Tag: Blog WordPress

Blogging

5 Things I Hate About Blogging

by Pooja G158 Comments on 5 Things I Hate About Blogging
5 Things I Hate About Blogging

Things I Hate About Blogging

I love blogging- it’s probably one of my favourite things to do apart from reading stuff about history because for some weird reason my brain thinks reading hundreds of pages about things that happened hundreds of years ago is fun. But I digress, I love blogging but I have to admit- like everything it has it’s advantages and disadvantages. I read this post by Shelly– an awesome blogger you should immediately check out if you haven’t already- and that’s where I got the idea from this post from. Our posts are a bit different but her post is what gave me this idea and I always want to support other bloggers plus credit should be given where it’s due so do check out her post as well- it’s very interesting and super relatable.

Here are five things I hate about blogging:

Spam Comments

You guys know this had to be at the top of my list. I am so freaking tired of getting “please check out my posts” comments EVERY SINGLE DAY!! I can guarantee you that some people will leave comments like that on this post too because people like that clearly don’t read or even care about your post. They just want to advertise their own blog and think that for some weird reason other people’s posts are the best place to do this.

I have had the pleasure of reading a lot of amazing blog posts by a lot of amazing bloggers and I think it’s just insanely disrespectful to ignore their hard work (I guarantee that every blogger puts at least a certain amount of time and effort to create their posts) and use their blog to grow your own. And to be honest it’s also a really stupid thing to do as well as a great way to destroy the chances of your blog actually growing because most bloggers block or delete such comments/commenters. If you just left a genuine comment talking about their post they would be very likely to check out your blog anyway.

I know some bloggers do this without realizing what they are doing is wrong so I would urge anyone reading this not to leave these kind of comments and instead take the time to genuinely connect with other bloggers. This is a way better way to grow and honestly kind of easier in my opinion.

Feeling Used

As you guys probably know if you’ve been following me for a while I have a lot of posts with blogging advice and I guess because of those posts combined with my following people tend to assume I’m great at blogging (I’m really not I’m just very lucky to have such fantastic followers!) and I end up getting A LOT of messages, emails and comments asking me for help. A lot of them are general questions which I really don’t mind. If I can help someone I usually try to depending on how busy I am with school work. This doesn’t bother me at all.

What does bother me is people who are really rude about asking for help. To be honest,  I’m just a blogger and I don’t have to help anyone if I don’t want to but I try to help when I can because I’ve been blogging for like six years now and I know how difficult blogging can be. However, some people sort of try to use me like tech support which is a bit annoying because that’s not my job?? To kind of explain what I mean- sometimes people ask me about really specific technical issues they are experiencing and I usually tell them to talk to the happiness engineers because they are better equipped to help them with such things. Like one time someone’s blog didn’t have a follow button and they kept asking me why and I told them I didn’t know because I honestly didn’t know what the issue was and told them to contact WP since it could be a glitch. However, for some reason they got super offended that I couldn’t help them and became really passive aggressive which kind of threw me off. That’s just one example, but yeah when that happens it annoys me because I’m not like your blogging teacher- I’m just a girl trying to blog and not go crazy writing research papers all day.

Another thing I get often is people asking me for help to grow their site and expecting some kind of magic formula that will instantly get them from 0-1000 followers. That’s not how it works- it took me years to get to where I am. I try to give them advice and tell them how I grow my blog but some people get super passive aggressive as if I’m hiding some secret about growing your blog. I also have had people ask me to go through their entire site and read every post to see if anything can be improved- I mean why would I do that? I don’t mind giving general pointers but I’m not going to redo your entire blog for you especially when I’m so busy with university that I don’t even have time to write anything except six word stories for my own blog. It’s not my job to teach you how to blog- that’s something you should learn on your own through your own research and I think it’s rude to even ask someone to do something like that for you unless they offer some kind of service to do that and you are willing to pay them for their time and effort.

Plagiarism

I know people say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but to be honest it can be quite annoying. Sometimes I see people stealing my posts- like entire posts or using certain sentences word for word and it really annoys me. I don’t mind if one of my ideas inspires you to write something similar- I don’t even want credit for that. What annoys me is when people steal my work word for word.

From what I have seen in all the years I have been blogging I know that bloggers work really hard on their posts and it’s really difficult to come up with unique ideas all the time so it’s really upsetting when someone decides to steal your posts and not even bother changing the words. And it’s not just me who has experienced this. Most bloggers have experienced this at least once which just makes me so sad.

If you are someone who uses other peoples work without crediting them I really hope you stop because it’s just so awful.

WordPress

I love blogging but to be honest WordPress can be super annoying sometimes. I just feel like they don’t take their content creators seriously because they continue to make certain changes to their platform that I personally find quite unnecessary while ignoring certain things that would actually be quite beneficial for users. It would be pretty easy to find out what we would like to see them improve- literally all they would have to do is ask. They also continuously make changes without giving a proper heads up to people so they can brace themselves for these changes which annoys me a lot. As someone with anxiety I like to know if something is changing in advance so I can prepare myself for it and I know a lot of people feel that way too. It’s quite difficult to deal with the changes when they are so sudden especially if you’re like me and are not too tech savvy.

