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15 Tips To Make Your Blog Better

July 2, 2021

After hitting my one year anniversary of publishing my blog, I realize that I’ve learned A LOT that can help new bloggers and seasoned bloggers alike! These 15 Tips To Make Your Blog Better, ring true for any and every blog out there. Even though each person’s blog is different and each person’s audience is different we all have similar struggles in common. These tips, like short cuts to save you headaches and avoiding mistakes that cost time and money, have made my blog so much better! I hope they help you as much as they helped me!

***I’ll use my own examples throughout to give you a visual of what I’m talking about. If you click on them it will give you an idea of what your audience will see when they click on your own referral link for brands you use you work with.***

FYI : This page includes affiliate links, which means I might get a commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. This is what helps me work on the free content and freebies I produce for you guys, so thank you for that! Know that, I ONLY include what I use myself and stand behind 100% (learn more)

Even if you hate it, in this day and age social media is essential for bloggers. People want to see a face and form a bond with you in order for them to want to come back for more.

1 – Use the same content over and over. You may already have heard this one, but do you realize how easy it is to re-purpose content? For example, you film a Youtube video. Then, you can keep the audio and put it on a podcast. Then, you can edit out and save your bloopers to use on a compilation post, then edit your Youtube video down to single facts, THEN use all those facts in a series on TikTok. Then, repost it or do a visual version with just pictures on Instagram. There’s a number of apps you can use now to do this in a matter of seconds.

You can also post the same thing across all your platforms. Each platform attracts a different kind of audience. And, if your audience sees the same post twice, if anything they will give it a like on each platform they see it on.

Two of my favorites tools for repurposing and resizing content are Tailwind and Canva.

2 – Edit your videos outside of the social media platforms. You can do this on your phone in something like PicPlayPost or Filmora. When you edit it within the social media platforms, they always put their stamp on it when you save it. The algorithm in a rival platform will spot this and stunt your organic growth.

A way to avoid this is to screen record your draft with an app like Record It!.

Or, if you forget, you can use a site like Snaptik.app. (The only thing bad, is these kinds of apps and sites keep getting flagged and taken down so then you have to wait for the next one to pop up.) You then edit that video from within the social media platforms or on your phone. (Add hashtags, tags, and music/sound there so you don’t get copyright flagged. You also have better organic reach here because you will show up in multiple ways under those different search areas.)

3 – Follow the traffic. Why try to create traffic, when you can make a play off traffic that is already there. Like, why drive through a cornfield when there is already a paved road to follow?

Use trending sounds, appropriate hashtags, and make the most for SEO towards your exposure. Then, make sure everything funnels back to your blog. Remember, the whole point of using these platforms is to grow your audience and have them read your blog. You can even do snippets from your blog in a graphic photo or video’s description as a teaser/preview. Bait them with these platforms and hook them with your own content.

4 – Put your own spin on viral trends and viral articles. The whole point of trends is that people enjoy watching them or reading about them! Essentially it’s a hook for new eyes to see what you’re all about. It also shows your current audience you are in the know and are with the times. So if you do a trend, it will bring in new eyes to your blog! It’s the kind of content that won’t take much time to write and most trending videos are only 15 seconds. They will take up all of 5 minutes to create (unless it’s a viral dance because those take me hours and that’s why I barely ever do them! All for just one 15 second video.)

Don’t just copy it either. Make sure you put your own spin on it and make it your own. Even if it’s a simple article like these 15 Tips To Make Your Blog Better – maybe you one-up me and do 50 Tips or something or give me a shout out in an article about how these tips helped you. There’s so many spin-offs you can do!

On social, don’t be afraid to duet or repost a video you like either. If you like it, chances are that your audience will like it. You can just react to the video too and not add anything to it. The original creator gets a chance to have new eyes on their content as do you having tagged them in your duet. Oftentimes, when you repost someone’s video, THEY will repost YOUR repost in their stories.

5 – Take over your screen name everywhere. On every social media platform there is! You don’t have to use them all, but keep your name so that no one else can be you! There’s nothing worse than someone else saying or posting and it’s your name but it isn’t you. Your audience will get really confused and it will take a toll on your trustworthy-ness and legitimacy.

Taking over your name also helps you take over google. The first thing we do when we see someone interesting is google them. You don’t want just your blog to pop up as the only thing with your name on it. Having all your social media is one way to take over a whole page, but also use your social media to make connections with other bloggers and do guest posts. Use other blog sources (there’s a whole ton of them) where you can post similar articles to the ones you have. Get featured in local or national newspapers and magazines. Just take over google baby!

1 – Don’t quit your job! It costs money to make money! Just because you start a blog, doesn’t mean you should up and quit – even if you want to! The reality is that there is a lot of blogging competition. Chances are you won’t get rich overnight. You still need money to travel, or buy crypto to trade with, or buy essentials for your Etsy shop, or pay rent, and you especially need income to keep your blog online and alive once you publish it!

