blogging tips, fashion blog, blogging, grow your blog, blogging mistakes

 1. Taking Readers for Granted | it's hard not to get wrapped up in numbers as a blogger in a world of follower counts and pageviews, but not appreciating the readers (no matter how few) that actively choose to follow you can eventually turn them away. Reply to comments, be personable and easy to contact, and support your readers who are bloggers. This is how you create and develop a loyal following (and get the chance to meet some amazing people around the world)!

2. Waiting Too Long to Think About SEO | trust me, by the time you have several hundred (or thousand!) posts in your blogging archives, the last thing you want to do is go back and re-edit all of them to make sure they are not dragging on your SEO. Be pro-active and start early, especially if you ever plan on getting serious about your blog. I've also put together a SEO Guide for Beginners to get you started!

 3. Infrequent Posting | from personal experience (and lots of it) (my apologies) posting infrequently kills your blog and anything that was ever planning on growing from it. Dramatic? Okay maybe slightly. Accurate? Basically. Infrequent posting decreases your pageviews and visitors and makes you lose the readers that you already worked so hard to get. Stick to a posting schedule that you know you can commit to and commit to it! (Struggling with writers block? Here are a set of Post Ideas that Will Help Grow Your Audience!)

 4. Not Efficiently Using & Diversifying Social Media | Pintrest is easily the no.1 website referrer to my blog, but it wasn't until I started using it efficiently that I was able to see immense growth in my pageviews. Knowing what, when, and how to post on each social media is crucial for your content to be seen and engaged with. Elle & Co (a personal favorite) recently published a really great article on how to really take advantage of Pintrest that I highly recommend reading!

 5. Spam-like Comments | leaving "nice!!!!" on a post on child labor in the fashion industry is not only not going to make me click on your blog link, but also is a drag for your blog's SEO, as Google identifies short, cliché comments as spam. (Also it just looks bad for your blog's reputation!)

6. Poor Layout + Photography | the aesthetics of a blog is really everything--it's the first impression a reader will have of your site and poor design and images can be quite the deal-breaker. Examine photos and blogs that are popular and appeal to your aesthetic and document what seems to work and what doesn't and try to incorporate them into your site!

7. No Business Plan | the earlier, the better! Developing a business plan filled with monetization tactics, social media strategies, a blog mission statement, and other important information is essential to help move your blog forward with a clear vision. I personally use ByRegina's Blog Business Plan as a guide and I love it!

 8. Losing Your Voice | this is probably the most important on the list (yes, yes I know I said that for all of them but this is really the most important)! Your blog, after all, is an online extension of yourself, your ideas, and your values. Don't try to imitate other bloggers, compromise on your ethics for a profitable collaboration or sponsored post, lose what is meaningful in blogging for you, or be afraid to write about what you are passionate about.

"Blogging Tips" is a new series on JooJoo Azad started due to popular demand and is focused on helping bloggers improve and grow their blogs as well as encouraging more bloggers to speak out on issues that matter to them.
For more: { blogging tips series }

<(')