My Five Best Blogging Tips

There is a lot of information out there about blogging.  You can find tutorials on how to start a blog, the best way to capture readers, advice on how to be successful and the list goes on.  I've been blogging now for almost four years.  I'm not an expert by any means at all, but I've seen a lot of blogs now and I have people ask me often about blogging.   So here's my quick tips for new bloggers:

People read blogs for a lot of different reasons and are usually looking for something relatable or something that gives them something in return (advice, knowledge, inspiration, etc.).  I used to have time to read a lot more blogs than I do now; but when I do read other blogs, I've learned that I'm a "skimmer".  I realize that I am a visual reader and I love pictures.  I don't usually have time to read lengthy posts, but occasionally come across a few that hit home and really enjoy reading.  I've come up with a few tips that I think are important for your blog when starting new or looking to make some updates. 

"Do as I say, not as I do." 

I honestly don't always do these things, but I'm trying to incorporate them more.  These are things I love to see from other blogs when I'm reading them or skimming through new ones. 

1. Use LARGE photos:

Make your photos large or x-large in Blogger.  I hate (and so does everyone else) looking at small photos.  I recently figured out how to enlarge your photos in Blogger.  I mostly only enlarge the vertical photos that I post.  This little trick has made me very happy! I've learned that my width is best at 640.  Everyone's may be a little different, but that might help guide  you. Here is a quick tutorial:

Step 1: choose original size on your picture!

Step 2:  Go to the "HTML" setting (you can shift between "Compose" and "HTML" at the upper left of your screen when you're editing posts).

these options are in the upper left corner of the editing screen.

You'll see a lot of stuff that looks like this: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxlZrbw_46iqBZm936f2oCTRU2ops7BS-2pQh6c_3esOjISbPKCDk3RQnTp6mo6k8wivO1mYkPzgjdEt0VueTInB8y1asBbJ8tX2R12rCg59EtpxBo7aI116VJrT6kgYS1P3chPmCcnbk/s1600/sc003c7770.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxlZrbw_46iqBZm936f2oCTRU2ops7BS-2pQh6c_3esOjISbPKCDk3RQnTp6mo6k8wivO1mYkPzgjdEt0VueTInB8y1asBbJ8tX2R12rCg59EtpxBo7aI116VJrT6kgYS1P3chPmCcnbk/s1600/sc003c7770.jpg" /></a></div>

All you have to do is find the place where it says the name of your image file. (Above, mine is a very long string of things ending with .jpg", highlighted in red for clarity.)

Step 3: After the .jpg" or however your image title ends, put one space and then type in width="640" (or any other size you want!). I like 640 for vertical photos, but you can decide whatever you want. That's it!

Your HTML after will look like this: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxlZrbw_46iqBZm936f2oCTRU2ops7BS-2pQh6c_3esOjISbPKCDk3RQnTp6mo6k8wivO1mYkPzgjdEt0VueTInB8y1asBbJ8tX2R12rCg59EtpxBo7aI116VJrT6kgYS1P3chPmCcnbk/s1600/sc003c7770.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxlZrbw_46iqBZm936f2oCTRU2ops7BS-2pQh6c_3esOjISbPKCDk3RQnTp6mo6k8wivO1mYkPzgjdEt0VueTInB8y1asBbJ8tX2R12rCg59EtpxBo7aI116VJrT6kgYS1P3chPmCcnbk/s1600/sc003c7770.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>

2. Use Photo Editing Apps:
People are visual which means it's important to have good quality photos! Do your best on this.
My favorite photo editing apps are After light and PicTapGo on the iPhone.  I love Picmonkey on the computer for adding text to my photos for the blog.  They also just released an iPhone app that I bet will be good too.  There are a ton of photo editing apps out there.  Just pick one that is easy for you to use and use it!  It can make a big difference in your photos.

3.  Choose a Simple/Clean/Pretty Design Template:
Just keep it simple.  You are seeing a lot of black & white blogs out there lately because it is as clean as you can get.  I love seeing some personality in blog designs, but just remember to keep it clean.  People will judge your blog by it's cover :)  And make sure you have a great "about me" page.  Those are always one of the most popular pages on a blog because people want to get to know the face behind the blog! And if you're up for it, have a home tour.  Bloggers are nosy and love to see inside the house.

4. Less is More Sometimes:
Don't always think that you have to have a really lengthy post to publish for the day.  Sometimes less really is more.  Like I mentioned above, I'm into letting the photos do the talking a lot of times.  Keeping your message brief is okay.  Get your message out there and write enough so people can feel like they know you and understand you, but don't write a novel.

5. Love what you do:
This really should be number one.  Don't blog unless you love it.  There are so many blogs out there right now and I think they can be so helpful and inspiring to all of us as long as they are written with the right intentions.  Don't start a blog because you think you are going to immediately make money.  Start a blog because you love to write, or cook, or tell stories, or want to have a creative outlet.   Start a blog because you want to inspire.  I love to inspire and I hope to do that every day.

What tips am I forgetting???  

Link up with Natalie and I below for Thoughts for Thursday. 

An InLinkz Link-up