Blogging Tips from a Newbie!

Hello lovely readers, it has been a wonderful blogging experience for me thus far.

I am no where near to being a pro-blogger (yet) but I have learnt so much over the course of a few months and I want to share with you ( you probably already know this) what I’ve come to realize during this journey.

So here is my unsolicited probably rudimentary list of advice for ‘newer’ (i’m new too) bloggers! 

Formatting

I’ve seen some awesome blogs; graphics, design, everything perfect! I’ve even been jealous of the creativity, like why didn’t I think of that –curse you limited imagination!!!

However sometimes these very awesome blogs have colors that are so blindingly bright; that, coupled with indecipherable font styles and sizes makes it really difficult to process all the awesomeness of your blog.

Seriously, these things threaten early onset blindness- if that’s even a thing.

While the creativity is astounding and color is a great accent to a blog it is still good to consider your readers.

I mean neon fuchsia pink (if that’s even a color) is probably great for a top or a buoy or a traffic cone; but a blog background, together with neon yellow? Ouch that shit should be locked up on  assault charges.

Editing

So the other day I overslept and in great haste, I jumped out of bed and before I knew it, like the Tazmanian devil, I whirled and was ready to hit the road.

Now I have 5 mirrors to pass before I make it to my front door (narcissistic much?! *facepalm*) all of which I glanced into before I turned the knob.

The only thing that saved me from leaving the house looking like one of Dr. Seuss’ book characters was the discomfort I felt in my (straight) jacket.

Lo and behold it was not the matching jacket to the pant I was wearing.

Hadn’t I stopped and ‘edited’ my damn outfit I would have ‘published’ that mess for everyone to see and probably institutionalized thereafter because I looked like a certifiable crackhead. This brings me to my point.

Editing is an important part of blogging. Read and re-read before you hit that publish button.

You might not catch every typo or grammatical error but you may catch that “the time I fed my dog my vagina” instead of “the time I had angina!”

Also, break your stuff up, paragraphs (where apply) should have a max of 5 sentences. It is a lot easier to read 5 sentences at a time than a 650 word paragraph.

‘Visual Aids’

Pictures, gifs and whatever else necessary to convey your message is always a great Idea. It gives your blog character–pizzazz.

Trust me, when I first started blogging I shunned the idea of anything that would send me into a dizzying frenzy.

But I’ve dipped my toe in and it’s not so bad. I know, not all blogs require photos.

I’ve read some pretty awesome poems, novellas and so on that didn’t have anything other than what seemed to be millions and millions of letters.

They held my attention nevertheless. So it really depends on the tone of your blog as well.

Where necessary, visual aids are a great addition to any blog. This can be overdone, so take care not to make it a confetti of gifs and photos, unless you have a photography blog, that shit is distracting.

Socializing

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to forget your blog for a bit and immerse yourself in the blogs of others.

If you are looking for attention and discovery you need to put yourself out there and the only way to do this is through socializing.

When I wrote my very first post I clicked publish and just set it there waiting for the blog gods to work their magic (yea sure).

So imagine my surprise when I signed back into my account a month later *cue the crickets orchestra* and there were what, like ZERO views. Gobsmacked!

That same day I went exploring, I went socializing and learning shit, getting involved in shit, searching for shit and before I signed out, I had my very first follower! Woohoooo!!!!

That is to say, as many, many great bloggers have told me, make yourself known.

Grease those elbows and put some work into it. Get to know people, go explore some blogs. There are so many awesome blogs out there to discover!

 

What about you? What advice would you give to new bloggers? What did I miss? Let me know in the comment section!