Blogging Hacks That Will Skyrocket Your Blog Stats // Guest Post

Hello, hello, and welcome back! Today’s post is going to be awesome. Liv from livalittle.com is doing a guest post that you’re sure to enjoy. Make sure to check out her blog and give her a follow, because she has awesome content and an amazing design business! Her whole blog is seriously goals–the look, the posts, everything. Without further ado, I’m going to give Liv the spotlight! 

Greetings all! My name is Liv, and I am the resident blogger at LivaLittleBlog.com. Today I am writing a guest post for the lovely, Freckled Fashionista herself, Abigail. I have been a follower and fan of her’s for a while now and I have only good things to say about her blog! The design is flippin’ flawless and her posts are definitely worth my time reading. Not to mention the blogger is *amazing*. It has been so great to work with her!

Before I get into the post, I’ll share a couple facts about myself with you all:

• I have been blogging since July 2016 (almost a year *whoop-whoop*) and I am a lifestyle blogger & web designer.
• I love tea, popcorn, and food in general. (But, I mean, who doesn’t?)
• I’m short. Like, really short. I’m barely five feet tall. (#verticallychallenged)
• I have a slight substantial obsession with horses.
• I’m a ballerina and dancer at heart.
• Music fuels my soul and my memory is pretty much 90% song lyrics.
• I fangirl over Once Upon a Time, Marvel movies, Sherlock (B-Cumberbatch the best <3), and so much more. (If I typed them all out, we’d be here all day)
• Find out more about me here.

So, today I will be sharing my best advice on how to skyrocket your blog traffic in no time at all! So, without further ado, let’s get right into the post!

Blogging Hacks That Will Skyrocket Your Blog Traffic

1. Engage with readers & other bloggers

I have heard from many successful bloggers that the best way to build blog traffic is to comment and engage with your readers and fellow bloggers. Always, and I mean always, respond to comments on your blog. (unless they’re spam obviously) When people go out of their way to say something nice about your blog, the least you can do is leave a reply thanking them. Also, dropping a friendly comment on someone else’s blog shows that you are a fan of their work and a kind, outgoing person. They will most likely check out your blog in return.

You can also try following other blogs instead of leaving comments. Whenever I see that someone has followed my blog, I almost always check out their blog as well. If it looks like the kind of blog I would enjoy reading, then I will follow back.

A great way to find new blogs is to check out “Blog Button” pages on blogs you follow. On these pages, bloggers swap buttons which are like little advertisements for other blogs. All you have to do is click on their button to be magically apparated to their blog. Then you can drop a comment or follow and they will most likely check out your blog in return.

2. Make your blog aesthetically pleasing

This is *huge*. I’d hate to break it to you, but if your blog is unappealing and disorganized, people with leave instantly. Invest your time (and possibly money) in your blog design. If you want a professional design for your blog, then hiring someone is a great option. There are many blog designing services out there, including my own which I would greatly appreciate if you all took a look at!

On the other hand, you can always design your blog yourself. This month I will be releasing a number of posts on how to “brand” your blog and make a killer design without spending a penny. I have done a lotta research on the topic of web design, so feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions!

3. Develop a posting schedule and stick to it

Ugh, I’m actually the worst at this. I am busy all day every day with blogging, keeping up with web design orders, school, chores, horses, etc. Sometimes blogging gets pushed to the end of my priorities because my posts take a lotta time to write. I mean it. A high-quality, 1000 word post takes me about 4 hours to write, and some days I just don’t have time for that.

However, it’s essential you post often enough to keep viewers coming back. You don’t want your blog to become this:

4. Invest in your blog

It never hurts to put a little money into your blog. Here are some things you can invest in to boost your traffic:

• Professional website design
• Website domain + hosting
• A “Pro” theme
• Marketing and advertising
• Webinars and resources that other bloggers are selling

Investing a little money in any of these things can help you build your blog. Just make sure you know what you’re doing before making a purchase.

5. Write a killer about page

The about page is one of the very first places new visitors go to, so it has to be well written and full of personality. There are plenty of good tips for killer about pages on the web that can help you build a beautiful, personality-filled about page that will make people hit that subscribe button instantly.

6. Be yourself

Write with voice and express yourself to your readers through your words! Show them the real you, and don’t pretend to be anyone else. :))

7. Plan ahead to avoid blog burnout

This is key to gaining subscribers. This goes along with developing a posting schedule: make sure that you don’t just disappear for who know’s how long and leave your loyal subscribers waiting for your next post. Plan ahead your blog posts for the month and carry out your plans to keep people coming back for more.

8. Use social media to your advantage

You can use almost any social media platform to promote your blog. One that I recommend is Pinterest. On my blog, I have a whole post on how you can use Pinterest to grow your blog traffic, so you can definitely check it out if you want to learn how to do so.