Feeling Unsatisfied

Sometimes I just feel extremely unsatisfied with my posts because I’ll put out a post that I put so much effort into writing and that I’m very passionate about and it will get a really bad response and the next day I’ll put out a post I wrote about something random in a rush and it will do really well. I mean I’m super grateful but at the same time I kind of feel unsatisfied like I wish I had gotten a better response for some of the other posts that didn’t do as well. I don’t know if you guys have ever experienced this but it has happened to me a couple of times. Let me know in the comments if that’s ever happened to you!

Technical Stuff

The thing I love most about blogging is just being able to express myself as I want to. Blogging has always been a place for me where I can just be myself. And then I learnt about SEO and DA and Alexa scores and a million other things and honestly when I think about them they just annoy me so much. Why does a post have to be SEO friendly and all that other stuff to be successful. I don’t get why technical stuff gets so much say in what readers want to see on your posts.

For example, I’ve been using Google for like forever now like most people who are around my age and as the years pass I can tell the results are getting more inaccurate. First, you get a million ads trying to sell you stuff, then you FINALLY get to the posts but it’s all irrelevant stuff that only shows up because it has high SEO scores. You don’t actually get the information you need which is super annoying and you need to go through a bunch of articles before you get to what you were actually looking for, It annoys me so much because I see so many wonderful blogs that honestly deserve so much better. They deserve so much more traffic than they get and most of it is not because their blogs aren’t wonderful but because of stupid algorithms that are screwing their chances of growing.

I see it with Instagram too- if you can get into the algorithm and do everything right you grow and if not you’re kind of stuck even though your content is great. I think that’s ridiculous because it just means everyone on social media just ends up doing the same stuff again and again and anyone who dares to do something different is basically stuck.

Another example of why the technical stuff is stupid is that they tell you what posts people want to see on your blog but guess what? They’re probably wrong. SEO stuff says your posts need to be long- at least 1500 words but how many of you have genuinely read posts that are that long without just skimming through them and picking up on the sections you want to read? How many of you are have even made it till here on this post? People tend to just ramble on and say things that could be said in like 500 words so that their posts reach 1500-2000 words. It’s like writing research papers all over again and it makes something that was created so people could freely express themselves a lot less fun. My six word stories are literally six words and they bring in just as much traffic as my longer posts.

Sorry, this section turned into a bit of a rant but I had to reach my 1500-2000 word goal… LOL kidding… or am I just going to keep rambling till I get to 2000? Kidding again? Or am I? Okay, I’ll stop now- I am very sleep deprived and just finished a three hour class so I am going to stop typing now before I further ruin this post. But I stand by what I said about technical stuff being stupid- it is stupid.

Your Thoughts

Do you also find any of the things I mentioned about blogging annoying too? Do you find anything about blogging annoying? If so what do you find annoying about blogging? What is the worst experience you have had through blogging? How is was your day? Let me know in the comments below because I love hearing from you guys or simply stop by and say hi!

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Blogging

It’s Back!!

by Pooja G32 Comments on It’s Back!!
It’s Back!! Yesterday I made a post about the changes on WP and I noticed that a lot of you have noticed the changes and some of you are not really enjoying them either. I don’t particularly have a lot of issues with the changes but the one things I really hated was that the classic editor was no longer an option for creating your posts. I had been using this editor since day one and it’s not as advanced as the block editor but it’s super easy to use and I am very used to it. I think what annoys me about the situation that A LOT of you also pointed out is that they keep fixing things that don’t need fixing. It’s particularly annoying because as someone who has been on WP for years now I can think of quite a few things that do need fixing. Anyway, I was busy complaining and being all sad about the change but one fellow blogger left a wonderful comment about how I can change some settings and continue using the classic editor and guess what?? It worked!! I am so happy and thankful to be able to continue using this editor and I wanted to share this comment with you guys because a number of people in the comments also said they were sad they could no longer use the classic editor and I though this way you guys can continue using it too if you want to. Thanks again to Barb! This is why I love the WP community- we’re always here for one another and everyone is super kind and helpful. Do go check out her wonderful blog by clicking here.
If you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment! Enjoyed this post? Then follow me on social media: Twitter Instagram Pinterest LinkedIn HubPages Email me on(guest posts welcome!): insomniacwithanaccent@gmail.com
Blogging

Ummmm

by Pooja G73 Comments on Ummmm
Ummmm

So I’m not going crazy right? Like WP really just woke up and decided to change a bunch of stuff? Are you guys able to access your dashboard/admin page like before? I don’t have the classic editor option anymore which is what I used to use all the time. I am not a huge fan of change as it is especially when it comes to WP because I feel like every time they change something it just makes it worse. I really liked the classic editor- it was simple to use and I had been using it for like 6 years. What do you guys think of these changes?

