Marketing Habits That Have Changed My Blogging Game

A few months ago I redesigned my entire blog. I didn’t like the way it looked and felt. It just wasn’t *me*, so I gave it a huge overhaul and I guess a part of me expected my blog stats and readership to change too. If I’m being completely honest, they didn’t. I mean don’t get me wrong, my stats and hits to my blog were good but I wanted them to be better. I wanted my blog readership to be consistently growing even it was slow progress, I wanted it to be moving upwards. I decided to take a look at my marketing strategy to see what I could improve and in the past 3 months I’ve implemented some changes  that have really changed the way my blog readership is growing.

1. Make and use blogging business cards – Seriously. Leave them around, or you know, actually GIVE THEM to people. If you strike up a convo and blogging comes up, why not pull out your business card and say here’s where you can find me. This way, people cannot forget you/your blog.
2. Entice people by offering freebies – All big companies do it and yes I’m against buying followers in the conventional sense, but why not host giveaways to get potential new readers to notice you. Let’s face it, it’s a saturated market so even getting noticed can be a bit tricky.
3. Review competitors – Whether it’s people you see as competition or blogger friends, use successful blogs to do some research. This does not in any way mean go copy their content(!). Have a look at their websites, what keywords are driving traffic to their site. What’s working for them? What are they doing right that could benefit you too?
4. Keep a notebook – Lists and post-it notes are great but when you’re working on something that is constantly developing and growing, you need to keep track of all of your ideas and by all I mean ALL. OF. THEM. Yep, the really terrible ideas that you’re so glad you didn’t pursue and the fantastic ones that you did. Sometimes you can go back on an idea and develop it over time so it’s great to keep it in one place.
5. Build a brand – This one is a little difficult because as a lifestyle blogger myself I want to have the freedom to write about anything and everything but even still it’s good to have a clear picture of the topics I cover. They don’t have to be strict or set boundaries but it really does help get you organised and helps your readers decide if your site is what interests them.
6. Consistency – I know, I know, you’re bogged down with work/studies/stuff but consistency really is key. If someone likes your content they will 100% keep coming back for more and as an influencer you don’t want to lose out on that returning traffic.
7. Bloglovin’ who? – This might be a little controversial to some bloggers but honestly I don’t use bloglovin’. I created an account and linked up my blog because once upon a time I too felt like I had to do it. Ask yourself this though, do you know any non bloggers who are on bloglovin? Also, when you Google search something, bloglovin never comes up so it’s just…irrelevant. Don’t waste your time and energy on things that don’t matter.
8. Screen Queen – I now do this thing where if I’m ever in an apple store or a Currys/PC World, I’ll leave my blog on the screen. You never know who’s interest you might pique. You can even try saving your logo as the screen saver or desktop background ha