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!

It’s time for Blogging 101 Pt. 2 and today’s post is one that I really wish I had read when I first started blogging.  For a little background, I’ve been blogging for 4 1/2 years now, but didn’t really get serious about blogging until April of last year. It’s been a wild journey of trial, error and some embarrassing mistakes. If I had known back when I started what I know now, oh my, things would be different on my blog. Alas, I went into all of this “blindfolded” and hopefully speaking about some of my mistakes will help you from making the same ones.

Disclaimer: I am NOT an expert on blogging- I have so much more to learn myself. Throughout the years that I’ve been blogging, I have learned a lot, seen so many things and gained a lot from this world. I’ll share the good, bad and ugly {okay, there really isn’t too much ugly, but just thought I’d throw that in}.

Today’s topics: be a friendly blog neighbor, being authentic & transparent and having blog goals.

I cannot express the importance of this truth, particularly when you’re a new blogger. The blog community, especially a special category one such as crafting, is smaller than some believe. I am still amazed at how some of my blog friends, from different walks of life, know each other and have built friendships outside of the circles I met them through. I’ve interacted with a large gambit of bloggers and craft designers through the years, and something that I wish I did more of was be a better blog neighbor when I was a new blogger that didn’t have much on her “plate”. I wish I had left more comments for others {especially since I know how I appreciate them} and built better relationships with fellow bloggers. Granted, yes, I did build a large amount that I still maintain, but I could have done better. For me, it’s not just with the intention of networking, but rather building friendships with those in the same circles I am in. Having those personal & working relationships are vital to encourage and keep the blog community healthy and thriving.

This may be a phrase that you hear or see in other posts about starting a blog, but it’s a big one. The way you write and convey your thoughts, emotions in posts should be in a way that YOU actually communicate. If you aren’t dynamic in real life, but in your posts you use a lot of “amazing”, “fantastic”, “gorgeous” type words, that’s not really being true to yourself. Do you see me using these words in my posts? YES! Why? Because I actually do talk like this in real life. I would like to think that I’m expressive and using these words help me to convey in writing how I’m really thinking and feeling.

In the same way, like I mentioned in the Blogging 101 Pt. 1 post last Friday, write about things YOU enjoy and are interested in. If you pair that with writing how you communicate in real life, this will translate to your blog and really reflect who YOU are. After all, your blog is your “online home” and you don’t want phony or fair-weathered readers. If you are being true to who you are, people will sense that and want to visit you often. {Isn’t that true of the blogs you enjoy most? I know it is for me!}

Whether it’s in school, your career, or even life, it’s good to have goals for yourself. If you want a promotion, you need to start planning on how you’ll get one. If you want to get better grades in school, you need to think of the steps that will help ensure you get them. In the same way, if you want to have a successful blog, it’s important to have some goals for yourself. If you want to see ___ amount of unique viewers in a month, most likely, it won’t just land in your lap. You have to provide posts that will encourage your readers to share your blog, keep them wanting to return and stay engaged and of course with social media, it can spread quickly. One could have several different types of blog goals: wanting to post ___ amount of times per week, achieving a winning card on a challenge or link up, driving up a certain number in viewers, or if you are really serious, getting a specific number of sponsors each month. Whatever direction you take your blog, it’s important to have some sort of goal for yourself.

Can I be honest? When I started blogging, it didn’t even occur to me to have goals for my blog. I never researched how to be a better blogger, or how to run a successful blog, so it didn’t cross my mind in my starting stages. Now, I would say that having goals for my blog is definitely one of the things in the forefront of my mind. I’m a person that sets goals and likes to achieve them, it is SO very rewarding when something you worked hard for gets achieved. With all of this in mind, you must also stay realistic. If you have 10 followers, you can’t set a goal of getting 1000 followers within a month- that’s just not realistic. I suggest starting out with smaller goals and as you get more comfortable and achieve those goals, you can start gearing up for the bigger ones.

Well, sweet readers, that is going to conclude this second installment of Blogging 101. I hope I left you with some food for thought today. Was there a particular point in either post that you plan on trying out? Feel free to leave a comment {or send me an email}- I’d love to hear about it!