It’s that time of the year again!! 😀 😀
Spoons is officially the big oh.two (read: it’s my two year blogiversary!!!). I published my very first [post-hiatus] post on August 27, 2012, and the rest is kind of history. And what a history it’s been! Never in a million years did I imagine that I’d end up here — starting up my very own health coaching business, going back to school for holistic nutrition (more on that soon!!), developing recipes, and making the switch from blogging as a hobby to blogging as a job. Un.real.
To say that it’s been one heck of a journey is an understatement, and to think that it’s really only just beginning blows my mind. I have no idea where I’ll be a year from now, but I finally feel like I’ve found my calling after struggling for so many years with questions of what I wanted to be “when I grew up.” I love that I wake up excited for each new day, and I love that work doesn’t actually feel like work. A year ago, I made a decision to completely change career paths, and while it was absolutely terrifying at the time, it was also one of the best decisions I ever made. I’m a firm believer in always pursuing your dreams, even if it means taking a big leap of faith to start.
But enough about that before I start getting all misty eyed! What I actually wanted to talk about today was blogging and how to take your blog to the next level. This doesn’t mean you suddenly have to start blogging full time, but every blogger knows how much time and effort gets put into blogging, and it’s always nice to get a little something back, no? So here are my top tips for how to approach blogging in a more professional and business-minded manner. Please keep in mind that I’m no expert and that these are simply things that I picked up along the way. Also, this approach won’t be for everyone, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with blogging purely as a hobby — it’s what I started out doing too!
Be self-hosted and own your own domain. When I decided to come back to blogging after my hiatus, I immediately decided to take the plunge and go self-hosted right from the start, which, in my opinion, is a huge part of the reason why I stuck with it… especially during some of those more frustrating periods where I felt like throwing in the towel. Being self-hosted not only makes your little space feel like it’s more yours and inspires you to put more time and effort into it, but it also shows other people that you’re serious about what you do — making them more likely to stick around and/or work with you. And that’s saying nothing about all the great plugins and other options that being self-hosted opens up to you.
Going self-hosted is my #1 recommendation for anyone who wants to get more serious about blogging, and if you’re unsure about what host to go with, then allow me to recommend Bluehost*. They’re one of the top hosting companies out there, and I personally just renewed my contract with them because I was that impressed with their services. If you want more information about Bluehost and self-hosting, head over to my post on how to start a blog for more details!
Use an editorial calendar. I started out blogging by the seat of my pants, and while it “worked” to some extent, it also stressed me out to the max and usually left me scrambling for content on a daily basis. I’d wake up in the morning not knowing what I was going to blog about the next day, hoping against hope that inspiration would strike and provide me with a post. If it did, great! If not, I simply wouldn’t post.
I know that kind of approach may work for some people, but I needed a little more structure. I started using a calendar to jot down ideas and plan out posts for the upcoming month, and it completely changed my blogging experience for the better. Having post ideas written out ahead of time helped me channel my thoughts into what I was planning to write about, and laying everything out on paper made it easier to see if my posts were spaced out properly so that I didn’t end up posting two of the same kind of posts back to back. I also worked out a weekly schedule where I post certain things on certain days (i.e.: ToL on Thursdays, Link Love on Sundays, recipes on Mondays & Fridays, etc.), which not only removes a lot of the guess work for me, but also lets my readers know what to expect.
Create useful & pinnable content. Using your blog as an online daily journal or sorts is great if you’re mostly doing it as a hobby, but if you want to grow your blog and attract more visitors then you need to create content that people are going to find useful in some way. Whether it’s lifehacks, workouts, or recipes, post things that people are likely to search for in Google… and make sure to always include a graphic that can be pinned to Pinterest.
Pinterest and search engines are my two biggest sources of traffic, and I saw a huge increase in visitors when I began posting more recipes. The best part is that posts like that continue to drive traffic even long after they’ve been published. I’ve had recipes that I published months and months ago suddenly pick up in popularity after getting pinned by the right person on Pinterest, and that’s saying nothing about when a site like Buzzfeed or Huffington Post features my recipe in one of their articles. A random musings post is pretty much forgotten as soon as a new post replaces it, but a post with useful information will keep working for you indefinitely. This doesn’t mean that random musings posts aren’t valuable, since they help you maintain a valuable blogger-reader connection, but try to put out a steady stream of universally useful posts as well.
