Hi everyone!
*This is an opinionated post; if you don't like opinions, you should move on*
When I started looking at blogs (two years ago), I noticed something about them--and how many visitors they received. Generally, blogs are meant to put your hobbies out there, pass the time, share your adventures, and get feedback. There's not much else to it. But, every blogger can start out well. The essentials are there for them: blogging templates, a keyboard, a computer, an idea. The only thing a blogger needs is an audience--or, a visiting audience.
I know I'm not really one to speak (my many comments will tell you that [oh, you haven't found any? awkward]), but, generally, I've found something that may come across as shocking:
People visit well-groomed blogs.
I'm not talking about excellent writing or great ideas--I'm talking about blogs that are pretty to look at. Pretty to look at and fit the idea--or overall concept--of the blog. Here are some tips on how to make your blog as well-groomed as possible!
1. Write your blog's idea down. You know that first idea where you were like 'I HAVE to make a blog to write about this!!!"? Well, that's the idea that you need to write on a piece of paper. With ink. Now, stick to that.
2. STICK TO THAT IDEA AS YOU GO ON.
3. Look at Google Images at some pictures. If your blog was about music, Google "music", and look at the pictures that come up. Look at colours, find what's appealing. Once you find a picture that you like, write down the colour scheme, the feeling that you get from it.
4. Go to your blog and see what you can change--if you're using blogger, go to the customize button and start fooling around! Change the text colour. Try a background or two. Make the links a complimenting colour. Make sure that you keep it centered around that main theme! Don't chose a sea-centered theme if you plan on posting about music--that'll confuse your readers!
5. Make sure everything matches and is easily read! Get outside help if you need it.
Some posting tips: Write interesting information. Make it funny or sad, but focus on emotion as you write it. Try to get your point through, whatever your point may be. If you're writing a tutorial, include pretty or interesting pictures of you accomplishing your task. If you're writing a blog post, try to get your reader involved in it! Post frequently about real things, don't post about nothing!
I can't promise that people will come back--but if people can read it, find it enjoyable to look at, find interesting information on--they will enjoy it. And maybe then you'll get some followers.(:
Bonus Tip: Once your blog is people ready (and has more than a post on it), go out and comment! Look at other people's blogs--blogs that have the same hobbies as you do--and you'll have people coming in to look at your blog. Be social!(:
Blogging a Blog pt. 1--Writing Daily
Blogging a Blog pt. 2--Writing What?
Headers (How To)
Great post, I think this is a good point, although mine might not look too pretty as far as backrounds go since it's just pretty plain white but I just prefer it that way, hopefully the cute owl attracts people to stay for a minute and read it.
ReplyDeleteOhmygosh my first comment!!!:D Thank you! I actually love your blog--white's okay because your text is really so colourful. A background might make your reader's heads whirl, unless it was a tiny print background with minimal colour.(: Thanks so much!!!
DeleteThis encouraged me to format my blog with a little more effort this time, thanks!
ReplyDeleteNo problem! Hope you found some inspiration!(: I'll be looking forward to the results!
DeleteYeah, I think my biggest issue's going to be sticking to the main idea! I mean, there's a lot of things to write about the military, but there's only so many interesting things that you can write about it. I don't want to bore people too much.
ReplyDeleteSo I suppose, once Charlie's gone, I'll blog my week, how I'm coping, what activities I'm doing, etc., and then when I get his letters, I'll put up another section called "Blogging Basic Training" or something like that.
But this helped a lot; I did a bit more tweaking on my blog yesterday, and hopefully it's not quite as boring now! (I love the fonts that you use on yours, by the way. They're awesome!)
I'm so glad this helped!(: I love the look, I think it fits well. You're blog doesn't have to be strictly about one thing--remember, there's always room for more. I think what's really cool about your blog is how OPEN it is! You get to write about whatever occupies your time while your boyfriend is gone, which is basically whatever you do! I think you're good, you just need to get on Pinterest and start discovering cool stuff! (and not-so-cool stuff. you could seriously just blog about your experience on Pinterest... it'll be a memorable one, no matter what!)
DeleteAnyway, I think your blog is doing very well.(: I like it!
Thanks so much for the compliments! I'm still tweaking as I go, but it's coming together really nicely. I'm enjoying the look right now, but there's always room for improvement! ^.^
Pinterest is freaking dangerous! I finally discovered how to use it a couple of weeks ago (I got an invitation from a friend back when it first opened, but I never learned how to use it), and...well, my goal for the summer is one new recipe/new craft a week, which is what I'll (hopefully) be blogging about during the summer!
