Recently a blog consultation client asked me for an example of a blogger who invested in branding and blog design then took off fast because of it. I immediately thought of Andrea Zanetich at Fox In Flats because, even though she’s not one of our blog design clients, I love her blog and the blog design.

That’s unusual because I’m fussy and although there aren’t too many terrible website and blog designs these days thanks to the many WordPress templates available, those same templates mean most blogs look quite similar to each other.

But not Andrea’s blog. The Fox in Flats design is fun, fresh and foxy (of course!) so it easily stands out from a zillion other blogs.

So I was surprised to hear Andrea didn’t hire a professional blog designer. In fact she did most of the work herself and I loved that too because Andrea used her existing marketing smarts and contacts to her advantage.

Check out Fox in Flats for hot tips by Andrea Zanetich on navigating motherhood in style

Still, while I would never encourage a new business owner to invest too much in their web design I usually encourage business owners to spend some money on web marketing because I know investing in good web design is worth it for most businesses.

My reasoning is this:

1. If you set up your website and blog right from the beginning it will help people find your business, make them want to buy from you and give you a good return on your investment. For example if your average sale for your services or products is around $1000 then you will have repaid a $3000 investment in web design once it’s helped you get your first three clients. 
2. Good web design stands the test of time and pays a return on your investment long-term. While print adverts will end up in the bin and TV or radio advertising only airs when you pay for it, a well designed website will continue to get you new business for years into the future. Many of the websites we set up are so successful they only need updating years into the future as screen sizes change get bigger or smaller due to increased use of mobile devices.
3. All you need to launch a business is a great website, business cards and a smile so if those are the only costs and you believe in your business you should be confident that the money you invest in your website is well spent. If you’re not sure about that maybe there’s a reason and you’re not 100% confident your new business idea will succeed.
4. Having a professional website will improve your confidence and your client’s confidence in you. Trust is priceless so if you can gain it by investing  in your website you should.
5. Thanks to WordPress it’s getting easier and easier for anyone to create a website. But that doesn’t mean anyone can create a website that gets traffic, gets people to stick around and encourages them to get in touch with you. If you have time you can learn how to create your own website or possibly even create a team of people who can do it for you cheaply. There will probably be a lot of frustrations and you may never get it right but, as we’ll learn from Andrea, you can set up a website if you have time, know how and energy.

Andrea was very clear about setting up a business which is her blog but for most freelancers, consultants and business owners their time may be better spent growing the business, getting an income and outsourcing the web design to someone who can do it faster and better.

But I know a lot of people don’t have much money to spend on their blog so I decided to  interview Andrea for our Blogging Success Stories series and ask her some nosey questions to help you decide what’s best for you. To help you decide if you’ll design your blog yourself or if you’d prefer to pay someone to get it set up just how you want it leaving you to get on with other jobs like adding content, promoting your blog and, best of all, earning money.

So here are the nosey questions I asked Andrea:

Please introduce yourself first for those who might not know you yet

I’m Andrea: Sydney based time-poor-yet-aspiring-to-be-fabulous mother of two who’s made it my mission to discover style secrets and shortcuts that’ll have us looking awesome – fast – on my blog Fox in Flats.

While I juggle (and often struggle!) with finding balance between work, kids, and the usual fashion dilemmas, the one thing I know for sure is that with a rockin’ outfit at least I’ll look like I’m doing it all with ease.

Tell us More About Fox in Flats

How long ago did you set up your blog?

I started working on the idea of the blog in September 2010, snatching hours while the kids napped, weekends and at night, and went live January 2011.

How much did you invest in your blog up front?

Actually, not that much. I was able to draw from my 15 years in marketing to do many of the things myself that most people would need to outsource.

For instance, it was important for me to research the insight behind the idea of Fox in Flats, and also to really understand my target consumer to a deeper level before I did anything. So I designed a quantitative research study which over 150 women completed. This type of study and analysis would have usually cost me around $30,ooo if I was working corporate and had outsourced to an agency! Major money saver.

