Taking My Blog To The Next Level

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In the last six months I have let my blog slip a bit. This was mostly down to the fact that I was going through a bad bout of depression (I am coming through it now). I have been off work for six months and will be doing a phased return to work soon. After being off work for so long I have realised how much I value the time I have with my family, something that I had been taking for granted before. This has motivated me to be more positive and give my blog the attention it deserves.

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My dream, as I am sure it is for most bloggers, is for my blog to be my job. To be able to earn a living from what I love to do and spend more time with my family would be amazing. At the moment it is a long way from that. But I am hoping that with some hard work, I can get it somewhere near that. At the moment, it would be nice to earn enough just to cover my part-time earnings. I have a few other ways I make a little extra money already (see how in my post how to make extra money from home) , so to add blog income to that too would be great.

I know this will not be an easy task and I am going to have to work hard. I’ve already started to put things into motion.

The first thing I have tasked myself with is to post more often. At the moment I am only publishing a blog post once a week and it is not enough. I am going to aim for at least 3 posts a week. This is definitely doable for me as I have done it in the past. I already have 4 posts that I want to write. A couple of them are review posts and a couple are a bit like this. The fact that the ideas are coming to me again is a sign to me that I am moving in the right direction.

Something that has helped with this is that I have joined a local blogging network a few months ago. As a result I have been to a few local events now and I have a few more coming up. I have met some lovely bloggers through these and have had some brilliant opportunities. I would advise all bloggers to do a search and see if you have a local blogging network to join.

Sharing and scheduling my posts is something I need to do more. I forget quite a lot, so I think the way to go will be to do this at a set time everyday. I’m going to set an alarm on my phone to remind me to do it. The same goes with adding posts to Tailwind. I have recently reinstated my account on there. There are so many people who say it is a game changer with scheduling and increasing traffic. Again, I am going to set an alarm for this, I think every other day as I can easily fill my schedule with my posts and posts from others. If you would like to try Tailwind for yourself, you can get a free month with my link here.

I also need to be a little more present on social media. Not only posting my content, but interacting with others as well. This will hopefully help me to make more blogging friends and blogging connections. I want to try and post slightly different things on different social media platforms to give people a reason to follow me on each of them, not just one.

Increasing my social media following is also something I want to try and do. I’m currently looking for group boards to join on Pinterest to give me more places to share my content and more content from others to share. I have also created a group board of my own and am currently looking for people to join it. I’ve also started a Tailwind Tribe to do this. On Instagram I am not just liking other peoples pictures I am leaving a comment too. With Facebook, I need to find some more blogging groups to join. I am in a few, but want to see what else I can find.

I’m also thinking of changing the theme of my blog. At the moment it is a bit plain, it would be nice to have something that looks a bit more attractive and catches the readers attention. I’ve looked at a few so far, but it is a big decision as it is my brand and I want it to represent me.

I am already using affiliate links on my blog and I am going to continue doing this, but I want to play around with them a bit to see if I can increase my earnings from 0 to something lol. The thing I don’t want to do is to be spammy with the links. Hopefully I will work it out and this will be another small income for me.

The final thing I want to do is apply for more sponsored/review/paid posts. I am part of Bloggers Required and my local blogging network, which have given me a few posts. I can’t just rely on these for posts. The time has come for me to get brave and start approaching brands myself. As well as that I need to start searching Twitter for possible opportunities too. I have been so scared of putting myself out there, but if I want to grow, this is what I am going to have to do.

Things might not work out quite the way I want to, but I am going to give it a really good try. I am not just doing this for me, I’m doing it for my family, they are my world. It would be so good to make a success of myself, no matter how big or small. I will be proud of whatever I achieve.

Taking my blog to the next level

Take care everyone.

Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

 

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