Tag Archives: Pro Blogging

How to Increase your Blog Traffic and Subscribers

June 12, 2017 By in Blogging Tips Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 68 Comments

I get a lot of emails from bloggers asking me how to grow their blog traffic and subscribers, so I decided to write this post, and I hope many find it useful.

As at the time of writing, I have over 45,000 blog subscribers and I get an average of 30,000 monthly views, and most importantly, I have been blogging for over 4 years now.

Typing Picture

 

The truth of the matter is, there is no certain way to grow your blog traffic or subscribers. We all blog differently and our blogging path can be very similar or different. But there are ways to help increase your blog traffic and subscribers. Here are some of the ways –

 

  1. Be yourself

This sounds so simple right? Being yourself is the easiest person we can be right? Well as easy as it sounds, many of us are busy living a lie. As a blogger, being yourself is one of the best things you could do for your blogging career. Being yourself means you bring something else to the blogging table, something no else can, YOU. And that is your selling point; that will eventually bring in the traffic and subscribers.

When I first started blogging, I was so confused. I didn’t know how to be myself, so I was busy being any blogger I admired. I got sick and tired of being what I wasn’t and decided to do me and I have not looked back ever since.

I wrote about being You-nique in my eBook – How to Cash In as a Blogger, so go have a read if you have not done so already. It is currently available exclusively on Amazon.

 

2. Follow your Passion

When it comes to blogging, you have to keep your blog readers engaged to keep them coming back for more. Following your passion means you blog about topics you are passionate about. So if you are an art and culture lover, and love to writing about those topics, don’t stop writing about them because you feel no one is interested in reading those sort of posts or because you feel brands are not interested in those niches.

If you start blogging about beauty or travel for example, just because brands in those niches seem to collaborate more with bloggers, then you are setting yourself up for failure, because you won’t be able to keep up.

You need to follow your passion when it comes to blogging, because that way, you will never run out of blog post ideas or get bored. Following your passion will keep you blogging in the early days, when no one else is reading your amazing blog.

 

Navy Blue Dress image copy

 

3. Focus on your Strengths 

If your strengths lie in your writing tone or story telling abilities, focus on that, if your photography and editing skills are your strengths, focus on that and downplay your weakness. Whatever your strengths are, focus on them and keep thriving to improve them while you downplay your weaknesses, whatever they may be.

 

4. Be Social

Being a social butterfly on the internet will definitely attract more eyeballs to your blog, and if they like what they see, they could become subscribers. It is best to have an account set up on all social media platforms, then focus on 2 or 3 you like the most. For me, that is Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, I am not as active on other social media platforms, but I am present on all the main ones.

Most of my traffic comes from search engines, followed closely by Facebook and Twitter. I get very little or no traffic from Instagram, but it is a useful social media platform in other ways, so it is worth being on.

 

5. Consistent Quality Content

This is where the work comes in. For you to have a blog with good traffic and a growing subscribers list, you have to create quality content consistently. There are no such cuts.

 

These are some of my tried and tested tips. Do you have any tips to add? Please free feel to do so in the comments section.

 

Why I Won’t Publish Income Reports

October 31, 2016 By in Blogging Tips Tags: , , , , , , , , 54 Comments

Hot Chocolate

 

A quick disclaimer, this post is not about any blogger in particlularly. It is a simple opinion post. I hope you enjoy the read.

 

Income reports have become a thing in the blogging world and I kind of get why. Many people still believe pro blogging is no job, while some find it hard to understand how bloggers make money. So I get why income reports have become so popular. And I get why some bloggers like to shout from the rooftops about how much they make. It feels so good to make a living from your dream career/job. I can still remember the feeling I got when I published my first sponsored post, or when I got my first paid freelance job. I still get that same feeling everytime a new fab opportunity lands in my inbox, so it never really goes away. Working for yourself, doing what you love is a dream, so it is worth screaming about.

I enjoy reading income report posts. I find them very informative and interesting. It is always good to read about various ways bloggers make money, and how much they actually make in a month.

I would love to read more income reports, especially from the mega big bloggers, but I doubt that would ever happen. I guess the figures would be too crazy to write down.

 

Layering

 

I would love to publish income reports. It would be a nice way to show off my figures and motivate other bloggers, it would also help me set income deadlines and keep me focused. But the cons of publishing income reports outweighs the pros massively for me, so you won’t be reading an income report post anything soon on Fashion and Style Police, and I will tell you why.

