When I first started this series, my goal was to jump start new bloggers, help current bloggers re-think the atmosphere and content of their blog and possibly inspire some of my readers to start blogs. It has been such a dream to get the feedback I have from this series. Hearing how people have started blogs, revamped their blog goals and shared this series with others has been AMAZING.

If you missed the earlier posts, here’s the rundown and links of what I’ve covered so far.

• Part 1- blogging your passion(s) & making your blog a reflection of you

• Part 2- be a friendly blog neighbor, being authentic & transparent and having blog goals

• Part 3- quality content, getting personal while blogging and being approachable

It’s time to get started on Blogging 101 Pt. 4 and now that I have talked about most of the big things, I’ll be talking about some smaller, but still important, topics. Today I will be tackling blog aesthetics, developing a following, and blog comments.

Back in the Blogging 101 Pt. 1 post, one of the points was to make your blog a reflection of you. I’m going to piggyback on this just a little bit. I am ALL for making your blog your home and having it showcase your style and personality. As my personal style has changed and evolved over the years, my blog has gotten a few makeovers. As one who is constantly checking out blogs {both personally and professionally}, there are some things that are a big no-no in my opinion. Here are my top three pet peeves:

1. Music playing in the background= a majority of people clicking out of your blog instantly. I will confess, back in the day I thought this was so cool and actually had it on my blog. *hides face in shame* If you have this on your blog, I would highly recommend disabling this immediately.
2. Busy backgrounds can be over stimulating and distract from your content. If you’re unsure, white is always safe.
3. Pictures that are too large {or too small} are never pleasant. Large pictures result in longer loading times and no one likes to wait around for pictures to load, especially when there are many in a post.

Whether it be on their blog or other social media sites, a blogger strives to develop a following. If you are new to blogging, or branding yourself, you will want it to be easy for your readers to follow you. Be sure to have your links easily visible {preferably near the top or sidebar of your blog} so your readers can just click and go straight to the other site. The biggest tip I suggest: keep all of your social media usernames the same. I go by “prettypinkposh” here on the blog and on all of my social media sites- Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest….. If someone enjoys you and your blog, chances are they will want to follow you on your other sites and keeping your name consistent makes it easy for them to find you.

*There is nothing worse than wanting to follow someone on a social media site but their name isn’t consistent with their other sites. Chances are if they have to dig around to find you, they won’t follow.

If you are a blogger, it’s likely you know that comments don’t always come readily. I cannot tell you how many of my earlier posts have a big fat zero in the comments section. Does this mean that no one read the post? No, it doesn’t. I won’t give you a magical answer on how you can get more comments on your posts because honestly, there isn’t one. There are some blogs that gets hundreds and hundreds of comments, then there are some that get zero. Does it mean that one blog is more popular than the other? Not necessarily. Here’s a few insights, tips and thoughts on the subject:

• If you ARE a blogger, you know the feeling when you read a comment someone left you? Try to share that with others! While my time has become more limited as my responsibilities grow, I still try to make it a point to leave comments whenever I can. I start out by leaving them for some readers who visit my blog regularly, then I’ll go out from there. I know that I greatly appreciate whenever someone takes the time to share their heart and thoughts on a post and I love being able to do that for others. Also, you never know, you may develop REAL friendships because of comments! Over the years, what started out as blog friendships have turned into real-life friendships. Comments have a special way of bringing people together and bonding them.

• If you are NOT a blogger, you may not realize the power a comment can have for an author. It’s almost like validation or a pat on the back, in some ways. Do you remember how a teacher would write a note at the top of the paper if you did a great job on a report? A comment is a way you can do this on a post. Whether you felt challenged, inspired or even if you disagree of something, this is the perfect way to give the blogger your feedback and thoughts. I can’t tell you how many times a comment from a reader has inspired a post later on.

• One last thing on this topic- try not to get discouraged if you don’t receive any comments on your posts. I know from experience this is SUPER difficult at times. Remember: every blogger had to start somewhere and sometimes it can take months or years before a blog “takes off”. In the meantime, continue to be YOU {and pull from some of my previous points} and keep on being diligent about blogging.

That is going to wrap up this installment of Blogging 101. Have you been enjoying the series? Like I mentioned earlier, it’s been great to hear how this feature has inspired some of you. If you haven’t already, I’d love to hear what YOU have gleaned so far.

