In three years +, blogging has given me so much I’m grateful for. Things that I never expected when I wrote my first post. I’ve written about how blogging is like therapy for me, I’ve been asked to review some wonderful products, have captured big and small moments in Ava’s life, been invited to great events in different countries, but also most of all I’ve met some fabulous new friends. So, with all this in mind, I thought I’d share some bitesized blogging tips that I have learned along the way.
![50 Blogging Tips You Need In Your Life [Revamped]](https://youbabymemummy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/50-Blogging-Tips-You-Need-In-Your-Life-Revamped.png)
Here are 50 blogging tips you NEED in your life
1. Install the editorial calendar plug in. For me it’s vital to visually see my posts in a calendar format. This plugin allows you to drag and drop posts. Your drafts are at the side and can be easily dropped in.
2. Schedule tweets. There’s no point in writing a great post and then not promoting it or just tweeting it out once. If you can imagine a timeline with 3000 people’s tweets on it, that one tweet isn’t going to be seen. In the past I have used Buffer and Twuffer, but I now use Social Oomph. I pay a small amount (couple of dollars a week) and there are no limits. I can set a schedule i.e tweet every four hours forever, or tweet every 3 hours x 10 times, whatever I choose. This saves me so much time inputting. When you’re scheduling remember the times when you are asleep but the US is awake!
3. Create twitter lists. I follow about 4k people and if i didn’t have lists then I would miss most of the tweets I want to see. So I created a few different lists and I add to these lists when I have interaction with people.
4. Evergreen old post scheduler. This is a WP plug in that posts links to your old blog posts on Twitter. It’s fully customisable, you can pick the frequency, categories, tags and age of post. I set it to tweet on the hour, any post older than 30 days.
5. Draft posts – if you have an idea for a post or get booked to write a post create a draft. You can then develop it and thrash ideas out, but the post is there and you won’t forget about it.
6. Social sharing- make it easy for people to share your posts. I have sharing options at the end of each post, courtesy of a plug in. MAKE SURE YOUR TWITTER HANDLE IS IN THE TWEET THAT POPS UP IF SOMEONE SHARES YOUR POST TO TWITTER!
7. Pictures. Pictures grab the readers attention and help tell your story. I rarely (if ever), publish a post without a picture. They also help break up the text, a huge chunk of text can be off putting to the reader.
8. Pinnable images. This won’t always be possible, but where appropriate, try to create pinnable images. Portrait images (optimum size 735 x 1002) with an enticing title over-layed. Think of what would make you pin something.
9. Use your networks. Promote post via all your available networks. Be creative use Instagram stories, Youtube or even Facebook Live!
10. When installing a plug in, check when it was last updated and try to install ones that have been updated within the last few months, ideally weeks.
11. Join in with linkies. This will help you build relationships with other bloggers and give your post more exposure. I have a comprehensive list of linkys – the Linky List, which will help you get started.
12. If you want to work with a particular brand/company, just email them, what’s the worst that can happen. You never know you might get lucky! I once secured my BritMums Live sponsorship from a speculative DM on Twitter.
13. Sharing is caring. If you like a post, why not share it as well as leaving a comment? The blogger will really appreciate it.
14. If you don’t use a plug in delete it (don’t just deactivate it) and make sure all the active ones are kept up to date.
15. Use Hashtags when tweeting, or posting to Instagram, to help you reach a wider audience. Remember hashtags don’t work on Pinterest, so don’t waste your time including them. Use two on Twitter (per post) and the max 30 on Instagram.
16. Blog Clubs – If you want to get more involved in the community and receive more comments, then consider joining in with a blog club or commenting group/pod on Facebook/Instagram. It’s an investment of time, as you have to comment on all the other posts, but it’s a good way to build your community.
17. Pic Monkey – I used to edit most of my pictures with Pic Monkey. It’s really user friendly, has a free version and can do quite a lot.
18. Lightroom – I now use Lightroom to edit my images. Lightroom is awesome and costs $9 per month.
19. Stay true to yourself and your voice. Other bloggers will do things differently, some better, some worse. Just stay focused on what you want to write and how you want your blog to look.
20. Run giveaways – giveaways can help bring additional traffic to your blog. I use Gleam on all the giveaways I run, which allows you to customise the entry requirements. Bear in mind although giveaways bring traffic, they might not lead to an increase in readers who will come back to support your blog.
21. Canva is a free picture editing and graphic website, that is great if you fancy a change to Pic Monkey and don’t feel ready for Lightroom.
