5 tips to improve your blog today

Author: Matt Preston Become a contributor

Picking the right blog design

Most blogging software like WordPress lets you choose from thousands of themes to customise your blog. It’s so easy to try many free blog themes that you can sometimes lose sight of what really matters in a design. There are a few things you can do to make sure you have the right design.

Themes have varying levels of complexity. Pick one that sits within your skill level. If you find a theme that looks awesome but takes custom coding and modifications outside of your skill level then you’ll never get it to look good and work as well as it should. Keep is Simple Stupid! KISS is the perfect acronym here. Find a theme you can work with easily, that’s flexible and looks good without relying on too many bells and whistles. Pick a blog theme that matches your subject matter too. People expect a particular layout and styling, depending on your content. If you blog about food then make sure you have a great food theme. You can often customise a theme with a header, be sure to personalise your blog theme to make it stand out!

Plan ahead

The biggest problem with blogs is time. It’s great when you’re on the road and have tonnes to blog about. But what happens when you’re not travelling? What will you blog about? Many blogs are started with the greatest of intentions but fresh content stops and your followers lose interest. So plan ahead and have a list of ideas for blogs ready to roll. That way you’ll always have something to blog about.

Find the time

The best way to organise your blog and plan for the future is by having the time to do it! Most sites start with the greatest of intentions but you soon find you don’t have as much time as you’d like to make it a success. The easiest way to find the time is by having a routine. A set day (or night) of the week that you devote to your blog. Make a to do list to help you hit the ground running when the time comes. Having structure and order to your blogging and web site maintenance will make all the difference!

Search Engine Optimisation

While your readers should always come first, pleasing search engines should always come a close second. SEO is often what gets most of your visitors to your website. The title of your blog should always be something people are likely to search for, containing clear and concise keywords that describe your post’s contents. Clever titles are entertaining but they wont help you in search engine rankings. Use the All-in-one SEO plugin for WordPress to help make the most of SEO on your blogs. There’s loads more tips on SEO in our Ebook.

Social networking

The number one reason people go online these days is for social networking. Sites like Facebook, Twitter and StumbleUpon are immensely popular and offer great chances for you to promote your blog for free. It’s important to note that all social networking promotion takes a lot of time and dedication. It wont happen overnight. The best thing is you get to interact with other people in your chosen subject who not only offer support but also inspiring ideas for the future of your blog. Be sure to promote your blog every time you post but remember it’s all about networking. Have conversations, get to know your followers, you’ll find more information at the click of a mouse than you ever thought possible! Make the best use of it!

More tips for success

All of the advice above is just the tip of the ice burg. We go in to much more detail on these 5 subjects plus much much more in our Ebook called
“How to create a successful website with WordPress“.

Download it now or grab the paperback version if you prefer. With over 100 pages packed with useful information on blogging with the world’s most popular blog software. You can even download a sample.

www.successfulwordpresswebsite.com