The study itself was done with Survey Monkey and only cost about $50. The outcomes allowed me to design a very clear brand positioning, and provided years worth of content ideas.

How much did you invest in professional photos?

The head shot of me wearing bright green rollers with my son putting make-up on me was done by my husband in the kids playroom! He probably took 100 shots to get this one. I did invest in a fancy camera for about $2,000 though to ensure we had the best chance of getting a quality shot.

How much did you invest in logo and branding design?

As I’ve developed loads of logos for major brands in my career, I was very au fait with the concept of new brand development, and the development of imagery around it. As such I had a very clear brief that I gave to a graphic designer friend. He charged me ‘mates rates’ so it probably only cost a couple of hundred dollars. Ordinarily that level of design work (my buddy works for one of the top advertising agencies in Australia) would cost at least $5,000.

I registered the logo, which cost about $2,000 all up.

How much did you invest in blog design?

Would you believe I largely did it myself? I spent $80 on a theme, and less than $100 on a couple of books like WordPress for Dummies. I also borrowed a bunch of books from the library and scoured the Internet for tips and ideas. Picture me with a bunch of books laid out around my laptop, a sketch of what I wanted it to look like in the end, and me scratching my head. That’s what it looked like.

I’m in the process of giving the site a subtle make-over and this time it’s all outsourced – phew!

Is there anything else you spent money on when setting up your blog?

I invested in childcare! That may sound trite, but I employed babysitters regularly, and also had my sons in day care a couple of days a week so that I could commit to working on the idea. This has by far been the biggest financial investment.

How long did it take before you earned any money from your blog?

After a couple of months I made $3.64 from affiliate links – ha ha ha! I always knew that it would take time to make money as I had to build up an audience and a brand that was of value.

What kind of income has your blog created in the last 12 months and what are your expectations for the future?

The income has varied from month to month as some of it has come from concentrated project work like the e-magazine I produced for ECCO Shoes. Now however I am with a blogger agency The Remarkables and that’s freed up the commercial side from me and allowed me to concentrate on building the brand into other areas, and focusing on producing quality content.

I’m now making what I’d earn if I were in my old corporate job part-time, and I expect that to double this year all going to plan.

Overall was that investment in branding and design worth it?

ABSOLUTELY! Being crystal clear about what the Fox in Flats brand stands for, and how it is presented has been key to any success I have had.

Where can people find out more about you? Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Visit Fox in Flats for easy style tips, ideas and inspiration, and say “Hi!” on Facebook, Twitter  and Instagram. I love a chat!

Thank you so much Andrea for taking the time to answer these questions and share your blogging tips with the Successful Blogging team. We really appreciate that. 

Do visit Fox in Flats to see what Andrea gets up to and even learn how to navigate motherhood in style. I love the idea behind and her style dares so if you need a personal style update rather than a blog design update just start there.

Need Help with Blog Design, Updates or WordPress Tweaks?

If you need a hand just email me now to find out how the Successful Blogging team can help you.

My husband Rich and I have been helping creatives and small business owners set up effective websites for 17 years. We’re a small team but we offer a personal service, have oodles of experience in web, social media and content marketing and are utterly passionate about helping people tap into the power of blogging.

Thank you for reading Successful Blogging. We’re looking forward to helping you take your brand and business to the next level.

The post How to Spend Less and Still Get a Brilliant Blog Design appeared first on Successful Blogging.

Whatever you’re doing with your blog, keep doing it because you’re business is red hot right now. The phone’s ringing, email enquiries come in every day and more people than ever before are hiring you.

Business is great but what do you do when your blog marketing strategy starts getting results, when business is booming and you can’t keep up with your blog any more?

Small business owners always want more business and because of the instability of self-employment we tend to take on all the work that comes our way. That’s because there’s often a fear that work could dry up in the future, and because most businesses have natural seasonal slumps so when business is good you’re grateful for it and happy to work hard during those times.