22. Plan general posts depending on the time of year. Think what do people want that month – i.e in January they want bargains, resolutions and to lose weight/eat healthier. October time could be good for starting Christmas planning posts. Also look for Nationals days, as you may be able to tie a post in with one of those.
23. Re-purpose an old post. Update the SEO, make it prettier, re format it if necessary or maybe offer it as a guest post.
24. Use Related Posts or Shareaholic plug in. Which place thumbnails of similar post on the bottom of each post.
25. Make sure your blog is mobile friendly. Have a look at it on your phone to double check things are where they should be.
26. Write about what’s trending if it interests you (Twitter, Google, Yahoo homepage will show trends).
27. Check your post twice before publishing. We’re all human, but spelling mistakes look awful.
28. Include a call to action or question at the end of a post. It might improve shares or help start a conversation.
29. Readability – Is your font easy to read, does the background make this difficult? Try to keep things simple and clean. Handwritten style fonts are often harder to read.
30.’ Top ten’s’, ‘How to’s’ and recipe posts always go down well and are very pinnable.
31. Back up your blog! I use the WP All in One Security plug in.
32. Facebook Page – Try to engage your Facebook fans, not just post blog links. Create a community.
33. SEO – Optimise your posts so that people can find them. I use the Yoast Plug in, which is super easy to use.
34. Try to meet other bloggers face to face. It will help you to build relationships and you will learn lots.
35. Try to make your titles attention grabbing. Odd numbers are good and create intrigue if possible.
36. Make it easy for people to comment on your post. Try it yourself and see how it works. Captcha can put people off, so can systems that require people to log in and authorise apps.
37. Post regularly and if you go away schedule posts, tweets and other updates, so things keep moving in your absence.
38. Write a personal ‘About’ page with a picture. People are inquisitive and like to put a face to the name!
39. Write a series of posts. That way you will encourage people to visit you again for the next instalment.
40. Make your pictures as large as your template allows. Large pictures are more aesthetically pleasing.
41. If you’re serious about your blog, move to self-hosted. You have more control over the appearance and can earn money when you are self-hosted (if you wish!).
42. Install Akismet – it will monitor your spam.
43. Link to another of your posts in any new post.
44. Have a spare post. That way if you are due to publish a post, but haven’t written one, you can pop in your spare.
45. Start building your email list, so important as it’s the only list of followers you actually own.
46. Install Jetpack (Self hosted WP Plug in). This gives you all the features that WP blogs have automatically, so your editing area will look like it did before you went self hosted.
47. Consistent profile picture. Use a personal picture (not a logo) and make sure it is the same picture across all platforms.
48. Your contact details. Make sure people can quickly and easily find your email and your twitter handle. If they have to spend too long looking, they may not bother.
49. Examine your stats to find out what type of posts are most popular, so you can tailor your posts accordingly.
50. Have fun!
I hope you found some of these tips useful. What would be your top tip?
Comments 127
This is all very useful! I am now sitting here wishing I was with WP though! I started off with it but blogger seemed more user friendly and there are no limits etc.. LOVE the idea of an editorial plug-in though!! Love the sound of Evergreen too! I always wonder how you manage to tweet your old posts so frequently. Hmm, moving over scares the hell out of me! And then being self hosted also terrifies me (and it costs money). Lots to think about!
Author
WordPress is great. There are loads f step by step tutorials to move to WP. Self hosted only costs me £2.99 per month (TSO Host) x
Don’t be scared to move – I moved earlier this year, and so glad that I finally did. I loved using Blogger and do miss it from time to time, but I love all the extra functionality that WP offers!
I’ve just started with WP. I don’t find some of the features all that intuitive but now I’ve got my head around it I find it easy to use.
Fab tips even for an OAP like me. I am off to look at editorial plug in now!
Author
It is the best plug in, I seriously couldn’t cope without it x
I read them all and there are some great ones but you got me at the first one and already I’ve installed the calendar plug in. Great suggestions!
Author
I couldn’t live without the Editorial Calendar. x
Great post – I’m going to bookmark it to return to! You are so right about twitter lists, but it’s very time consuming and doesn’t seem very user friendly. Plus people can see which list you add them too. I am also really wary of flooding people with retweets about a post so I never do :S
Author
Thanks. I just add to the list as I interact with people, I don’t worry about them seeing that I have added them to a list. Your posts can just get lost if you don’t promote them x
Great tips and I have just been off to bookmark some of your recommendations – particularly for photos. Thank you.
I too wish I went with wordpress rather than blogger after seeing so many great things you can install.
I’ll get up the courage to move to WP one day!
