Top ten Tips for

Top new BloggersKey tips for the first few weeks

with your blog

So you’ve started a

blog? What’s next?

It’s not easy. You need to work at it.

But with a few good tips, you

can be on your way to

success.

Let’s get started...

Use WordPress.ORG. Not .COM. You probably are already using it. But really use it. Get to know the features. There are a lot of them and it’s intimidating. But the more you learn, the better you can make your site. WP Beginneris a great resource and usually has the answer. But if not, just get on Google and get going. Invest in your site.

TIP ONE

Put some thought into your theme. Don’t just pick the first free theme that pops up. You might be able to find a great free theme, but, if you can afford to spend $50 (or so), it might be worth it. No matter how great your content is, most people are going to skip right over it if your site looks like it was built in 1998.

TIP TWO

Generate subscribers using Lead Pages. Lead Pages is a service that provides landing pages with opt-in forms and order forms, and other types of subscriber opt-in services. It costs $25/month. But, if you’re really invested in your blog, you must generate leads and this is a great way to do it. You can set it up so that when people go to your blog, they first hit on a landing page asking them to subscribe. This will generate a ton of subscribers for you. Just make sure that you also give them the option not to subscribe. You don’t want to drive people away from your blog just because of that opt-in form.TIP Three

Get serious about social media. You do not need to be on every social media forum out there. But you do need to be on some of the big hitters. You must devote some serious time to this. You need to be active on these pages, you can’t just set up an account and assume that people will follow you. I generated 1000 Instagram followers in about 2 weeks by posting multiple times a day, liking lots of posts, and following the right people. You can do the same, but you’ve got to put the effort in.

TIP four

Embrace Google Analytics. It’s not immediately obvious how to use all those cool numbers and graphs, but once you fiddle around a bit you’ll figure it out, and it’s very useful. You can see exactly how many people have been on the site, where they’ve been, how long they’ve been there, and their demographics. You can even see who is on the site right now. The information is all available, you’ve just got to use it. TIP FIVE

Consider whether or not to have advertising on your site. This is not an obvious answer and people will guide you differently. You do not have want to be that annoying page with 7 pop-up ads. But, a little advertising might not hurt if you want to generate some revenue. This is probably not going to make you a millionaire, but it can make you a small amount. Most people will recommend Google Adsense, and I am one of those people.

TIP SIX

Consider whether or not use paid advertising yourself. Again, this is kind of up to you. If you want to put some money into it, this can generate you a fair number of clicks. Popular choices include Google Adwords, Facebook Advertising, Outbrain, and Taboola. You can pretty much set your own budget for all of these services, so if you want to spend like $2/day you can, but of course the more you spend, the more ads you get. For what it’s worth, I get more traffic from Facebook, by far, than any other source.

TIP SEVEN

Learn about SEO and use it wisely. Another boring thing you have to learn about. But SEO is super important for growing your blog. You can’t ignore it. Get on Google and read up on how to optimize your site. And then get the Yoast SEO plug-in. It does a lot of the hard work for you. At the bottom of every draft post, it gives you a whole list of things you’ve done right and wrong in the world of SEO so that you can fix it ahead of time. It’s a lifesaver.

TIP EIGHT

Make friends with other bloggers. This one is a biggie. You are not an island. You need to start following and reading other blogs and interacting with the bloggers on their sites, on social media, and on certain Facebook groups like Travel Massive (if you’re a travel blogger). What goes around comes around. Read their blogs and they’ll read yours too. This is also a great way to get tips on anything and everything in the world of blogging.TIP NINE

finally...

Enjoy it! You shouldn’t be blogging about travel if you don’t love travel. And so your blog should read like it’s written by someone who is passionate about Bali, Mozambique, Amsterdam, Beijing, Cairns, Lake Titicaca…whatever. Your blog should be fun to read and write! There are 1000 other travel blogs out there, if yours isn’t enjoyable, you’re not going to maintain readers. And really, why are you doing it if it’s not enjoyable?TIP TEN

So that’s it. Your top ten

tips for initial success in blogging!But...one more thing.

If you liked these tips, check out my own blog,

www.redheadtourist.com! Subscribe, and start reading!

And check me out on Instagram (@redheadtourist), Facebook

(@redheadtourist), and Twitter (@redhead_tourist) as well!

Pssst...I follow back!

Thanks for listening!

AND GOOD LUCK!!