I am closing in on the last one or two installments of this series- we have covered so much this last month! If there is a topic you want me to cover regarding blogging, be sure to leave a comment and I’ll try to get that included before I wrap up this series. Thanks for stopping by!

We are now onto Blogging 101 Pt. 3! It’s been great to get feedback from you and hear what tips you have enjoyed, how you plan on using the information I’ve provided and topics you hope I cover down the road. This series has really made me think about the things I’ve learned these past few years of blogging and I’m hoping it’ll help get you as you either start your blog, or revamp it.

Miss the earlier posts?

• Part 1- blogging your passion(s) & making your blog a reflection of you

• Part 2- be a friendly blog neighbor, being authentic & transparent and having blog goals

Today’s post is the one I hold dearest so far from this series. I’m talking about quality content, getting personal while blogging and being approachable.

This may seem like a ridiculous point to make, but it’s an important one. QUALITY content is vital to the growth of your blog. Not only will it get people TO your blog, it’s also what will KEEP them as readers. You know how there are some musicians that are one hit wonders? You don’t want to be that as a blogger. Strive to provide quality posts that will have your readers coming back often. Does this mean that sometimes you don’t post because you aren’t inspired? Absolutely. It’s better to scale back on posts than to post everyday and only provide mediocre/ fluff posts that will help you check off your to-do box. I will readily admit that I have stopped following many blogs because the posts and content declined in quality. Be the blog that stands out and CONSISTENTLY posts interesting, inspiring and/or thought provoking pieces.

Now you may ask how one knows what posts are considered quality posts. I personally come at this from a few different angles. Here’s my breakdown:

• Have people engaged in the post either in comments, email, tweets, FB messages, or shares? You can’t always judge a post by the amount of comments one gets on a  post. There have been MANY of my posts where I may have gotten few to no comments, but will have gotten emails from readers instead. Sometimes they would rather not open themselves for all to see, but would rather have a one-on-one “conversation”.

• While I don’t encourage you to just go by what the numbers say, this fact SHOULD help you look at things objectively. If you are doing a series of posts that aren’t interesting, most likely the numbers will reflect that. When you plan out future posts with that subject, take this information into consideration.

• Are you able to provide insight, or inspiration, that is not readily available in the blog circles you are a part of? This should also weigh in on your decision. While a post like yours may have been written in the past {seriously, we all know that blogging tips have been down before}, you also have to consider what information YOU bring to the table.

There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this question. Honestly, it’s a personal choice and preference for each blogger. Recently, I opened my blog up to share more of my personal life- something I battled with for quite a while. Did I want to open myself up for critique, vulnerability or rejection? No. A little while back I learned that some bloggers had bashed my site and also me personally. The words cut like a knife and hurt so terribly, I almost stopped blogging because of it.  A change of heart, life circumstances and  a strong desire to help others, and here I am laying it out more than I ever would have thought I would.

This next bit of info is extremely important in blogging and any sort of social media you do. You HAVE to remember that once you post something, it’s out there. All too often I see people posting rants, woah is me/depressing tweets, Facebook statuses and blog posts. Is this bad? In my opinion it is. If you want to be considered for collaborations, design work, sponsorships, etc., you have to remember that these impressions DO make an impression. Now I’ve been known to post an occasional rant, but I try hard to make them few and far between. I don’t want this to be the only thing I’m know for and seriously, who just wants to see negative things from the same person over and over again?

One of the things I find most unattractive in a blogger is when they carry a persona that they are better than you. If a reader has a question or sends an email about a post and receives a snark, abrupt response, I guarantee you that reader won’t think of that blogger the same, no matter how amazing their site is. Now if a readers stumbles across a blogger that is genuine, sweet and makes an effort to be approachable and also provides great content, you can count on them continuing to visit the blog and perhaps even stalk follow their other social media sites.

I must disclose that there WILL be bloggers who are bombarded with comments, emails and other commitments, so they may not be able to respond to all forms of communication. However, there are others who purposely disregard, ignore or respond in a fashion that is rude and condescending. In the event that you become a famous/ popular blogger, don’t be the latter.

That’s a wrap for this Blogging 101 feature. I hope that you got some food for thought. If there’s a specific topic you hope I address in a future installment, feel free to leave a comment with your request. Thanks for stopping by!