the early days. This can set you-up for earning money online before even making your first official pay-check of money earned blogging through Ad agencies!
freelance / ghost-blogging! Instead of guest-blogging, this would be a PAID way of blogging, however, this would be you blogging for another Blog. It would not directly imply that your Blog would be recognised or associated, however, the benefit here is that you would earn some money whilst growing your own Blog, but also perfect your skill of blogging with the more practice you implement!
brand outreach! I’m not joking when I say REACH FOR THE STARS. Only you can dictate the limit to your dreams. Reaching out to brands can be an amazing way to get your Blog partnering, getting paid or sent free products, or simply getting recognised by brands! If your Blog is small or even beginner, it may be that brands may not want to work with you or pay you, but it doesn’t hurt to try, and if you can try and explain why the brand would benefit from working with you (with predicted stat-growth or anything else you can think of) then this could be a GAMECHANGER to your Blogging journey and business; both financially and reach-wise. Be selective with what brands you reach-out to, make sure they resonate with your brand essence and values, and that your audience would benefit, as well as you.
brand photoshoot : position yourself . look like the part, act like the part, to BE the part. Also, this can simply be you hiring an aesthetic content studio for 2 hours and taking photos and videos for your blog website and social media, OR, even going to a cute café or somewhere outside and taking photos that fit your branding theme and vibe.
stand-out from the competition: observe, learn, take notes, and tale your stand. Whenever I hear about “competitor research”, it really is NOT my favourite, but when you run out of ideas, or have integrated most of the above, it can become your major vantage to really study how others in your niche or line of business, are getting to places that you want to get to. Chances are they might be sharing their own stats, journeys, and lessons; become the student and analyse whether you could try anything from their experience, that can kickstart you earning from blogging!
These ideas serve to inspire you and FILL YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL CUP, so you can feel fuelled by the vast amount of ways you can still up-level your blogging game!
Don’t let this overwhelm you, but instead let this be an exciting list of ways you are still YET to make your blog that much bigger, better, and PROFITABLE.
Even if you have little to no page views on your blog, let these ideas be a GUIDE to growth, and just know…
If you can still think of a few main ways your blog could be better, then odds are we still have some more learning to do until we can bridge that gap to becoming full-time bloggers and making an online income from our blogging passion!
PERSONALLY, when I look at this list of ideas, most of these I can still do to improve my own Blog, so don’t feel like it’s only you. We all start from ZEO, and work our way up!
The most important part of the journey is that we stay on-path to always evolve ourselves and our skillset, and as we go up, so will our Blogs!
Not everyone’s blogging path is as linear as “making money in your first year blogging”, I can say I am past 1-year and not there yet, but I come with my own unique set of skills, background and unique path that I cannot compare.
I may take a bit longer, but I will get there. And, so WILL YOU.
Own your Womanhood. Own your Time.
♡
I’ll be logging updates throughout this whole journey as a mother-to-be, working to be an entrepreneur, but to also still preserve the girlhood within, to try and be her best self, and live her happiest life, so keep-up with me through the blog!
I release a new blog post every Friday at 1pm! (UK-time)
Let me know if you’re in a similar headspace (pregnant or not), being in our 20s is confusing, and taking control of our story is the only way we can take ownership of our happiness and live out our dream life.
I document my unwanted pregnancy journey at 25, taking control of my narrative, figuring out being a girl in my 20s, chasing my dream life, and conquering my boss babe dream of becoming a self-employed, entrepreneur / Blogger!
