7 Tools and Tips to Help you Become a Successful Blogger

 **Collaborative Feature**

When I first started blogging it was a total hobby for me, a diary if you will. It was a space for me to use to share images and write about my day to day life whilst I was at home with my first born, a way to keep my brain ticking by. Never in a million years did I think that it was even something I could make money from, yet hear I am today, several years later having realised that blogging it a total worm hole of information, knowledge and technical jargon. But also that I can (and do!) make a wage from my blog, my little corner of the net. 

People often ask me how I do it, or tell me they want to start (which I think is amazing and I am always happy to help). But all too often people end up quitting or drifting away from their blogs when it comes to how much goes on to actually make any money from it.  So I figured putting together a post sharing about my own experiences and tools you can use to help you become a successful blogger would be helpful. 

Find your niche and style 

Perhaps one of the the MOST important tools you can have as a blogger is something that costs nothing at all, in fact it isn't even a physical product, it is knowing your niche and style. 

There is no hiding the fact that there are a lot of blogs online and the web is a very large space, so you will always be competing against other sites to get your content seen. However if you can find your blogging niche, something you are really knowledgeable about or something you love doing you will always have a little edge over a more generic blog. That's because having a more specific niche will help you find your audience and also help you become more well known for people searching for a specific topic. 

Once you have found your niche, you can then find your style. Do you write from a first person perspective, do you write serious content or more tongue and cheek style writing? Do you include lots of images or do you prefer a more text based content. If you do take images, in what style? This isn't something that will come overnight, but over time you will find you will hone in on your own style and niche and these are the things that make you and your blog stand out. 

Claim your social media pages 

One of the simplest but best piece of advices someone gave me when I first started up was to claim my social media pages under my blog name. At the time I had no intention of using them but now I utilise them daily! 

People join social media every day and usernames are quickly snapped up so if you have a blog name, try to claim that blog name on social media too. Pages such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linked in and eve YouTube and TikTok all require usernames and even if you don't then use them at least you will have the name in case you change your mind. The last thing you want is someone trying to find you on social media and finding a random page with incorrect or irrelevant information on. The great thing is you can often link various social media now to post the same content to several pages (to cut down on workload) or you can use a scheduler to spend a few hours once a week scheduling posts to go out at various days and times

Google Analytics 

One big change between hobby blogging and blogging as a business is tracking your metrics and one way to do this is Google Analytics. Your metrics are essentially your numbers, they cover a wide range of things but essentially help you to find out how well your blog is doing. It covers things such as how many people are viewing your blog, who they are, where they are from, how people access your blog (mobile, tablet, computer, etc). But they can also help tell you where you appear in searches such as google. 

Another reason why you need to be tracking your metrics is because sometimes when you work with a business or PR they may want to know how well a post has done. For this they will probably ask you for the post metrics such as visitor numbers, click through rate for any links and how long people spent reading. This may sound daunting but having Google Analytics set up in the background from the get go makes finding these things easy and simple. 

Photo/Video Editor

It is no secret that great photos and videos are a sure fire way to grab and potential readers interest in your blog and content. But lots of the photos you see online have been edited in some way and I don't just mean editing in terms of editing and changing how someone looks. It could be changing the lighting if the area was dark, it might be cropping a photo to only show the part you need, or it might be sharpening up a slightly blurred image. There are great sites to do this such as Canva or Fotojet which both have free and paid for versions. 

The same can be said for video blogging or "vlogging" which often requires a lot of editing before a final piece if ready. From snipping video, merging clips, adding subtitles or even using a video to mp4 converter. People often get a little scared when it comes to editing but it really is simple, just find an editor you like and have a play around with different images to find styles and looks that you like the feel off. 

Copyright Free images 

Whilst it is great taking your on photos (and believe me I love taking photos) for some work you may require an image of something you simply don't have. It might be of a country or place you've never visited or a product you don't own. Which is where stock photos or copyright free images come into play. There are websites such as Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay and Shuttershock are all websites where you can find copyright, royalty free images that are perfect for posts like those mentioned above. 

They are free to use but most sites will give you the option to link back or credit the creator of the image with a link in our post, if you can fit it in, this is a great thing to do to support creators. 

Grammarly

Since blogging is predominantly a one person job, everything falls to you and there are no "extra" pair of eyes to glance over your work or check things look right, which is where Grammarly comes in handy so much. Grammarly is an online grammar checker which you can add to your computer as an extension. Once installed it can help pick up awkward language errors, spelling/punctuation mistakes and help you to ensure that when you press publish everything looks just right grammar wise. There are both free and premium options available but even the free one offers a great service.

Email Marketing

When you post as a hobby you aren't specifically trying to reach anyone, but when you post as a job reaching people becomes one of your main focus (alongside creating great content of course!). And whilst having your content posted on your blog is great, just posting on your blog depends on people visiting on the off chance or coming back to check if you have posted anything new. That is why utilising email marketing is so important for getting your content out there and keeping your readers coming back! 

Email marketing allows you to send out tailored emails to those who have opted to sign up for them. This gives you the opportunity to send them your very latest posts, offer them freebies and offers and attract them to coming back to your blog and reading your content. People are much more likely to be tempted in to read your posts if they receive a link in their inbox over just stumbling across in on the internet. 

If you are a blogger, are there any tools or tips you could share that help make blogging easier for you? I would love to hear them in the comments below so please do share what you use and how it helps you. 

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