Social Media

Tips From Bloggers Who Don’t Blog About Blogging

by Marian Schembari on November 16, 2011

I’ve made it pretty clear that one of the best things you can do for your blog is to branch out from reading bloggers who only blog about blogging (I’ll let you decide for yourself if this post is too ironic to read). I learn most from bloggers who talk about food and travel and design more than I’ve ever learned from people who have no experience blogging about other things than blogging.

(Let’s play a drinking game – you drink every time I say “blogging”.)

That said, almost every blogger worth his or her salt will occasionally write about blogging, regardless of niche. This is usually after they’ve become moderately successful and get bored with all the emails from fans saying, “How did you get your blog to be so popular?”

So they write posts. They answer questions, they give you a day in the life and generally impart their wisdom.

This post (about blogging on a blog that posts about blogging quite frequently) is compilation of those posts. The posts by people who don’t blog about blogging regularly but have occasionally posted on the subject.

Blog: Joy the Baker
Niche: Food
Post: 10 Real Talk Blog Tips
Takeaway: “I don’t think this blog would work if you didn’t know how silly bonkers my life is. You know that there’s cat hair everywhere. You know that I burn toast. You know that I date boys and get dumped.”

Blog: Young House Love
Niche: DIY
Post: Time, Money and Pies
Takeaway: “Our philosophy is that if you take the time to read what we write, the least we can do is return the favor.”

Blog: Carrots ‘n’ Cake
Niche: Healthy Living
Post: Blogging Tips for the 9 to 5
Takeaway: “I don’t have much free time, but I love blogging, so I make sure it’s part of my day… If you have a laptop or a mini laptop/notebook, blog on your commute. Use Windows Live Writer or Ecto if you don’t have access to Wi-Fi.”

Blog: The Happiness Project
Niche: Happiness
Post: 13 Tips for Beginning Bloggers (Which I Learned the Hard Way)
Takeaway: “Post every day. It’s counter-intuitive, yes, but strangely it’s easier to post every day than to post three or four times a week. You don’t procrastinate, you loosen up, you stay engaged with your subject, and you’ll be taken more seriously by readers.”

Blog: Design*Sponge
Niche: Design
Post: Online Etiquette and Ethics part 3
Takeaway: “Collaboration, like contributors, can be the key to a blog’s success, growth and pushing past those pesky creative blocks we all run into now and then.”

Blog: The Pioneer Woman
Niche: Family
Post: Ten Important Things I’ve Learned About Blogging
Takeaway: “Be varied. Change things up. Offer a smorgasbord of content. Unless you’re, say, a fashion blog. And in that case, you should probably continue to blog about fashion. But never blog about the same top twice!”

Blog: Penelope Trunk
Niche: Career
Post: Penelope’s Guide to Blogging
Takeaway: “Blogging is a conversation, and it is much more fun if you are part of it, instead of just talking at people. One of the great pleasures of blogging is linking to someone who I don’t think knows that I read their blog. A link to someone is like saying, ‘I really like what you’re writing and in fact, I want to share it with everyone I know.’”

Any of these posts/takeaways resonate with you? Have I missed anyone?

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5 Twitter Bio Examples That Will Rock Your Socks

by Marian Schembari on November 7, 2011

For the past few months I’ve been making a point to take screenshots of Twitter bios that have made me laugh, think or are just plain brilliant. Bios that find a way to – in 160 characters – sum up a person, what they do and why we should follow them. And I figured it was high time I started posting them here. Every few weeks I hope to update you with more, but for now, take a look at these rad five:

@montoure has found a way to give us the feeling of his genre rather than just telling us about it. This bio could not be more brilliant. That last line gets me every time.

@KatieDavisBurps lists all the things she does, but they’re not boring, overused interests like “loving life” and “eating food”. She’s written a solid, interesting list that ends in a way that’s incredibly relatable and made me want to be her friend. Or make her a pot of coffee.