And that, my friends, concludes today’s post. I hope you learned a bit more about how to build your traffic and enjoyed reading it! You can check out my Pinterest for more blogging tips and tricks as well. Just remember to take breaks from blogging. You have a life to live beyond the screen. Go live it! :))

I would appreciate it so much if you would check out my blog, LivaLittleBlog.com, and drop a kind comment or follow – I will definitely return the favor! Have a fantastic day everyone!

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How To Make Your Blog Posts Stand Out

Hello & welcome back to another post! Since I really enjoy writing posts on blogging, I have another one of those for you today.

Let’s say you’re scrolling through the WordPress Reader. Your eyes naturally go to the posts with interesting titles and good pictures, right? You’re more likely to click on the posts that look appealing. Now let’s flip this around. Naturally, you want your blog to look appealing so other people will want to read your posts! Because when your posts stand out, people are more likely to follow your blog and be involved in it.

So, in today’s post, we’re going to be talking about how to make your posts stand out. Ready? Let’s get into it!

-Have A Specific Title-

When you have a title that’s specific and relevent, people are more likely to click on your post! Slow down on the emojis and symbols and make the title look neat and clean.

-Have Well-Taken Bright Pictures-

The lighting, camera, props, etc is super important if you want well taken photos! If you’re using your phone, make sure you edit the pictures so they’ll be sharper and brighter. Use natural lighting as well, it makes a big difference! And try to use a good background (I really like using my white table) and lay out the props so they’ll look aesthetically pleasing. Here’s a post on how I take my pictures.

-Have Your Post Be Well Written & Helpful-

Each of your posts should always benefit your readers in some way! Doing a makeup post? Share a bit of advice on your makeup! Is your post about your favorite hairstyle? Well, share how to do it as well. Or, maybe your post is all about you, and that’s okay! However, you should ask your readers a question at the end or do something so they’ll feel like they gained something from reading the post, and feel involved.

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Well, that’s a wrap for this post, but stay tuned because I have a lot more awesome posts coming your way. Thank you for reading!

What are your tips for making posts stand out from the crowd?

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1000 Followers

Holy what?! Yup, it’s official, thefreckledfashionista has one thousand followers.

Many bloggers get 1K followers in a year or even within a few months, but I have been blogging for years and I’m just hitting it. But I’m still super proud of myself and my blog, because my stats were at a standstill up until January. I was barely getting views. In January, I started posting more and got more motivation, and I worked harder and harder and harder and harder.

And I started getting more followers. Hard work really does pay off. If you don’t have 1K yet, you will get there. Just keep working so much, and then work some more!

To every single one of you: thank you. I can’t tell you how much this means to me, to have people that read my posts and actually care about what I have to say. (And for those of you that don’t care: thanks anyway for following in the first place).

I hope that my website grows and grows, and I hope that soon I will be able to say that I have two thousand followers. Look to the stars, people.

Thank you. That’s really all I can say. Love you all.

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Exciting Announcement

Hi, welcome back!

I have an exciting announcement that I’ve been working on for a while now. Drumroll, please….

I revamped my blog! Oops, I did it again. If you know me, you know I’m never satisfied. I’m obsessed with change when it comes to my blog. I got some new fonts, a completely new color palette, a new style–my blog has a totally new feel now, it’s very minimalistic and modern.

This is the biggest update I’ve done to my blog. I had a huge to-do list of things that I needed to update, little things that have frustrated me on my blog for years. Needless to say, it took a lot of sighing and hard work. I rewrote my pages, redid every graphic, cleaned up the sidebar, and edited tons of little details so that my blog will look better overall.

Go take a peek and see how it looks! I would love your opinions!

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10 Ways To Make Your Blog More Professional

Hello, and welcome back!

Lately, I’ve been working on making my blog more professional, and I’ve been turning it into more of a website than a blog. In today’s post, I’m going to be sharing some tips with you on how you can make your blog a bit more professional. Ready? Let’s get into it.

1. Clean up your sidebar

Okay guys, this one is so important. Your sidebar is always there for people to see, so it’s important that it’s not clogged with random links and pictures!

2.  Limit yourself

Of course, in every post, it’s fun to use a million exclamation points and emojis and all that, but limit yourself!

3. Check your writing

This is similar to #2-check your writing! Delete all those “lol”s and “omg”s, and make sure your writing is clean, neat, and professional–but also fun to read!

4. Have a theme

When people go to your blog, it should look inviting and cohesive! Pick a few colors that you want, make a nice header image, make a logo…have it look nice instead of sticking with the bland WordPress theme! Customize it and make it personal, make it your own. Fiddle around.

5. Take high quality pictures

This probably goes without saying, but good pictures make for a good blog post. Check out my post here on how I take my pictures if you’re curious!

