Sometimes we all get a little lost in the sea of bloggers, and the huge array of posts available in our Twitter feeds can be overwhelming. So when we press publish, and send out our own little blog posts into the world, it's not uncommon to feel a little worried it might not be getting the attention it deserves. I've had this feeling plenty of times as I'm sure a lot of bloggers have, so I thought today I'd share the five things that make blog posts stand out to me, in the hopes that it'll help us all show off our own talents a little more. It's also a nice way of reminding myself of the things I should probably be doing!...
1. Layout.
There are no specific rules about how you should have your blog layout, and I myself am a fan of a whole load of various types; from colourful and busy, to white and exceptionally neat. But the one thing that ensures I stick around on a page is that I can clearly locate each post, the font isn't too big or small (or a colour other than black!) and page flows naturally. If you make it distracting or annoying to read a blog post, nobody is going to bother; no matter how awesome it is!
2. Make it different.
This can be a hard one, but it's thoroughly worth putting that extra effort in to give your blog post the little twist it needs to make it stand out from the crowd. So you're doing a beauty review of a product everyone is talking about? That's fine. Try to take photographs in a different way from everyone else, give the review a little humour and really try to express why this post is still unique to you. Sometimes I read posts on products I've already read about, or even products I don't like; purely because the blogger who has wrote it always makes me laugh and I enjoy it anyway.
3. Promotion.
Yeah I know. Duhh Jemma, obviously we know to promote it. There's a difference though between simply pasting a link onto Twitter and really putting some effort into how you promote. It's good to try come up with witty/weird/unique/attention grabbing tweets rather than just 'Here's my new post'. I'm not saying I've mastered this yet myself, but I do know my random 'Got yourself a little Dorkface fix today yet?! ;)' with a heckload of cute emojis gets way more clicks than my 'Visit me' ones when I'm in a rush. It's also not a bad idea to think about the best hashtags to use, or if you could mention a Twitter account that will retweet you. There are a bunch of accouns out there created solely for retweeting bloggers. My faves to use are @UKBlog_RT and @femalebloggerRT. Also, read my post on scheduling Tweets.
4. Use photos that stand out,
In this post, you'll see I've added the title onto the image to really grab attention when you're scrolling through my posts. It also helps it stand out in the bloglovin feed, and when I share it on Pinterest/Twitter. I always post an image with every single promotional tweet, as it really helps catch people's eyes. Seriously, go look at my Twitter feed right now; I guarantee you'll see promotional tweets with images to go along with them. I would never dream of posting my link now without an image.
5. Timing.
Finally, you don't wanna put in all this extra effort to not even think about your timing. Is there a particular day this post would get more attention? You can use Google Analytics to figure out when most people visit your blog and use this to your advantage. I do also consider the hour in which I publish posts too. Sidenote here in case some of you don't know; I schedule everything. I write posts whenever I feel like, but I'll always schedule when they go out. That's because I know I want to do each post justice. Just because I write it at 1am, doesn't mean I want to publish it at 1am; when I get zero visitors and it'll be hidden in the sea of new morning posts from people. It also means I can plan ahead and always have at least 3 posts a week, which I love. So for me, I post on weekdays around 7/8am, when a lot of people are checking their feed after they wake up, or they're on their way to work. At weekends, I usually post an hour or two later; anywhere between 9am-12pm. It just works for my audience.
Lastly in regards to timing, make the most of the season/time of year! I love when bloggers keep things current and create their posts based around a Summer theme, or post about current events.
These tips are not the work of an expert, and neither are they rules you have to abide by. Everyone does things a little differently. They are simply notes I've made for myself over this past year, which seem to work for me and a lot of bloggers I follow. Be sure to let me know if you consider these things for your own blog, or if you have any tips for me I'd love to hear them!
Have a great week guys!
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