Develop your own brand. This is basically just a fancy way of saying “put a personal touch on your work and keep it consistent.” You may have noticed that I use the same fonts and colour schemes in all my work. I take my photographs in a certain way and I write with a certain voice. This is my brand. This is what, hopefully, makes someone think Spoons as soon as they see it. You want your brand to be a reflection of who you are and what you’re all about. Let your personality shine through in the design you choose, the language you use, and the subjects you address so that your readers can get a better sense of who you are. Use certain catch phrases, create your own hashtags, and really take the time to come up with your own unique style.
Also, never ever endorse a product that doesn’t fit with your own brand and that you don’t support 100%. Bloggers get a lot of offers to try free products, and while it can be tempting to accept them all (especially in the beginning), you’re only doing yourself a disservice in the long run by taking away from your credibility. Your readers need to be able to trust you, and you need to earn that trust with how you handle yourself.
Get your name out there. The most common blog-related question I get is how to grow your audience and get more comments… which makes sense since no one likes to feel like they’re talking to themselves. It’s a question I always struggle with answering, though, because I feel like people are looking for some magic solution when the reality is super simple — you need to make a name for yourself, and the only way to do that is to get your name noticed.
This means visiting [lots of] other blogs and continusouly leaving comments. It means being active on social media and connecting with people via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. It means reaching out to bloggers you admire and developing relationships. It means being an active part of your niche community. In the famous words of John Donne, “no [blogger] is an island entire of itself; every [blogger] is a piece of the continent”… you need to make those connections.
Be your biggest fan. I hated the idea of self-promotion when I first started blogging. I figured that if my work was good enough, it would get noticed on its own. False, false, false. You can have the best content in the world, but if no one knows that it exists, it isn’t going to do you any good… and no one is going to know that it exists unless you market/promote the hell out of it because the internet is an ocean and your blog is only a tiny drop of water in it.
Look at it this way. If you aren’t proud enough of your own work to want to promote it, then how can you expect other people to be impressed with it? You can’t. You need to be your own cheerleader. Put out quality content that you’re proud of and share it wherever you can (social media, linkups, recipe submission sites, etc.). Not every post is going to be a huge hit, but if you continuously put out good content, then you’ll eventually strike gold with a few of them.
Be prepared to work your a** off. I’m not going to beat around the bush here — blogging takes a lot of time and a lot of work. Is it possible to become a successful blogger and make a decent income off your blog? Absolutely. Is it easy? Absolutely not. This is where passion becomes the deciding factor because if you don’t love what you do, you’ll burn out fast. You’ll burn out when posts that you put your heart and soul into barely get noticed. You’ll burn out when you put hours and hours of work in and barely see a payoff. You’ll burn out when you look at other bloggers who seem to be so much more successful than you are. You’ll burn out when you inevitably have to deal with negativity and criticism…
Blogging is fun, but it’s also frustrating and discouraging. There’ve been plenty of times where I’ve questioned the point of what I was doing and seriously considered throwing in the towel, but taking a few days off was usually enough to reignite my passion and keep me at it. Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme, nor is it overnight success. It’s hard work, dedication, time, and patience. It’s trying different things, making mistakes, and learning what works and what doesn’t. It’s passion, drive, and ambition. Is it possible to become a successful blogger? Absolutely… but that doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for everyone.
Bloggers: Any tips to share or questions you want addressed?
Readers: Wish Spoons a happy birthday? 🙂
More places to find me!
E-mail — [email protected]
Twitter — runwithspoons
Facebook — runningwithspoons
Pinterest — runwithspoons
Instagram — runwithspoons
Bloglovin — runningwithspoons
Thank you so much for this post! I have been on the fence about self hosting for awhile now and I appreciate you sharing these tips! I can’t wait to go through the comments and find more advice too!
You mean to say that your blog isn’t five years old?! Sure seems like it 🙂 You rock. Seriously–you’re such an inspiration, such a sweetheart, and I just adore you. Keep it up Miss Fabulous!
Right back at ya, gorgeous! xox
Happy Blogiversary!!
I would love to learn more about how to get posts noticed by Buzzfeed & HuffPo, advertising and your food photography tips!!
Happy Blog Birthday!
Some great tips here. Making the jump to full-time blogger was the best decision I ever made.
eeeeeeek happy 2nd bday running with spoons!
you’re honestly one of my blogging role models… so glad to know ya!
you’re amazing at what you do & deserve all the successes in the world.
love ya amanda! xo
Happy Birthday Spoons!!!! I love this post! I’m in that stage of trying to grow my blog, so I’ll definitely be keeping these in mind :)!