6. Have a sign-off

I  have no clue what these are called, but I’m gonna roll with it. Having a sign off (for example, mine is Love, Abigail) will end your posts in a tidy way and make the post look more professional than if it ended abruptly.

7. Have a blogging schedule

Most people have a blogging schedule, but if you don’t, what are you waiting for?! For example, I usually post four times a week, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. My followers know when to expect posts, and it’s not like I post whenever I feel like it.

8. Quality over quantity

If you find yourself posting just to post, take a step back. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Come up with posts that you’re proud of, and I promise you’ll gain more followers!

9. Spruce up your about me page

I’ve edited my about me page more times than I’m proud to admit. But that’s okay! I am constantly changing little things on my about me page as I change. Over the years, my age and my interests have obviously changed, so I don’t want people to go to my about me page and see that it’s incorrect. I’m always updating the page with new photos and changing it–and you should do the same! Using new photos of yourself, and make it look like it’s cared for, not something that you wrote when you started your blog, and left it since.

10. Remember your followers

Your blog should have a balance! It doesn’t matter what kind of blog you have, your followers should always take something away from each post. Maybe you give your readers some tips, maybe you review a product so they know if it’s a good product or not…help them out! Even if you’re posting about yourself, ask questions at the end of the post so your followers feel included.

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Lately, I’ve been having some trouble coming up with post ideas, so here’s a question for all of you: what would you really like to see more of on my blog? If you have any post ideas, let me know down below, because I really value your feedback!

Have a great day!

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5 Things Not To Do As A Blogger

Hello there! Happy Saturday! By the way, thank you all so much for the survey results! Many of you said that you wanted more blogging posts, so be prepared for quite a few of those over the next few weeks!

In today’s post, I’m going to be talking about five things NOT to do as a blogger. I’ve talked about what you SHOULD do as a blogger in the past, so it’s time to shake it up and try something new! Let’s hop right in.

 

-Don’t Post Just To Post-

Be sure to check out my post on My #1 Blogging Tip, because it talks more about having quality content! It’s really important that when you post, it has a purpose, and you’re not just typing up a quick post just to post. If you find that you’re doing this, maybe try posting less often so you have time to work on making every post perfect.

-Don’t Use Too Many Images-

It’s always really important to have images in your post. But it’s also important not to have TOO many! If you have more than 15+ pictures, go through the post and see which ones you really need. If some of the images are unimportant, consider deleting them! But if you don’t want to take away any photos, just warn your readers that there are a lot of pictures in that post.

-And Don’t Use Too Few, Either-

But make sure you don’t use too few photos, either! If you have a post heavy with text, it’s easier on the eyes to include some images. So how many pictures should I include in a post?  It depends on the length of the post, but four to eight is usually a good amount. 

-Don’t Tag Posts With Irrelevant Tags-

Tagging posts is so much fun, am I right?! But before you hit the publish button and share your post with the world, make sure the tags you use in your posts are relevant. Also, make sure the tags are common, frequently used tags so that people are more likely to find your post. Don’t use too many!

-Don’t Over-Promote Your Blog-

Okay, for this last one, you’re probably shaking your head. It’s so important to get your blog out there–Pinning every post, putting it on social media, commenting on other blogs–but, remember, everything in moderation.

I once followed a blogger that pinned the same post from her blog over and over and over on Pinterest. She did this so that it would get more views, because the more you pin something, the more chances for it to get views. But that got annoying pretty quickly, as you can guess. If you re-pin your posts or share your posts over and over, you could lose followers. Tread carefully, my friends.

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Were these tips helpful? Is there anything else that you think you should never do as a blogger? Let me know in the comments, and we’ll help each other out! Have a marvelous weekend.

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My #1 Blogging Tip

Okay, before we get into the post, let me say something: the amount of followers that you have doesn’t matter. Each of those followers matters, but the total amount is unimportant. Whether you have 1 or 1000, at least someone is reading your blog. But you already know that, right? Cool. Then, let’s get into the post!

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My post on Things Blogging Has Taught Me was really popular, so I thought I would do a post similar to that. I thought about doing a post on blogging tips, but in the end, your blog all comes down to one thing. Cue the drumroll…

-Your Content-

That might seem kind of obvious, maybe not. But it’s true! Your content is everything. Here’s an example, since those seem to be helpful. There are two people. One person posts on their blog every single day. Each post has either typos, blurry pictures, spelling errors…or, maybe the person has amazing pictures, maybe they don’t have typos. It doesn’t matter, because the photos alone can’t hold the post. What’s important is the content. Is the post something interesting? Is the post something people will enjoy and want to read? I don’t know, maybe this person posts about avocados. You decide.

Then there’s the other person. Maybe they post every day, maybe they post once a week. But the difference is that they have interesting content. People look forward to their posts, because this person works hard on their photos, checks their spelling erorrs, and is constantly working to make their blog bigger and better.

