Blogging Tips and Tricks – Earn Money Blogging
Simple blogging tips and tricks to help you grow a successful business and earn money blogging
I never thought I’d find my passion and purpose when I started blogging in 2011 on a free blogger account. Over the years, my blog has changed along with my season of life and so have the rules and best practices that come with running a successful blog.
In my mission to turn my blog from hobby to professional, I have found excellent resources and learned valuable lessons along the way that I want to share with you. Whether you are a newbie or veteran blogger for hobby or for income, I hope you’ll find this page of blogging tips and tricks to take your blog to the next level helpful in your blogging journey.
What is the next level of your blogging journey? What goals do you hope to achieve with your blog? What are your favorite blogging tips and tricks or resources? If you have a particular blogging question you’d like to ask or a topic you would like me to write about, feel free to ask in the comments. I’d love to help you be successful on your blogging journey, wherever that next level takes you! I’ll be updating
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Blogging Tips for New Bloggers
5 Blogging Tips for New Bloggers to Avoid Overwhelm and Set Your Blog Up for Success from the Start
BLOGGING TIPS AND TRICKS TO Get Organized
- My FREE Blog Planner comes with 36 customizable worksheets to get your blogging tasks organized so you can achieve your blogging goals. Download to Google Drive, Microsoft excel or print. I downloaded mine to Google Drive so I can update it on my phone or computer as needed.
- I’ve reviewed a number of paper planners, check out all my planner reviews here or my ultimate planner comparison to find the perfect paper planner to help you keep track of your goals and blogging tasks.
- The Full Focus planner is a goal and quarterly, monthly, weekly and day on 2 pages all in one planner. I highly recommend it to help you develop an effective productivity system and set and achieve your goals. Read my comprehensive Full Focus Planner review (and get my exclusive discount code) here.
- 5 Time Management Tips to Achieve Your Dream Life
- Staying Organized – Guest Post Contribution on Book Bloggers International
- Getting Started Blogging + 4 Tips to Help Your Blog SOAR from Fit Triangle Mom
- 5 Things I’m Learning About Blogging from On D Bookshelf
BLOGGING TIPS AND TRICKS TO DESIGN A WELCOMING BLOG
The first step in good blog design is to organize it so that your readers can find what they are looking for. I used the Blog Structure Blueprint (a FREE resource from Elite Blog Academy)* to figure out how to organize my categories and tags to optimize my reader’s experience on my site. Simple and straight forward, the Blog Structure Blueprint will help you on your way to designing a beautiful blog you can be proud of and your readers will enjoy visiting.
Theme & Plugins:
- I purchased the Genesis framework* and the Captivating theme* from Restored 316 over Black Friday Weekend and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. The package that invites your readers to sit and stay awhile makes all the difference between a successful and struggling online business. It is definitely worth the small investment to get a premade theme if you can’t afford a custom design.
- The features I love most about this theme are:
- Flexible home page that you can build with various widgets
- SEO, ad network and affiliate marketing optimized so that Google will recognize and read your posts better and you can make money blogging
- Minimalist, classic design and neutral color scheme (as my readers are overwhelmed and busy moms and chronic illness patients, I want my readers to feel relaxed and peaceful when they visit)
- I can feature my products from my shop or my blog posts on the homepage
- Instagram feed on the bottom
- The other theme I was considering was Splendor which is great especially for service based businesses.
Branding:
- Canva is my choice for creating beautiful images and templates for my blog. I still use the free version, but the paid version has the ability to organize items into folders which would be very helpful considering how many images I have in there!
- Blog Design for Dummies* – excellent resource if you want to DIY blog design
Stock Photos:
I like using unique photos that aren’t being overused. Many bloggers seem to know and use sites like Unsplash and Pixabay (don’t get me wrong, they have great photos), but when I realized just how many people used them, I knew I needed to find different sources for stock photos. Here are my favorites:
- Jana Bishop Collection (I had her subscription for awhile and her photos are minimalist, neutral and gorgeous)
- Depositphotos has a huge assortment of high quality photos and a searchable database which makes finding photos a breeze. Best time to buy is during their Black Friday deal.
- picXclicX is an entire site of FREE stock photos. Jill’s collection has really grown and become more beautiful since I started using her photos a few years ago. Attribution is required or you can pay $5 for LIFETIME use of any of her photos. Since I used quite a few already, I went ahead and paid for the $5 so it came to less than $1 a photo.
