Top 10 Blogging Tips

Iv'e been meaning to do this post for a while now but I didn't because I thought I wasn't qualified enough. Have I been blogging long enough to give tips?

What the heck. This is my blog and I'll do what ever I want! That's more like it!

So in no particular order of importance (I just wrote these down as they came to me) here are my top blogging tips.

1. Contact Details: Make sure the 'contact me' section of your blog is up to date and that you use an email address that is checked on a regular basis. It has happened to me quite a few times where I have contacted a blogger only to be told a month later that they don't use that email address any more. 
2. Promote: Don't be afraid to promote yourself. Unless you have a billion followers or blog about a topic that a many people will be searching for you are not going to get many visitors reading your post. You have to build your audience and the only way to do that is to promote yourself. Here are a  few places you can promote your blog: Twitter, Facebook, HelloCotton, Instagram, Pinterest.
3. Update: Check the links in your posts every couple of months. Sometimes I may link another blog or an item on a website and then three months down the road the owner of the blog might have deleted it or the item I have linked doesn't exist any more. This means you are diverting your readers to noting which is a waste of their time and might lead them to unfollow...ek
4. Turn it off: Most people know what this is about. I'm here to tell you that word verification is THE most annoying thing on the planet! Turn it off, stop it...take it away! The amount of times I have written out a comment, pressed comment and the page then refreshes. In my mind my comment has been posted but OH BLOODY NO the word verification pops up. Sometimes I see it and attempt to fill it in and other times I forget and think my comment has been posted and I close the page. Ever wonder why you don't GET many OR any comments on your posts?? 
5. Follow: The previous tip leads me onto this one. PLEASE do yourself a favour and follow Ellie. Her blog can teach your everything you need to know about making your blog the best it can be. She has a fantastic post showing you step by step how to turn off word verification HERE.
6. Adverts: This is more of a personal preference. I don't know about you but when I see a blog with adverts under the the banner, down the sidebar, under each post, at the end of the post and in-between each post I get a bit dizzy. I don't like clutter and not only that they are designed to catch your attention so its only natural that they can be distracting. Do you want your readers to read your post or an array of adverts. It's up to you but try keep them to a minimum. 
7. Communicate: Make an effort to get to know your readers. They take time out to read your blog so you should take the time to check out there's. If that don't have a blog find out if they are on twitter. They obviously share the same interests as you if they follow your blog so communicating will not be a problem. 
8. Strenghts: Find out what your strengths as a blogger are and use them to their full potential. I know I have the worst spelling in the world but I take good quality photos so more often than not you will notice I write very little in my posts and my pictures do most of the talking. I tend to say what I need to say without waffling. Less waffle = less spelling/grammar mistakes!
9. Comfort Zone: Don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone. Just because you consider your blog to be all about fashion that doesn't mean you can't blog about anything else! I love seeing what other interests the people I follow have. In saying that I'm not a fan of people setting up numerous blogs for each interest, it gets confusing for me. Why not have it all on one blog?! 
10. Have fun: Don't get caught up in views and stats. Blog because you want to. Don't feel pressured into posting so many times a week/month. One thing I will never understand is when bloggers constantly apologise for not posting in so long (most of the time its only been a few days or two weeks). We know you have a social life its okay to take a break. 

There you have it, my top ten blogging tips. Let me know in the comments below if you found any of them helpful.

Love,

Sarah