Sorry if this post looks weird I’m using the stupid block editor.

On the plus side I made a reel for Instagram for the first time which was fun- fee; free to check it out below if you haven’t already:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CNBvG8Dpzbl/?igshid=1huvbdua40n6h

If you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!

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Advice, Blogging

5 Mistakes That Will Destroy Your Blog

by Pooja G287 Comments on 5 Mistakes That Will Destroy Your Blog
5 Mistakes That Will Destroy Your Blog

Blogging Mistakes

Blogging is such a fun way to express yourself and interact with other like-minded people. A lot of people really enjoy a lot of aspects of blogging but the one thing most people I have interacted with enjoy is the social part of blogging. The WordPress community is a truly unique place on the internet because for the most part people are super friendly, enthusiastic, supportive and helpful. 

After blogging for a while a lot of bloggers (my phone just tried to autocorrect the word bloggers to voyagers?? 🤔) realise that growing your blog is actually pretty difficult but having a larger platform is great because you get to interact with even more people. There are a lot more benefits of having a larger platform too especially if you would like to blog professionally or make money on your blog at any point. 

I have a lot of posts you can check out about how to grow your blog but today I decided to do something a little different and write about things that will instantly slow down the growth of your blog or that may destroy your blog altogether. I’m not trying to tell you what to blog about because blogging is obviously a very personal thing and you should blog about whatever you feel that you want to blog about. However, if you want to grow your blog or increase your growth I would recommend avoiding these things:

Buying Followers, Likes And Comments

There are so many issues that come along with buying followers, likes and comments but since we don’t have forever I will keep it short and highlight some of the main issues that are associated with buying bot likes, follows and comments. 

The first issue is that everyone’s going to know. It’d often extremely obvious when people buy likes, comments and followers. Bot followers usually have no profile picture, no real posts etc. The comments are often really basic or generic like “nice post” or “great post” without any real reference to the post itself. The likes are often disproportionate compared to the comments and followers which is a big tell-tale for fake likes. If you ever want to make a profit from your posts you will likely be interested in sponsored posts however the first thing sponsors do is check how many of your followers are real which is extremely easy to do. Most people have some fake followers because bots just follow sites randomly sometimes (you’ll notice some bot followers in your following too) but if the largest majority of your following is fake obviously sponsors are not going to be interested in working with you because what’s the point? You won’t direct any traffic to them since none of your traffic is real. 

Another issue is again concerning making a profit from your blog because I’m assuming that if you’re buying followers it’s because you want to make money off your site. A lot of times people will sell services or products on their blog which is a great (maybe the best) way to make money online but if all your followers are fake who are you going to sell to? If you build a genuine following it may take longer but it’s worth so much more than a fake following. 

Buying followers, likes and comments can be pretty expensive. Especially buying followers, however, from stuff I’ve read these followers don’t last very long because WP has been cracking down on bot accounts (they’re not doing a good job with it but they’re trying) so your followers are going to decrease as time goes buy and you will have to continue buying followers every few weeks to maintain your following. Instead, spend some money advertising on other blogs or through Google or Bing. You’ll gain genuine followers for a much cheaper amount. 

The last and probably the most important reason is because if you’re buying all these things you’re probably missing the point of blogging. In my opinion at least, blogging is largely about putting your work out there and interacting with other bloggers and honestly it’s the best part of blogging. WordPress is really unique because unlike most platforms on the internet people are super supportive and kind here. People genuinely want to connect with one another and I feel like the majority of people actually use their platform how it was supposed to be used- to express oneself. If you ever want to buy followers just take some time to interact with people here instead. It will help you connect with others and grow your blog. 

Spam Comments

Literally everyone I have talked to on WP hates spam comments and in my opinion these kind of comments are one of the worst parts of WP. I don’t mean spam comments like the obviously spam ones that try to sell you viagra or something (although if you’re the person who keeps leaving spam comments trying to sell me viagra please stop 😂). I mean the comments that say nothing about your post but tells you to visit their blog. Here are some examples:

Why would anyone follow your blog when you can’t take a few minutes to read theirs? Most people would automatically check out your blog if you left a genuine comment on their blog. However, when you leave comments like this people are just going to get irritated and probably block you or at least avoid your blog. 

Not Using Features Correctly

WP offers a lot of really great features but a lot of people don’t do a lot or any research on how to use them to their advantage. Features like tags, categories, featured images etc are there for a reason and can be vital in growing your blog. Using these features incorrectly can actually slow down your blogs growth.

For example, if you use more than 15 tags your posts will be taken off the tags section in the Reader and this will decrease your traffic and consequently your following. Using incorrect hashtags can also do the same. Using really specific tags is great for SEO but not so much for the WP community. I mean when was the last time you searched something on WP that was super specific like “post about how to grow your blog and use the tags feature on WP.” Most people will search something like “how to grow your blog” or even shorter like “grow WordPress.” Using specific tags is fine but don’t forget to add some broader tags too like “food” if you’re writing about food. 

