1. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
The comparison game is an easy trap to get into, and it is the WORST. As bloggers, we know that Instagram and blogs are the places where people share the most perfect parts of their life, and that it doesn’t always reflect reality. Plus! So many instagrammers are buying followers, likes, comments, etc. that it is impossible to tell what is real anymore. The lesson here is to tune out others and to focus on creating your own content. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. The easiest way to do that might be to hit unfollow on accounts that you compare yourself to.
2. Up Your Photography Game
If you want more people to read you blog posts, you need to work on taking better photos. It is the photos that we share on across social media to promote our work and it is first thing that website visitors notice. Invest in a DSLR camera, take photos using natural daylight, and learn how to use Lightroom. Yes, I am telling you to spend money on a camera and to take time to learn how to edit photos. These skills are absolutely essential if you want to become a professional blogger and the sooner you learn them, the better. Bad photos can hold back even the best written content. (I wish it wasn’t that way, but it is).
3. Focus on SEO
Search Engine Optimization isn’t sexy or fun, but it effectively drives traffic to your website. Start with installing the Yoast plugin and learning how to use it. SEO is important because effective SEO will drive organic traffic from Google searches to your website. If you rank on page one of Google for some key searches, you can be getting thousands of hits a day from search engines.
4. Stick to an Editorial Calendar and Get Ahead of the Game
An editorial calendar is an outline of what you want to write about and when. It will help you focus on creating timely content, and organize it in a way that makes sense. Once you have a plan, the next step is to get ahead of the game by having blog posts written in advance. Try to get at least two weeks ahead. You will feel so on top of things and you won’t be stressed to create new content. When you have a plan and create content in advance, your content will get better
5.Reach 25,000 Sessions a Month and Join Mediavine
The goal for every blogger should be to receive passive income from their website. Mediavine is an ad server run by wonderful people who actually want to help you make more money from your site. There are plenty of ad servers out there, but Mediavine’s support and community is unparalleled. *This isn’t sponsored by Mediavine, I just genuinely love them.
I say this all of the time but you can make passive income from a blog. It is very hard to do that through social media. Knowing that you have a steady stream of revenue coming in from ads makes it much easier to make the jump to blogging full time. If you reach about 100,000 sessions a month you can be paying your rent with your ad income. Let that be your goal, not getting more Instagram followers.