Tuesday, June 28, 2011

How to be a Better Blogger by Rhiannon of Hey Gorg

Hi! My name is Rhi and I blog over at Hey Gorg. Over the past two and half years I have learned a lot about good blogging etiquette and tips that help you gain readership, comments and followers. Here are a few of my faves that hopefully you'll find useful in your blogging endeavors!
 

{Passion} Whether you blog about weddings (like me), food, fashion, your family, interior design, yourself or a mixture of a bunch of different topics, a blog is so much more alluring and pleasurable to visit when the author instills a bit of passion into it. Whether it be through your writing or the photos you post, readers will know when you blog with a purpose and in turn will want to come back time and time again. A little bit of honesty and a little peek into your life will also keep people coming back for more. People like to be able to relate to bloggers and like to know that there's people out there just like them so don't be shy and don't be afraid to share a little about yourself and your life (within reason of course). Like anything in life, a little effort goes a long way.

{Commenting} In my opinion, commenting makes the blog world go round. Sure it can be time consuming and frustrating when you run into word verifications, incredibly long posts and content you can't relate or care to reflect on. However, I am going to go ahead and assume that most people with public blogs, blog because they have something to share and garnering feedback, discussion and appreciation is very important to them (myself included). Some aren't in it for the comments and that's completely cool too! But for those of us who are, you give a little you get a little. Pay it forward to those who visit your blog and in turn you will see your followers, comments and blog traffic increase. Never forget where you started and how good it felt to get your first comment and follower.

{User-Friendly Spaces} A lot of people are visual learners which is why a clean design is best for usability and reader navigation. Those gazillion stylish blogger award buttons down the side of your right hand column are an eye sore to some and distract from your main posts. If the buttons are important to you, put them in a blog post that you can add to when necessary or place them in the footer of your blog. The super cursive font you're using for your body text is illegible and causes headaches when people try to decipher what it reads. And the white font over top of the neon blue background is so psychedelic it feels like my living room is spinning. It's great that you have interests and preferences but try to flaunt them in a way that is conducive to a site that isn't too much for the average viewer to handle. Think of your blog as your home; would you invite people over to your home with clutter all over the floors and loud music blaring from your television? Didn't think so.

What tips and tricks do you rely on when it comes to being a better blogger?

Thanks Em for having me over at your place today! I hope your wedding is everything you have dreamed of and more :) I cannot wait to see how stunning you looked!! xoxo

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Photo attached by Jenna McKenzie Photography

2 comments:

kellyhicks said...

i know you've all heard this one a billion times but blogging often is one of those things that will always keep readers going back for more. Also I have found for me that DIYs/tutorials are posts that everybody loves because they can apply it to their own life!

Amanda said...

I love that line about not having the tv blaring when you invite someone over to your home, I feel the same way about auto-play music on blogs. I like getting to know my favorite bloggers' musical tastes (and frequently discovering awesome new artists that way) but I don't like to be lambasted with it :)

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