If I quit and started a travel blog but never travel because I didn’t have the money to – how much credibility do you think I’d have? Same if you blog about trading but the market drops 90% and now you don’t have that extra income, or you get an order for a product but you have no money to create it and ship to them, or rent’s due and you can’t pay. Always best to follow your dreams with somewhat of a safety blanket.

I cut down to two days at the restaurant, maybe you could cut down to part time, or work less hours, or work a job where you have less responsibilities, etc. It’s all about finding the time do work on your blog.

2 – Affiliates sound like a great idea, but just be careful. A lot of them have rules and regulations. For example, maybe you can’t get paid until you make at least $100 in commission and you only have a month to do it. Or, you have to post so often to stay as an active affiliate – so even if you make $75 you won’t get that $75 because you didn’t post enough.

Amazon Affiliates sounds great on paper, but the reality is a lot of things you may only make 40 cents off of. You really have to hustle daily to make this one worthwhile. Social media posts are great for this with the use of viral trending videos.

I say skip all the fine print and make your own money and your own commercials. Work directly with brands and make your own ad with your affiliate link on it. You can even rent out ad space to genre related products where you get a kick back on clicks on your blog if you want to!

A service like clickbank.com is great for this! You can choose a relevant product for the season or use a popular niche like travel or how to lose weight etc. Then, just make your own ad to put on your blog and boom, revenue.

There have been so many times where I just write an email in thanks when I get some really good information from a blogger, but if they had a donate button I could have sent them a tip – just like tipping at a restaurant for good service. Even a small tip can get someone a coffee or smoothie to keep them fueled to keep writing!

(Here are two examples that I made with Canva that I have done for my blog. Tailwind gives me a referral credit to my account that I can then use towards my own Tailwind account. I also have a Donate button at the bottom of every article so people have a way to give back.)

3 – Social media pays you to go live. As a “creator” you get a chance to make money as people view you. The price point varies across platform. Some have flat rates to “Go Live” for a set period of time. Most have tokens you can exchange for gift cards while others you redeem as cash. You can go live and do a Q&A, a top tips of the week, you can just talk to people about your day, whatever works! Experiment and have fun with it. Just make sure you tell your audience in advance so they tune in. Don’t go live during work hours because everyone is at work.

Keep in mind you can go live on two or more platforms at once! You just need a phone and your laptop. If you have a friend mediate, you can probably do even more. Either way, if you are live your profile jumps to the front of the watch screen because the apps know if you are live that it will keep people engaged on their platform – which is all they want!

4 – Make the most of Pinterest! It is basically Google with pictures. This is the first place people go for how-to videos and gift giving ideas. Google loves Pinterest as much as it loves Youtube! Use this platform by creating a how-to video or graphic, checklists, or whatever is creative that you can think of as informative click bait. You then link it back to your blog for the full instructions or free download etc.

If you need help with Pinterest check out any video by Anastasia Blogger’s Youtube – What Is Pinterest?

5 – Email list from day 1! This is really important! At any moment Instagram or TikTok or Pinterest etc can just crash – or you could get hacked. If you already have everyone’s contacts safely in your email list, it doesn’t matter. You are already engaging with them off of the app.

Think of it as if you are at a bar. There’s people you see there every week, but sometimes there’s a birthday or someone is sick so you don’t see them that week. It’s like being able to call that person on the phone, you have that direct link to them, even if they don’t go to the bar that week. It’s like you have already exchanged phone numbers and are officially friends.

Make sure you start an email list from day one. Even if you don’t have a website yet, just start collecting emails via your social media. Most services are free until you reach a certain number of subscribers which is usually 5,000 or so. It’s going to take you a while to get there so don’t worry about having to pay for the service down the road. You can always download your email list and easily transfer it to another service when the time comes to have to pay. I like Mailerlite and Mailchimp the most. They make it super easy to customize your emails, create funnels, and they also have an option to create a landing page which you can use before you have your official website up and running.

1 – Do your research before you pick your name. Unless you plan to become a celebrity or author etc, in my opinion it’s better to stick to words in your genre than your own name. Think SEO from the very beginning. For example, say your genre is gardening, narrow it down to flowers, then narrow it down to rose bushes, then come up with something catchy regarding rose bushes. As you grow you can always expand to more diverse articles and posts. People will come to you to learn about roses, that specific audience will grow and then as you interact with your following you will see other things people need help with that you have expertise on. Maybe it’s how to have the correct soil, or how to water your plants, or how you keep bugs away. Then it can expand to plants that partner best with roses etc etc. This will attract new audiences while also keeping your current audience entertained – all sticking to the same website and social media name.

Make sure NO ONE has the same name as your site’s. This is crucial! As we said before, someone else could post and your audience would think it is you. Not to mention if they already have the name copyrighted etc, they could take you to court. Make sure you check for hashtags too. If someone is already using the name you want in 100 posts with that hashtag, then that name is probably already taken somewhere by someone with not a strong social media following. Keep in mind, not everyone knows these 15 blogging tips all bloggers should know, so they may have messed up that basic tip of taking over their name on social media.