Great tips 🙂 xx
Great tips about scheduling tweets and the Evergreen plugin. I will check them out.
great tips! will be doing a few of these! x
Thank you!!! This is sooooo useful. I will be printing this and crosdinf each point off 🙂
Author
Fab, just what I wanted (for it to be useful) x
This is such a great post, going to share it everywhere! x
Author
Wow thanks hun. That is really kind of you x
Great advice! I think I need to start using the call to action/question at the end of my post. I’ve seen people doing that but I just never had thought to do it myself. But it is so obvious when I think it now. You learn every day 🙂
This list is so awesome, I wish I’d read it a year ago! Thanks so much for taking the time to share it.
Author
That’s kind, thank you x
50 fab pointers…. I shallbe referring to these more! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Author
Glad it is useful to you x
So fabulous suggestions, I’ve been blogging for three years but only recently made the move over to WP so your plugin suggestions are very helpful. Thanks 🙂
Author
Thank you hun, I am glad to have helped x
Great tips, Aby! I was only thinking this morning that it’s time to revisit and re-purpose a few old posts, so that’s my plan for the next few days 🙂
Author
Thanks hun. Ooh have fun with that 🙂 x
Some great tips – you have just made me realise how much I actually do!
That is a pretty amazing post! Well done and well written.
I’ve taken lots of notes and I’m sure will be checking back from time to time. I have a self hosted WordPress blog so all your tips are relevant to me.
Off now to install that SEO plug-in and maybe the comment luv one too!
Thanks for the tips!
Heledd x
Author
Ah thank you so much! Glad you have found it useful xx
Love all of these and will definitely be taking some on board, thanks 🙂
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Just taken a step back into the world if blogging after a year off, this is fantastic advice thank you. Any ideas if blogger run a plug in to leave comments without having to log in to an account first?
Author
I am sorry I don’t know one thing about Blogger x
Great post! definitely going onto my bookmark list to read again and again. Really useful and insightful!
Author
Thank you so much x
Thanks for this, just downloaded the Yoast SEO plugin to see what’s what!
Can I be honest that I dont know a lot of plugins as I dont use WP but the other tips makes a lot of sense and I am looking for the other helpful apps thats applicable to me. Thanks for sharing this. Its very generous =) #brillblogpost
Utterly brilliant, going to pin this to my Blogging Tip board on Pinterest. I’ve written a lot about blogging professionally too-this one proved very popular if you fancy a read: . Absolutely brilliant post! Thanks for linking up
Author
Thanks so much. I am glad you liked it. I will pop over and read your post now. x
What a fabulous list of tips – a must-read for all bloggers, new or experienced! Have pinned to my Top Tips for Bloggers board on Pinterest and will work through to make sure I’m doing all of these things. By the way I use Co-Schedule for scheduling my posts and social media shares across Twitter, Facebook etc – I’ve found it saves me loads of time.
Author
Thanks for pinning x
50 brilliant tips! Thank you! Especially the last one 🙂 #BrillBlogPosts
Great tips! Thanks for sharing them. 🙂 I’m making a start on updating my About Page to include pictures – I’d never considered adding them before.
Author
My pleasure! I think people want to see the face behind the words. It makes things more concrete and approachable x
wow some great tips here! Thanks
Loads of great ideas here. I’m glad to say that I do most of them but I really must get to grips with Twitter and Pinterest – I just don’t have that much spare time but I know I should interact on Twitter more and schedule tweets. Maybe that’s my job for the weekend!
Wow, that is an impressive list! Thanks for linking to it in the comment you left on my blog. I have to admit I do not do half of these. You really know what you are doing! x
Author
Not sure about that! Hopefully some of it is useful to someone 🙂 x
You clever thing…and this is why you’re doing waaaaay better than me! love you #Thelist xxx
Author
Oh I don’t know about that hun! But thanks, it was just a brain dump really xxx
Thank you so much i am literally going through this list with a pen and paper. You star x
Author
Oh bless you, glad it is useful. It was a bit of a brain dump really x
Just installed the calendar plugin – I’ve been looking for something like that – I write so much that seeing it on a list as it is currently can sometimes confuse the hell out of me! x
Author
It changed my life! xx
These are such brilliant tips and tricks and basically just advice we all need.
Meg | Meghan Silva’s Blog
Great tips, have pinned for future reference.
