I have been blogging for six years this July. Almost daily. And my readers grow by at least five new followers a day. So I have learnt some things and it is time to pass a few of those things on.
Here are ten tips for you. These are only tips mind you. I am not the director, I am a player just like you.
- Testimonial. Write down what your blog is about. Your objective. Your job description. The challenges you have given yourself. Be very clear. My blog is developed around three major promises. (a)The blog is about the farm and all the photos are from my own farm. (b)I will tell the truth. (c)It will always be about yesterday so is absolutely current. I do not promise to blog every day – that happened all by itself and i will not accept that as a presssure. My blog sometimes turns into a travel blog but I give you warning. But the basic premise has continued for these five and a half years. The farm and the food from the farm.
2. Photographs. Always have an image. Mine are all taken on the farm and are often pretty random. They don’t have to be professional quality. Just follow these few rules. (a) Check your corners. (b)Straighten horizons. (c)Lower or raise yourself to check you have the best Point of View. (d) Give your eye a way out. (e) Make them big. (f)Look for focus. (g) A single simple well presented image has as much power as multiple images. (h) High contrast for small screens.
3. With words Less is Best. I seldom write more than a thousand words. Don’t say musings or ponderings – get to the point. Cut out extraneous words. Read your words out loud before you publish – your voice is your best editor.
4. Engage your Audience.Talk to your readers as though they are sitting across the table from you. Then answer them when they talk back. When I leave a comment on a page and the writer cannot be bothered answering me within a few days, especially when they only have a few comments there – I don’t go back. I conclude that they have no interest in discussion. I choose to visit the blog writers who will talk to me. (Many blogs are too big with too many comments to answer and I am not talking about those blogs. They are in a different realm. I also need to say here that in the summer when I am flat out I don’t get to answer all my own comments myself, I read them all and try to answer fast if the internet is co-operating but often fail. So I also understand if you cannot answer my comment every time. Winter is my favourite blog time because I get to talk to my all my readers then).
5. Go to other blogs and leave comments. Especially when you join that blog. This is the best, and simplest way to find people to have your morning chats with. We are here because we love the community that develops around a blog.
6. Write your words down when they come to you. My blog is daily so everything depends on what happened yesterday but if a sentence comes to me when I am knee deep in mud at ten in the morning, I jot it down in the notes folder of my phone which I keep in my pocket. It is shocking how many good ideas fly out the windows of my brain if I don’t write them down.
7. Use social media as a tool. Social media used correctly is an excellent way to get your posts to a wider audience. But be careful, it can also grab you by the left leg and suck you down. Set a limit on the amount of time you spend on blogging.
8. Honesty is your best policy. Unless you are writing as someone else: Be honest. We can smell stirrers and mongers. Be honest and true and the best you can be. Using your own voice. This is very attractive in a blog.
9. Relax. Most bloggers are like me – they use their blogs for record keeping and sharing. This is a perfect way to keep track of your recipes, or your farm, or your children’s cute sayings or your art or your travels. But it is not the be-all and end-all of your life. Blogging is like instagram it works WITH your life. So relax, have a good time with it. Blog when YOU want to. If it is important to you to build a big number of readers then it is a good idea to stay current – maybe once or twice a week. The first thing I check on a blog is the last publication date. Set yourself doable targets.
10. Develop a rhythm in your postings. I post every morning, early. It gives your readers a handle. I am like my cows – I love a routine. I would encourage you to post on the same day at the same time each week. Use your publication settings. Though many bloggers post whenever they feel like it and we love them.
11. Devices. not everyone reads on a huge screen anymore. Many people will read your blog on a small phone with the tiniest of screens. Keep this in mind when writing titles, choosing the size of your images, paragraph settings and writing your comments.
12. Have fun with it. I know I am repeating myself but there is enough pressure in other areas of your life. Enough hate speech in other corners of the social media world. Enough hammers on our heads. Give yourself permission to relax and have fun with blogging. Engage. Chat. Smile. Be positive. The right word in the right corner of your screen can change someones day. ust like a good waitress can change you dinner to an Occassion. Writing with a smile ensures that you are involved in changes for good.