2 – Have disclaimers to cover any legalities. Legal stuff sucks, but it’s there for a reason. You don’t want anyone to copy your stuff. You also don’t want to get in trouble if someone takes your advice and it doesn’t work for them so now they want to sue you. Make sure all your disclaimers are lined up and done by a professional lawyer so that you don’t end up paying for it!

3 – Don’t think too much about it, just start and see what works! Don’t pysch yourself out! Stop making excuses! The reality is, especially when you’re first starting out, no one is going to care enough to steal your content because no one knows who you are. You can always delete what doesn’t work! One of the best tips I got was from Ryan Hogue (Youtube Channel about Passive Income), he told me no matter what I do it won’t matter if I don’t start it. He also reminded me that even if someone copies my blog, I have my own spin on it so my audience won’t leave because someone else has a similar idea. And, the whole point of putting out content is to help other people.

Now, if they start copying everything then it’s an issue, but otherwise when it comes to blogging just keep writing and keep talking about things you’re passionate about! You may talk about something today that doesn’t seem relevant but next month it could be! You could go viral over one post. It happens all the time. So the more content you have on your blog, the longer they will stay on your site. All it takes is one piece of content to attract success and then it’s up to you to keep it going!

4 – Engage with your audience! This is so important! If someone comments, answer them back. Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question. You never know who will read the comment and follow you just from your response to it. In the same fashion, like people’s content and comment on people who follow you. Engage with them.

Someone may see your comment from their audience and follow you as well, or read your latest blog article. Engagement also boosts you in all the algorithms everywhere, Google, social media, all over. The more your name shows up, the more domain authority you will have. People will also see you as a person with expertise and a personality and not just an article writer.

5 – Take a course – always be learning! Don’t know what you’re doing? Do your research! Check out articles and watch Youtube videos. There’s so much free information out there to expand your knowledge. However, once you narrow down your genre and have it all figured out, now is your time to launch. To be successful you have to know what you’re doing! If you don’t then it’d be worth the money to take a course.

I’m not saying you have to spend $100, there are a number of options out there after you find someone you vibe with and feel you can learn from. Instead of paying for a service to create your basic website aesthetic, use that money to learn how to do it yourself!

Especially as a blogger, you’re going to have to learn some tech stuff, so save yourself the time and money learning it later down the road – and trying to move all of your content into this new format – by learning from a professional who walks you through step by step!

I never would have known how much plugins take up your loading time, or even the importance of loading time. I took Anna Sok’s course and she also says which ones are the most effective. Also the size of your images counts too and there are a number of ways to shrink them. All these basic steps will mess you up if you don’t know how to do them! Plus, there’s nothing worse than waiting for your content to get posted or waiting a week for someone to get it back to you.

So learn it the right way so that you can post often and don’t need a third party just to put a up a blog post! What’s trending today probably won’t be trending next week! So get it out there as soon as you have an idea!

Set up pillars for when you aren’t motivated. The reality is as much as we love our blogs, we are not going to be motivated every day to do something. Just like anything else in life. That being said, plan ahead so that you aren’t struggling daily to think of things to post about. Have idea boards and prep. Work on a number of articles at the same time (just make sure you eventually finish them!) You can always repost other people’s content or give your opinion on their content as long as you give them credit. Here are some pillars I use.

Take advantage of auto-posters. There are so many free services it’s crazy! Some apps like Pinterest now even have their own internal schedulers so you can plan ahead. It’s important to keep the momentum going. There is always new competition coming up all around you trying to get your audience’s attention. If you don’t do something for your audience to see, they will forget who you are by the time they see your next post. They’ll be like, why did I even follow that person in the first place, I forget. I’m not saying you have to post 5 times a day like some of these algorithms want you to do, but at least post once a week minimum. Stay relevant.

I know this was a lot of information to digest!

If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments because someone else may have the same questions or email me at emily@travelandledger.com!

I hope you make all the money with your own blog!

My Favorite Blogging Shortcuts I Use

Tailwind– Great For Autoposting – Free Version For 30 Posts A Month
Canva – Great for resizing, animating videos, and diverse stock photo library. I use this for all the graphics you see me do including Pinterest and Instagram posts!
PicPlayPost – Easy video editor with resizing capabilities.
Filmora – Great video editor with a number of animation capabilities and text editor.
Kapzilla – Easy captions auto generator.

My Favorite Courses I Took

Anna Sok – How To Make Your Blog (Step – By – Step Tech Setup)
Jessie On A Journey – Travel Blogging Tips

My Favorite Blogging Tools I Use

Bluehost – Great affordable hosting and 24/7 customer service.
Elementor – Drag and drop editing for WordPress. Diverse collection of templates. Makes blogging so easy. No tech experience or coding needed. 24/7 customer service with Pro.

If you want even more tips to help you monetize your blog, check out my latest article here.

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