Clickbait

Clickbait is okay to an extent if you do it once in a while and your title does relate to your post to an extent but if you constantly use clickbait-y titles that have nothing to do with your post people are probably going to get irritated and end up not following you or unfollowing you. What you want is loyal readers and followers because that’s what will help you grow long term. 

Spreading Hate

Most people have heard this at least a few times in their life- if you don’t have anything nice to say than don’t say anything at all. I think most people are fine receiving feedback because it helps you improve your writing or your posts and it helps you understand your readers better. However, if you are going to use your platform to leave hateful comments that attack the blogger you are not going to be very popular on WP because like I said we’re like a family here. If you’re going to leave feedback make sure you’re not attacking someone and leave it in a positive manner.

If you’re just going to leave a hateful comment think about the fact that there are thousands of other blogs out there. No one is forcing you to follow a blog you don’t like or read posts you don’t want to. If you hate something that much just read other blogs you agree with or connect with more. Don’t waste your energy ruining someone else’s day. You don’t personally know this person, you don’t know what they are currently going through and frankly it’s their blog and they can do whatever they want on their own blog.  

Thoughts

What are some blogging mistakes you wish you had known about sooner? Have you missed my blogging advice posts? Do you think I should do more blogging advice posts- I feel like I haven’t done any in forever? Did you find this post helpful? What is some blogging advice you wish someone had given you?

If you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!

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Blogging

5 Things bloggers wish they could say — Growing With Spawn

by Pooja G17 Comments on 5 Things bloggers wish they could say — Growing With Spawn

With over 500 million blogs on the web to date, it seems as though everyone and their dog has a blog. There are just so many sites to peruse through that very little thought is actually given to what goes… 15 more words

5 Things bloggers wish they could say — Growing With Spawn

This was so funny and relatable I had to share it with you guys!!

Advice

How To Instantly Get More Traffic

by Pooja G156 Comments on How To Instantly Get More Traffic

How To Get More Traffic

The most frequently asked questions I get are “How can I increase my following” and “How can I increase my traffic”. Although both are a process and take a while there are some ways to also instantly give your following and traffic an instant boost.
For today’s post I decided to focus on how to increase your traffic because I have already written multiple posts about how to increase your following. The methods I have listed below will not only increase your traffic instantly but will also increase your traffic in the long run.
Having a large audience or a a lot of traffic on your posts is very beneficial for bloggers especially if you are looking to earn money through your blog. Here are some ways through which you can gain more traffic on your blog if followed correctly:

Social Media

I am not a huge fan of social media if I am being completely honest and I have even written a post about why I prefer to use WordPress rather than social media platforms. However, I will admit that social media is a fantastic way to increase your traffic and especially if you are looking to diversify your traffic and get views from people outside of WordPress.
I used to avoid social media before but over the last few months I have been a bit more active and have seen very satisfying results. Surprisingly, I got the best results from Pinterest where it seems extremely easy to get views if you post regularly and link your posts.
Social media is also a really good way to remind fellow bloggers when a new post is up. You can post on your story or feed every time you post something on your blog and this will help refer readers back to your blog. From my research I have seen that most people agree that Facebook and Pinterest are the best social media platforms for referring people to your blog however if use correctly other platforms like Instagram and Twitter can also be quite useful.
However, the downside of using social media to market your blog is that it can get quite time consuming.
For my full post about how you can use social media to grow your blog click here.

Marketing And SEO

Both marketing and SEO are absolutely vital if you are looking to increase your traffic- especially if you are trying to make blogging your full time job or career.
Marketing your blog is a great way to increase traffic from both WordPress as well as outside sources. It may feel a little awkward at first because you sort of have to be your biggest fan and just talk about how great your site is. You need to remind people about your site, the topics you cover as well as how they can access your blog if they are not part of the WordPress community.
For more details on how to market your blog click here.
Social media is a great way to market your blog. Other great ways to market your blog are to do collaboration posts. When you collaborate with other bloggers you get your blog out their to their audience and vice versa. It’s a win-win for both of you. Another really great way to market your blog is to do guest posts for larger blogs. This means that you will get your blog out to a much larger audience and to a specific audience that is already interested in blogs/the topic you are covering. It’s one of the fastest ways to increase your traffic/audience long term as many of them will come over and follow your blog as well.
SEO is a great way to increase traffic from outside of WordPress and in particular from Search Engines. This can help potential readers, subscribers and even potential sponsors find you blog easily and quickly. You don’t need to be a pro at technology or SEO to make your blog SEO friendly. I have a two part post which you can check out which will give you tips on how you can easily make your blog more SEO friendly. Check out Part 1 and Part 2. 