I’m not hating on anybody, please don’t think I’m being negative. People can post about whatever they want on their blogs.

There are so many important tips I could give. I could talk about how to design your blog, how to take good photos, but I’m not a complete expert. The one thing that I constantly tell new bloggers (or think of telling new bloggers, but I forget) is to have awesome content. To work hard on writing good posts.

Hey, what do I know? I’m a 13 year old blogger with 900 followers. To the person with 3 followers, that seems like a lot. To the person with 5,000 followers, that’s not very many. But, like I said above, don’t worry about numbers! Worry about your content, your pictures, your community. Are people constantly commenting on your posts? Are you engaging your readers and are you sincerely interested in what they think about your posts?

This will help increase your traffic, because if a few of your posts go viral, and the content in those posts is helpful and well-written, people will click around your site, maybe give you a follow, and maybe they’ll be interested in coming back.

If you’re reading this and you feel that you work really hard on your content, hats off to you. You’re awesome. And before you go thinking the wrong idea, I don’t have perfect content. I don’t have a perfect blog. I don’t have thousands of bloggers. But I’m going to keep working hard–we’re all right where we need to be at the moment.

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What are your thoughts on this? Was it helpful, or just filled with rambling? I hope you have an absolutely amazing day. Thank you for reading!

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Things I’ve Learned From Blogging

I’ve been blogging since I was nine, and I’ve learned so many things over these years-how to get more traffic, how to edit pictures, etc. Eventually, I’ll write a post with those tips, but I really want to do a more personal post on the things blogging has taught me and the ways it has influenced me. Without further ado, hang on to your horses and enjoy this post. 🙂

-Be Yourself-

For the first few years of having my blog, I had pretty much no views. My family read my blog, but otherwise I didn’t have many followers. I kept trying to improve my blog and make it better, but traffic was still low. Eventually my blog morphed into something that didn’t really reflect my personality. My posts became uniform and bland, my blog was just average, and that was that. Yet it still didn’t get many views. Why? Because I wasn’t being myself. 

In 2016, I was mostly writing posts on sewing, but it just didn’t feel right. I really wanted to post about hair, makeup, fitness, and beauty. Only lately have I begun posting about those things, and my blog has been getting a lot more traffic. Why? Because now that I’m posting about the things I love, I’m putting more effort into my blog. I got a new blog design (Thanks Kate!), I began pinning my posts on Pinterest, I followed tons of other blogs and started posting a few times each week. And my personality shows through my posts (I hope). And that’s the difference. Now that I’m being myself, I’m willing to work harder, and in turn, I’m gaining followers. Win-win.

I loved sewing, but over time my love for it has faded away. I’ll still post about it every now and then, but it’s not my main passion anymore. And that’s okay! Things change over time; change is good. It’s the way of the world.

-Find Your Own Voice-

This one is similar to being yourself. There are so many makeup blogs in the world. There are so many fitness blogs, photography blogs, hey–there are cat blogs, people. What makes each of those blogs different? The author’s voice. At first it’s hard to find your voice and figure out what sets your blog apart, but as time goes by, it will develop.

But, back to the point, blogging has taught me to find my own voice, both while I’m writing a blog post and in my daily life. I no longer want to fit in with everyone else, I want to stand out and be different in the best way possible. Some people may not like that, and that’s okay.  I’m not everyone’s cup of tea.

-Be Ahead Of The Pack-

Ever heard the quote, “Eagles fly alone. Pigeons flock together”?  This is a lesson blogging has definitely taught me. Don’t be afraid to be ahead of the pack. I try to always do extra credit and finish my homework a few days early, because I don’t settle for average grades, I want perfect grades. Yet I get called an overachiever very often, and people tell me I’m showing off. Unfortunately, from what I’ve found, society is wrapped around the fact that people who work harder are overachievers and show-offs.

Over the years of blogging, I’ve learned that it’s important to ignore this, both in blogging and real life. Bloggers that are ahead of the pack and are constantly creating new content, setting new trends, and working to improve their blogs tend to be more popular, because their hard work shows. Moral of the story? Be ahead of the pack, and no matter how hard you’re working, you’re always able to work harder.

-Keep Going-

The last thing may seem obvious, but it’s just as important. Keep going, and never give up. Like I said earlier, I didn’t have many views on my first years of blogging. I honestly wondered what the point of blogging was if I didn’t have any followers. I’m so glad I stuck with it. (Thanks for following my blog and reading this!)

Maybe you’re reading this and you have thousands of followers. Maybe you have one. No matter what, keep going! If you want to leave your blog link down below, I’ll be sure to give it a peek.

I hope this post was inspirational! What are some things that you’ve learned while blogging? I would love to know, let me know in the comments. Have a fantastic day!

Photos edited with VSCO.

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