Taking Your Blog To The Next Level

How can YOU take your blog to the next level?

I found out how to do this by attending the Blog Elevated Conference 2014. If you ever have an opportunity to attend a blogging conference I would highly recommend attending this one.

If you’d like to read about more blogging tips, you can visit the Blog Elevated blog (here). Check out the video and blog post below for some of the tips I picked up.
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1. MAKE A PLAN.  Ask yourself these questions:

• What goals do you wish to accomplish each week, month, year, etc?
• What do you want to accomplish for your blog in general?
• What are your long term goals for your blog?
• How are you going to achieve those goals, and when do you want to have those goals achieved?

 
Make sure that you  have a very specific strategic plan to execute your blogging goals and be sure to set yourself deadlines. Refer back to your mission for your blog and establish clearly set guidelines to accomplish your desired blogging potential.

Additionally, use weekly and monthly planning tools, as suggested from Blog Elevated’s blog. Their tutorial on how to use an editorial calendar can help set you up on the road to success for your blog, and possibly save you time in the long run.

2. ENGAGE YOUR READERS IN DIFFERENT PLACES.  Ask yourself these questions:

• What do your readers like?
• What posts are creating a positive buzz from your blog, and how can you reproduce those types of posts? (use your insights and analytics to determine your growth)
• What is trending?
• What are your readers’ demographics?

All of these topics will allow you to focus your content into pleasing material for your readers so that they keep coming back to your blog.

3. KNOW YOUR WORTH. Establish clear guidelines for working with brands and/or popular bloggers.

Frederick J. Goodall, of Mocha Dad, has expressed several tips for working with brands. Make sure you’ve thought about and  know exactly what types of brand and companies you will and will not work with. 

Research brands and make sure their organizational goals align with your blog’s goals and mission. 

Avoid organizations and brands that may cause you controversy later on. For example, if you are an advocate for animals make sure the brands you’re endorsing are not testing their products on animals, and visa versa. 

Find organizations that support your mission and overall blogging theme. 

Be honest and upfront when working with brands and be sure to communicate your desired outcomes from working with them. 

Try not to endorse a brand that you are not familiar with. If possible, aim for a mission that is equally beneficial when working together with a brand.

What are some tips that you’ve learned from blogging? Are you already incorporating these tips into your blogging plan?

Blog post contributed by Amanda Castillo Hicks of Fun In The Oven Blog. Amanda is an event planner and social media coach (intern) with the Texas Social Media Research Institute and an Adjunct Professor for Tarleton State University. She will be completing her MS in Management and Leadership in 2015. For more information, questions, or inquiries please contact Amanda
directly at arhicks0427@gmail.com.