In our web and blog design business we adapt our work hours depending on the flow of our clients. If there’s a lot of work on (October, November and December are usually our busiest months) we put it as many hours, nights and weekends as it takes to get the jobs done well.

Whenever there’s a quiet period we work less and spend more time at the beach. Fortunately a lot of our clients take time off after Christmas and at the beginning of January when the school holidays are on so so that makes it easier for us to spend more time with our kids then.

Being self-employed means you don’t have the luxury of paid vacations and often work long hours when business is booming. But how do you keep blogging when you’re so busy working on the paid jobs you hardly have time to turn around, let alone write and publish a new blog post?

How to Keep Blogging When You’re Busy

1. Focus on your paying clients

Don’t worry about your blog right now. You’re obviously doing something right so just leave it be. It really won’t matter if you don’t publish any blog posts for a week, a fortnight or even a month. Really. My experiments into what happens if you stop blogging proved that.

Remember that no one ever unsubscribed from a blog because no new posts were published. Blog readers unsubscribe or lose interest in your blog when your posts are irrelevant or boring, not because you haven’t written anything new for a few weeks. Or even months.

Focus on keeping the clients you’ve got happy and remember that it’s much easier to get new business from the clients you already have than to convert a new lead into a paying customer.

When you wrap up business with a client make a point of calling them to say how much you enjoyed working with them, then mention that you’re growing your business right now and you’d love it if they recommend you to anyone who might need your services.

A few five minute phone calls to clients like that could lead to thousands of dollars of new business and will be much faster than writing a new blog post and promoting it.

2. Keep the blog ticking over with quick blog posts when you can

Remember not to stress about keeping your blog up to date. It’s optional but if you only have 30 minutes and want to write a blog post here are a few ideas for getting great blog post up fast:

• Be inspired by another blog post.
  Choose just one post you love on another blog, summarise and link to it. Most bloggers will be delighted with the free publicity and many bloggers (like me at both Get In the Hot Spot and Successful Blogging and Leo Babauta at Zen Habits) have uncopyrighted their work so you can use the entire blog post if you like. Crediting the source is recommended.
• Post a question.
  The aim is to craftily get your readers to write the post for you. It should also be fun for them and get them feeling involved in your blog and build your community. Tailor the question to your niche and target audience. Make sure the question is quick to answer and that you have time to promote the post on social media to make sure you get the comments you need. Here are some examples of questions:
  Fashion blog – I love red! What’s your favourite colour? What colour flatters you most? What colour instantly brightens your day?
  Internet marketing blog – I love Hootsuite for my social media management. What tools, apps or software do you rely on?
  Travel blog – Which country has the best food? I vote for Thailand. How about you?
• Look for guest posts
  Email or tweet a few treasured readers whose blogs you love, otherwise you may get so many guest posts you can’t use them all. Remember adding guest posts still takes time – you will have to read them, edit them,  format and promote them but it could still be faster than writing your own post and is a useful way to get a new voice on your blog or cover a topic you’re not an expert on.
• Adapt old blog posts
  Choose a popular blog post and put a new spin on it. This post has been adapted from a guest post I write for Nikki Parkinson called How to keep your blog banging when you need a break but you can also use blog posts on your own blog. Link to the original post if relevant or just change the format of your post, for example from a How to… into 5 Ways to…. You don’t need to change much because most readers won’t notice although if you’re using a guest post you wrote for another blog you might prefer to do a complete rewrite or just post the first couple of paragraphs and let readers click over to the other blog to read the whole thing.

3. Don’t apologise

If you need a blogging break because business is booming take it and when you have time for your blog again there’s no need to apologise for your absence. Just write a relevant blog post about your recent experiences such as:

• 3 Things I Learnt About Time Management From My Best Clients
• How to Stay Looking Cool When You’re Running Flat Out
• What it Takes to be a Creative Success

Remember that if business is booming that’s cause for celebration. When business slows down again take time to breathe and recover from all that hard work then come back to your blog refreshed when you’re ready.