These are great tips!I’ve been blogging a few years and still seen some new tips, going to investigate 🙂
Phewee! An exhaustive list of excellent tips. Completely agree with having your own voice, sharing comment love (but can’t stand captcha), having photos (I love PicMonkey too) xx #brilliantblogposts
What a great blog post! Thank you so much for all those tips…I picked up a few and have now installed a plug in to promote my old posts! Thank you. On the point about reworking an old post or offering it as a guest post you have to be careful because Google notice a post that goes up twice. I gave a post to someone recently as a guest post and they wouldn’t accept it because it was the same as I had posted before. Just make sure you make a few changes!!
Author
I am glad you enjoyed it and picked up something useful x
Wow. That’s an awesome list! I SO need to sort twitter lists I think but I follow way too many people now to be able to sort through them all. I need a week at least just to focus on that! x x x
Author
I started with adding people I knew/read the blogs of. Then every time someone interacts with me in a chatty way/has a conversation I add them. So pleased your little Bubba still safe and snuggly xxx
Love this list… I was laughing a little bit when I got to the ‘include photos’ point and noticed you didn’t have any 😉 …But now I have homework to do!! Lots of it!
…Do you use co-schedule at all? I’m starting to think a lot of people have done reviews because then they get 50% off… I see that it’s helpful, but I’m at the end of my free trial, and I don’t think it’s ‘fantastic’!
Random other question… Google+
– I’ve now decided you’re an expert on all things blogging –
Do you post to a profile? or a page? and are you scheduling those posts or doing it yourself?
…So many questions! …But it’s conversation right? …And that’s a good thing!
Author
Picture or an image? The computer at the top? 🙂
No I don’t use CoSchedule I use Social oomph. I am no G+ expert, my posts automatically post to my profile. x
Nice Tips and its Very Helpful..but didn’t get Some points Like Pinnable images, Akismet, Jetpack????
Author
A pinnable image is an attractive image, usually with the title of the post on it, that others will pin on pinterest.
Askismet is a spam filter for WordPress.
Jetpack is a plug in for wordpress that allows the blog to be edited/used like a free wp site, same dashboard etc.
okay thank you now understand. But does pinnable images pull readers to blog or Content? Means Is it that much Attractive way to use in blogs.
Author
It takes readers to the page the picture is on, so usually the post itself
Thanks for the tips! xx
thanks so very much for all the great advice. I have been trying so hard to get things going on my blog and I didn’t know about many of these items you listed so I have saved the post and will use it as a check list so that I can try to get things going. I have had a lot of unforeseen setbacks (baby born in feb 2013 with very rare syndrome, and recently diagnosed with breast cancer) so it’s just been a bit difficult. I have also been looking for the strength to share my experiences and reach as many people as I can, and I am sure that your list is going to help. Big big thanks!
Thank you for all the advice. I’m quite new to blogging and keen to learn all the ‘tricks of the trade’.
There’s so much more to successfull blogging than meets the eye!
Author
Glad you found it useful x
This is unbelievably helpful, thank you!!
Author
My pleasure x
Blogging just over a year?! Aaahh! I assumed you had been doing it much longer. I need to step up my game… By following all your advice. Thanks!
Author
Ha ha! Yes not that long really x
What fantastic tips!
I’m a complete technophobe and often feel out of my depth when it comes to marketing my blog so numbers 2 and 4 are very helpful.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Author
I am happy that it will help you x
I don’t have a full 30 days under my belt yet but I love the idea of Evergreen. Pinning this for future reference.
This is a fab post, so helpful. Seriously think maybe I should move to wordpress but can’t even begin to think how I’d go about it, how long it would take, seems like a lot of work and losing all back links etc. I’m wanting to buy my own domain when I have the money in the new year (after xmas) but wordpress sounds so much better. x
Author
I am sure there is a tutorial online, or just get the hosting company to move it for you. A lot do it for free x
*rather than self hosted on blogger
hi hun, I retweeted this as it’s very useful. Question – can you send me a link or point me in the direction of the blog clubs you mentioned. I would love to join a blog club. Thanks Kat x
Author
Hi, thanks for rt’ing. The one I am in is called Blog Support on Facebook x
A fantastic post thank you very much. Quite a comprehensive checklist and I love all the wp tools. They are already making my life easier. Thank you
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Thank you very much for this post. It came at a great time for me, since I just started blogging and tweeting. I am learning so much and feel like I am taking a blogging 101 class. I love the comment about networking. I have met some helpful bloggers this past week and hope to continue to grow and learn. I appreciate all the help and support. I’ve been in sales for many years and it is so cut throat. The blogging world seems so frindly and helpful. Thank you!
