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Today on the blog we have a case study from one of our readers. Or rather one of our podcast listeners, as it was a tip in a particular podcast that spurred on today’s guest author to make some significant changes to her blog over the course of a year. I hope you enjoy Kelly Dunning’s story, and her insights and advice on how she has made the most of one simple habit to banish the guilt of not posting and rediscover her passion for her travel blog Global-Goose.com.
My blog used to make me feel sad and discouraged.
Why?
I loved working on it, but I rarely ever got around to it. I’m a full-time freelance writer with a travel blog as a side project. I spend a lot of time on the road. Like many bloggers out there, my blog is often sidelined by my full-time job and other commitments.
By the time I finished my freelance work at the end of the day, I was tired and wanted to get away from the keyboard.
I made this excuse for years, and while I always got my freelance writing work done my blog was embarrassingly neglected. Sometimes I wouldn’t write a post for weeks, and if I did it would be a small one just to remove the guilt of not posting.
This made me feel awful. I’d started the blog as a passion project. Traveling was the pivotal decision that changed my life.
When I hit the road for the first time, I felt so empowered and excited. I started my travel blog because I found a love for traveling that I wanted to share with others. Unfortunately, I wasn’t doing it as much as I wanted to because I couldn’t find the time. (At least, that’s what I told myself.)
I never struggled to think of things to write about. In my head I had an almost infinite list of blog posts I wanted to write. I just wasn’t making time to write them.
Finally, after a lot of stress and procrastination, I found myself in a rare moment of honest self-reflection. I realized I was just making excuses. Have you ever heard the saying, “If you argue for your limitations, then surely they are yours”? I was definitely guilty of arguing for my own limitations.
I had to get around this “limitation”, and figure out how I could write for my own blog in my spare time after writing all day as a full-time job.
One simple thing completely changed blogging for me.
I decided to spend 30 minutes on my blog every day, before my workday even began. Yup, just 30 minutes. I figured it was small, but it was better than nothing.
That was a year ago, and what a difference it has made.
The idea of a 30 minute per day blogging habit was inspired by one of Darren’s ProBlogger podcasts – “3 Productivity Tips to Help You Build Healthy Habits.” Darren says that when he’s forming a good habit he tells himself, “That’s just what I do.” There’s something very powerful about this. It works as a convincing mantra to help you instil a habit until it becomes something you do without even thinking about it.
So, I started setting a timer first thing in the morning and working on the blog for 30 minutes. Now it’s just what I do.
I started this habit in November 2016, and I’ve kept it up ever since – a full year now. This habit has allowed me to transform my travel blog, and I’ve published more high-quality posts than I ever had before.
Working on my blog every morning for 30 minutes a day has been an effective strategy for me because:
Thirty minutes a day may not seem like much. But it has made a huge difference to my blog over the past year. Looking back on the past 12 months, this is what I’ve achieved:
I’m not saying this is miraculous. Some blogs have certainly grown faster than mine. But I’m proud of what I’ve achieved in the past year because without this simple habit I wouldn’t have done nearly this much.
Yes, I could have done a lot more if I’d been working on my blog full-time. But that just wasn’t realistic for me with my full time job. With this habit, I could make it work around my other commitments.
I work on a blog post nearly every day, and it usually takes me several days to to complete one from start to finish. Sometimes it takes a while because I’ve created some long and in-depth guides that are 3,000-5,000 words long. (I’ve learned that juicy, detailed and helpful blog posts give the best experience for my readers, so that’s what I’ve been focusing on.)
One of the most important differences is the way I feel about my blog. Instead of making me feel embarrassed, futile and frustrated, my blog makes me so happy right now. This habit means my blog is no longer a side project I feel guilty for neglecting, but rather an active, thriving blog with a steadily growing readership. Every day when I get up in the morning, I’m excited to work on it.
A couple of weeks ago one of my readers emailed to let me know that one of my posts had been incredibly helpful for them, and was the inspiration for them to travel abroad for the first time. Knowing I made a profound positive impact on someone’s life is such a rewarding feeling.