@jamievaron always cracks me up because every time she opens her little blogger mouth, an absolute truth no one ever mentions comes out. And, without fail, she’s nailed it in her bio while also being crystal clear about what she does. Funny + informative = WIN. (p.s. why hasn’t Entrepreneur magazine bought entreprenuer.com? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve misspelled it in my browser.)

@mariancall not only has a beautiful first name, but her bio makes me want to listen to her music rightthissecond. THIS is how artists should be using social media, y’all. She lets us get to know her with the word “wanderlust”, helps us understand her style with musician comparison and adds a little funny in there to make us like her. Then she tells us to buy her album without actually telling us. I don’t know about you, but I’m sold.

@neilhimself has been on my list of Top Bios since day one. When I was working with authors I always sent them to his profile as a great example to follow. Basically, we all know who Neil Gaiman is; he doesn’t need to list his books or hobbies. Instead, he shows us how passionate he is about what he does and he writes it in typical Neil fashion.

Looking back at the bios that have caught me eye, I’m finding: Humor is always a good idea. So is passion. Lists can be great if you’re creative. And, at the end of the day, show – don’t tell.

Anyone come across a great bio recently they want to share? What do you think about these five?

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32 Ways to Tweak Your Blog This Afternoon

by Marian Schembari on October 17, 2011

Back when I was doing five blog critiques per week, I started noticing a few trends. Mistakes I see over and over again. While none of these is a huge detriment on their own, if you make a few fixes here and there, you could really start seeing some improvements on your site.

So if you feel like your blog is just missing that special something or you really want to start to be taken seriously, go through these 32 tweaks you can do in 10 minutes or less:

1. Add a photo (this can be in your sidebar or About page, but personalizing yourself can make a huge difference in connecting to your readers).

2. Update to the latest version of WordPress.

3. Add matching social media buttons.

4. Spell check all the major pages. Use a site like EditMinion if you want a “second pair of eyes.”

5. Remove unnecessary sidebar features like generic blog awards or silly memes that aren’t adding anything to your blog.

6. Download a trial of Scribe to check on the SEO of your posts.

7. Test each of your share buttons. Make sure they work and look the way you want.

8. Resize large photos. Use a plugin like Smush.it if there are lots to resize.

9. Test your site speed.

10. Check your site in different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari…) to make sure your site works for every reader.

11. Write 10 new blog post titles.

12. Approve any pending comments and delete spam.

13. Pare down your navigation menu. More doesn’t mean better.

14. Spend 10 minutes tagging old blog posts, recategorizing and generally making posts easier to find.

15. Test your blog’s search capability. (Add a search bar if you don’t have one.)

16. Do a quick Google search for your blog to make sure the preview doesn’t look messy. Make any changes on your dashboard if it does.

17. Get a favicon.

18. Break up big chunks of text. Blog readers skim. Make sure your posts and pages are easy to digest.

19. Write down the main thing you want your blog to accomplish. Post it somewhere you can see when you’re at your computer. Remember that one thing whenever you post.

20. Check for broken links.

21. Switch to a self-hosted domain. Seriously, just do it.

22. Download a related posts plugin to encourage readers to stay on your site.

23. If you’re looking to make money, spend 10 minutes checking out OpenSky, Amazon Affiliates and/or Adsense.

24. Write a page specifically for advertisers.

25. Write a list of 5 websites where you’d want to guest post.

26. Remove any “meta” stuff from your footer and sidebar if you haven’t already. It’s not useful for the reader, so why have it?

27. Do you really need that blogroll or do you just have it to get links back? Think about it, then consider deleting.

28. Start putting together a “Best Of” page.

29. Comment on your top 5 favorite blogs.

30. Sign up for HARO.

31. Do you have a newsletter? If so, look at it. Are you giving people a specific reason to sign up?

32. Organize your navigation menu from most important page to least important.

Got anything to add? Leave your suggestions below in the comments and I’ll be sure to add them as an update to the post!