Whatever you’ve been doing on your blog keep doing it but keep doing it at a pace that works for you and allows you to sustain your business, income and sanity.

What do you do when  you’re so busy and don’t have much time for blogging?

The post How to Keep Blogging When Business is Booming appeared first on Successful Blogging.

Let’s imagine you’re a professional writer.

You get paid hundreds of dollars an hour for your writing, and your clients regularly tell you that, sincethey launched their new website with the copy you wrote, there’s been an upturn in business. Their phone is ringing, the orders are coming in and they’re delighted with your work.

It feels great.

Then you set up a blog to promote your own business because you believe in the power of words and you believe in the power of content marketing. You start writing blog posts and (modesty aside) they’re good stuff but  not many people are reading them. To be honest, hardly anyone is visiting your blog.

So you start studying how to increase blog traffic and how to get more blog readers, and you soon hear that guest blogging is the way.

You learn that one of the most highly recommended ways to get new readers to your blog is to write yet more great blog posts and give them away to other bigger blogs. You find out that this is called guest blogging and that you won’t get paid for writing those guest posts. In fact you’ll have to give away all your wonderful well written words free of charge.

That doesn’t feel so great.

But you’re desperate so you decide to give guest blogging a go.

Guest blogging is hard. You choose the blogs you’d like to write for, you study the type of posts they share and you write something great. Finally you work out who to send the guest post to, email it to them and wait. And wait. And wait.

Often no one even replies and when they do you get the old ‘thanks but no thanks’ brush off.

You’re about to give up with the guest blogging tactic. In fact you’re about ready to give up blogging completely, but you decide to give it one last go. You write one last guest post and send it off.

Nothing happens as usual. The blogger never gets back to you and you feel terrible. Hopeless. Depressed.

But then the next week as you’re checking your blog stats for the 200th time you notice something strange. There’s a massive spike in traffic and it’s growing fast. So you tell your husband your stat counter has broken and he tells you it hasn’t, that you’re getting a lot of new blog traffic and it’s all coming from that big site you sent a guest post to last week who’ve published it without even telling you.

It feels bloody great.

And greater still the blogger loves you and his readers do too. The comments are flying in and the post is going viral on Twitter and Facebook.

So now you’ve finally experienced the power of guest blogging and the thrill of being acknowledged in the blogosphere you decide to stick with it. You keep blogging and you keep guest blogging. Your traffic keeps growing and you become well know and respected in your community.

Now you don’t think about guest blogging as giving away your best writing free, you think about guest blogging in 5 new ways:

1. Better than free advertising on prime time TV.
2. Giving you glowing referrals from celebrities.
3. Instant social proof.
4. The testing ground for new ideas.
5. A fabulous networking opportunity.

And that my friend is my personal guest blogging experience from my travel blog Get In the Hot Spot.

It’s why I recommend guest blogging as the best way to grow your blog and why I recommend Jon Morrow’s guest blogging course which will take away the pain of writing guest posts which don’t get published.

I won’t try to sell you the course although I’m an affiliate, but I will tell you that if you do the guest blogging course you’ll get a sound strategy for securing, writing, and submitting guest posts so you don’t have to learn how to do it the hard way like I did.

If you’re not convinced guest posting is for you here’s an email I got yesterday from Donna Moritz at Socially Sorted.

Hi Annabel

I owe you a favour! As I mentioned, you piqued my interest about guest blogging when I heard you speak at the Web Wednesday event over a year ago. You talked about the early impact that guest blogging had on your own success with Get in the Hot Spot and Successful Blogging.  I dipped my toe in the water with guest blogging, and I am so glad I did!