Plus, my blog now serves as a much better showcase of my writing skills, and is a more effective portfolio when applying for freelance writing jobs. I’ve been getting more and better writing projects in the past year, and I think there’s a direct correlation.
Now before you assume I’m some kind of super-woman, I admit I don’t do this perfectly. I don’t always achieve the 30 minutes every day. Sometimes I wake up late. Sometimes I’m not feeling well. Sometimes I’m lazy. And sometimes I’m sleeping under the stars in the Australian outback with no computer.
But the habit is ingrained now, so if I miss one day I’m usually right back on it the next morning. After all, it’s just what I do. I’ve decided that it’s unrealistic to expect I won’t miss a day every now and then. That’s fine with me. But I make sure that missing days is an exception and doesn’t happen that often.
I’ve found that achieving success when working towards a long-term goal (like building an awesome blog) depends more on cumulative habits than what you do on any given day. It’s kind of like living a healthy lifestyle. If you have a long-term habit of exercising regularly, and you eat healthy food on most days, treating yourself to a double-fudge brownie every now and then won’t make too much of a difference because it’s the exception rather than the norm.
I’m often amazed at how long 30 minutes can actually feel. When I’m focused, I can get a surprising amount of work done in this time. I can usually write 600-800 words in a morning session. Then, when I finish a post, I use the next couple of 30-minute sessions to work on uploading to WordPress, formatting, adding images, publishing, promoting on social media and all other follow-up actions.
Here’s how I make my 30 minutes really count:
This simple habit has helped my blogging enormously, and might help you if you’re busy and struggling to find time to blog.
I challenge you to find 30 minutes in your day to work on your blog, whether it’s in the morning like me, at the end of the day, or whenever works for you. It may not seem like a lot, but it really does make a difference.
Bio:
Kelly Dunning is a Canadian freelance travel writer. She lives a nomadic lifestyle with no fixed address, working from the road since 2011 with her partner Lee, a web designer from England. They’ve traveled to more than 50 countries, and offer travel tips, stories and inspiration on Global-Goose.com.
The post Case Study: The 30-Minute Habit That Transformed Kelly’s Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.
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It’s every blogger’s worst nightmare.
Your latest post gets shared by a big-name blogger, and you start getting lots of traffic. Hurrah!
But then someone sends you an email (or worse, leaves a comment) pointing out a glaring mistake in the first paragraph.
Mistakes can knock your reader’s confidence in you. A study in the UK a few years ago suggested that spelling mistakes might be costing businesses millions of dollars.
Of course, editing isn’t just about fixing typos and spelling mistakes. It’s also about shaping your post so it’s easy for readers to engage with. Even if your post is free of grammatical and spelling mistakes, you’ll still lose readers if it takes forever to get to the point, or switches between topics too much .
Perhaps you’ve struggled to edit your posts effectively in the past. You may have spent hours tweaking them, only to feel the result wasn’t much better than what you started with. Or maybe you think it simply takes too long.
In this post, I’ll explain how to create a simple checklist to help you edit – just like we do here at Problogger.
Every post we publish goes through the same streamlined editing process.
Several members of the ProBlogger team write content (mainly Darren and me), and we also publish posts from our subject matter experts. This means we need a clear, step-by-step editing process that makes it easy for everyone to collaborate. and ensures all posts follow our style guide.
Part of our process is this checklist template, which we apply to every post in CoSchedule.
Even if you’re the only person who ever writes for your blog, it still helps to have a clear editing process.
Also think about where you edit. If you’re working with outside parties (e.g. guest posters or companies/agencies providing sponsored content), you may want to use Google Docs like we do. You can collaborate with the author as you edit, and hand the post on to someone else who may be handling formatting and uploading.
If it’s just you, it’s still important to have a self-editing process. It could mean clearly separating your roles as “writer” and “editor” so you’re not trying to edit as you write.
I also recommend coming up with a checklist you can use again and again so you never have to worry about missing a crucial step when editing a post. Here’s how.
You probably already have a process you work through when editing, whether you realise it or not. Open a blank document and type out the typical steps you go through. For instance, maybe you always add the formatting (subheadings, bold text, lists, etc.) when you edit, rather than while you’re drafting.
