Have you ever seen those posts on social media with bloggers sharing their six figure monthly income reports? You may have wondered if it is too good to be true, but the fact is that blogging really is big business and it is here to stay. Blogs are a wonderful way for brands to advertise and connect with people. If you want to work as an influencer and enjoy a bit of the financial pie that comes with blogging, it could be time to take your blog to the next level. If you are new to blogging you can still take a few steps to make your blog stand out as you work toward becoming a professional blogger. Here are some tips to that will help you take your blog from just a hobby to the next level. *This post contains affiliate and/or sponsored links.
Quality Over Quantity
There is a saying in blogging that content is king, but the truth of the matter is that only real quality content is worthy of a crown. Blogging shouldn’t be about cranking out as many posts as you can; instead your focus should be on on posting some great content that people will keep coming back to and well as wanting to share with others. So with that in mind, you don’t need to push yourself to try to do more until you are nailing the quality content.
If you are wanting to go pro as a blogger, then you will have to approach blogging just like any other business. Knowing some of the ins and outs of being self-employed is important to make sure that you are managing things like invoicing, expenses and taxes in a legal way. You could look into an accredited online MBA if you really want to boost the business side of the blogging business.
One thing that you simply can’t overlook when taking your blog to the next level is the branding. For starters you will want to make logos that will work for your business and website. Of course you want your branding to stand out and be visual appealing; but you should also take some time to check up on Corporate Branding and Brand Compliance, and how to make sure that your brand is the most positive and uplifting one that people hope to see. It’s always a good idea to try to create an image which is positive and trustworthy.
Remember that your blog and brand is not just about image. Readers also pay attention to your actions, so you need to make sure that you are doing everything as ethically and above board as necessary. You should aim to go above and beyond in proving that you are an ethical blogger. In addition if you have assistants or employees working with you to help you promote your blog, consider them as professional work partners even if they are close personal friends. The way in which you treat employees is something that has far-reaching implications far outside of the blog itself so you should always strive for honest and ethical relationships.
Promotion is Your Friend
Your blog is only going to be as good as the marketing effort that you put into promoting your content. There will be people that find your blog through keywords on a search engine, but if you have created great content you will want to go the extra mile to make sure it is seen and shared. There are some great distribution tools that you can use to promote posts like StumbleUpon and Tailwind. Sharing your posts on social media sites like Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook will increase the chances of your posts being shared and promoted which will bring traffic to your blog.
You can also share on Instagram stories, especially if you have the swipe-up feature.
Making Extra Money Through Your Blog
As time goes on you will probably start making some substantial income from blogging. If you have been selling your products on Etsy, you could consider creating and selling from your own website. You’ll need a web designer to do this for you in a professional way, and search things like cheapest vps so you can back up and store all of your information in the cloud. Making videos for your products or DIY tutorials can be extremely valuable for your business and driving traffic to your blog. You can use free music tracks or use software, to create unique music for you company or brand.
Building a newsletter or email list is a really good idea, as well as signing on with someone that can provide email capture, and things like sales data or CRM.
Hiring an Assistant
Once you have been blogging for a while and your business takes off, you may want to consider hiring a virtual assistant or other employees for your business. If you do hire help you may want to consider a time clock.
Of course your employees are trustworthy, but when it comes to manual updates, even the most diligent of people come with a margin for error. Not to mention how time consuming, outdated and sometimes confusing it can be to try and parse out paychecks from a hand-written timesheet. Nowadays, in the age of “everything online” and apps for everything, more and more businesses are choosing to implement a time clock for their business, in the interest of keeping everything organized, above-board and streamlined for not only them but their employees.
Not all time clocks are created equal, though. There are manual, combination and software time clocks. First you should decide why you need one, and which one might be right for your particular business.
Each one of these categories – manual, combination and software time clocks – are useful and efficient, depending on the type of business you work in. There are myriad choices for you to peruse in each category, many of them the best time clocks for small businesses in 2020.
I hope you have found these professional blogging tips for beginners to be helpful. Don’t forget to check out the all the wonderful resources I have shared throughout the post for even more helpful hints and tips for taking your blog to the next level.
Thanks for visiting today!
Amber
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