Better Blogging - Tips & Tricks

I've been blogging for almost a year and a half, and I'm no expert, but I happen to know a bit about it. (Why, what a surprise!)

I've made so many mistakes in blogging it isn't even funny. Hard-to-read fonts, ugly designs, bad grammar, pointless posts, begging for comments and followers, posting photos that weren't even related to my writing topics, too-long and too-short posts . . . The list could go on and on.

So - onto what not to do during your blogging experience (and believe me, I am posting these after learning the hard way!) - and I hope that you will find these tips helpful! ;)

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1. Post regularly. I prefer to post 2-3 times a week, because people will then visit a bit more frequently. I admit to being guilty to not posting often on my other blogs, but just try not to let your blog get dusty. Update regularly, and that way you'll get a lot more views!

2. Don't beg people to follow you. Some bloggers just beg you to follow their blog, and it's pretty annoying (that, my friends, being a major understatement)! If you want followers, try giving something away and give people the option to have an extra entry if they follow you (not just on your blog, but also Facebook, Etsy, whatever!).

If you want people to follow you, be very, very patient. I didn't get any followers for a looong time, and I got really down about it. Don't do what I did; just be patient and wait. In the meantime, try to make some interesting posts that people will want to read/have a reason to comment on. If you make posts that interest people, then they'll follow you to get updates of what you're going to post next!

3. Type properly/use a good font. One of the things that drives me C.R.A.Z.Y. is going to someone's blog and finding that their main font is a hard-to-read, tacky cursive font or something else that makes my eyes hurt just to look at! I usually don't read the posts because it's too hard to. Please just save those fonts for your post titles, blog title and/or sidebar titles, and leave it at that.

Go ahead and use whatever font you like, as long as it's easy to read.

And one last thing. Please,don't type like,this (if your space bar works, then use it), or plz dont type like this. Also! If you type like this, it gets annoying! I mean no one wants to see exclamation points all the time do they! Use only one exclamation point per paragraph please!

Thank you.

4. Keep your template clean. This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to blogging. Nothing bothers me more than a design that is either too messy or too crazy. There are too many blogs with ugly color schemes, huge headers, crazy, cluttered backgrounds, tons of useless buttons and gadgets on the sidebars, hard-to-read, unattractive fonts (referring to the point above), backgrounds and graphics that barely (or don't at all) match, and even posts with photos that don't coordinate properly.

Make sure to match up your backgrounds, headers (this counts for header collages, too - please do NOT mix up tons of random photos in those collages unless you're supposed to!), fonts, colors, patterns, etc. It's okay to go for an eclectic feel, just don't mash together a different background, header & sidebar whatnot with mixed-up colors + patterns. Just remember to keep it simple!

5. Finally, make things easy for your readers. When I say this, I mean your readers probably have wanted to search something on your blog in the past, so add a search gadget to your sidebar. Also, something really cool to add to your blog is Linkwithin. It goes beneath each of your blog posts and displays other posts that might include things you just posted about. It's a great to get people looking at your blog more!

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So, I guess that wraps it up. I hope you found these tips helpful! :) If you did, leave me a comment - I'd love to hear from you!

I hope you all have an awesome weekend! :)