Now, see if anything is missing from your checklist. Here are some important things to include:
Make sure your introduction has a hook, ideally in the very first line. What will the reader gain from this post? Give them a clear reason to keep reading.
Avoid overly long introductions. You’ll lose readers when they’ve barely started on your post. One trick to try is to remove the first paragraph or two of your post entirely. Does it work just as well (or even better) without them?
Further reading: 10 Tips for Opening Your Next Blog Post, Darren Rowse
Unless your post is very short, add subheadings to break it into sections. This helps all your readers. Those who skim for information can quickly find the relevant parts of your post, while those who read every word won’t feel lost in a sea of text.
You should format subheadings by using a heading tag. Make sure the hierarchy is correct (i.e don’t skip from H1 to H3). This is something we always check for here at ProBlogger.
Further reading: How to Use Subheadings to Add Structure to Your Blog Posts , Darren Rowse with Ali Luke
Create white space in your post wherever possible. If you can put something into a bulleted list, do it. We also use the blockquote format to highlight key parts of a post. It gives the content more space, and makes it look more attractive.
Images can also create useful breaks in your post. They’re particularly useful if you’re giving instructions on how to do something, because you can show readers how it should look at each step.
Don’t be afraid to use one-sentence (or even one-word) paragraphs. They can be tremendously powerful. Smart Blogger and Copyblogger both make great use of them in their posts.
Further reading: How to Write a Great Paragraph, James Chartrand
Delete anything that isn’t relevant to your post, no matter how witty, clever, or well-written it is. If you can’t bear to lose it completely, copy it into a ‘snippet’ file. You might be able to use it in a future post. (A great tip from Bill Harper who edits our posts.)
If your post includes a lot of detail to get beginners up to speed (or to give experienced readers extra food for thought), consider linking to that information in other posts (yours or someone else’s) instead. That way, you can give those who need more help (or want to go deeper) the information they need without everyone else getting bogged down in your post.
This doesn’t mean you can’t write long posts. Some topics require more space to cover all the details. Just make sure every paragraph is necessary.
Further reading: ProBlogger FAQ: How Long Should Posts Be?, Darren Rowse
Make sure your post has a conclusion. Some bloggers have a tendency to end their posts abruptly – especially if they’ve written a list post. Remember, the last few lines of your post are an opportunity to leave your readers with a good impression. You can also give them a call to action, such as leaving a comment, sharing your post, or even buying your product.
Like introductions, conclusions don’t need to be long to be effective. But they do need to be there.
Further reading: 7 Powerful Ways to End Your Next Blog Post, Ali Luke
Read your post out loud. Another great tip from Bill (that I don’t have the patience to do myself). Are any of your sentences too long? (You shouldn’t need to take a breath mid-way.) Are some a bit of a tongue-twister? Listen to how your writing sounds, and split up or rewrite any sentences you struggle with.
Look for words and phrases you can replace with simpler ones. For instance, don’t say “obtain” when “get” works just as well.
Further reading: Shorter, simpler words: Guide to concise writing, KingCounty.gov
Linking to other posts on your blog is always a good idea. And not just for the potential search engine benefits. It also helps new readers dig more deeply into your body of work, and increases the chances they’ll stick around.
As you edit, look for opportunities to include a link to a post in your archives. Consider linking to other blogs too. It shows readers that you read and research in your niche, and can be a great way to build a strong relationship with fellow bloggers.
Further reading: Why Interlinking Your Blog Posts is a Must (and Not Just For SEO), Daniel Vassiliou
You may want to include this step as part of your editing checklist, or create a separate checklist for ‘uploading’ or ‘publishing’ blog posts. (It’s particularly useful if you work with a virtual assistant.)
Depending on your theme, and how you like to format your posts, it might include things like:
Further reading: Categories vs Tags – SEO Best Practices for Sorting your Content
While content isn’t the only thing you need for a successful blog, it’s crucial that your posts are as good as you can make them. That means careful editing. And if you use a consistent process like we do here at ProBlogger, you’ll always be able to edit quickly and effectively.
Di we miss any items that you have in your checklist? Share them with us in the comments below.
