My Top 5 Blogging Tips

I started blogging exactly five years ago today, and whoever said “fun flies when you’re having the time of your life” must have been a blogger because I sure have enjoyed adding posts to this thing over the past 60 months!

To celebrate, I thought I’d share 5 of my favorite blogging tips today.

 Tip #1: Go with your goosebumps.

When it comes to the what kinds of posts to write, I say go with your goosebumps. Meaning, allow yourself to have way too much fun sharing pictures and posts about the people/places/projects that you feel most passionate about. Doing so makes the whole process that much more fun and fulfilling. Plus, journaling about what makes your heart sing right now will make re-visiting your entries really special in the future!

Tip #2: Inform. Inspire. Entertain.

There are three things I like to keep in the back of my mind when I’m actually putting a blog post together: Will this post inform readers about something? Will this post inspire readers in some way? Will this post be entertaining to those who read it? My hope, every time I push the publish button on a post is that anyone who reads it will leave feel informed, inspired, or entertained. (And maybe if I get really lucky, a combination of all three. Ha!) Seriously though, I think those are three really good things to think about, and I’ve found that using them as a foundation makes the creative process that much more exciting, too!

Tip #3: Stay Positive

I’ve always loved the quote, “a joyful attitude is your best tool” (Sandra Dodd) and I think it’s such great advice for bloggers. Whether you’re visited by one reader or one hundred thousand readers, I think keeping the tone of your posts positive is always a good idea. You don’t really know who is reading your blog on any given day, but whether it’s their first visit or their five hundredth, I think it’s nice to greet everybody in a positive way. Just like when you meet a new friend in real life for the first time, and interact with them in a way that makes them (and you) feel comfortable and happy. Or just like how you’d interact with a friend that you’ve known for several years- pleasant and positive. They say a warm smile is the universal language of kindness, so it makes sense that a  warmly-worded blog post could have the same kind of positive effect on people. Seems to me it’s not about what’s in a post that matters most. It’s about how readers (and the writer) feel having read (or written) it.

Tip #4: Keep your grin up.

Making your blog public and welcoming peeps from all over the place to read it is enjoyable 99.9% of the time. Every once in a while though, someone will stop by and leave a hurtful comment that sucks the fun right out of blogging.

Me and my thin skin have found that the best way to get through those experiences is to step away from the computer and immediately surround yourself with people (or a person) that will make you smile.

Be intentional about mentally (and physically) moving far away from the comment, so that you can get back to being happy! It seems like most of them don’t sting as bad the next day, and if you quickly delete them (without re-reading them) when you log back on, you (and other commenters) don’t have to experience them ever again!

Tip #5: Think it through.

This is your voice to the world, how do you want to use it? What do you want to say, and how do you want to say it? That publish button might as well be called the “permanent” button, and there are real live people sitting on the other side of your screen. Really thinking things through is definitely a biggie when it comes to maintaining a positive blogging experience!

And that’s my top five!

I hope some part of this post has been informational, inspirational, or entertaining- and I thank you so much for joining me on the other side of my screen today! 🙂

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