- Haute Chocolate has gorgeous stock photos. I have not plunged the money down for a subscription ranging from $75/quarter to $225/year but Rachel offers a few free stock photos for subscribers monthly . I should have bought the subscription service during the Black Friday sale, maybe this year. I love that membership includes high resolution images, branding guides, social media quotes, and unlimited downloads!
- SC Stock Shop has a wonderful variety of stock photos and brand builder kits if you are looking for a new look. These are high resolution images and you can shop by color or collections. Prices vary from $69 for a single image to $274 for the larger brand builder kits. Be sure you read the specifications in each photo before purchase. Although some photo titles indicates a “collection”, the price could still be just for a single image. Shay offers stock photos free for subscribers so that’s what I use.
BLOGGING TIPS AND TRICKS TO CREATE BLOG CONTENT THAT KEEPS YOUR READERS COMING BACK FOR MORE
- The Best Blogging Courses on Content Strategy
- What Powers Your Happy? + 3 Ways to Find YOUR Passion in Life (Besides your family)
- Got Bloggers Block? Content Brew Can Help!
- Lessons Learned From Taking on NaBloPoMo
- To Write or Not to Write Negative Book Reviews
- 5 Challenges Facing New Writers (& Bloggers) and How to Overcome Them by Author Adria J. Cimino
BLOGGING TIPS AND TRICKS TO SKYROCKET YOUR BLOG’S TRAFFIC & INCOME
- Blog Income Boost – 7 strategies you can implement now to strategically grow your blog income
- Income Generating Action Tasks Guide
Pageviews and SEO:
- How I Grew My Traffic from Pinterest by 1,899%!
- Adventures in SEO – the only course I’ve taken that addresses both Google SEO and Pinterest SEO and how to optimize your posts and pins so you can rank at the top of both search engines. Total game changer!
- Traffic Transformation Guide – a reasonably priced resource with simple strategies to boost your traffic
- 3 Tools to Optimize Your Blog’s Holiday Traffic & Income
- Top 5 Tips for Creating a Sense of Community on Your Blog
- How Commenting on Blogs Can Grow Your Network
- Blogging Events to Learn about Blogging and Build Your Network
- Career Opportunities in Blogging from The Book Wheel
- 5 Tools for Your Online Business from Life from My Laptop
- How Traveling with T Met She Reads Book Club and Created Opportunity
- How To Run a Successful Blog Event from The Book Wheel
blogging tips and tricks to grow your email list
Getting faithful readers on your email list is the single most important asset you have as a blogger. These are your true fans and your most loyal customers. If you want to earn an income from your blog, YOU NEED AN EMAIL LIST! I have a small niche blog, meaning I don’t write about big topics people search for like food, home decor/DIY or personal finance. But I make money blogging largely because of my email list! Growing my email subscribers is definitely my top priority over mere traffic and vanity pageviews.
First things first, you need an email marketing provider.
I have used Convertkit and Mailerlite and recommend Mailerlite which has the same capabilities as Convertkit but at a fraction of the cost.
There is an art form to attracting readers to your blog and getting them to sign up for your newsletter or email list. Here are some of my favorite courses and resources I’ve taken to grow my list.
- List Love quick start guide by Jennifer Maker – this woman knows her stuff when it comes to email marketing and grew her email list to 10.000 subscribers in 6 months on a new blog and now has 80,000 subscribers. his is her intro level course that is worth the money. This course is always available.
- List Love Master course by Jennifer Maker – more comprehensive and still worth the money if your email list is a priority/top goal like it is for me. This course is open during certain enrollment periods.
blogging tips and tricks to grow your Social Media
- 3 Tools to Optimize Your Blog’s Holiday Traffic & Income
- TailwindApp scheduling for Pinterest* – download a free trial to schedule pins for your follower’s optimum viewing time and join tribes to get your pins promoted faster
- Master Pinterest Tracking Spreadsheet
BLOGGING TIPS AND TRICKS TO WORK FROM HOME
- 3 Amazing Resources You Need to Start a Work From Home Business
- 5 Simple Steps to Mastering Work Life Balance NOW
- Inspirational Gifts to Give Mom Who Works from Home
- 3 Amazing Resources You Need to Start a Work From Home Business
- Top 10 Best Blogging Resources for Every Level of Blogger
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I will continue to update this page for additional blogging tips and tricks I write and resources I find useful. Be sure to let me know what you would like to see and learn about in the comments. What are your favorite blogging tips and tricks and resources? Let’s share and help one another be successful in our blogging journeys!