My classic blogging set up.

Hey kittens, if you read my blog regularly you’ll have seen that last week I shared my top three tips for starting a successful blog. They were pretty general tips, but important ones that I believe in, and my post has got pretty good feedback following that. So, here’s my part two of my little blogging tips mini series…

My first post talked about starting a blog, and this post is all about making your blog effective. Are you a fellow blogger or thinking of starting a blog about your passion? Whether you’re new to blogging or an old hand, there’s always room to improve (and hopefully win a wider readership). Check my top tips to see if there are any new developments that could help you be a better blogger in 2015.

Take better pictures

Y’all know I love a good picture – my Outfit of the Day posts are my favourite as they let me be creative with my photography, but equally, I love my Instagram just as much for capturing every day life. Photos tend to be a very popular feature of online blogs. To improve your photography, you don’t necessarily need better equipment – a decent camera phone will do.

As you can see from my blog posts, I like to walk when I take outfit photos, and you see the best of the bunch. My best advice would be to take lots of photos and try moving around more when you photograph, especially if you’re snapping moving subjects such as people or pets. For children and animals, get down to their level and move in close to take the best shots.  Lighting is often the difference between a good and a bad photo. If you regularly take pictures at home, you’ll know which areas of your house get the light at which times. Try and plan your photo sessions around getting the best natural light.

Avoid puns

Okay, okay, I love a good kitten themed pun, but only when it’s appropriate, and sneakily hidden within the blog text copy itself – I would never use a pun in a blog post title. Although you may think you’re being creative when you use puns or wordplay in your post titles, it’s often best to stick to plain and simple headlines that capture exactly what your post is about – like this one! Readers are generally looking for information and they prefer accurately-labelled content rather than cryptic titles. ‘Ten recipes for carrots’ is better than ‘Feeding Bugs Bunny’, for instance; although I wouldn’t recommend writing a blog post about carrots in real life(!).

Review your performance

For me, blogging is a hobby that I started three years ago with no idea how far it might take me. I’ve been really lucky to be able to have as many opportunities as I’ve had with it, but I just see these as a bonus. However, a lot of bloggers are now starting with the intention of making money.

Whether you blog for your own amusement or for more serious reasons, it’s valuable to understand how your blog is received by using any analytics tools you have available. Start by finding out which of your 2014 posts was most successful and which seemed most controversial (try counting the comments to find out). The answer might surprise you!

Implement real time email verification 

For something a little more techy, real time email verification* is a nifty tool to help reduce your bounce rate and improve your mailing reputation. It works by speedily identifying whether or not an email address is valid and deliverable at the point of sign up to your blog. When you next come to send an email to your list, it helps prevent bounces that could negatively affect your reputation as a sender. Very handy indeed!

Find out who your friends are

This is very similar to one of my tips in my first blog post, about networking. However, it still stands and it’s super important! It’s also valuable to identify your advocates – the people or organisations that are linking to your blog or sharing your content. If you’re on Twitter, review who’s been sharing your content most often and which of your followers have the biggest number of followers themselves. You might like to court them in 2015 by sharing their content, linking back and other courtesies that will benefit both sides – AKA, just be nice!

So kittens, I really hope this blog post helped you to get some mores specific tips on creating a successful and engaging blog – if you would like any other blog advice, then please leave me a comment down below and I will add your questions to my next blog post in my blogging advice series.

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