Tips for a Successful Blog

Hey There! Good Morning & Happy Middle of the week!

Today I have a special post for you! But before that I want to tell you all THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all of your comments on my last post. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, but hopefully the CAT scan on Friday will show what’s goin’ on in there. Just reading all of your comments was making me tear up, just because you are all so sweet & I am so grateful!!

Today’s post is a guest post from one of my favorite ladies– Alyssa at Life of Blyss! I LOVE her blog- she is HILARIOUS & has the funniest pictures. She is so down to earth & always seems to really know how to have a good time. She lives life to the fullest 😀

Not only do I love Alyssa’s blog, but guess what else?!? She is SO talented– she hand paints wine, beer, and shot glasses!! One of my very close friends is getting married on July 9th & I thought it would be cool to get her a wine glass & her soon to be hubby a beer glass. It makes her gift much more personable, ya know??

^wine glass for my friend- with her wedding colors & new monogram 🙂

^her soon to be hubby’s beer glass

Aren’t the glass awesome?!? Alyssa is really talented & I cannot wait to give these as part of her wedding present!!

If you want to order one too- check out Alyssa’s Facebook page! 😀 They are get gifts- especially if you are getting married- you can make one for each of your bridesmaids…or give one to your mother in law (start off on the right food 😉 )…or give one to YOURSELF:D

Without further ado…here is Miss Alyssa—> Hope you enjoy!! 🙂

Thaaats me.. and Chloe!

Hey girlies! If we haven’t already become blog buddies, I’m Alyssa @ Life of bLyss. I’m a runner, I’m a joker, and I’m living my first year out of college in Virginia Beach.

Before I became a blogger, I was editor of my college’s newspaper. Obviously, I loved to write. And, as a Communication Arts major, I learned how to target audiences, write to those specific audiences, and market what I have to say.

In my blog, I try to utilize all I learned. 🙂

SO, without further ado, I provide 7 tips to a happy, successful blog:

(Why 7? ‘Cause I like the number. It was my field hockey number in college, and I like it.)

1. Keep your target audience in mind. Remember who you’re writing for. Is it the blog community? Your family? Your college friends? Always remember who reads your blog, and write accordingly. Different audiences need messages tailored to them in different ways.

2. Blog ’cause you love it. If you have nothing to say, don’t blog. Some days, I’m just not feeling very inspired, and rather than putting something silly on my blog I that no one will care about, I’ll skip a day. Go for quality, not quantity.

run ’cause you love it; blog ’cause you love it.

You are your own boss of your blog. You make your own schedule, so don’t feel pressured to crank something out when it’s not realistic. Keep it fun, and you’ll enjoy doing it a whole lot more.

3. Keep your paragraphs short. Do your eyes glaze over like mine when you see a paragraph that’s 12 lines long? Maybe I have an attention span of a 2 year old with ADD/overactive badger/goldfish, but I can’t focus long enough to read through a mess of wordsandwordsandwordsandwordsandwords.

Break up your paragraphs and keep ’em short. More people will read your stuff instead of glazing over and scrolling through.

4. Provide visuals! To me, pictures kinda make the blog. If you didn’t take any, recycle old ones. I’m the queen of recycled pictures… they make a post a whole lot more interesting and exciting.

“r-e-c-y-c-l-e, recycle!”

5. Make it YOUR blog. Not someone else’s. Don’t feel the need to blog about what everyone else writes about. This is your blog. Make it unique. My favorite blogs are the ones who are completely different.

 be unique.

6. Network. Leave love for other bloggers… they’ll be more inclined to read your blog when you comment on theirs. And in those comments, make it obvious you actually read their post. Nothing says “I didn’t read your blog” like a weird comment with mixed up facts.

Set up a Twitter account so you can keep in touch with other bloggers on the fly (I was against Twitter at first, and now I LOVE it)! Do some guest posts (heeey, there!) to expand your readership.

7. Don’t be afraid to make fun of yourself. Obviously, I have no problem doing so.

I know, I’m soooo cool.

ain’t no shame in mah game.

Blog for fun, blog cause you like doing it, and blog cause you like being a part of the blog community. I, for one, love it! 🙂

Catcha later, loveys. Come visit me!

Thanks again Alyssa, YOU ROCK 😀

Posted by Holly at Holly on the Run on June 29, 2011

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