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Blog Post Ideas: 12 Ways to Bust the Block

by Marian Schembari on October 5, 2011

Most of the time, I have a backlog of post titles just sitting in my drafts. But sometimes I just get stuck. I’m out of opinions (surprise!), out of tips and out of motivation.

Ages ago I wrote a post about 9 different ways you can create new content, but over the years I’m constantly jotting down new ways I come up with posts. And what better way to spur your inspiration than share those ways with you? Here are a few tricks I’ve picked up along the way, along with suggestions from the Twitter community and further resources you HAVE to bookmark so you never run out of material.

12 Blogger’s Block Busters

(say that three times fast)

Go through old content. Has your opinion changed? Have there been updates on a lesson or tutorial you wrote about?

Advanced advice. You see “beginning guide to blogging/fashion/pet care” everywhere, but what about tips for more advanced users? Even thinking about it from that perspective can change your posting tune.

Daily tasks. What do you do every day that has an effect on your blog? For instance, I go through my Twitter email folder and either follow or delete new followers. And every day I get annoyed with people’s lack of bio or too many hashtags in their tweets. So I’ve written a number of Twitter rants that always do really well.

Ask your readers. A great way to do this is through your blog’s Facebook page as it’s easier for people’s ideas to feed off one another. Poll plugins also work, as does asking people to share what they want to learn in the comments.

And that said, pull from comments. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used a reader question or suggestion as an idea for a later post.

Check out the top conversations on relevant Facebook pages. Facebook is one of my biggest sources of inspiration: photos, polls, competitions – they can all be so clever sometimes and it’s great for sparking the ole creativity engine.

What’s on your mind? This is an easy one, but every time I find myself struggling with something (i.e. blogger’s block) I just write about it. Instead of constantly worrying about what I should write, I write what I want to write. And you know what? It means I never get sick of my blog.

Spread your wings. I rarely read social media blogs – mostly because I find they say the same things over and over, but also because I simply enjoy food, design and travel blogs more. And these are the guys I learn most from. Leaving your niche is often the best way to get new post topics. For example, I’m working on a behind-the-scenes post that’s inspired by a lot of design blogs I read.

What’s going on in your life? While I worry about turning this site into another travel blog, Nicole Antoinette said it best on a recent post of hers, “If you’re a personal blogger whose blog is an online chronicle of your daily life, I think it’s completely natural for the topics you write about to grow as you grow and change as you change. You won’t have the same audience forever, because you won’t be the same you forever, and that’s okay.”

What X taught me about Y. While I usually scoff in the face of metaphor posts, sometimes one completely unrelated thing in your life can help you better understand whatever-it-is-you-blog-about. So sort of as an extension of the idea above, take something that’s happening in your personal life (in my case, travel) and relate it back to your niche. For example, “What Travel Has Taught Me About Social Media.”

Friends. If you’re anything like me, your real-life friends don’t really understand what you blog about. But those conversations with my friends? The ones where I try and simplify, explain or analyze what my site is really about? Those are what really get my creative juices flowing.

Idea journals. Okay, okay, we all know this is a smart thing to do, but seriously… do it. My brilliant boss carries one with him at all times and his blog is constantly being updated with great posts. While I’m sort of crap at carrying anything with me, I’ve started using Evernote (at Ben’s suggestion) and I now have a massive notebook filled with spur of the moment ideas I get while running, on the road or in the air. I’ve written some of my favorite posts using this method because you never know when a great idea might strike!

Hot Shot Suggestions

If you thought this was going to be a post on specific ideas, sorry y’all. Check out these great epic list of blog post ideas. I might just steal a few myself:

100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write ~ Chris Brogan
20 Types of Blog Posts – Battling Bloggers Block ~ Problogger
101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle ~ I Help You Blog
Are You Hoarding Ideas? ~ Men with Pens