DeleteAnd thank you very much! :)
That just made me LOL! Ah-ha-ha-ha!!! If you don't like swearing/risque humor (or detest risque humor, more so [I don't like it but I can tolerate it), I wouldn't suggest these, but pintester.com and pinterestyouaredrunk.com are too of my favourite blogs to visit for Pinterest fails.(: Craftfails.com is another good one, too! (Pinterest is messed up!) That's a really good goal! My goal is to write as much as I can and not fail with this blog. Because that would be awesome! :D But, I'll make sure you stay in my "Blogs I Ship" area so I can stalk you!!! BBBF! (best-blogger-buddies-forever) ^.^
DeleteAww, thank you! That's so nice! :3
DeleteMight I also suggest www.regretsy.com? Full of fails from Etsy.
I've tried blogging before, but it petered out, and I haven't been back to it in years. (I checked on it a few weeks ago, actually; I can't believe some of the things I used to write about! I was an ill-tempered middle schooler.) I'm hoping I'll be able to keep this one going and someday turn it into The Life of an Army Band Wife.
Ohehmgee I LUVERS it!!! Esty fails!:D
DeleteIll-tempered middle schoolers happen--I'm an ill-tempered (pmdd) high schooler, so I try to keep these things as positive as possible. Especially since last year, when I was broken up with and my PMDD took a turn for the worst and now my mood is incredibly easily swayed (I got busted in school for depression and suicidal thoughts two months ago). So, it's difficult when you want to rage but have to tell yourself "No, you ARE going to be happy you ARE going to be okay."
But, hopefully we'll be able to encourage to each other to write more and keep our blogs alive. I know for a fact that I can keep visiting a site (whooo! things I've learned from fb!), and so I hope I'll remember to visit everyone's blogs at least once a week.(: I think you can easily make it that far! We can do this!!! ^.^
That's going to have to be my mantra until September - you ARE going to be happy and you ARE going to be okay. It's not the end of the world.
DeleteOoh - ouch. I had a friend who they believed had that; they put her on some kind of medication and she's a lot less...temperamental now, I believe. She's certainly not as stressed as she was in tenth grade.
That doesn't seem too hard, at least! (I have all these ideas that are titled in my "drafts" section, but there's nothing on them yet because they're either a] for Basic or b] I don't have anything to write on yet.)
I certainly think we can do this!
It's a good one, it's kept me going thus far.(: And while it might not be the end of the world, it's not fun, either.
DeleteYeah, meds are fantastic! But they're all medication for depression, and my mom refuses to let me be on depression meds. Regular medications (ibuprofen and other painkillers) don't work if you take them a lot, so it's been pretty bad for my classmates and friends. I'm thinking of doing a monthly thing for them as a "Thanks for tolerating me!" kinda thing.
That's fantastic!(: Take lots of pictures and post the results no matter what, yes? I'll be doing the same, especially if its one off of Pinterest.(: I've done maybe one craft off of Pinterest so far, and am right now working on a sewing project to put up (hand-sewing, silly machine broke so I'm taking longer than usual). If you put any crafts up, I will attempt to try them!(:
I can't sew to save my life! I've sewn maybe one thing in my entire eighteen years of living - and that was about two to three squares in a cat-quilt that my mom was making. I sewed them together in the time it took my mom to do the rest of them XD I have this entire board full of Pinterest ideas that I would LOVE to try, so I'm going to attempt to work my way through them, one at a time!
DeleteI love taking pictures (I took pictures of my cake-in-a-cup, and was going to put it on SparkLife, but all the images have stopped working on Sparkler Posts!) of stuff I make, so that won't be an issue!
I love sewing.(: It's my trick of the trade, though, to break every sewing machine I touch--I don't even have to do anything, I just touch it and they stop working! >.< I love hand-sewing, though, and have been told that my hand sewing projects looked great and I must've had a "great machine" to do them with--little did they know I sewed them by hand *evil grin*. Tricking the world one person at a time... Sewing's hard to get on with when you start, though, it definitely takes time and patience to learn it! But it's worth it, especially when you're like me and can't knit/crochet to save your life!
DeleteFantastic! I'll be checking out your tutorials for sure.(: And Sparklife needs help. We're all going to need Gary-induced therapy when we grow up... I mean, comments was one thing. But now pictures? What is he coming to??
I couldn't sleep last night, so I transferred a few not-yet-published SparkLife posts over to my blog (I couldn't put pictures on them on SparkLife!) and scheduled them for upcoming Saturdays. I guess Saturdays are going to be when I post recipes that I've either tried pr have made so many times from my mom's cookbook that I have them memorized. (So far, so good, actually!).
DeleteMy mom has a sewing machine, so I can always get her to help me. I used to be able to crochet, but I really want to get back into it! My great-grandmother used to crochet Barbie dresses for us... We also have some crochet angels that are the first things to go on our tree every year (save for the Christmas lights). I doubt I'll ever be THAT talented (I tried reading some of her crochet books, and they're impossible to understand!), but I at least want to be able to make the occasional scarf/amigirumi doll that I come across.
Oooo, fun! ^.^ Saturdays are good days for that.
DeleteThat's good, especially if you live nearby! Have you tried Pinterest for crocheting tutorials? Commenters say that they're good, though I haven't tried any myself. They might help with the reading problems.