Okay, first: Happy blog birthday to Spoons – pretty grown up and established for a two-year-old, no?! – and congrats to you for coming this far. And thank you for sharing all of this. Even if now isn’t the time yet – unfortunately – I can see myself take my blog that huge step further as in: bringing it to a professional level. The tips you gave here are GOLDEN. The kind of advice you want to print out for a blogging calendar. If you had one and your printer hadn’t died. Woops. Abyway, it’s awesome you’re sharing your knowledge with us instead of keeping it to yourself. Keep up the great posts!
Happy Anniversary!!! Love you Blog, your writing and honesty is so enjoyable to read! I truly due laugh out loud (lol) at times. Thanks for all your hard work.
Arlene
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Arlene! I really appreciate it 😀
Thank you for such a helpful post!
http://www.inallofhersplendor.com/2014/08/25/dont-count-calories-be-aware-of-calories/
Congratulations. This was such a helpful post! Thank you.
Happy Birthday Spoons!! You know, I’m always one to marvel at how time flies but in this case I’m going to changing my tune: I cannot believe how much you’ve had going on in Spoons in the two-year span…seems longer I’d say 🙂 .
All such great tips! Blogging is most certainly not a get-rich-quick scheme. I know so many people who think that! I’m still working on my blog to make it something bigger *someday*. It just takes lots, and lots of time.
Happy Birthday, Spoons! 🙂
Woohoo!!! Happy 2 year Blogiversary!!! I’m not sure if I’ve ever checked out your first post, so I’m going to do that right now! 🙂 Also, I love all of your tips. Definitely some great advice to keep in mind when/if I’m ready to take my blog to the next level.
Happy Blogiversary Hunn!! Love that you made it to the next level, congrats!!
And thenk you for the reminder of being active in Social Media. I am the WORST!! I forget about ALL my accounts all the time. It’s when people connect with ME that I remember I am registered with Twitter. Ugh.
I slack off a lot on social media too :S I find that it actually helps to pick one or two platforms to be active on instead of trying to tackle them all. SO much less overwhelming that way.
Happy blogiversary. I can’t believe how much you have accomplished in two years. Huge congrats for that! And thanks for the post. I’m always wondering about how to take my blog to the next level and this is super helpful.
Definitely some great tips! I also feel like by owning your domain and being self hosted, by putting in that expense you’re making that commitment and investment into your blog.
Great advice lady! I especially loved the part about being your own cheerleader. Very true! Happy 2nd spoons!
Happy blogiversary!!
Happy Blogiversary! These are great tips for anyone who wants to grow their blog- even if they don’t want to turn it into a career. You do such a good job keeping your “brand” consistent with the color schemes and the voice, making it really easy for people to immediately pick you out of a crowd and make you more memorable. I look forward to hearing about this new health coaching business of yours!
Happy Blogiversary!! I had no idea that your blog is already THAT grown up 😉 I’m going to read your first post right now.
I’d love to get to know more aout your actual job as a health coach, maybe you could share a little what it’s all about, what you do on a daily basis, or something like this.
Love your blog btw! Your style of writing and mindset, and funny stories 🙂
Thanks so much, Ann! And I’ll definitely be going into more detail about health coaching when I start offering my services online. It shouldn’t be too long now 🙂
Happy Blogaversary!!!!!! This is so well-time for me. I am one year in, and I am encouraged to think that blogging could be my career. My traffic has improved vastly over the year through referrals, word of mouth and facebook shares. But I am getting almost NO traffic from Google/SEO or Pinterest, so there is LOTS of opportunity for growth there. Thank you for posting!
As strictly a blog reader, and not a blogger myself, I find that self-hosting doesn’t make much difference in my experience of people’s blogs. I read all the blogs I follow on feedly, and so I don’t actually see people’s websites or personal touches. For me, it’s easier and more efficient that way- I can read posts on my phone while I’m on the train, etc, that I might not otherwise have time for. That’s just my two cents from a reader perspective!
Happy Blogiversary!! Those are great tips and lessons that I have been learning lately. I feel like since i have been blogging over the past year I have learned alot and made a lot of progress, but lately I have felt kind of stuck. I feel like I have a great network of other bloggers who I have connected with, but I’m kind of like where do I go from here? I’d love to hear any more tips you have about taking your blog to the next level!
Happy Happy Blogiversary Spoons!!!
What an awesome post – Amanda – so much information AND inspiration! I have learned so much from you, sweet lady – I couldn’t agree more – passion for blogging is a must! When I started blogging I did not know much about food photography – recently I got Pinch of Yum’s Tasty Food Photography http://pinchofyum.com/tasty-food-photography which I have enjoyed reading and (still) learning from!
