Bloggy DIY for Newbies & Wannabes

Sitting around my table at our bloggy Tea Party, a brand-new blogger turned to me and said, "Simoney you have to do a post for us newbies. Tell us your tips on how to do cool stuff with our blogs...."

This post is in response to that plea. And because I love to see beautiful blogs. And help lovely people.

My technical tips relate to blogger blogs, but if you are on Wordpress (or some other random blog platform), I hope you'll still find plenty to help you too.

Firstly, let me say that I am not any kind of html whizz. I also have not paid anyone professional to design my blog (apart from this lovely young artist).

But I love to fiddle. And I can google. And so bit by bit I am building a blog I am proud to call mine.

Think of your blog like your home.
Your home reflects you, your style, your personality. You want to invite others to come over and visit. You want them to feel relaxed and enjoy visiting you.

You want your home to be more than just a cream box. You want to fill it with things that are useful and beautiful, meaningful to you. If you have visitors you probably sweep the floor and tidy away the clutter, serve up some home-baked goodies, coffee or tea.

So it is with your blog.
You want others to enjoy visiting and want to return?? Make your blog-home a warm, welcoming place serving up good stuff. It doesn't have to be the height of fashion with bells and whistles - it just needs to reflect you.

Beautify your Bloggy-home

• The Template. Explore Blogger's new Template Designer. In one click you can add a colourful background, play around with fonts and colours, adjust your blog width and alter your layout. Sick of one sidebar? Add another one with one click. Want bigger photos? Get rid of your extra column with one click. You won't lose your widgets. You'll just have to drag and drop them to re-arrange them where you want them. Fun!
  
  
  
  

Shabbyblogs.com header

• A Header. I make my headers in Photoshop. But if you don't have photoshop, play around in Paint! A header is the first thing people see. It's like your kerb-appeal. Don't underestimate the importance of a header that's unique to you. If you are a bit artistically challenged, you can adapt ready made headers with your own photos, from places like ShabbyBlogs.com
  
  
  
  





• Photos. A picture is worth a thousand words. Use pictures! The bigger the better, I think. At least, start each post with an image. Use a camera phone if you don't have a digital camera. Scan in old photos (or take photos of them on macro). Use google images to search for pictures (and give a photo credit at the end of the post). Break up long text with pictures. Too much text will put readers off (the same way friends get put off if we hog the conversation and talk incessantly about ourselves)Photograph everything. And I mean everything. BLOGGER: Make sure you have selected the Updated Editor, in Settings (Basic). It will take a little getting used to, but this enables you to import pictures into your posts exactly where you want them (instead of them coming in at the top and having to drag them down. Ugh.) You can upload more than one photo at a time, and easily resize and align them.





• Maximise your Sidebar. Use it! Put links in there. BLOGGER: You can use the "picture" gadget to make clickable links to your favourite posts.  Click on the post (or label) you want people to visit. Copy the URL address and paste it into the picture gadget where it says: "URL you want to link to". Or make a list of your recipe posts. Or Crafty posts. Or funniest posts. Whatever is unique to you and your blog. Put your email address somewhere people can find it to contact you. I recommend setting up a free webmail account just for blog related emails, e.g. hotmail or gmail. De-Clutter regularly. Forget Adsense. Is the .20c a month you might get worth the ugliness that it brings??? Regularly spring clean.


• Add Pages Tabs. (BLOGGER) This is a great new feature on Blogger that not many people seem to know about. You get to it under "Posting" and then "Edit Pages". Click "Add page" and then it's just like writing a post. Check out my pages for some ideas - the tabs at the top under the header. You can add as many as you like. Use them to declutter your sidebar, to tell the readers more about you, your family, your world. Highlight your best posts. Use them however you like!

How to grow your readership...

Firstly think about what makes your blog unique. What is your unique voice? Who are you writing for? Is this a family record of your daily happenings? Is it mainly to update family and friends living overseas? That's great. But are you wanting to reach a wider audience? In which case you will need to ask yourself, what will my readers take away from this? And tell your stories in a way that a total stranger will be interested. Funny, embarrassing, upsetting, honest... whatever the situation calls for. Share YOU. And make sure you post some pics of yourself; don't be shy. Readers will return if they get a sense of you.

The most important thing about having a great blog is of course content. Be yourself. Write the way you would talk. Let your personality shine through. Don't set yourself up as an expert (unless you actually are a child psychologist with a PhD, but even then, think twice). Laugh at yourself.

Once you have decided you want to grow your readership, here is the most important principle for you: If you want a friend, be a friend.

Want readers?? Want followers? Want comments? You will have to go out there and read, follow, comment.

Blogiquette. Use bloggy etiquette whenever possible - if someone comments, reply back. Blogger commenting is a bit awkward. Under Settings (Comments) set up your blog to email you whenever you receive a comment. Then you can click on that emailed comment and reply to the sender (if they have an email showing up). Otherwise, leave a comment in your own comment section, or go visit their blog and comment there. It's a bit of work. But think of it as if you are new in town. You want to meet your neighbours. Put yourself out there and be friendly. The community we build is the joy of blogging.

Add LinkWithin. Just follow the instructions. A great way to get readers to keep on reading :)

Add GoogleAnalytics. Or just check out the NEW Stats Tab. Find out who is reading your blog. Not many people comment, so just because you don't have many comments doesn't mean no-one is reading. It's fun to know, but don't get too hung up on it.

Join Networks.

I recommend SITS, BlogFrog, and Mom Bloggers Club Under 100 Followers group. Go and sign up. Join in conversations. Reply to other people's discussions. Leave your link. And if you are a Kiwi Mummy Blogger, join Kiwi Mummy Blogs :)

Join in Linky Parties.

Linky parties are lots of fun. There's all sorts you can hook up to...

Wordless Wednesday, RAW(e), Tasty Tuesday, Tickled Pink, Thursdays Friends, At My House, Pour Your Heart Out and more! These linky parties are great for getting new visitors. But if you really want to increase readership... guess what? You have to visit other people's links and leave comments. Yep. You do.

     

Privacy...

I recommend giving your kids nicknames. And not using your surname. And not linking to your facebook page from your blog. When I started blogging I used my kids real names, I had my surname plastered everywhere and there was a facebook follow widget in my sidebar. Then I came across a discussion on Mom Bloggers Club about the subject of security. I guess there are wierdos out there in Blogland. Lets protect our kids and families from them.

But also, do I really want my kids real names out there forever linked to their toddlerhood shopping tantrums so any future employer can google them?? No. So I came up with nicknames.

The beauty of nicknames is that it is less confusing and more personal than say, "Master 7", because Master 7 will soon be Master 8 etc etc. Plus having an online alias is fun. My kids love their bloggy nicknames!

HEADER or BUTTON GIVEAWAY
In the cause of helping beautify blogland, I will design a brand new customised header (or button) for one commenter's blog. Leave me a comment telling me what you would like to improve on your blog and why you need a new header or button. I will pick the most desperate case! You have a week (until Friday 3rd September).

I hope you have found this uselful in the process of Bloggy DIY. Leave me a comment with any other questions you have... Blog On!

Source: http://greatfun4kids.blogspot.com/2010/08/beautiful-blogging-for-newbies-wannabes.html

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