Be Active

Being active is one of the most important parts of blogging if you want to grow your blog. I mention this one a lot but only because it is extremely important. There are two ways through which you can stay active on WordPress.
First, you need to be active on your own blog. Posts at scheduled times instead of randomly. A lot of people want to support your blog but they will find it very difficult to do so if they don’t know when you’re going to post next or if you’re even going to post again. I mean this in the nicest way possible- there are literally thousands of blogs out there and most people are not going to stick around and check your blog every day hoping you post something.
For more on how to schedule your post for the optimum number of traffic and following click here. 
The second way to be active is to be active on other blogs. As I mentioned above there are thousands of blogs out there and you need to make sure yours get noticed. The best way to get other bloggers to come over to your blog is to make sure you also visit theirs and leave a like or comment. However, please do not spam them with “follow my blog/check out my blog” comments because this will achieve the opposite of what you are attempting to do. Most bloggers I know either delete such comments or block the blog.

Free Features

WordPress offers so many amazing features even if you are on the free plan. Even though you will get more features and things with the upgraded plans like plugins there are still some features you can take advantage of if you don’t want to upgrade yet.
One of the most useful features that your blog has is your tags section. Tags allow readers to find your posts when they search for certain topics. For example, if I have used the correct tags for this post then this post will come up when some searches “how to get more traffic” on their WordPress reader.
Tags also allow search engines to find your posts as well as to figure out what your keywords/niche for the post is. This means that your post will show up when people search for certain topics. It is of course very difficult to get to the top search pages but it’s not impossible if you use the correct tags and make your posts SEO friendly.
If you don’t think tags are important let me share a little personal story with you guys. You know I normally use tags and all that but a few months back before the pandemic when I still had in-school classes I got super busy and forgot to add any tags to one of my posts. I realised in about half an hour and instantly added the tags but the damage was done to an extent. I got significantly less views, likes and comments even though this post was in a category that is the most popular on my blog.
You can check out my post on how to use tags properly by clicking here.
Other features include things like media. Posts that have images, gifs etc are much more fun to read and will keep your audiences attention. Take advantage of the free images and gifs that WordPress offers and use these for your posts.

Interact

Interacting with fellow bloggers is also an essential part of blogging. Again by interact I do not mean spam their comments section. I can not emphasize enough how incredibly annoying this is. There are multiple other ways you can interact with other bloggers.
You can interact with bloggers on your own blog posts when they leave comments. I think your comments section is one of the most important parts of your blog. When you interact positively with other bloggers on your comments section they feel as though their opinion is valued and that you care about what they have to say- which you should! This will make sure that they become loyal readers and loyal followers rather than dormant readers/followers that visit your posts once in a blue moon.
You should also try to make your blog posts more interactive. Try to do some fun activities once in a while, some tags that they can be a part of, take a survey to see what they have to say or simply ask them how they are doing. I have noticed that a lot of people on WordPress really enjoy socialising with one another and one of the best parts of WordPress is how social everyone is. So embrace this and socialise as much as possible with your readers and subscribers.
Another way to interact is on their posts. This is probably the fastest way to grow your traffic and following in my opinion and the best part is you can actually make a connection with people and end up becoming friends which has happened to me with quite a few bloggers and I am so grateful for that! Leave a like or comment on their post. Make sure the comment is relevant and also open ended so you can have a little conversation in their comments section. This is super fun but can be time consuming sometimes.
You can also interact with bloggers on other online platforms. I think social media is great for connecting with other bloggers. It’s also a great way to support one another apart from supporting each other on WordPress. Having someone share your blog on their social media pages can really help increase your traffic. You can also join online groups for bloggers. Some people create groups for bloggers where people share tips, posts etc. Sharing your posts on such groups can help you increase your traffic too.
However, this again can be time consuming and from my experience sometimes these groups turn into people just sharing their posts non-stop without actually looking at other peoples posts. It can also be a bit annoying to keep receiving messages from the group.

Be Genuine

No matter what you do, do it in a genuine manner. Write genuine posts that you actually have an interest. Do not force yourself to write a post just because the topic is popular. Write about things you care about and your audience will appreciate that your writing is authentic and genuine.
Also, be genuine when you interact with other bloggers. Don’t leave cliche “great post” comments. Comment something about the post or about what the post discusses. You can also ask them a question or tell them what you found interesting about the post.

Thoughts

What are some of the ways through which you get more traffic? Have you used any of the tips I mentioned above to gain traffic and if so has it worked? Do you know how to use all your features properly? Do you market your blog? What is the best way you have found to increase your traffic? Do you use social media to help gain traffic on your blog/to market you blog?

Related Posts

How To Get More Followers
How To Get More Traffic
How To Make Money Blogging

For similar posts click here.
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Advice

Advice For New Bloggers #2

by Pooja G193 Comments on Advice For New Bloggers #2

Advice For New Blogger Continued

A while ago I wrote a post with advice for new bloggers and that post was strictly to help them stay careful, safe and to better understand blogging. You can read that post by clicking here. 
I think when it comes to blogging there are some things you can only pick up on once you have been blogging for a while and since I have been picking up on some stuff over the years I like sharing it with everyone- especially newer bloggers.
A lot of times people seem to have this notion that doing stuff on the internet is easier than traditional work or that it’s a way to get rich quick. Although this is the case for very few people, the majority of people take a lot longer and have to work incredibly hard to grow their platform and actually do this full time.
Today, I decided to share some do’s and don’t’s for new bloggers because as I mentioned there are some things that you do not really pick up until you have been blogging for a while. These are some things that will help you grow your blog, increase your following and traffic and also in general just make your whole blogging experience better- at least I hope it will!