I interviewed Nikki Parkinson (winner of best blog in Australia, 2011) for an article that was featured in Social Fresh, and now I write for them. After writing a guest post for Amy Porterfield, I was picked up by Entrepreneur.com for a couple of articles and I just joined their team as a contributor! I am very fortunate to now be writing for some great websites including Social Media Blog in Spain (they translate!) and Nimble, and I was recently featured in Yahoo Small Business and Forbes.

I am very grateful to have a dream list of blogs to post for and I can say with certainty that guest posting has been the one thing that has sky-rocketed my own blog and business.  Everything that has happened comes back to guest blogging and now that we do infographics for bloggers, it has opened a lot of doors.

It’s amazing the opportunities that open up when you put yourself out there! Thanks for the advice!

If guest blogging sounds like what you need to take your blog from blah to boom then check out Jon Morrow’s Guest Blogging Course here.

Even though I’d already had guest posts on major blogs like Copyblogger, Zen Habits and Problogger I paid for and completed Jon’s guest blogging course last year and only wish it had been around when I first started guest blogging because it would have saved me months of time, endless headaches and lots of heartache.

Even if you’re not a professional writer the Guest Blogging course will teach you how to act and think like one and, once you’ve your first guest post has been published people will start to see you as a professional writer too.

But I guess that’s just another added bonus. Guest blogging is one of the best ways to boost your blog, career or business whether you’re a professional writer or not.

The post 5 New Ways to Think About Guest Blogging appeared first on Successful Blogging.

John Lee Dumas got on my radar in the best possible way – by asking  me to do an interview for his podcast series. And it’s not just my attention he grabbed by requesting interviews.

These days John’s getting mentioned by some of the biggest and best bloggers around so, knowing how important networking and getting noticed by social media influencers are, I thought he’d be a great interview candidate for Successful Blogging if you’d like to know how to increase your blog traffic by running interviews.

Blogging Success Stories is an interview series to help you learn from the best, stay motivated and send you away with actionable blogging tips so I’m excited to be interviewing John today. I hope you enjoy the irony of me interviewing John about how to interviews and like his successful blogging story as much as I do

Please introduce yourself for those who haven’t come across you yet

Hi, John Lee Dumas here, Founder and Host of EntrepreneurOnFire, a business podcast that interviews today’s most inspiring and successful Entrepreneurs 7-days a week. EntrepreneurOnFire is a top ranked business podcast generating over 175,000 unique downloads a month in over 140 countries, and our lineup includes Barbara Corcoran, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, Gary Vaynerchuk, Guy Kawasaki, and hundreds more. All the magic happens at EOFire.com, so come check us out!

Wow. There are some big names there John. Now let’s get personal. Where do you live? Do you have a family? What do you do for work and play?

I was born and raised in the state of Maine! After a great 18 years, I moved away for college and life and 13 years went by before I made it back full time. Now I once again call Maine home, and spend my summers water-skiing on lakes, and winters snow skiing on mountains.

All About Entrepreneur On Fire

That sounds like fun. So what’s your blog about? Who reads it? How long have you been blogging?

EntrepreneurOnFire.com is the headquarters for the EntrepreneurOnFire Podcasts. I release seven podcasts a week and EntrepreneurOnFire.com is where the show notes for each episode live. I have been podcasting since September 20th, 2012 and a podcast with its corresponding blog post has gone live every day since.

My readers are Entrepreneurs and Wannapreneurs who are seeking motivation, inspiration, and amazing life lessons from current Entrepreneurs who are successful and are willing to share their journey.

You add a new Podcast every single day? That’s incredible. Is there anything else you offer your readers that no one else does?

What is unique about EntrepreneurOnFire is that it is the only daily podcast that shares the incredible journey of successful Entrepreneurs. We talk about their failures and how they overcame these failures, AHA moments and how they turned those moments into success, what is exciting them right now and their vision for the future.

How often do you update your blog and how many unique readers do you have each month?

EntrepreneurOnFire releases a new blog post 7 days a week, and generates over 20,000 unique visitors each month.

Where do most of your readers and blog traffic come from?