 

Privacy

I love reading other bloggers’ income reports, but I am way too private to publish mine. I think it is just one of those things to be left offline. I won’t publish my payslip if I was working for someone else, so why should I publish my income report?

 

Real Life People

Privacy and real life people are my main reasons for not publishing an income report. People I know in my real life (that didn’t I play on my laptop for a living) will become too aware of my financial situation and that never helps.

 

Unnecessary Pressure

Publishing my monthly income reports would put unnecessary pressure on me. I have monthly goals I aim to smash every month, and that includes my finances, but putting them online is another level. I know I would be under a lot of pressure and that is pressure I don’t need.

 

Red Christmas Jumper

 

These are my reasons for not publishing income reports on Fashion and Style Police. I respect other bloggers who are bold enough to publish theirs, it is just not for me.

What are your thoughts? Do you publish or plan to income reports on your blog?

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Thank you for reading.

8 Things Every Pro Blogger Should Do Before Quitting Their Day Job

July 20, 2016 By in Blogging Tips Tags: , , , , , , , , 47 Comments

Coin Necklace Picture

 

If you are among those who are waiting for the right time to quit their 9-5 job, then I have to tell you that there’s never going to be a right time to quit. Quitting your day job after freelancing for a while may seem like a big leap, but with everything all planned out, it can be the best decision you will ever make.
Have you been freelancing or blogging for while and are now ready to take that leap into quitting your job and going Pro? Here are 8 things every pro blogger does before quitting their day job:
1.    Have the right mindset
It may sound strange to have this as the first thing on this list, but having the right mindset before you go into blogging full time is a must. Pro bloggers make sure that they are mentally prepared for full-time blogging because it is a lot of work. It comes with a lot of issues and challenges, so having the right mindset from the start does help.

There will be a lot of business challenges that you may not have experienced from your day job. You will  have a lot of responsibilities. Do not let this scare you. Having a “can-do” attitude will help you grow your career as a full time blogger.
2.    Have some money left aside
When you take that leap into the world of full time blogging, you have to make sure you have some money saved up that will keep you going until you start to get regular income. I know some bloggers who left their day job with nothing to fall back on, or some who left because they had no choice, and yet became successful. But most of these bloggers agree that they should have had some money saved up first before making that move. Having some money saved up to cover your bills and living expenses for some months is ideal.
3.    Develop a strategy on how you can earn money
Don’t leave your day job without having clients! Being your own boss can be exciting but you need to make sure that you have some sort of income coming in from your blog first before you go Pro.
4.    Market yourself regularly
Your blog literally depends on it. You need to constantly promote yourself and your blog so that more people know about you and what you do. The more people know about you and your blog, the higher the possibility of them reading it and becoming regulars. The more readers, the moe followers and engagement. The more followers and engagement, the more money.
5.    Have a schedule
Everything in your day job is planned out: your tasks, goals or deadlines. In the same way, you need to have a schedule for your own business. Have an editorial calendar. Note the days and the frequency with which you will write your blog posts. Set certain days or times when you will edit photos and promote on social media. Have everything concernin your blog all planned out.
6.    Learn the necessary skills

You have to realize that blogging will be a totally different experience from your day job. Most of your time will be spent working on your own, and you will have to be a jack of all trades. You will be writing and editing posts, taking photos and editing them, promoting your posts on social media, moderating and replying comments, handling taxes and bookkeeping. You can always employ others to handle some of these tasks but when you first start out, you will be doing them yourself pretty much. Learning these skills will help you run your blogging business effectively.
7.    Set up your working environment
Just because you’ work from home doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t treat blogging as anything less than a business. Create a space in your house that you can make as an office. Clear up your desk and set up the right environment to work.
8.    Get support from fellow bloggers
Although you will be able to work from the comfort of your home, and if you are like me, you would love it. But there will be times when you would miss a normal working environment. I know I do miss it sometimes. Building a relationship with other bloggers will help you transition into pro blogging nicely. They may have more experience than you do and you can always learn a thing or 2 from another blogger. The learning process is endless.

Are you a pro blogger? How did you transition into pro blogging? If you are not, would you consider blogging full-time?

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