Do’s

Be Active

I think if you pick up one thing from this post let it be this- be active as much as you possibly can. Let me explain it a little better. There are two ways you can and in my opinion should be active on WordPress if you are trying to grow your blog.
The first way you need to be active is on your own blog. Make sure you are posting on a regular and scheduled basis. By regular and scheduled I don’t mean you have to post everyday although daily posting does have it’s benefits. What I mean is post as often as you can- maybe everyday, maybe every other day, maybe once a week or even once a month- just make sure you post it at the same time every day/week/month.
A lot of your followers probably follow multiple people and let’s be honest if you post at random times they are likely not going to see all your posts and most people will not go out of their way to see if you have posted something new recently. Therefore, posting at the same time or at least having some kind of schedule for each post makes a huge difference- it does not get you random followers/readers but rather loyal followers/readers. To find out how to schedule your post for maximum followers and traffic click here. 
The next way to stay active is to be active on other blogs. I say this on almost every blogging advice post I make but blogging is a two way street and WordPress is a community that thrives on the support of one another. If you do not support other blogs you can not expect them to support you in the long run. I’m not saying comment on every single post ever created but notice who comments on your blog posts regularly and comment on theirs as well. Like the posts of other people. Most importantly, like and comment on posts that don’t already follow you as well- try to visit at least 5-20 new blogs a day depending on how much time you have.

Be Nice

I sort of can’t believe I need to specifically mention this but to be honest I have gotten so much hate this year that I just wanted to talk about this a little. Just to put it in a short and simple way- if you don’t have anything nice to say than don’t say anything. There are thousands of blogs out there so if you come across one that you don’t like/agree with than simply don’t like the post, don’t follow the blog and if you are so offended by the content block them.
Leaving hate effects people a lot more than some people realise and just going by my personal experience I just want to say you never know what is going on with the person in real life, how they are feeling, whether they suffer from certain mental health problems etc and your comment may truly effect them and their well being.
There is nothing wrong with leaving feedback- just remember to do it in a positive way without personally attacking the person. I would also recommend not doing it in the comments section as this can feel like an attack- instead reach out personally via email or social media. And please remember to be kind to one another.

Research Research RESEARCH

One thing I have picked up as a history major is to always do your research because research is the only way to truly learn.There is so much work that goes into creating a blog and so much more work that goes into actually running it.
One of the things I regret most when it comes to blogging is not doing enough research early on because now I have to keep going back and changing things which is extremely time consuming and frustrating. I also did not take advantage of the features that WordPress offers and I so wish I had.
But don’t be like me- do your research, figure out how to use everything, how to make your posts SEO friendly etc and most importantly make sure you have a plan for what you want your blog to become in two years time so that you’re not just putting out random posts for the sake of it but rather are working towards a goal. If you are just blogging to put out random posts than definitely go for it but if you want your blog to have a direction you may want to think ahead.

Make The Most Of Everything

Seriously, make the most of EVERYTHING. WordPress offers so many amazing features even on the free plan and you should definitely take advantage of everything it offers. This is where the research part comes in again- know exactly what you are being offered so that you can take advantage of it and use it to grow your blog. If you use your features correctly your blog will grow so much faster.
Another things I would recommend making the most of is the WP community. We are so lucky to have a much more positive, interactive and genuine community compared to a lot of platforms and don’t let that go to waste. Interact with others, get to know fellow bloggers, talk to new people and make the most of your blogging experience.

Take Your Time

Blogging is not a race or a make money quick scheme. I know it sounds a little corny but when it comes to blogging it’s more about the journey than the final destination. It takes time to grow your blog, to get to where you want to be when it comes to your followers and traffic count. It’s a lot of hard work and it takes a lot of patience, dedication, planning and enthusiasm however at least in my opinion it is so worth the hard work.
I think a lot of people kind of think when they start out that they are going to grow immediately without having to put too much work into it. That they will instantly get at least a few hundred views and followers. I myself am guilty of believing my blog would grow faster than it did. But I quickly learnt that it does not work like that. You need to put out quality content, be active and work really hard.

