Top 10 Tips New Bloggers Should Know First

When I started blogging nearly 6 years ago, I realized I’d wished I’d done more research.  Check out these 10 blogging tips for beginners so you will know.

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10 Blogging Tips for Beginners

Practice makes progress.

If you could go back to my first posts at Ivy’s Variety, you’d notice my writing wasn’t nearly as polished and put together as it is today.  We’re talking about roughly two years of practice and I imagine I’ll see improvements over the next year or two still.  When I began blogging, my draft posts were littered with those ugly squiggly red lines.  Misspellings and poor grammar took a lot of time to edit.  I’m not exactly proud of my work from the start, but I DID finally make progress.  Most of my posts these days are much cleaner, so I’m not wasting tons of time editing!  Just go for it… you’ll get there!

The more you write, the better you’ll become.

Sometimes people don’t start writing because they’re afraid they won’t be good enough.  This charts the top of my list of blogging tips for beginners because practice only helps you become better.  If you never start, you’ll never become better.

Socialize.

I struggle with this one myself … balancing cleaning a home, chasing a two year old and a dog, cooking, caring for hubby, sometimes doing yard work, testing and reviewing products, and writing a blog, socializing isn’t the hardest part for me.  Find some blogging groups on Facebook and socialize.  Visiting and commenting on blogs will be useful when you leave a link to your blog … often that blogger will return to your blog to comment on something too! Oh how I wish I had the time to do that more regularly.  Do not go to a blog and leave meaningless comments though … the key is to leave something meaningful and don’t simply request others to visit your site.

Get involved in a FB group geared toward your blog’s subject and share each other’s stuff.  Create roundups on topics you and your group talk about regularly.  Talk and work on relevant guest posts for each other’s sites.

Do you have a Parent and Family Blog?  Join my Parent and Family Blog group on Facebook.

You can make money from a blog.

I haven’t found a way to making a living doing this, but I’m okay with it.  Getting into affiliate marketing is a small step in making money from blogging – I personally only make a few cents every quarter or so, but maybe you’ll be more successful!  One of the affiliate sites I use is Share-A-Sale which has many advertisers to choose from.

Bonus advice

1. keep your advertising on the sidebars simple

2. incorporate minimal links into your posts

3. post about things you’re passionate about.

My review of Dino Lingo earned me a decent commission in the first two weeks, and I attribute it to how much I loved the product!  If you’re not connected to the product or service, the chance your readers take interest in checking out your links is slim to none.  Depending on your work and your social reach, you may be able to find a way to get sponsored posts, but I think I’ll write about that in a future article.

If you remind me, maybe I’ll do a post on some of the other websites I’ve used to monetize my blog and social media traffic!

Have a schedule.

You’ll drive yourself nuts if you’re just blogging by the seat of your pants.  Know when you are available to sit down and give your blog the attention it needs.  Your fans are going to like some kind of repetition too … they’ll enjoy knowing when you’re going to be posting new content.  In general, I know I have nap times and the time after the little one goes to bed to work on anything I want.  Find what times and days work for you and utilize it.  I generally like to have posts scheduled for at least one day a week … the rest is bonus content.

Aside from that, though, I’ve changed my schedule to also include certain topics on certain days.  This allows my readers to know what kind of content they’ll expect when I post on these days.

Get to know social media.

Prior to blogging, I enjoyed Facebook.  Now that I’ve begun transforming the blog into my “business” (because I do treat it like a job), I have to stay up to date with social media.  So, I had to learn Twitter and Google Plus.  And, you have to stay up to date on their rules and learn about the best ways to engage your fans. (Something I could still stand to learn – what’s up with my fans not commenting, anyway?!?!)  Did you know that Facebook’s new rules will not allow you to make liking your Facebook page a giveaway entry?  That’s why you have to stay up to date.

Jot down your ideas!

When you have a creative idea for a blog post, jot it down.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had an idea and thought I’d certainly remember it later.  WRONG!  Now I either write a note or use my Blogger’s app to start a draft.  That said, it’s always a good idea to create drafts when the mood strikes.  At the very least, write a quick note on a piece of paper to help you remember.

Be organized.

Scheduling your time is great for things you want to do, but if you end up working with companies that have deadlines of their own, you have to schedule them too.  Since I’m in my email account at least once a day, I use my gmail task list to remind me when to take care of other tasks that aren’t as routine.  You can use anything you like to keep you organized, but you need to do it.  You don’t want your social media posts to overlap each other, do you?

Write about what you know.

What are you good at, enjoy doing, or taking photos of?  If you like to cook, read, craft, or just give opinions, you probably have something to write about.  For me, I could write about daily life with my kiddo, the dog, and the hubby.  I’m best at offering opinions, which leads me to my next point.  And, because I’m learning about living with Hashimoto’s, I’ve even begun a separate section on that including gluten free, Paleo, and healthy living.

Consider doing reviews and giveaways.

I found that I had more to offer when I blogged about reviews of products and my fan base really grew with blog giveaways.  I’m not crafty, I can’t make up recipes, and I need a whole lot of help putting together a preschool curriculum (or someone to do it for me), I didn’t offer much on my own.  What I’m good at is giving my opinions, so reviewing things and sharing my parenting tips from my experiences has become my best features!

Include images.

One of the best ways to attract readers is to have images in your posts.  When I began blogging, I didn’t include images regularly because I didn’t know any better.  I was so focused on writing that it never occurred to me that people can be very visually oriented and that I might not get a reader simply because a photo (or infographic) didn’t draw them in to read in the first place.  If you can’t do your own images, there are royalty free stock images all over the internet.  Sometimes, you can even find free ones.  Use them and draw people in.

I’m sure there are plenty of great ideas to get you started on your blog.  Blog about what you know and just have fun.  Everything has it’s own time and I’ve spent more than 2 years busting my behind on building up readership.  My main goal,, a few years ago, was to get products to review and I achieved that.  Now, I treat my blog as more of a business, scaled down my reviews, and began creating more engaging content.  But, learning as much as you can is one of the best blogging tips for beginners that I can share.

Be willing to learn and adapt with the ever-changing blogosphere.

For seasoned bloggers, what blogging tips would you add for beginners?

Do you want more blogging tips? Check out more simple things you can do for better blogging.