Most of my readers are driven from the EntrepreneurOnFire podcast, which is prominently displayed as a top 15-business podcast in iTunes. Readers are usually listening to a podcast, then hear a resource or link they want to look more into, and go to EntrepreneurOnFire.com to find out more.

Blogging Successes so far

What kind of good things have come to you from blogging? Please tell us your blogging success story.

My blogging successes are all driven from the success of EntrepreneurOnFire the podcast, which generates over 175,000 unique downloads a month in over 145 countries.

My entire business is centered around my blog, EntrepreneurOnFire. The most exciting thing that has happened recently is the publishing of my first book, “Podcast Launch” on the Amazon platform. Podcast Launch is currently the #1 rated book on Podcasting in the Amazon store, and has over 55 5-star reviews!

That’s a huge reach. Do you make a full time living from blogging?

Yes, blogging and podcasting is all that I do.

How exactly do you earn money from your blog?

EntrepreneurOnFire is on pace for six-figures in 2013, and sponsorships of the Podcast account for 80% of the money EntrepreneurOnFire brings in. I have 3 major sponsors (Audible, LegalZoom, and SquareSpace). Affiliates, coaching, and book sales make up the other 20%.

How to Increase Your Blog Traffic with Interviews

So you recommend interviews to increase blog traffic and get new readers to a blog? Why’s that?

Every single day, a new podcast and corresponding blog post goes live and I reach out to the interviewed entrepreneur to share links to the wonderful journey they have shared. 99% are more than happy to share their journey with their massive and engaged audience, and this exposes EntrepreneurOnFire to thousands of new listeners every day. A percentage of those listens turn into loyal EntrepreneurOnFire followers, and the snowball effect continues the very next day.

Interviews allow you to leverage other people’s audiences, and if your blog content is good enough, you will gain followers.

What are your recommendations for other bloggers who want to use the interview technique to increase traffic to their blogs?

Lead with quality and with the desire to provide value. No matter how many people are exposed to your content, if it’s not good, no one will join your tribe and your audience will not grow.

How do you approach people you want to interview?

I email a humble request for 25 minutes of their time to share their journey with Fire Nation. I make the barrier as low as possible, making sure to point out that this interview will be audio only, over Skype, and will be made available on my top 15 business podcast that generates over 175,000 unique downloads every month, and growing. I also share past guests to offer social proof, such as Barbara Corcoran, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, Gary Vaynerchuk, Guy Kawasaki, and others.

How long do you spend on each interview?

Each interview is between 25-35 minutes in length. Another 30 minutes editing, and creating the blog post, then it is ready to go!

That’s fast. Have you got any interview disaster stories to share and lessons learnt from that?

I had a guest that called in from the southeast Asia, from a coffee shop, and the connection and background noise was horrendous. I learned to set my interviewees expectations as to what is expected of them audio wise in order to ensure a successful interview.

Can you share one final blogging tip?

JUST START! Seriously. I have interviewed over 200 successful Entrepreneurs and each one points to the fact that they started before they thought they were ready. We never feel as though we are totally ready, and making mistakes is part of every Entrepreneurs journey, so start your journey today!

That’s the best advice. Where can people find out more about you? Is there anything else you’d like to share?

EntrepreneurOnFire.com is my HQ where it all happens.

EntrepreneurOnFire.com/iTunes is where you can subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes.

You can find Podcast Launch: A Step by Step Guide Including 15 Video Tutorials on Amazon.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions John and share your blogging tips. It’s fabulous to find out more about what you do and learn from you.

Finally, if anyone wants to get started by listening to the podcast of John interviewing me they can find that here.

To thank John personally here’s a ready-made update you can share on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or wherever takes your fancy. Thank you.

THANK YOU I @johnleedumas for sharing your blogging tips in the interview with @BloggingMentor - http://bit.ly/17ePveJ - You’re fab!

Want More HOT Blogging Tips?

If you’d like on-going blogging and success tips from Successful Blogging click here for free updates by email now.