Don’t’s

Leave Spam Comments

The reason I mentioned this first is because it seems like over the last few months there has been a large rise in the amount of spam comments that bloggers are leaving. I don’t know if it is just my blog but I do not remember getting these many spam like comments on my posts before.
There are a number of spam comments. Firstly, there the obvious spam that is not from another blogger but just left by random people on the internet. Immediately delete these and do not click on the links they leave as some of them are viruses.
The next kind of spam is something that annoys me the most. The blogger will leave a comment while completely ignoring your post and will pretty much advertise their blog on your comments section. Unfortunately, I can’t find one of the screenshots I had taken but this person pretty much ignored my post and commented something along the lines of “Hi, I have a blog about blah blah blah please go check it out” and left a link to their blog.
Another things people will do is leave a very generic “Nice post. Go check out my blog.”, “Great post. Go follow, like and comment on my blog.” or something very similar to those two. The last thing I wanted to mention is probably the most shady spam comment. They basically leave a comment and sign their name (which there is nothing wrong with- the next part is the problem) and in this name they leave a do-follow or no-follow link. People basically use your posts to get free backlinks when if done in an ethical way they would be paying you between $5-$100.
My point is, don’t leave spam comments. One, because people are not stupid and know exactly what you’re doing- they may be polite to you but they know. Two, it’s just a mean thing to do because everyone I know puts a lot of work into their posts and to completely disregard their posts and instead try to get backlinks for your blog is just an awful thing to do. Three, it’s annoying and people will block you which means you will probably be losing more traffic and followers than you are getting. Four, leaving a genuine comment goes a long way. Instead of wasting time with spam comments why not just leave a genuine comment because most people are likely to respond and go over to your blog if they enjoyed talking to you.

Bully People

Unfortunately, there are bullies everywhere and although I would argue that the majority of the people on WordPress are friendly and lovely people in general there are still some that are not. I remember reading a post a while ago where someone actually told the blogger that they were “selfish” for not supporting someones blog that supported their blog.
Yes, WordPress is a two way street but that does not mean that people have to support other people no matter what. Most of us have lives outside of WP and have things to do other than blogging and it’s just not possible to read every single post of every single person who likes and comments on your blog.
The lesson here is that don’t emotionally blackmail people or bully people into supporting your blog. If they want to support it they will and if they don’t want to they have every right not to. Also don’t support other people hoping for something in return- support others because you genuinely like their content.

Stop Being Passionate

It’s hard to come up with new ideas for posts all the time and writers block is quite common. A lot of people feel exhausted after a few weeks of regular blogging because like I said it can be very hard work. If you feel like you are running out of ideas for blogging than take a break. Don’t force it. Write when you are truly passionate and write about what you love because it honestly makes a huge difference and your readers will be able to tell the difference.

Give Up!

I wanted to end this post by saying DON’T GIVE UP! It takes time so be passionate and keep working hard. I know at times you will feel like what’s the point maybe I should just stop blogging but don’t. It’s so important to stay passionate because over time your blog will grow and eventually you will reach your goals!

Thoughts

I want to apologise for the longer post- I actually got rid of a bunch of stuff while editing but it still ended up being a bit longer than usual but I just had a lot to say and I didn’t want to write a two part post of Do’s and Don’t’s separately.
What is one piece of advice you would give to new bloggers? Have you ever received spam comments and if you have how do you deal with them? Have you noticed an increase in spam like comments? Are you a new blogger or an older blogger? What is one thing you would recommend that bloggers never do? Have you ever received hate comments and if so how did you deal with them?

Related Posts

How To Get More Followers
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How To Make Money Blogging

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Advice For New Bloggers

by Pooja G186 Comments on Advice For New Bloggers

Advice For New Bloggers

A few weeks ago a new blogger reached out to me and shared her story with me about the problems she faced as a new blogger. She suggested that since I write advice posts for bloggers all the time that I should write one for new bloggers so that they can avoid what she went through. I thought this was a really good idea because when I started out with blogging there was a lot of things that I wish someone had told me.
Unlike most of my advice posts, this one is not specifically aimed at growing your blog, gaining followers, or increasing your traffic. Instead, I thought I would write some general advice for new bloggers or people who are thinking about starting a blog. As someone who has been blogging for quite a few years now I have been lucky enough to pick up on quite a few things and I have also been through a lot of things with my blog which made me wish someone had given me a warning about certain things.
Blogging can be difficult especially if you are not super into technology or with the internet. It can also sometimes be a bit dangerous so I have put in some tips that will help you to blog in a safer manner because let’s be honest there are some not so nice people out there hoping to scam unsuspecting people. Although this post if for newer bloggers I think most of the tips I have mentioned are things that all bloggers should keep in mind whether they are newer or older bloggers.
Here are the five tips that I think you should always keep in mind especially when you are starting a blog:

Be Careful


The first thing I want to say is BE CAREFUL. Even though the WordPress community is really lovely in general you still need to be very careful especially when you start out because there will be people out there who will try to take advantage of you or perhaps don’t have your best interest at heart.
For example, one of the things I have seen recently is the rise of MLM’s and in case you are not familiar with what an MLM is- it’s multi-level marketing or rather something that is scarily close to a pyramid scheme. Recruiters often target vulnerable people such as people who are not familiar with the internet or that particular platform so as a newbie you will probably get at least a few messages and emails from these huns. I had no idea about this when I first started out but I am glad I did not fall for it because I was contacted by multiple MLM huns. For more on MLM’s and why they should be avoided click here. 
Another example is that if someone ever tries to sell you something please make sure they are legitimate people and are selling you legitimate products or services because like I said there are a lot of scammers out there. Also be careful of people asking you for personal information, your credit card number, your debit card number, where you live, your address, your phone number or pretty much anything like that. I know this is something most people are aware of but there are some people who are quite trusting and if you are like that please lookout for these.

