My Visual Content
One of the things that I really wanted to improve when I started blogging again was having better images. I have had my camera for a while now but I am now a lot more invested in making sure that the images are not only good quality, but are nice images to look. One of the first things I bought when I wanted to re-launch my blog was a marble tile to act as a backdrop. I got a sample tile from Topps Tiles for less than £10 and it has worked out great. Now although it is a bit cliche for a blogger to have a marble background, having some kind of background that you can use can really help improve your blog visually. I am currently looking for a white wood panel background to mix things up a little bit but I would recommend going to the Topps Tile website as they do have a variety of sample tiles to buy for all different prices.
I also like to keep lots of the magazines that I read to use as part of the background in my photographs. I often match the colour scheme of what I am talking about with one of the magazines which I think has really been helping improve the images. Now even if you don't buy magazines regularly, you can often order back issues from many of them online.
Keeping Track Of My Stats
Although Blogger does keep track of stats, I created my own Excel document so I can keep track of my stats myself. I have a tab for each month, where on the last day, I write down every blog post I published and how many views it has had. I then work out the average number of views for that month. I then take all the monthly averages and put it into a graph so I can track how my blog is doing, and work out if there is anything that does better than others and if there are things that I can improve on.
I also have an overall tab where I put all the posts down and every time I come to update my stats, I go back over and fill in the stats so I can have an overall look as well as monthly.
Getting My Posts Out There
One thing that I have noticed has really helped improve my blog is daily sharing of my posts. Since January, I have joined a few blogging community groups on Facebook, following blogging accounts on Twitter that also have a community feel and also re-tweet posts. On Twitter, I really recommend Blogger RT for everyone, and if you are based in the UK, Bloggers In The UK and UK Bloggers. UK Bloggers also have a fantastic blogging Facebook group.
I also include Bloggers RT, Bloggers In The UK and UK Bloggers in all my blog post tweets. I have also downloaded Buffer, a scheduling app so every night I schedule my five latest posts to be tweeted out the next day every two hours from 9 to 5. As soon as I started doing this regularly, I noticed my average numbers of views increase.
What I Want For The Future
Obviously, I want to keep getting my blog out there and improving my content, images, and hopefully increase my following and maintaining a audience. I am planning to get my own domain name so I can start thinking about taking my blog to the next level, and hopefully start using it to earn. I want all my readers to know that I would only ever create content that I believe in, and that I think people would enjoy and be interested in.
I am so proud of how my blog has changed in the last six months and I really hope that if anyone else reading who has just started blogging, can get some helpful tips out of this post. In no way am I a blogging expert and I would still appreciate any tips or tricks that anyone else has to improve. Thanks for reading, and here's to the next six months!
Ellyn xx
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