7 awesome resources to improve your blogging now
I love blogging, really I do. Putting fingers to keyboard, what started as therapy for my post natal depression in China four years ago, is now part of my everyday life and my business too working with amazing brands like Noom and James Villas Holidays – yes I do realise how lucky I am! I’ll never forget how I came to start this blog and I love sharing my family life, my Journey to Joy and our various adventures around the globe.
But I also want to pay it forward.
I’ve had a lot of help along the way, from designing my little corner of the web to the best ways to create and publish content and how to optimise sharing across different social media channels.
My lovely friend Vicki from Honest Mum who is always so generous with her advice and guidance, the amazing Jo aka Geek Fairy from Two Stars and a Swirl who helped me to move to my first self-hosted site, the wonderful Zaz from Mama and More whose support has helped me grow my Share the Joy link up, Michelle from Mummy from the Heart who supported me when I first started putting my life online and many more have all helped me to become a better blogger. Thank you ladies!
And the wonderful thing about this constantly evolving industry – and it IS an industry, brands and PR companies know it, so be proud! – is that I’m still constantly learning. So today in the spirit of paying it forward I want to share with you some of the websites that I use for inspiration, tips and tricks to keep improving my own blogging. I hope you find them useful.
#1 RAZOR SOCIAL – literally every week I get an email from Ian Cleary who runs Razor Social and I will click on at least one of the links in it. There is usually a takeaway that I can implement straight away to improve my blogging like this post on How to use IFFFT for social media automation.
#2 – Probably one of the best resources for intermediate to advanced bloggers there’s a wealth of information here from tools and techniques to how to go about monetizing your blog.
#3 CO-SCHEDULE – If you’ve read my post about how to win at blog planning then you already know I’m a huge fan of this planning, posting and sharing tool, but the team at Co-Schedule also have a great blog with useful info that’s often very visually presented, easy to read and share.
#4 MOZ – Search Engine Optimisation, three words that spark fear of confusion in many bloggers – including me before I learned more about it! You absolutely don’t need to be an expert in SEO to make use of it for your blog and SEOMoz has created a fab Beginners Guide to SEO which shows how search engines work and how to make websites SEO friendly.
#5 – If you’re looking for tips and tricks to help improve the design of your blog then this is a great place to start including (my image editor of choice actually!) It’s written by Julie, who runs a wed design business so you know you’re getting professional advice.
#6 – Although CopyBlogger is targeted at corporate content managers there is a lot of useful information here for bloggers who want to take their content to the next level including this post on content auditing. The trick is to take the essence of the posts and apply it to your own blog.
#7 BlOG MARKETING ACADEMY – If you ever get stuck writing headlines for your posts or suffer from ‘blogger’s block’ then bookmark this post 32+ Headling Formulas – The Non-Copywriter’s Guide To Writing Headlines That Get The Clicks. It even has a list of fill-in-the-blank headlines to spark off your imagination.
What are your go-to websites for blogging hints and tips? Do you have any favourites? Let me know in the comments below!
Linking up with Brilliant Blog Posts at Honest Mum, The List at Mums Days, Post Comment Love at Verily Victoria Vocalises, Sunday Stars at Beau Twins
Thanks so much for sharing these. I will be looking at them all x
Mummyandmonkeys recently posted…Wicked Wednesdays #16
Thank you for sharing these resources, as quite a new blogger I’m devouring as much information as I can in order to grow.
These are going to be a great help, so once again, thank you.
Ashley @ When the Dust Settles recently posted…An Open Letter to Comment Spammers
I have recently come across a website called socialpostie.co.uk – it hasn’t gone live yet but you can sign up to be notifeid when it does. I am hoping this helps me out as I find many of the scheduling tools out there are ok to a point but they lack something. #sharethejoy
Mummy Fever recently posted…Those precious moments
Thanks so much for this; there’s a few I’ve never heard of so I’ll look forward to having some time to read through some posts. I’ve signed up to a few of them already x
Some fab tips and brilliant resources here, moat of which I have never even heard of so will definitely be checking them out, thanks for sharing! X
Caroline (Becoming a SAHM) recently posted…Blurring Behavioural Boundaries
Great resources! I love co-schedule too, and though I can’t take full advantage of their actual plug in on wordpress, I find their blog packed with useful information. Thank you so much for paying it forward today, it really helped
Maria recently posted…
Great links – thanks lovely
Muddling Along recently posted…How do you know what you want to be when you grow up?
V useful post – especially the bit about SEO, until a few days ago I had NO idea what the hell this meant! Checking out the MOZ site now
#brilliantblogposts
Emz recently posted…Southern Sausage Stew
Great list of resources! I already subscribe to some of those blogs, and I just added a few more
Julie recently posted…8 Things My 4-Month-Old and I Have In Common
Thank you so much for these – the web is such a vacuum sometimes, it’s hard to find good information even when you’re actively looking so a point in the right direction is invaluable!
Xx
#sharethejoy
JoyandPops recently posted…Finding Joy – All About Health
Thank you for sharing this! Will have to check all of these out as I’ve not heard of most of them!! I’m still a new blogger so learning something every day! xx
Christine recently posted…A toddler’s guide to success – how to get your mum to turn on the TV
Some fab resources there hun, so many out there. One thing I’ve learnt is too many plug-ins means a slower site, a bit like a car that get’s overfilled so I’ve really limited mine on my blog x
Brilliant post Michelle, thank you so much! I’m definitely going to check these out when I next have a few hours in front of the laptop xx
Renee @ Mummy Tries recently posted…Thankful for my friends on International Women’s Day
Thank you so much for sharing – so many useful sites here to look at.
Louise @ Little Hearts, Big Love recently posted…From the mouths of babes #10
Great post, I’ve been blogging a little while now and it’s probably time I did some research into how to improve, thanks!
Kaye recently posted…Fashion Friday #8: George Special
Thank you so much for ‘paying it forward’ and sharing these. I have only heard of MOZ. I am definitely going to take a look at these sites. Thanks for linking up with #SundaysStars. Hugs Mrs H xxx
Mrs H recently posted…Sunday Stars – 08/03/2015
thank you for paying it forward lovely. Your are amazing, and I am checking some links out right now #Sundaystars
Mackenzie Glanville (reflectionsfromme.com) recently posted…It’s worth showing up. Friday Reflections #1
I am so glad I’ve found this post I found it so helpful! I’ve never heard of a lot of these sites and all the articles I can see look like things I would click on! There is always more to learn isn’t there! #sundaystars
Julia @ Rainbeaubelle recently posted…Looking up and down
Great post, thanks for sharing your knowledge
#sundaystars
Really really useful!! Thank you.
Rachel Kowalski recently posted…I Love World Book Day!