Need Help with Blog Design?

If you need help with blog design or updates email me now - I’ve been helping creatives and small business owners set up effective websites for 17 years and I’d love to help you too.

The post How to Increase Your Blog Traffic with Interviews: Blogging Success Story with John Dumas appeared first on Successful Blogging.

I haven’t even had my iPhone for a year yet and it’s my first mobile phone ever. But the great thing about being a later adopter is that you get the latest model. Although there’s a newer version out now my iPhone 4S doesn’t need updating because I bought it for the camera which is just as good as the iPhone 5 camera.

That’s right. I’m not interested in text messages, though they do come in handy, and I definitely don’t want to get phone calls while I’m out and about. I only bought an iPhone because it has a great camera and I wanted to play around with Instagram so now you can follow me on Instagram here.

I was inspired by bloggers like Nikki Parkinson at Styling You who have beautiful Instagram updates on their blogs and wanted to add them to my travel blog Get In the Hot Spot.

Instagram seemed like a great way to be creative, share photos instantly and keep your blog fresh even when you’re not publishing new posts. So in a short time I’ve gone from iPhone curious to hooked on iPhoneography because the mobile phone camera and Instagram are doing all those things and, better yet, freeing up my time.

As a travel blogger taking, editing and preparing photos for my blog can take hours. Obviously I can’t save time on taking photos but I can save time on the editing and web preparation stage using my iPhone and a few handy apps I’ve installed. Best of all I can do the editing work on my iPhone anywhere which saves hours when I get home.

So here are my time saving tips some of which I’ve gleaned from grilling Nikki and her iPhoneography post and others from the  iPhone Photgraphy ebook by Misho Baranovic and the Digital Photography School which is inspiring and incredibly useful.

1. Get the ProCamera app

You’ll take better photos straight away because it has a full screen trigger meaning you can touch the screen anywhere to take a shot so you don’t  have to hunt for the little square and can focus on your target. ProCamera app costs $3.99 which is a LOT less than an SLR and that’s just one of the fancy things it can do.

2. Pop your photos on Instagram and add an Instagram widget to your blog to show them off

You’ll need the Instagram app for this which allows you to crop photos to a square, choose a filter and upload them to Instagram in minute or two. You can then embed your latest Instagram uploads on your blog if you wish like I’ve done on the Get In the Hot Spot home page.

This is great for blogs on topics like fashion, travel or food where great visuals often count more than words and it means your website can be kept fresh even when you haven’t written a new blog post.

Try to focus on your niche. Even though I’m not travelling much this year I’m sharing photos of nature, wildlife and scenery so there’s a unified theme to my Instagram stream. I also automatically share those photos on Twitter and Facebook.

3. Reuse your best Instagram images on your blog

Once your photos are on Instagram you can then reuse those photos on your blog as they’ll be ready to go. Just be careful you don’t use too many different Instagram filters and styles in one blog post or it will start to look messy.

4. Experiment with cropping and filters

Beach shot cropped no filters

Beach shot – wider crop and smorgasbord of effects and filters. This one got 29 likes on Instagram.

Apps like Procamera, Instagram and Snapseed all have different filters which can make a bad photo look good and a good photo look great.\

I go a bit mad when I first laid my hands on those apps but if you play around with the filters and settings you’ll soon start to get a feel for what works and what looks too crazy.

5. Add text

Nikki recommends the PicFrame app ($0.99) and the Picmonkey website but you’ll need to be on your computer to use that because it’s Flash enabled.

I just downloaded the PicFrame app to try it out and created the image up top in around 5 minutes so you could probably do something that looks great when you’ve got the hang of it.

6. Create collages

Quick collage I created with InstaStitch to display some products Avon sent me to wage war against my wrinkles

Advertisers and brands love images and you can create fun collages on your iPhone with the Instastitch or PicFrame apps.