Happy two years! I’d love to switch my blog to self-hosted using Bluehost. I’ve heard so many great things about the platform, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin to transfer everything over.
Have you checked out my post on how to start a blog? — http://www.runningwithspoons.com/2014/05/16/how-to-start-a-blog/
I talk about some of the steps there! And Bluehost is pretty amazing in terms of offering support with transfers. You can pay one of their techs to do it for you, or you can do it yourself and call on them if you run into any trouble.
Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions!
Happy Birthday Spoons! Congratulations Amanda!
Your hard work and dedication is very inspiring!
Cheers!
These are wonderful, wonderful tips Amanda and I agree with alllllll of them. I would definitely stress consistency… not necessarily posting everrrrry M, W, F (though that works too) but being consistent with posting at least a few times a week and consistent on social media as well. Happy birthday Spoons–here’s to many more years!
Happy blogiversary! I love all your tips. Blogging is definitely a challenge, but it’s so worth it!
Wow, two years! It definitely gives me hope that I can improve a lot in that time since I’m still relatively new to this whole thang! Congrats and keep it going!! 😀
You’re awesome. Congrats on two years! To many, many more!
Happy Blog Birthday!! Great tips – sometimes I wonder where my blog would have gone if I didn’t let it go for almost 2 years…and now I just don’t have the time to build it again. Maybe some day!
Absolutely love this post. Thank you so much for sharing these awesome tips! One thing I struggle with is creating a brand. I like a variety of fonts and colours for example, that I dont’ know how to settle on the perfect one(because I’ve never really taken enough time to really process that and have a logo and stuff…VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION: If you change your blog theme, in a way, are you changing your brand?) And how did you settle on the colours you chose, Amanda?
I know what you mean! There are definitely an overwhelming amount of gorgeous fonts and colour combos out there, but just try to remind yourself that at the end of the day, it doesn’t have to be perfect — it just has to be YOU. I picked my colours based on what I thought looked good and the kind of atmosphere I wanted to create on my blog, if that makes sense. And changing a theme isn’t so much changing your brand as it is tweaking it. It’s still you and your voice, just with some visual mods 🙂
Happy Blog Birthday Lovely!
That is all great advice there Amanda. You are so right in that passion and hard work is the key to it all. As my Dad always says… passion, enthusiasm and hard work = success 🙂
I hope you are eating a big almond butter, banana, cake number as a celebration of all your hard work 🙂
Love this. The work your A** off is right on point. A lot of people don’t get how much work blogging is and how much time it takes. Also, The be your own fan! I always got embarrassed talking about my blog because it’s me raw, out there. Now, I own it!
I know -exactly- what you mean! When people asked me what I did, I kind of sort of mentioned blogging under my breath and tried to change the subject as quickly as possible, but now it’s something that I’m really proud of!
Happpy happy birthday to Spoons…aka one of the blogs I truly look forward to reading regularly! Like you said, passion is what keeps a blog going and it’s evident how much time, effort & PASSION you put into yours…cheers to even more success :)!
I had no idea your blog was only two years old. I guess I did, I just didn’t think about it! That’s awesome though and I’m happy you’ve been able to turn your blog into a small business. For me I can’t sit in front of the screen for that long so I don’t think I could ever become a full term blogger! Happy anniversary!
Happy Anniversary! Thanks for this post, I read every word, and really enjoyed it too. I am seriously tempted now about going to Bluehost, but I am just not sure I have the money right now to be able to afford it 🙁 I think it would take my blog to the next level though. I definitely want it to be more about the content than about my life…..
Thanks for sharing your tricks, and I look forward to the next few years of posts from you 🙂
I know it’s a bit of a commitment, but Bluehost only charges around $5 a month, and if you sign up with an ad network then you could probably make enough to cover those costs. E-mail me if you want to chat deets!
HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!!!! So glad you started blogging, seriously. Keep it up! 😀
LOVE love love this post!! I was just talking last night about how my dream would be to this full time. Way to make it harder for me to come up with excuses 🙂 Its a terrifying leap of faith- im SO inspired you’re doing it.
Girl! You have -such- a fabulous writing voice — you could definitely do it! You don’t have to jump in full time from the start — just build it up slowly and you’ll never know where it could take you! No excuses 😛
Happy blog birthday- it’s been great to follow along for the ride and see you flourish…cutlery and sneakers in tow.