Working on your blog without hiring a designer is possible. Here’s how!
When lockdown started in France, I was working from home but I had also a lot of time on my hands to fulfil other projects. One of them was my blog. Over the years, I have been neglecting it because I lacked the time and motivation. But for the last couple months, I have been gradually working on improving my blog. I did this mostly on my own, following the amazing advice I read on other blogs and I am quite happy with what I’ve done so far.
So this post is for all the fellow bloggers out there who are looking to make some changes in their blog, but don’t know where to start!
I have created a checklist with extra info and advice for you to download. Download it before you start, print it out and use it alongside this post to make all those great blog changes!
STEP ONE: UPDATE YOUR PROFILE PHOTO AND YOUR BIO.
How long has it been since you last updated your profile information? I know that I would simply forget about it. When I moved back to France from the UK, it took me at least a couple months to update my bio. Oops!
In my opinion it’s fun to change up your profile picture and bio once in a while to greet your readers whenever they visit your blog, and let them know who you are.
STEP TWO: IF YOU DON’T HAVE ONE, ADD AN INSTAGRAM PLUGIN – OR ANY RELEVANT SOCIAL MEDIA
I say Instagram because it’s the only social media I use alongside my blog (I could never get into Twitter… It’s just not for me!) and for a long time I didn’t quite link the two together. Now I have a plugin at the bottom of my blog page to share my most recent Instagram pictures (by the way, are you following my content on Instagram? Promise you it’s nice!). If you use public social media, remember to link it to your blog so that people can find you on other platforms and engage more! When I find a new blog that I enjoy, I always look for the Instagram handles of their bloggers. Social media is an easier way to get to chat with other creators. It’s also a good way to advertise your new blog posts, as people will check their social media more often than they would randomly check blogs for new posts or use Bloglovin!
STEP THREE: CREATE AN ABOUT ME PAGE (OR UPDATE IT)
This one is new for me too, because before lockdown I didn’t have an “About me” page! And I never really thought about the importance of having one before informing myself and looking up advice on blog building. Through your “About me” page, readers will learn more about you and see the person behind the blog! It’s easy sometimes to forget that behind all those blog posts, the blogger may want to share more and show who they are outside of their blog. This is why I created an about me page on this blog to share a little about who I am. There you can also link the different ways to contact you (email, social media) and any fun facts you’d want people to know about yourself, and that they may not know from your posts only.
If you already have an “About me” page, check it again and see if anything needs to be updated or changed – any social media name change? New email address? Or simply add more recent photos? Do it now, it’s super quick and makes a difference!
STEP FOUR: CHECK OUT WHETHER YOUR WEBSITE IS FUNCTIONAL
By functional, I mean all the little things that will make the experience on your blog seamless. Is your blog loading quickly? If not, it may be that your pictures are too heavy and need to be compressed. You can easily do this online, there are many websites that offer to resize pictures for free.
Is your display easy to read? Can we find your different blog categories easily? This is also very important if you want readers to stick around. A blog theme that is too busy, or difficult to navigate, is likely to not encourage people to stay on it and read more. One thing I would advise is to show your page to someone (a friend or family member) who has never seen your website before, and let them explore, see what their thoughts are, what they are drawn to (what content have they enjoyed most?) but also how they find the display: can they find your Instagram handle on there? And your email address? Can they find a specific post by looking for it?
All these insights will help you tweak your blog and improve it by changing the smallest details, to make a reader’s experience even better than before.
STEP FIVE: CATCH UP ON ALL YOUR COMMENTS + SHARE THE NEWS!
It can be hard to keep track of comments, especially on older blog posts. But engaging with those new comments, even on old content, is great because you give back to the people who took the time to write to you. It’s just a kind thing to do! Recently I have switched from the Blogger comment box to Disqus. I didn’t mind the Blogger comment box in the first place, but what I do like about Disqus is that you can have conversations in the comments. With notifications on, you know when someone comments on a post, and they also get a notification when you’ve replied to them. In the same way, as a blog reader I am always happy when I see that a blogger responded to a comment I left on their posts. So don’t leave your readers waiting, and get back to those comments – you may just start up a new conversation!
Once you’re done, it’s time to share the news! Tell your readers about your blog improvements, share the hard work you’ve done. You can comment on your favourite bloggers’ posts mentioning that you’ve been working on making your blog better. I bet you’ll get a lot of support and love back from them! Talk about it on your social media – spread the word. Your audience will appreciate it as much as you!
And of course if you use this post (and my checklist below) to improve your blog, please let me know – email me, send me a DM on Instagram, or leave a comment below! I’ll go check out your awesome blog. ♥
Has reading this post made you want to work on your blog a little? Perfect!
I’ve got what you need: the blog works checklist to improve your blog right now, for free, and in a couple hours only. Download the checklist below. It’s seven pages long, and contains all the steps you can take today to improve your blog, detailed with step-by-step instructions when needed!
Don’t wait, and start improving your blog now!
Do you have any tips on maintaining a great blog? Let’s share them below!
Lots of love,
Julia x
