Need some blogging tips to ramp up your blog?
I started Twins Mommy over a year ago, and sometimes I feel like I’m still in the new blog phase. I’m still learning, growing and figuring out this whole blogging thing.
Is that you?
If only there were some sort of guide to reference on blogging tips for new bloggers…
🙂 Yes, this post will have 30 blogging tips and tricks just for YOU mama! Lessons learned from a “pro” blogger.
If you’re thinking about starting a blog, I have a handy step-by-step tutorial on starting your first blog!
30 Blogging Tips for Beginners
1. Love What You Write About
So you know blogging can make you money, right? But, there’s no point in trying to monetize your blog if you have no passion behind it. If you hate what you’re writing about, then no one’s going to read your posts and share them.
Blogging is a creative outlet, and it’s a great way to show your personality and get your voice out there. That’s why I have two blogs! And why I freelance and get paid to blog!
I LOVE blogging. I love the topics I write about, and it shows with the engagement I get with comments and social shares.
Now, I know for many of us, we lose that love and start thinking that blogging is too hard, there’s not enough time, and you just want to quit.
This happens to all of us. I take blogging breaks all the time. Just make sure you let your followers know! Just recently I haven’t written a post for Twins Mommy or sent an email to my list.
So, I had to apologize to my followers.
Sometimes you need to step out and fill your cup with other things like riding a bike, exercising, cooking, spending the day with your family or just soaking in a bubble bath.
Use that time to re-energize, because blogging is a journey. There are many different phases of it, and it all boils down to loving what you are writing about!
2. Focus on Helping Others
There are so many reasons why people start a blog. From wanting to tell their story to wanting to connect with others in the same place as them to educate others.
Whatever the reason is behind blogging, with this blog tip try to focus on helping others. People go online to search for an answer to a question or solve a problem they are having.
Wouldn’t it be great if your blog was the answer?
And you know what happens when you start helping others?
- People will share your posts
- People will comment more
- People will follow you and connect with you
You’re growing your readership this way!
3. Have a Big Plan
In the beginning, your whole time is learning about blogging. You need to figure out how to blog basically! Then there’s the whole thing about social media and emailing and then monetizing.
But, after all that, and after you’ve figured some things out, you need to look at the big picture.
Ask yourself, why did you start a blog and where do you see your blog in five years? Look at the long-term projection of your blog to see the end purpose.
This can really help you focus on your niche and content. Knowing the overall plan makes blogging and accomplishing goals easier.
I didn’t have a big plan with I started Twins Mommy. I figured I would blog about being a WAHM with small children and connect with other moms.
It took a bit of time to think about why I wanted to start Twins Mommy as it was time-consuming to grow a new blog. I decided I wanted to monetize my blog and try traditional blogging monetization methods like affiliate marketing to see if I could earn an income.
I also focused on growing my email list as I know that the best way to connect with your audience is through that 1:1 correspondence. By helping my subscribers, they ultimately help me with how to serve them on my blog.
Finally, I realized that I wanted to create a product for my Twins Mommy audience. It’s in the works right now so crossing fingers it gets done!! 🙂
4. Figure Out Your Brand
As a new blogger, you’re going to start developing your brand. Your brand as a blogger means your personality, your voice, your visual things like your blog and graphics and the overall mood you want to convey when someone stops on your site.
I knew early one I wanted Twins Mommy to be a fun place that moms can come to and learn about blogging, emailing and growing their income.
I wanted my brand to be bright and bold and filled with a modern and young mama!
But, this took time to develop. So, for you, first look at the visual elements, then your voice and then the mood.
5. Make Time to Blog
This may sound like an easy blog tip, but as a busy mom, it’s hard!
There’s very little time to blog in my schedule. I have client work and my own projects – my Elna Cain blog, Twins Mommy, moderating the other blogs, and my courses.
When my twins were four years old they stopped don’t napping. The only real time to blog for me was at night when my twins were sleeping. Sure, I can get up in the morning before them, but I’m using that time to exercise.
Making time to blog is hard. Right now I block 20 minutes 4x a day during the day to do social media, answer emails, outline blog posts and work on graphics. This is a take on the Pomodoro technique.