I bet you have a few other tips to add in the comments! Our Longe of Comments being one of my favourite places to learn.
It is still dark this morning so there must be a good cover of cloud out there. Rain is coming they say.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
148 responses to “Twelve Tips for New Bloggers”
You provide lots of smiles, Miss C, lots of fun inside information about animals that I so love, and plenty of wisdom. Tears too.
And I enjoy reading your fellowship’s comments. Our feelings about you are so sympatico.
I think our Lounge of Comments has angels in it! Sitting on our names, swinging their legs and purring in angel language! Lucky we are. c
I’m no angel, but that thought is just heavenly-good. Maybe angels do talk. I know that I hear inspiring things here.
My best advice is to write what you enjoy. If we try to write to please others, our creativity is stilted.
That is the best advice.. c
Love LOVE your advice! I have let my blog lapse, and have thought about why A LOT! Biggest reason for me is my own singular lack of focus! I flitt from one thing/project/idea to another, I have been that way a long time and it works for me, maybe not for a blog. Something for me to think more about! or maybe not think about. another excellent post today. Keeps me coming back for more!
Yes! Maybe not think about – sometimes, I think, there does not have to be a reason for everything. And I can feel that you love who and how you are and that is the most important thing of all. c
Good tips Miss C. thank you. I’ve been blogging a long time but have lost my focus in the last year or so, and am still trying to figure out why.
The thing I enjoy most about blogging is the inter-action with my readers; I feel that if they can take the time to read my posts and leave a comment, I comment back and talk with them as if they were sitting right across from me. Very important because it puts worth to their comment as well as my post.
Your blog is always interesting whether it’s about the farmy or your travels and I love it and the pictures you post. You have a way with words that endears us to come back for more!
I love how we can talk back and forth – this is the best part of blogging. We are lucky to have such fascinating and genuine people in our blog world. c
I really enjoy coming to visit your blog every day possible, although I don’t leave comments too often unless I feel I have something worth contributing. I work a full-time-plus job so usually get very to no little time to read blogs until I’m off work. (Today I have a tiny slice of time to read you mid-day.) I am on my sixth year of blogging too. I used to post every day, then cut it back to a few times a week, and now I am only once a week on either Saturday and Sunday because that is what I find is a good work/life balance for me. I started it as a way to record my recipes for my daughter for when she goes to college, which will be this September! Where on earth has the time gone??? And you are so correct, your blog should be something you enjoy! I enjoy having mine very much. Thank you for posting all these great tips! P.S. I am so with you on bloggers who never respond to your own questions or comments on theirs. I usually stop following them after the third attempt at communication with them. Keep up the good work, both on the farmy and blog Celi! xoxo
That is the other most important thing when you are part of a Fellowship like ours – and you have got it – never feel that you have to comment. I abhor pressure in this arena. Blogging should be a choice and be fun. You do wonderfully to work full time, run a home and ALSO read and comment only when you have a moment. That is a wonderful balanced life. c
Thank you – this is an inspiring summary of advice.
Just a wee list to be starting with – hope you are having a lovely evening! c
Boy, this was a mind blower today! Looking at your photos and the phrase you used, “leave a way out for the eye”, made me realize why I’ve been so grumpy and wanting to travel lately – I’ve got Mountain Fever! Surrounded by mountains all around, there’s no place to ‘stretch’ my eyes. Heading for the beach soonest! Also, Ceci, don’t be leery of sewing – it’s so creative and leaves the machine with your signature on it. I’ve been sewing for years from toddlers’ clothes to prom dresses, Nehru shirts to suits…..it’s wonderful! Go for it!
I am almost there – I am going to start with an apron. c
Lovely – an apron. Very good idea to start with in any case. I had some phases in my life where sewing was a nice and a somehow important part of it. Especially when I was young. I loved it and got a quite well skill and experience. Planning, watching magazines for pattern and consulting them for ideas and later looking for the fabrics was always fun. Good luck, Celi and – most of all – beautiful results! – With love, Irmi
Yep, that’s how we started out. Will yours have a bib? Pockets? Oooh, do let me known how you progress! And what colours you use…
So annoying when someone likes and follows and never says a word to me. I always go and have a gawk at their site – and most of the time they have thousands of followers they never talk to. No thanks! I stopped tagging anything photography because so many artists are just looking for followers. I don’t do this to shout into a void! I want to meet people. People who are smart, and funny, and educational.
