Blogging isn’t as easy as some people make it look. Successful blogs and influencer accounts are about much more than simply writing a great article and waiting for the audience to turn up.
A blogger needs to be a writer, editor, photographer, SEO specialist, social media manager and salesperson all rolled into one. It can be time-consuming, and if you’re subscribing to the latest software and programs, expensive.
Unless you’re making a good income from your blog, then you’re going to need to find ways to improve it that are free or very cheap.
If you’re looking to make your blog look better, attract a bigger audience or be more user-friendly, then read on.
Free SEO training
Building traffic to your blog takes work. Outside of referrals and social media traffic, you’re going to want to get to grips with Search Engine Optimisation.
This helps your content rank higher on Google and other search engines. But there are many things to take into account when producing content that Google will like. It involves making changes to your website, technical on-page SEO and keywords.
Yoast, a popular SEO plugin for WordPress, offers a free training course for beginners. It’s great for those with little or no idea about the subject but will give you a really good grounding that you can apply to your blog.
Social media scheduling software
You probably find that producing content is only a small part of the blogging process. Promoting it and engaging with your audience takes up a lot of time.
If you have multiple social media marketing accounts for your blog, then keeping on top of them all can be very difficult. This is where a scheduler comes in. In these, you can plan, create and schedule posts across multiple platforms, all from one dashboard.
There are a number of these on the market but they can be expensive. Some, such as Buffer and Hootsuite offer a free version, which is useful for beginners but can become limiting the more sophisticated your blog becomes.
A good way to get a social media scheduler for less is to sign up to App Sumo. They have great deals on various software and usually have one or more social media schedulers on there for a one-off cost that gives you lifetime access. Much cheaper than a monthly subscription.
Depending on what platform you choose, there are probably other great features in there such as automatic re-posting, reporting and social listening.
Stock photography
Great images really improve your blog. You can choose to create your own or use stock photography online. This can be the type that you pay to use or is completely free.
If you’re using free stock photography, then try spending some time looking for ones that aren’t used so frequently, as you’ve probably noticed that the same ones tend to pop up.
Takeaways
Creating a fantastic blog takes a lot of work, but most people find it very rewarding.
Finding ways to make improvements without breaking the bank are a great way to take your blog to the next level.
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