It’s one thing to own a blog, it’s another to make it successful. I must admit that running Fashion & Style Police has not been easy. In fact, far from easy. It has gotten harder and harder to continue to create unique, quality content every day. I put in long hours of work to make it what it is today, and it is still a work in progress.
I still remember what I had to sacrifice to keep my blog up and running. Of course, I made mistakes along the way, but it has all been part of my learning experience, and I won’t trade any of those mistakes for anything. I wrote about a few mistakes I made in the early days in my book – How to Cash In as a Blogger, so download a copy if you haven’t done so already.
Now I want to share tips with you on how you can run an established, successful blog –
1. Develop a plan
First of all if you want your blog to be successful, you need to take it seriously. Running a successful blog is hard work, so you have to be mentally and physically ready for it. You don’t update your blog daily this month, and barely update once a week next month. You have to consistent and focused.
Clearly state your vision and mission for your blog and outline the steps you need to take to make it happen. Plan out how you want to achieve your goals.
2. Create great quality content
Great content keeps your readers coming back and keeps them engaged. Everyone loves quality, so quality content will get shared and reshared, which may lead to your post going viral.
There are different types of quality content, and they mean different things to different people. But for me, quality content has pretty pictures. Quality content is relatable. Quality content informs, educates or entertains. Quality content is written in clear regular english. Minimal swear words and slangs, if needed.
The key to great content is value. Give content that is well researched and useful to your readers. Let the aim of any piece of content you put on your blog be to help someone. And remember you can help people in a variety of ways. You can put a smile on a face, make someone laugh out loud or just be a source of inspiration or entertainment on a boring day.
3. Optimize your blog
If your blog is SEO-friendly, it helps increase your blog’s visibility. Use the right keywords in your blog posts so your blog comes up in search results.
Increasing the loading speed of your blog and optimizing your images also helps increase your search rankings. Google knows that slow pages are annoying, I find them so annoying, so Google ranks sites that give their readers a better user-experience higher on the search results.
4. Engage with your readers
Your blog is nothing without your readers. So take time to respond to their comments when you can, and interact with your followers on social media.
5. Consistently develop your knowledge and skill
You need to always be up to date with information on your niche. After all you’re putting yourself out there as an expert so you have to do your part by making sure you are informed. In the long run, this improves your blog content and you’ll be seen as the go-to resource for information in your niche.
6. Publicize your blog
Do all you can to let people know about your blog. Share your blog posts in relevant groups on social media, use the relevant hashtags, write guest posts and network with other bloggers in your niche.
7. Be consistent
Consistency is key. Whatever strategy, routine or plan you have for your blog, stick to it. Have a schedule to help you track what you post, when you post and how often you post your blog posts.
Having a successful blog takes time. Do not be discouraged if you don’t start to see results immediately. It took me 4 months of blogging to get a sponsored post offer, and the offers only became regular a year ago, after blogging for 2 years steady. Keep doing what you are doing, and you’ll get there. Good luck, and do share any extra tips you may have in the comment section below.
Happy Sunday.
Great tips. You are so right about timing, consistency and great content. This is a really good, easy to remember crib sheet – thanks so much – btw loving your blog!
Glad you are loving it. Thanks for reading xo
thanks for all the great tips
i started running my blog some months ago and i like to write about things i like and also engage with the readers, i’l use some of your tips!
xx
lau
http://www.malibluemymind.com
Nice. Good luck Lau.
I think you hit the nail on the head with consistency, continuing development and great content. It all takes time, but building a firm base is so worth it 🙂
It does that time. Thanks Sarah.
Great post Stella… I might add this tip : stay true to yourself… If you put up an act, people will see through that in a flash and they will stop visiting your blog.
Yea true that…
Some great tips here! I definitely need to work on consistency, since I began working full time again it is harder to ensure I have fresh content going out regularly.
It is so hard..
Such a good post Stella, you’re right it does take time with your blog. I think some people just expect it to happen over night and then just give up because they don’t realise the amount of sheer hard work it is x
Yea it is so hard. Many have no clue.
Great tips! I just launched mine last month and it’s harder than I expected. Thanks for such an informative post!
xo, Tanya
http://www.myshoppingdiet.com/
It is a lot of work but so worth it..
LOVE LOVE LOVE these tips! These are all so important! Thanks for writing this!
xoxo, Candice
http://www.candicenikeia.com
Thanks for reading Candice.
Great tips. Consistency is key I believe.
X
Yea it is..
I’m just learning about SEO but the plugin on WordPress is so helpful and it tells you what you need to change!
Yea I have heard so much about that plugin.
Great tips there – it can be very daunting when you first start
Yea it can..
I think consistency is definitely key and it does seem there are more options on WordPress with SEO plugin’s than there is on Blogger x
Yea Consistency is a major one.
well done on having such a successful blog firstly and also giving us these wonderful tips .. i think i have to work on planning
Thank you xo
Such good tips, I used to be SO consistent, but now not so much. I think the more I expand the less consistent I get! Argh! H x
Yea I know what you mean. It is so hard to stay on top of everything sometimes.
This is such a good post and full of great tips, as a newer blogger I love reading things like this as I still have so much to learn.
Glad you enjoyed the post..
Great tips and I love the advice of not giving up! It is hard work but oh so worth it. xxx
Yea it is xo
This is such a great post and thank you for the tips, I also think being yourself is important xxx
Yea it is xo
Brilliant tips – I think most bloggers have a ‘wobble’ – I do, where I question everything, but I just keep writing though it – I do love blogging 🙂 Kaz x
Yea me too. I have a wobble every now and again though.
Great tips it’s always a good thing to get others views and ideas.
Yes it is. Thanks Melanie.
Great tips, I’m sure they’ll be useful for newbie bloggers. Your hair looks amazing by the way!
Thanks Emily..
So many great tips – thank you for sharing these so helpful! x
Thanks for reading x
These are some fantastic tips and it never hurts to have a little reminder of how to keep things going!
Yea it never does. Thanks Katy.
I would add working on your connections and contact. People don’t forget so easy so treat them always with respect.
Yea true that.
Great and informative tips, thanks stella x
Thanks for reading Fran xo
Great Tips! I don’t think some people realise how hard it is to be a blogger, it’s not just about writing a post and that’s it, there is so much more to it than that x
A lot goes on around a post. People have no clue.
Thank you for sharing this! This was very helpful!
Glad to hear that. Thanks for reading…
Great tips. I have started to use all of them. Thanks for sharing you knowledge and encouragement to keep blogging.
My pleasure Keith. Thanks for reading.
Really helpful tips – thanks 🙂
Thank you for reading.