Often I go to have a look and there is no-one there at all! Very weird. And yes, we are here for the people – that is a good thing.. c
The people, and the fur-people! And the green glowing growing things.
Good advice. I would add that sentences should be real sentences, use the spell checker too and at least try with the punctuation. I ran across a blog and wasn’t sure at first what I was looking at. I won’t quote, but it went something like this – I m wrtg abt m day u’ve no idea how boring m life is Their is kids M tire of kids. No photos there.
As to your sewing, get some gingham, follow the lines, that makes figuring out straight lines easy. I was given a piece of blue gingham, a piece of old towel and shown how to thread the needle. The gingham was cut in two, one piece trimmed to the same size ad the towel piece, the other a bit larger. then sewed down the lines of the gingham skipping several to quilt the piece, then shown how to fold over the edge and sew that. I still use the hot pad it turned into. Never had any other sewing lessons, just got a pattern, fabric, notions and made stuff. The directions on patterns are fairly straight forward and easy to follow. By all means, check out Craftsy’s lessons. They just finished a buy one get one offer, but there will be another special soon. Wish I could chug down the road and show you. Sewing is actually fun and useful.
Tane looks so cute with his nose in the air.
Stay dry.
Thank you for the gingham advice – an excellent tip.. The machine is a monster sitting on the table at the moment – daring me.. c
It’s only a machine. Just take some old rags and sew with them. Make seams, try and keep things straight, pin then sew. Do things like that till you feel comfortable using the machine (DO NOT mess with the tension knob). Use old garments, resew the seams, when a hem starts coming apart, see how it’s done, sew it back together. Just five or ten minutes a day and it’ll stop feeling intimidating. My sewing machine is in the blasted storage unit behind all the big heavy stuff (I was not able to direct the filling of the storage units) and I miss it. I could be sewing things to sell otherwise as well as getting some very necessary mending done. It’s fun to see how fast a real wearable garment can be made.
Very sound advice!
Thank you Paul – hope you and the dogs are well! c
I love that you write every day – there are also those that write several times a day, and I find those too tedious to read. I took a break from my blog once – and almost felt like I had let everybody down. When I got back to it again, I was surprised at how many people were so happy to hear from me again, and much encouragement to write when I had time, no matter the time between blogs. 😊
It is indeed all about the people – we are lucky to be working in an age when we can connect with so many at one time! c
Wonderful tips sweet friend. And have fun with your blog. When it becomes a ‘chore’, step back and reevaluate why you are blogging. Hogs and snout kisses sweets! XOXO – Bacon
Yes i do agree – thankfully like farming – blogging about it has never been a chore.. or at least I enjoy my chores! Sheila sends her love.. c
Well, a cuckoo in the nest like me, who cannot even manage to write her own blog I daresay should not have a word . . . 🙂 ! But somewhere, somehow there are seven years of ‘experience’ there from the sidelines . . . Numbers 4 and 8 resonate the most -. Of course both have led me to quite a few problems sitting across that kitchen table from you and others perchance being too honest: trying to have a ‘dinner conversation’ of ‘what do you really think’ the way we would were we there . . . . and only realizing later that the whole cyberspace was looking on . . . knowing that perchance one had puzzled or even hurt another totally against wishes . . . . seems I better go on reading more and learning thereby . . . 🙂 !
#7 – 100% agree. I have given up FB and Twitter and blogging is now the only social media i participate in and even here I’ve had to trim it back, too, and limit the time spent. But I admit I like some of my virtual friends as much as my “real” friends and I miss them when I don’t check in!
Time just flies when cruising through the social interwebs. Not called a WEB for nothing!
“Web” had to laugh at your observation – so true.
As always love the pictures and great advice, too.(And I’m still constantly amazed you blog so much and so well and still manage a farm…not to mention comments/responses)