5 Blogging Tips I Begrudgingly Like (Just Don’t Make A Big Thing Out Of It)


If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking “guh! Not another pedantic blog about blogging!”  But come on, would I play you like that?  That’s how I feel every time someone tells me to “advertise my posts on Twitter and Instagram!” like, I know I’m old but I do know what a Twitter is.  Amidst the sea of well-meaning but often redundant advise, five things have stood out to me as being useful:

Consistent profile pic across all social media accounts  How many times has this happened to you?  Perusing blog posts, you find one that’s so hilarious, so true, so unique, you have to learn more!  You try to follow them on Twitter…only to find there’s 5 users with her name and their profile pics are all photos of cats.  You feel like you’ve been set up on a blind date by friends and you’re wandering around the bar like “I’m looking for Sarah?  She’s a blonde?  She has a blog?  Excuse me, are you Sarah the funny blonde blogger who wrote the post about cats wearing socks?”  Keeping the profile pictures consistent makes it easier to find you.  I want to find you!  I want to find and follow you!  So stop playing hard-to-get, Cat Socks Sarah!

Know Your Niche!  Oh I used to rail against the “niche” edict … until I started thinking of blogs as magazines.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?  Your blog is like a magazine where YOU are the editor, YOU are the photographer, YOU are the writer, and YOU are in charge of writing up the advertising!  PHEW!  It’s a lot of work, and you want to sell issues, I mean, gain followers, right?  Now imagine walking into the magazine shop and picking up an issue of Vogue.  You open it up to find 4 photo spreads and 38 articles on Motorcycle Maintenance.  WTF, Vogue?!?  In that case, Vogue totally abandons its niche and I’m probably going to stop reading it.

…But That Doesn’t Mean “Don’t Try New Things!”  Having a niche doesn’t mean all your posts are exactly the same!  You gotta do you, in the end.  Back to the magazine metaphor!  Know what feels right for you, but don’t be afraid to write that article on motorcycle maintenance if you’re just dying to!  Who knows, maybe you’ll tap into a market of Fashionable Biker Babes who want fashion spreads and Harley tips? 

Comment and Comment Alike  Instant Karma’s gonna get you!  The Golden Rule of Blogging:  if you want comments, leave a comment!  Every time I get a comment, I check out the commenter’s blog, and I usually leave a comment over there, too!  I got into blogging to meet people and hear their stories, so leave a comment and introduce yourself, and we all shine on

Let me see it!!  I have found so many interesting folks on Twitter only to navigate to their blog and…am I looking at it?  What size font is that, 4??  I guess I don’t understand the point of pouring your heart out to your blog, or dashing off brilliant, witty ideas, and then making them so small nobody can read them.  SING OUT, Tina Tiny-Type!  I know I’ve unfollowed at least 5 blogs in the past because they’ve “redesigned” and changed their post font to microscopic light gray script and I’m sorry, ain’t nobody got time for that.  I’m not gonna haul out my Rosetta Stone to decript what you just said, I’m not going to hit Ctrl+ five times every time you show up in my Bloglovin’ feed, I’m just not.  Bye gurl.

Cuz if your blog font does this to my eyes I WILL NOT BE following you on Bloglovin’ ya feel me?

10 responses to “5 Blogging Tips I Begrudgingly Like (Just Don’t Make A Big Thing Out Of It)”

  1. I always try to return comments or at least answer them! Using disqus makes it super easy now! Woot! I'm guilty of the profile photo thing but they are all photos of me, not cats. So there's that. LOL

    • I so badly want to be able to return comments. I never know if my comment responses get delivered! I have a long-term plan that involves me putting Disqus on my blog, but I'm afraid I'll have to switch over to WordPress to do so – after 6 and a half years of Blogger! I'm very set in my ways! and re-structure everything on the blog, and then I can finally add disqus (because it's incompatible with Blogger RN). Big scary changes, oy. Probably early next year.

  2. Good points, Meghan. I fail number 1. I have three profile photos–one for my FB personal page, one more formal one for my author page, and a third I use on Twitter. You nudge me to change at least one of them (and I also need to redo my FB author page banner). It's easy to change the twitter photo, so that's first. Thanks for good ideas. I'm doing the rest. It's reassuring to know a few things are going right.

    • I need to change my YouTube picture to get in line! Much as I love my cocktail dress sunglasses photo with the brontosaurus, it's like impossible to identify me from that shot. Le sigh.

    • I knooooowwww when I see a blogger with like 11K followers and her text font is illegible I'm like…WTF is going on here? Am I missing something? Is my computer broken, like, all T no shade, maybe you're writing the greatest blog posts ever, but I can't read them at ALL do I need to get to LensCrafters for an eye test or is this some bulllllssssshhhhhhh right here.

  3. I get the whole 'niche' thing, I've been blogging for about 6 years, and I started out as a 'mommy blogger' so the community was fantastic. Now I'm a mental health writer and the community is a little more guarded, and sometimes I just want to get out there, and be all, "Hi! I know we aren't in the same niche, but I love your humour!" And then that person will come back to my blog, and be all, "Whoa…it's depressing here." Anyway, my point is that I read tons of different blogs and I comment because I love the social interaction. It literally is my social life since I go out rarely. So yeah. There was nothing imperative to say here except that I enjoyed this post, and I so get the part about keeping the profile picture the same across the board. Loved this!

    • Haha! RE: niches: too true! When I chat with beauty bloggers I feel weird sending them my link like "Oh I never wear lipstick and I'm frequently angry, I hope you're not disappointed." I see it as a strength, though. Being able to have a niche means you're focused, you understand your mission, and even though you post one time about motorcycle maintenance, your readers can see a new post from you and be excited because they know roughly what to expect. I expect consistently the same type of thing from my favourite bloggers, why wouldn't I want to deliver that, too? Thanks for the comment!!

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