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1.10.14

10 Important Things To Do For Your Blog in 2014

During the new year, we all tend to take a look at what we are doing in our lives, access everything, and make new goals for ourselves. I love doing this for some reason. I think of everything in terms of years. 2011 was a really hard year for me. Very stressful and not happy. 2012 was full of a lot of hard work, and 2013 was more hard work (that I love) but a lot of success and fun! I clump things into years in my mind. So for 2014 I am setting clear goals and intentions for myself, but within those goals are a lot of me things. Fitness, health, creative time, and fun will be main priorities since I’ve had several years of high stress levels and overcommitment.
So if you have a hard time coming up with goals for your blog this year — I’ve put together a list of 10 important things you can do for your blog this year:
1. BE DIFFERENT! Figure out what makes YOU different, and in turn what makes your blog different from all the others. You NEED to make your blog different and unique. This ‘unique’ quality or content should usually revolve around a passion or talent of yours. Don’t know what that passion is? Well, then you need to figure that out, that passion is the key to a lot of things.
2. GET ORGANIZED! I’m totally guilty of a million photos on my desktop, too many folders (digital and real), just too much going on. It’s really hard to think and accomplish what you want too when your desktop and folders on your computer are a disaster. It gives me a little anxiety just thinking about it. So get organized — do a deep desktop/digital/office cleanup once a month. Put it on your calendar for the first Monday of every month for an hour. And if you can — at the end of every work day, take a look at your desktop and actual desk and clean it up. Are you a DIY blogger and your craft closet is a giant mess? Take this Saturday to do a major clean out/organization session. It will feel sooooooo good to start the year more organized.
3. EDITORIAL CALENDAR! Have no idea how to even begin planning an editorial calendar? Lucky for you, we are launching an editorial calendar cocktail NEXT WEEK! Stay tuned…
4. WRITE POSTS FROM THE HEART! Talk about setting yourself apart — any post written from the heart, maybe it’s something personal, maybe it’s just your opinion on a situation, maybe you write short stories — post it! Anytime I write something a little personal I let it sit in my drafts for a few days just to make sure I’m not putting something out there I don’t want to. At the same time, I don’t think you should over think it. Every time I’ve clicked ‘post’ on a post where I’m sharing something personal, the response has been amazing! I say — go for it! You probably have a lot more support out there than you realize. Every once in a while I think a post should make you a little uneasy … then you know it’s good, and you’re being vulnerable with your readers. They’ll love the honesty and openness. And if anyone is mean to you or being a hater, just ignore them.
5. PHOTO CREDITS! If you are posting photos without proper credits, stop. right. now. Pinterest is NOT a credit. You must search out the proper photo credit — i.e. the photographer or the blog/site that originally posted it. Credit all involved, and link to them (not to Pinterest!). Spread the word. Pay the crediting forward.
6. ORIGINAL CONTENT, COLUMNS, AND POSTS! Please, for the love, come up with something new and innovative. Don’t just copy what you see other successful bloggers doing. Get creative and come up with something new. Usually these column and post ideas come to you at random times. For example, I came up with my GSD (get shit done) column because I’m always interested in learning how people organize their time, life, business — basically how they get shit done. What a better way to find out by creating a column and interviewing them, which is exactly what I did. It was something completely original that I came up with not inspired by another blog. I even gave it a hashtag #GSD (of course).
7. COLLABORATE! Collaborate in some way — with another blogger, with a group of bloggers, with a brand, with a shop, with a restaurant, anything! Two heads are better than one, right? It’s always a fun way to get inspired with work with other people. Go outside of your typical box and brainstorm a creative collaborative project or post.
8. SOCIAL MEDIA BUTTONS! I can’t tell you how many times I’m doing a consult with someone about their blog or website and their social media buttons aren’t above the fold (pre-scroll). Or they are so tiny I have to search to find them. If you want to grow your social media, step one is to make it obvious where your social media buttons are if someone wants to follow you. Don’t make them search your site or blog to find a link to your twitter — make it easy for them!
9. ORIGINAL PHOTOS! Want to grow, be unique, stand out from others? Take your own photos (or have a professional take them)! That makes photo crediting real easy! Creating good original content and good original photos is one of the best way to grow your blog, site, and business (it takes a lot more than this, but this is a good first step). Think about the photos that you love to pin and repin on Pinterest, now think about creating a photo that you would want to pin on Pinterest.
10. BE VERY SOCIAL, ON SOCIAL MEDIA! One of the secrets to growing your social media — BE SOCIAL! It’s not a build-it-and-they-will-come situation. You have to be social on social media to grow. Don’t just tweet about a post once, tweet a link to it out a few times within a week of posting it.
What to add any tips? We’d love to hear them in the comments!



Photo via Meg Biram’s Instagram

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