If you want to take blogging seriously, you’ll find the time!
6. Don’t Be Afraid to Niche Down
One of the best tips on blogging for business is the idea of niching down.
Do you have a niche? No? Shame on you! I kid 🙂
But, really, having a niche is important if you want to start building an audience and income. If you go too broad with your niche, you run the risk of having everybody come to your blog but nobody sticking around. If you niche down too much, then you can’t grow your audience as there is no audience!
So, what do you do? For me, I picked a demographic niche. This means I tailor my content for a demographic – stay-at-home moms and mom bloggers.
Everything I talk about on Twins Mommy focusses on them. My niche is still varied and not entirely niched down, but so far it’s working for this blog.
My Elna Cain blog is entirely niched down to brand new freelance writers (or those thinking about it). All my content focusses on helping them get a handle on freelance writing.
Niching down is a good thing as you can find an audience, create a product for them (or offer a service) and write for them.
Well, let’s go through an exercise. Say you want to write about yoga.
This is a big topic. Let’s think about your audience and what type of person are you going to reach? Maybe it’s working moms or college students or moms who just had their babies.
So, you pick yoga tips for new moms.
BOOM! There’s your niche. See how that works?
7. Have a Content Plan
One of the best blogging tips is having a big plan. There’s a lot of planning when you blog mamas!!
But, the important thing is having a content plan. What the heck are you going to write about? For me, I like to have at least a months worth of topics developed.
This helps me whip out these posts and not worry about what to write about next. Do you have a content plan or do you blog by the seat of your pants? Come on, no shame now! 🙂
8. Don’t Be Afraid to Self-Promote
I have a confession to make:
I do a lot of self-promoting! There I said it! But, you know what? I’m also sharing other people’s content too!
I do ultimately share more of my content, but I do have two blogs, I guest post and have client work so my schedule filled with varied content that’s written by me.
If you’re a new blogger, go ahead and promote your posts frequently. Don’t pass on these promotional ideas for your business blogging tips.
Now, if you only have four posts, then, of course, you have to share other people’s content until you have enough of your own.
But, that’s not to say you can’t create multiple pins for one post? 😉 This is a way to “look” like you have a lot of posts.
9. Use Social Media Groups to Share Your Posts
One of the best blogging tips I learned early on, was to find the places where my audience hung out. And for many of us, that’s on social media!
In the beginning, you’re going to have to rely on social media to get traffic back to your blog. It’s just a fact. Getting ranked in Google takes time (like 3-6 months or more), so it’s best to get started with social media.
I like to focus on only a couple, like Facebook and Pinterest.
And you know what? I have a Facebook group for moms! Come join us!
10. Learn to Adapt to New Things
Change is a-coming!
I’ve been blogging collectively for three years now, and so many new things and tools have cropped up. It’s something you have to do as a new blogger. And if you want to be a successful blogger? Adopt the 5-hour rule – devote one hour a day to learning.
Learning can take the form of:
- Blog posts
- Books
- Facebook groups
- Courses
- Forums
- Conferences
- Meetups
For me, I do most of my learning via reading blog posts. My freelance writing niche is digital marketing, so if I have a post on a topic I don’t know much about or need to reference more, I research and learn.
As a new blogger, taking a course and reading a blog is a great way to learn about new tools, practices, and strategies!
11. Be Authentic
Let me tell you something about these tips for blogging:
As a new blogger, it’s very easy to copy someone’s blogging voice. You spend hours reading blogs and then spend hours on one blog and reading all of those blogger’s posts and guess what?
That blogger’s personality and blogging voice will rub off on you, and when you start to blog, you aren’t true to yourself as you should be. I should know! When I started Twins Mommy, I was a little bit more exuberant than what I’m really am in real life…
But, I had been reading other blogger’s blogs and adapting their verbiage.
I soon started to find my own blogging voice for Twins Mommy.
This is a critical blog tip.
It takes time to find your blogging voice. You may be the friend type of blogger that’s nurturing and inspiring; you may be the teacher type of blogger that is more logical and step-by-step in their posts. Or, you might be the fun blogger that’s filled with funny and witty comments in their posts.