Another fantastic post Abi – I’m just about to take my free WordPress blog to self hosted, so some of these tips have come at just the right time! Thanks so much for sharing xx
Author
Thank you hun. I am so glad it is helpful xx
This post is so useful, thank you! I’ve been doing this a while, but in a half-arsing-it sort of way. I went self-hosted a couple of months ago and am getting more serious about what I want to be doing now so have been taking lots of notes!
Author
Ah thanks huni. I am glad it is useful x
Brilliant and v helpful! Have been busy trawling through the list this morning and downloading plugins! x
Author
I am so glad it is helpful x
I loved this list when I first read it. So many great tips hunny. Thanks for linking up! #sharewithme
Author
Absolutely my pleasure x
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Great post and such a comprehensive list of blogging tips. I love editorial calendar – makes planning so much easier and scheduling blog posts and tweets is so useful too. Love all your blogging tips – thank you so much for sharing them.
Author
Always my pleasure, hope it helps x
Pinterest is on my list of things to do but I have no idea what I’m doing. My next project to research and implement. Thanks for this very helpful list.
Author
Me too! I need to do so much more with Pinterest x
Love this list, have read it before and it’s great to have a refresh!
Author
Thanks huni x
I love your blogging series and that you keep updating this list – it’s so helpful, thanks Aby 🙂 🙂 Mim #TheList
Author
Glad it is helpful huni x
I have so many ideas and plans for my blog and so much I want to change and just simply not enough hours in the day sadly 🙁 – great list x #TheList
Author
That is the frustrating things isn’t it. Never enough time for anything x
I’m not on WordPress so many of these tips don’t apply to me but some are very useful. The ‘other posts’ nRelate stopped at the end of last year. I put code into my blog template so I now have proper related posts at the bottom which are linked by tags. My bounce rate has improved considerably. I found that many of the plugins are actually link back to their sites first. I know with nRelate this had an effect on my stats.
Author
Yes I need to update this post and remove NRelate x
These are brilliant tips for a novice like me. I am definitely going to put some into action this weekend, especially the tweet scheduling.
Author
Glad to help, hope it works for you x
wow great List, although have to admit some of this goes right over my head as I’m still learning (guess that’s the point!) some really useful pointers and I’m certainly using a few of them. I have found my Twitter followers increase at a steady pace but my blog followers are still as low as they were a few months ago, Any pointers/advise??!!
Author
Hi, this might help http://wp.me/p4j9O0-2R4 x
Love this, it really is helpful to me who is just starting out
Author
Thanks, hope it helps x
I’m sure I’ve read this post before, but it was great to read it again as it all makes more sense to me now. Ive already got/done quite a few of those things, but there are lots more now on my list to do. Thank you x
That is a good tip particularly to those fresh to the
blogosphere. Simple but very precise information… Appreciate
your sharing this one. A must read post!
Another great, helpful list. Can I ask – are you unable to make money from your blog if you aren’t self-hosted? If so, how come? Also, is it difficult/expensive/time consuming to go self hosted? Thanks. L x
Author
If you are on the free wordpress blogs you are not allowed. I believe Blogger is different. To go self hosted is not that difficult and is about £3 per month for hosting. x
Read through your top 50 tips and finally got tweet old posts set up because of it, thanks Aby! Emily
Years on this is still as relevant as ever, thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks for the great tips Aby xx
Such a useful post with lots of little gems in there. Now I just need to figure out which ones to implement first 😉
Great blogging post excellent tips. I never heard of light room before is it affordable. Im glad all in one word security worked for you however I advise against it. The plugin created to many tables in my database a average small blog has 54 or less tables from this plugin it made 110 tables. It had a nice captcha feature I miss on the comment form. Anyway all in one word security corrupted my database my hosting company told me to start over. I advise everyone to learn how to do a Manuel backup of there website and not rely on a plugin or their hosting company’s backups. I agree with social media buttons as they help out. I also love your advice on repurposing old content.
Hi,
A bloggers life is not just about writing and sharing, there is so much that a blogger do in hiss life from the very small things to the things that many professionals cant even imagine. Research plays an important role in every action.
From Choosing the topic to images, everything takes time and research. Social sharing, blogger outreach, appreciation and comments all are the daily routine of a blogger.
Thanks for sharing.
Gaurav
Thanks for sharing your tips – I’m trying to improve my blog so found it really useful! Some of the ideas I already do but theres some that I don’t…Have started to use it as a checklist!
Thanks for these tips. At the moment I’ve really been trying to focus on sharing posts from other bloggers when I’ve enjoyed reading something 🙂
Julia // The Sunday Mode