The first year of blogging can be a tumultuous one! You’re just starting out, you’re getting a feel for your content, and you’re delving deep into the world of social media to promote your brand new blog. It’s a lot to take on all at once, but it’s totally necessary and it makes the first year more important than any other.
However, that doesn’t mean you can relax in the second year and beyond! You’ve still got a lot of work to do, and now’s the perfect time to improve your blog and kick things up a gear. So, maybe you want your blog to start making money? Maybe you want to move into more niches? Let’s go through how to make moves like this below.
Write Longer Posts
You’re going to need much more long-form content now that you’ve established yourself online. People want to delve into interesting things that take them on a journey, and to do that you’re going to need at least a thousand words per page! Don’t worry; while a jump like this sounds intimidating, it’s an easy habit to break into.
Sit down for some writing practice and see where it takes you. Delve into each offshoot topic that people need to know about, and when you’re done you’ll likely see that you’ve gone well past the thousand-word mark! Now apply this principle to your blog, but go in with a ruthless editing pen.
Reduce Loading Times
The next thing to do is ensure visitors can move back and forth across your blog without needing to wait longer than 2 seconds per click. This is the optimal time to ensure people don’t just close out of the window entirely, and it’s just best practice for building a website that’s scalable for the future.
So you might need to change your website hosting here, first of all. For example, you can visit Nestify to check out the kind of hosting you’ll need for the future, as well as find out how to switch over. But before you do change, be sure to check out website host reviews and compare them for the best results.
Solidify Your Interface
What does your blog look like now? Does it have a coherent theme that people have come to know? Do you even like the way it looks, or are you constantly chopping and changing? Because while that might have worked in the first year, now you need to settle into a ‘look’.
It’s one of the best ways to build a brand, and it makes you recognizable to your reader. Make sure you get a logo designed for your blog as well and display it promptly at the top of the page. And if you have a specific font you like to use, it’s time to stick with it for the rest of your blogging days!
Now you’ve passed your first year of blogging, it’s time to really reach for the stars!