Image credit: Joanna Kosinska
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This post is by ProBlogger Writing Expert Ali Luke
You’ve finished your post, and you breathe a sigh of relief. After a quick edit you publish it to your blog, and wait for the comments, tweets, shares, or any sort of feedback.
But once again, you get nothing. There may as well be no-one reading it.
So what’s the problem? It could be that your writing isn’t as strong as it needs to be. But there’s also a very good chance the problem isn’t your writing.
It’s your formatting.
Over the years I’ve reviewed dozens of different blog posts, and most of them were fairly well written. But some were really let down by poor post formatting: the post just didn’t look good.
If you’re not convinced that formatting matters, compare this screenshot…
… to this one.
These are two versions of my post Six Simple Ways to Improve Your Writing Environment (and Get More Done). They both have exactly the same text. But I know which one I’d rather read.
Your readers are busy. They’re distracted. They want an easy, engaging read – not a daunting wall of text.
So what’s stopping you from getting the formatting right? Maybe one of these sounds like you:
I’m going to take you through four key formatting features you can use straight away to make your posts more readable. And don’t worry. I’m definitely a words person and even I can manage these.
I’ll also be showing you how easy it is to format text using the WordPress editor. Even if you’re not using WordPress, most blogging platforms have similar features.
(As you read this, you might want to have a draft post or old post ready for editing in a different tab so you can try out the different features.)
Plenty of white space helps make your post readable. White space is all the stuff around the words. If you have short paragraphs (or lists, which we’ll come to later), you’ll already have extra space where your words can breathe.
Adding extra paragraphs is super easy. Just position the cursor wherever you want a new paragraph and hit Enter:
There’s no absolute rule on how long is too long for a paragraph. But if it goes over four or five lines, you may want to consider splitting it.
Tip: If you’re used to more formal writing (perhaps academic or business writing), having short paragraphs may seem odd. If that’s the case, you might want to read How to Write a Paragraph in 2017 (Yes, the Rules Have Changed).
I like to think of subheadings as signposts that help orient readers within my post. Almost any post can be broken up into subsections, and each one should have a clear (and hopefully enticing) subheading.
While it helps readers who are skimming for information, it’s also useful for readers who are reading your entire post. Subheadings prevent them from feeling lost or confused along the way.
I like to use Title Case (capitalizing all major words) for my subheadings, but you might prefer to capitalize only the first word of the subheading. Just make sure you’re consistent.
To create a subheading in WordPress:
Before:
After:
Tip: When you’re planning your post, think about the subsections and potential subheadings you want to use. This will help you create a good structure right from the start.
Bold text is a great way to call attention to a key point or important sentence. But it’s easy to overuse, and I suggest bolding only one or two sentences per subsection (depending how long your subsections are).
Some bloggers use coloured text instead of bold text. This can work if it fits with your branding, but it can also look a bit amateurish and distracting.
To create bold text in WordPress:
Tip: Try to avoid bolding only one or two words – it can make your text look choppy. I also tend to bold only the first sentence of a paragraph. Having a bold sentence in the middle or at the end of a paragraph can also look a bit odd.
Sometimes it’s easiest to write a list as a regular sentence. For instance, I might write:
In this post, we’ll take a look at paragraphs, subheadings, bold text, and lists.
But if each item on your list is more than a word or two, it will be easier for readers to take in if you lay them out using bullet points.
In this post, we’ll take a look at:
To create a list in WordPress:
Tip: This method creates an unordered list with bullet points. If you want to number each item on your list, use the “Ordered List” icon (next to the “Unordered List” icon). A numbered list will automatically renumber your items as you add new ones – even if you add them to the middle of your list.
I’m sure you’ve already seen these formatting features in use, and have tried using some of them yourself. Hopefully you’ll feel a lot more confident about using them now to make your posts more readable.
Here’s a mini-challenge for you: look back at your three most recent posts, or perhaps your three most popular ones. Try using at least two of my suggestions to improve the formatting, and let us know how you got on.
The post 4 WordPress Formatting Tips to Make Your Posts More Readable appeared first on ProBlogger.