Whatever type of blogger you are (I have no clue what type of blogger I am! I hope I’m a partly funny and engaging writer!) honor it and make it known that that’s YOU!! And stick to it!!
12. Get Inspiration From Others
One thing you’ll notice as a new blogger is that there are such amazing blog posts out there and you’re like, I want to write about that!
Then you write it, but it’s practically a dupe. You don’t mean to, but you’re new, and you’re still learning about the art of blogging.
Remember this about successful blogging tips: when finding a topic you like and want to write about, you can totally write about that, but…..the important thing to remember is to infuse your own life and experience in that post.
Change the angle, tell a story or put your own mark on it. For example here are several Pinterest type posts I’ve written on other blogs. They are all about using Pinterest as a marketing tool but based on the audience; each post is very different.
- 3 Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List on Pinterest
- How to be Pin-Tastic: Automate Your Content Marketing
- The Only Tools You Need to Dominate on Pinterest (And Drive Thousands of Visitors a Month)
This application is the same idea with your Pin graphics too! You can be inspired by other bloggers’ pins and create your own brand with your pins.
For example, this pin by Drink Coffee and Prosper caught my eye.
I liked how there was no text box and that the font was larger than my pin graphics. So, I started changing my pin to reflect this new thing I liked. This pin inspired me only, and I ran with it.
So get inspired 🙂
13. You’ll Get Shiny Object Syndrome
Every blogger gets this. It’s a symptom of being a blogger or entrepreneur.
Every little new thing catches your eye and attention, and you’ll go down a rabbit hole for weeks! For me it can be any new topic like podcasting, Facebook groups, Pinterest (!!!!!), Facebook Live (!!!), webinars, giveaways, course creation, monetizing, learning WordPress, the list can go on and on.
I sit there and spend hours learning about the new thing on Twitter and then HAVE to do it right there and then. I mean, don’t worry that I have deadlines for client projects…this Twitter hack has to be done, mama! lol..
After three years of blogging, I’ve learned to put the blinders on and focus on one (or two) things at a time. It’s a bit harder for me since I do have a lot of projects – Elna Cain, Twins Mommy, client posts, Freelancer FAQs and course creation.
So, you might be interested in doing 30 new projects, but just be careful. Focus on the things that will grow your traffic and income ultimately…Lead acquisition and sales are important for mompreneurs being successful.
14. And then FOMO
Oh yes, when you are done with the shiny object syndrome, you start missing out on all those amazing new things from other bloggers, and FOMO sits in. What’s that you ask?
Fear Of Missing Out.
It hits hard and itches and gets you uptight. You WANT to watch that free webinar that’s three hours long…not write that email funnel…you WANT to check out this masterclass from this big uber blogger…not write that course lesson…
Yup…been there..have done that.. a lot! So, it will happen to you too 🙂
15. Start Your Email List
Remember that reason of why you wanted to start your blog? Well, an email list supports that why every time. Building your email list should be a priority early on in your blogging journey. To connect with your readers is invaluable you know. They can help you carve your blog and focus on your niche and audience.
And, if you nurture your list is amazing and personal emails, you can help them with products later on. For most bloggers, their email list is their #1 way to make money.
There are many free options to start your email list – MailChimp and MailerLite are great email service providers – but, if your blog is your business, you need an email service provider to help you with your biz, and that’s ConvertKit.
16. Get Down With Affiliate Marketing
A blog tip you’ll hear a lot is to start doing some affiliate marketing.
This is only because there are thousands of pins that tell you how easy it is to make thousands of dollars with your blog! Even I’ve done it!
When you dip your feet into this topic, you’re going to find out about affiliate marketing. It’s one of the easiest ways to start making money with your blog. It may not be a lot in the beginning, but it’s something to build on.
The easiest way to become an affiliate marketer is to promote tools and services that you use such as your web blog hosting, social media automation tool, email marketing service and more.
17. Maybe Also Offer a Service
Okay. So, if you really want to make money with your blog, consider also offering a service! If you have knowledge in a topic like Pinterest graphics, business, blogging or anything really (newborn sleeping, health, and wellness, exercising, etc…), then you can be a coach online!