Do Your Research


Before you start a blog do as much research as you possibly can. I know that there is this weird general belief that blogging or anything like that which people do online is easier than other more traditional work but that is honestly so far from the truth. With blogging there are so many little things that you need to know. Even just figuring out how WordPress works, how to make most of the features and how to even use the features takes a few weeks to a few months to figure out.
I admit it is very rewarding once you figure everything out but to be honest blogging is still difficult. You need to put so much work into it, you need to post regularly, stay active on both your blog and other blogs, reply to comments every day and so much more. Before you start a blog just know what you are getting into. You will most likely not have instant success, in fact, it may even take months before your blog starts to grow at a steady pace.
Another thing you need to research is your blog itself. What I mean by this is that do your research about your own blog. For example, if you have a particular name in mind Google that name and see what comes up to make sure that there are no sites already using that name or a similar name. Sometimes your blogs name may be very close to another sites name and it may direct unwanted traffic to your blog such as if the other site is an adult site. You should also check for the name on all social media platforms as you may want to start a page for your blog with the same name but that may already exist on certain platforms.

Have A 5 Year Plan


Before you start your blog think about where you want to be in five years. I wish someone had told me this before I started my blog because I really was not thinking ahead and now I’m kind of stuck here kicking myself for not doing certain things when I first started out. For example, look into SEO as early as possible because it is almost impossible to make your site SEO friendly after you have been blogging for a long time. Trust me, it’s a lot of work and your future self will thank you for looking into SEO early on.
Look into what topics you want to write about and look at what the top pages that show up on search engines when you search that topic are doing. Of course do not copy their work but make sure to look at how they layout their articles, what topics they write on, what key words they are using and more. You can learn a lot from your “competition” and it can really help make your blog more successful and grow faster from the start.

Ask For Help


Do not be afraid to ask for help. As I have mentioned throughout this article and as I mention all the time on my other posts as well- blogging is difficult. It is definitely a whole process even setting up your blog to begin with and do not even get me started on writing your first blog post which can honestly be a nightmare for most people who are not exactly amazing at all things technology.
When you first start out with blogging, Google really becomes your best friend because you will definitely be Googling everything every ten seconds in order to figure out how to do pretty much anything and everything. Don’t worry it does get easier over time once you get used to how WordPress works. But at the beginning it is difficult.
Now the problem with Googling everything is that sometimes Google won’t have the specific stuff you are looking for and even if it does have articles on exactly what you are looking for it may not show them thanks to the who SEO thing which unfortunately means that the stuff that is SEO friendly is at the front of Google and everything else, no matter how good and helpful it is, gets pushed to the back.
Therefore don’t be afraid to reach out to the WordPress helpers who are there to help you out in such situations and are usually extremely helpful. I would also recommend reading up on my blogging advice section as it does have a lot of tips and tricks that new bloggers may find helpful. If you have friends or family who blog on the same platform as you are currently blogging on or perhaps are just tech savvy reach out to them and ask them for help. I would also recommend reaching out to bloggers that have been blogging for longer than you have as they likely have figured most things out and I doubt anyone would say no if you ask them for help.

Be Patient


The last piece of advice that I want to leave you with is be patient. Unless you are extremely lucky or just really good at blogging success does not happen overnight. I know that a lot of times when you start writing online you expect to have traffic and followers the minute your first blog post goes up- I knew I kind of did- but it does not really work like that. It takes a lot of time and hard work to get to that point so if you are not instantly successful don’t freak out. There is nothing wrong with you or your writing. It just takes a while to build a loyal following and get loyal readers and once you do all the hard work will have been worth it.
If you are someone who is looking for instant success blogging on WordPress may not be for you. I’m not saying there is absolutely no way you will instantly get a huge following and traffic I’m just saying it’s very unlikely you will blow up overnight even if you are doing everything by the book.
Take your time to learn how WordPress works, what works for you and your blog, how to use all the features to get to your optimum amount of traffic and following etc. Every blog is unique and it will take a while to get the hang of what works for your blog and where you want your blog to head in the future.

Thoughts

Are you a newer blogger or an older blogger? If you could give new bloggers advice what would it be? Did you find this post helpful? Has anyone ever tried to scam you via your blog or social media pages? What is one thing you wish you had known before you started blogging? Let me know in the comments below because you know I always enjoy talking to your guys. If you don’t want to answer the questions just stop by and say hi!

Related Posts

How To Get More Followers
How To Get More Traffic
How To Make Money Blogging

For similar posts click here.
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