Kellie's Seven Rules for Successful Blogging

or

 “How to Grab the Attention of a Blog Hopper and Make Them Come Back For More”

1) make an instant impression!

To do this, your blog needs to be cosmetically appealing! Don’t just grab a template with a background of clouds and blue sky, you’re going to need to be a lot more original than that. Utilize that “template designer” and customize EVERYTHING!!  And please do everyone a favor and do not pick bright, crazy colors…like Pepto-Bismol pink  or florescent green, nothing screams “go away and never come back” like the colors of a junior high tie-dye slap bracelet.

What you have on the top of your blog is going to go a looong way in your first impression. Take some time and design a blog header. You can do this for FREE using a favorite online program called picmonkey.

www.picmonkey.com

There’s a massive amount options with that! Tip: you’ll probably have to make a “collage” first, without putting pictures on it. You can then take that “picture” and add stuff to it when you upload it again as a picture. Add pictures by uploading then as an overlay. Use fun, easy to read fonts and make it cute, classy and respectable!  All my headers, gadgets and gizmos are made with picmonkey.com. Try it out. You’ll thank me.

Use crisp, happy colors that relax the senses and make your visitors feel like they’ve been given a respite from their busy lives. In your blog design, show that you’re responsible enough to take your blog space and make it a pretty place.

2) sometimes less IS more!

I’m attracted to blogs that are clean-cut and precise. Don’t try and fill every single space with a side-bar gadget or flashing GIF picture. You don’t want your visitors to feel like they just stumbled into the middle of an LED party complete with disco ball and smoke machine.

3) quantity is FAR from quality

If you don’t have anything to post…don’t post about it! Blogging is to be done at your leisure! It’s not a job and you’re followers are not so dependent on your blog that you can’t miss a few days…or a week, or whatever. Many will likely not notice. But they will notice if you’re blogging a whole lot of nothing and nothing makes me hit “unfollow” like someone who’s post are just about how much time they DON’T have for blogging OR they fill them with pins from Pinterest. Please…spare me.

Post well. Think quality.

4) pictures, pictures, pictures!

Not everyone is a photographer, but nearly everyone has a camera! And let’s be honest…who likes a blog that doesn’t have pictures? Pictures are what will grab your visitor’s attention. When I go to a blog and see a WALL OF JUST WORDS, I back-peddle fast and get outta there.  But when I see pictures (phone pictures will do if necessary!), then I’m more tempted to stick around awhile. And like I said….post after post of your latest Pintererst finds just SCREAMS unoriginality. Your Pinterest boards are where you showcase your pins…not your blog! If I want to see your latest finds…I’ll visit your actual boards.

Not every post HAS to have a picture, but they sure as shootin’ will go a LONG, LONG way in upping your blog appeal. And if you just have NO way of getting any pictures, then consider making your posts shorter rather than longer. No one likes to read a big, huge, long wordy posts that goes on and on and on, "to infinity and beyond!" A picture is waaaay better than a thousand words, trust me.

5) he who would have friends must show himself friendly

And that’s the Holy Scriptures, folks! If you want followers, you gotta go find them! You won’t have the followers you want unless you’re the one visiting other blogs and commenting. Let people know you’re here, say hi, comment on their posts – make your name one that people will recognize and be like, “hey, I’ve seen her around a lot, let’s check out her blog.”

Make it a habit of commenting when you visit someone's blog, even if you're blog hopping. You know you love it when everybody and anybody comments on your blog - do the same for others! 

6) don’t be an impersonal blog – come out and smell the flowers!

When someone comments on your blog, comment back! Thank them for coming to your blog, reply to their comment, etc. We’re not celebrities who can treat their followers like “likes” on their facebook fan page. Come out from behind the blog and talk to your followers. Just because you’re the author doesn’t make you someone lofty who shouldn’t “stoop” to talk back. Engage your followers.

And then…go to their blog and thank your first-timers for coming to your blog! Compliment them on their blog (and be honest! don’t just flatter! ). You don’t have to follow them if you really don’t want to, but take the time to show them that they’re time spent on your blog was important to you and their visit was an encouragement!  EVERYONE loves getting comments…so do unto others!

I like building friendships with the authors of the blogs I follow, so I'll confess, if I start commenting on a blog I'm following but that author never acknowledges me, commenting back either on her blog or on my blog...nine out of tens says that I'll unfollow them pretty quick. Rough, but true. Followers and comments aren't trophies...they're your potential friends.

Be more than just a blog post. Be a person. And be a friendly, welcoming, giving and gracious one!

7) and last of all…be an honest blogger.

It’s okay to be honest about your failing and imperfections. Don’t pretend to be perfect, because we already know you’re not. Like I’ve said many times, I’m more impacted and encouraged by the transparency of others. When they show they’re weaknesses, it’s there I find true respect for what they have to say. So, while not making your blog your expose’ on every mistake you’ve ever made and how’ll you’ll likely do it again…just be real.

Everyone struggles and nobody is alone in that struggle, no matter how unusual or abstract it might be. I read the blog once of a woman who had a compulsive disorder of constantly pulling on her hair until she literally had bald spots and had to wear extensions. And there were so many other women with the same issue that were admitting to the same problem. All that to say…nobody’s alone in their issues.

___________________

 
So there you have it! Kellie's Seven Rules for Successful Blogging.

Whether you made it through the whole thing or not...thank you for taking the time to be at my blog right now! You may think that I don't know you're there or that you're just a teeny-tiny thumbnail picture on my followers list who I don't notice is there...but that's where you'd be wrong - because I DO see you there and I'm so thankful for you.

And that being said, I really DO want to know who you are and get to know you! I've made fabulous friends through this blog already and I'd LOVE to get to know YOU, too, if we haven't already!

And I really mean that.