You can also offer blog writing too! I’m a freelance writer, and that’s how I was introduced to the world of blogging. I quickly made my first $1k and was able to make a full-time income by writing part-time! Ah-mah-zing!
I know other people who made money as a virtual assistant. So, there’s a lot of ways to offer a service!
18. Grow Your Social Media Presence
One thing I learned quickly is that if you want shares and comments, get on social media! For me, Facebook is THE place to get engagement on this blog.
Most of my comments come from Facebook users. Most of my shares come from Pinterest. So, I focus on these two platforms to share my blog.
I also use Twitter and LinkedIn – but that’s mostly for my other blog, Elna Cain. I do share my Twins Mommy posts on Twitter, however, and it’s my third referral for traffic.
Try not to be everywhere online – Instagram, Snap, StumbleUpon, etc.. You’ll spread yourself too thin trying to attract different bloggers. And, it’s easier to grow your following when you only have one or two social media profiles.
19. Get to Know Your Community
Your community is the people who come to your blog, subscribe to your list and share your posts. They comment, email you and are in the same Facebook groups as you.
These are your peeps, and you should get to know them! By networking with them, you’ll learn what they want and need help with.
When I first started Twins Mommy, I knew no one in the mom blog niche. I had to just find them on Pinterest and Facebook. I was able to meet so many amazing mom bloggers over this past year! This has really helped me grow my brand and reach more bloggers.
20. Have Beautiful Graphics
If you’re on Pinterest, then you need some attracting graphics to get more people interested in your blog. I know; it’s totally superficial, but having a beautiful image totally helps with getting the right people to your blog.
The first step to creating beautiful graphics are the images themselves! Here are three posts filled with free stock photos:
- 18 Places for Free Girly and Styled Stock Photos
- 17 More Places for Free Styled and Chic Stock Photos
- 35 Best Places for Free Feminine and Styled Stock Photos
21. Write Actionable & Informational Posts
I learned this blog tip as a freelance writer!
One thing to start getting people to your blog is to write posts that they want. What does your ideal reader want to know about or learn or find a solution to?
Once you can tap into that, you can create a ton of blog posts. Let’s pretend I have a blog for moms that want to be fit. I can think of a lot of problems they want to solve or learn about:
- how to fix diastasis recti
- how to exercise with a little baby
- quick and healthy meals for a busy mom
- getting the motivation to keep going fit as a new mom
From here, you can write actionable and informative posts to help your readers.
22. Pay Attention to SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it’s what will help you rank on Google. Most people use Google to search for topics, products, and problems. Wouldn’t it be nice to have your post answer that question?
As a new blogger, it’s not necessary to position your blog for SEO, but you do need to acknowledge it and understand it. Using long tail keywords (a string of multiple words like “breastfeeding tips for a colic baby”) is better than trying to rank for “breastfeeding.”
And make sure you are writing for your audience and not for Google.
23. Always Think About Your Audience
I keep circling back to your audience, but they are the reason why you blog and have shares, comments, and traffic! 🙂 Treat them well.
This means always thinking of them and how your blog can serve them. You want your blog to be a place for information, motivation, inspiration and empowerment. If you blog or want to do affiliate marketing or sponsored posts or run ads, always think if it will help your audience first. You don’t want to ruin that relationship by marketing all the time.
24. Pick a Role Model to Learn From
There will always be other bloggers that are five steps ahead of you and more successful than you. Instead of avoiding them, learn from them.
Learn how they are growing their blog, email list or just networking with their readers. Email them and ask them questions. I lean on other mom bloggers if I have a technical question or want to know something. We are all in this together!
25. Have an Easy to Navigate Blog
Always make sure your blog is inviting for your audience instead of alarming. If you have big advertisements, a pop-up or big scroll mat coming down, it’s a bit jarring for readers. At least for me.
When laying out your blog, think about your reader and what they will focus on. Is your sidebar full of ads or links to free guides or a form to sign up to your email list?
Do you have follow me buttons and a blurb of who you are so people know immediately what your name is and story? I like blogs that are more inviting and friendly that way!
26. Be BFF with Pinterest
Pinterest has been the biggest driver of traffic for my blog. I’ve grown my followers from 600 to 9.1k followers in one year, grown my email list from 0 to over 3k and my affiliate income for this blog is holding around $2k/month. Pinterest helped me do all of that 🙂
I mentioned group boards earlier, and this was a great way to grow your brand and reach new bloggers. If you’re not on Pinterest, get on mamas!
27. Don’t Get Down on Yourself When Others Succeed…and You Don’t
Look, all the blogging tips you learn won’t help you unless you change your mindset.
I started Twins Mommy a year ago, and there are other bloggers that started later than me that are doing a thousand percent much better than me.
That used to bother me… A LOT…but now? I’m so focused on my business and growth that I don’t listen to that noise anymore. There’s no point.
You need to figure out your plan and goals and not follow other people’s plan. When you do this, you WILL succeed 🙂
28. When Blogging Becomes a Chore, Take a Break
Blogging is a creative thing, mamas! If you don’t have your creative cup full, it’s hard to write a blog post. You have nothing to give!
When blogging becomes less of a passion and more of a chore, it’s time to take a break. You can stop blogging or get guest posters to blog for you, or it might mean blogging less frequently.
I go in spurts with Twins Mommy because I have my other blog and manage more blogs. I have to spread my creativeness across multiple blogs, so I do the best I can! I still LOVE blogging and getting to know my readers, but when I have nothing to give, I just don’t blog or email my list. I typically come back the next week (and I’m always on social media) 🙂
29. It’s OK to Pivot
You have a new blog and you’re excited. You write some posts and after a while, you’re sick of it. No comments, no shares and you’re bored writing these posts in this niche.
Don’t succumb to your blog! It’s okay to change it all up and pivot. Big bloggers have done this.
30. Blogging is a Journey
The last blog tip!
Every month you blog, you’ll learn a bazillion new things. You’ll succeed doing some things, and fail miserably doing others. That’s okay because you learn from your mistakes and you keep going.
Blogging is a journey!
Quick Tips for Blogging on WordPress
Starting a blog can be a life changer!
And if you are blogging on WordPress here are some quick tips:
- It’s okay to choose a free WordPress theme – I like Astra
- Become familiar with the WordPress editor and Gutenberg blocks to customize your blog and posts
- Use a plugin like EWWW to compress and optimize your blog images.
- Use an anti spam comment system for managing your comments – I like Akismet
- When starting a blog change your permalinks to your blog name (not numbers or dates)
Guest Blogging Tips
Let’s explore blogging tips for guest blogging. Guest blogging refers to having your blog post published on someone else’s site.
Over the years I’ve guest posted on Thrive Global, HuffPo, Just Breathe Mama Coach and more.
By guest posting you are reaching a new audience and developing your backlink profile for SEO.
Let’s look at some quick guest blogging tips:
- Always guest post on sites with a higher DA (domain authority) than yours. You can check how “popular” a blog is by going to Similar Web.
For example, here is Scary Mommy’s write up on Similar Web.
- When pitching your blog post topic, don’t use that same topic for several pitches. You might run into several guest sites wanting that blog topic and you can’t give them dupe content.
- Make sure to share your guest post to your audience and create graphics for your guest posts to help get people to it. This creates “social chatter” and help that guest post rank.
- Only guest post if you get an author bio. If you don’t get an author bio there is no point in guest posting.
- Only guest post for free. Don’t pay to guest post!
Daily Blogging Tips
These 30 blogging tips are awesome and all, but what you can you every single day to grow your blog?
Check out these quick daily blogging tips you can do in 5 minutes or less:
- Create a pin – use a Pin template to make the process easier
- Answer an email
- Comment on a blog post
- Respond to comments on a blog post or social media
- Post on Instagram an educational post about your latest blog post
- Outline a blog post
- Do keyword research for a few blog posts
There ya go! Blogging tips from a pro blogger. I hope you liked them!
Go out there, blog, share and grow!
Over to you – what’s the best tip you received as a new blogger?
I created an infographic to help you out! I would love it if you Pinned it!
Need More Help Growing Your Blog Traffic? Check Out Ready Set Blog For Traffic
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