7. Email photos to yourself from your iPhone

I find it quicker to create and publish blog posts on my computer and the easiest way to get the photos off my iPhone and onto my desktop for use is by emailing them to myself.

Disclaimer: If you’re in the slightest bit interested in taking better photos on your iPhone I totally recommend the iPhone Photgraphy ebook. It’s so good I even signed up as an affiliate because I’m confident you’ll love it. As a bonus I get a teeny tiny referral fee if you buy it using that link. Otherwise you can check it out yourself at the Digital Photography School.

Remember to follow me on Instagram here if you don’t already. Thank you.

Happy iPhoneography!

Have you got any iPhoneography or Instagram tips? 

Want More HOT Blogging Tips?

For on-going blogging and success tips from Successful Blogging click here for free updates by email now.

Need Help with Blog Design?

Having problems with blog design or updates? Email me now. I’ve been helping creatives and small business owners set up effective websites for 17 years and I’d love to help you too.

The post 7 Time-Saving iPhoneography Tips for Bloggers appeared first on Successful Blogging.

It’s easy to fall in love with style and beauty blogger Nikki Parkinson because she looks gorgeous. But what I love most about her is that she’s a busy mum who works from home, updates her blog daily and has become one of Australia’s first professional bloggers.

Nikki’s dedication, work ethic and her fun writing style make her a great role model for new and not-so-new bloggers.

Nikki happens to live down the road from me on the Sunshine Coast in Australia so I’ve met her a few times and was thrilled when her blog Styling You won the first ever Australian Blogs competition in 2011. No one was  more deserving than her.

Blogging Success Stories is an interview series to help you learn from the best, stay motivated and send you away with actionable blogging tips so I’m excited to be interviewing Nikki today. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do.

Hi Nikki, thanks for joining us on Successful Blogging. Please introduce yourself first for those who might not know you yet: 

My name is Nikki Parkinson, I blog at Styling You. You’ll also find me on Facebook; Twitter; Instagram; and Pinterest.

Let’s get personal! Where do you live? Do you have a family? What do you do for work and play?

I live on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast with my husband and two of my kids. One has just left home for university – I’m still in denial about that! I’m a full-time blogger with a love of shopping, cooking and getting to the beach when Mother Nature is being kind.

Tell us More About Styling You

So how long have you been blogging and how did you get into it?

I’ve been blogging almost five years. I accidentally stumbled into it when I asked a web developer to set me up a website I could update myself. The website was to market my new personal styling business. I’d been a journalist for 20 years prior to this so I knew I wanted to keep writing and sharing information.

Sounds like you found a good web designer there. So what’s your blog about? Who reads it?

My blog offers real-world fashion, beauty and lifestyle advice for busy women aged 30 and over. My readers come to me because they’re not finding that help in the magazines they used to love and buy.

So true and I know that because I’m one of them. How often do you update your blog and how many unique readers do you have each month?

I post on average seven posts a week between Monday and Friday. I’ve got 45,000 unique readers each month.

So all that hard work has paid off. Where do most of your readers come from?

After Google, Facebook is the biggest referrer of traffic to my blog, followed by Twitter with Pinterest hot on Twitter’s heels.

Blogging Successes so Far

I think originally your blog was designed to help sell your personal stylist services but now you’ve stopped that and are making a full-time income from blog advertising. Can you tell us a bit about that evolution? How long did it take?

I’ve officially been a full-time blogger for 18 months. I reached a point that the blog was bringing in the lion-share of consistent revenue and I realised I needed to devote the lion-share of my week to that. So it certainly wasn’t overnight but that grew from my first sponsored post in November 2010.

That’s great. What other good things have come to you from blogging?

Blogging has opened up some amazing friendships with other bloggers, who except for blogging I would not have met. It’s made for a richer life.

I’ve got to travel with my work – whether that’s a day trip to Sydney for an event, or a trip to The Hunter Valley to produce content for a travel company or a trip to New York to the world’s biggest female blogging conference (BlogHer) – and that’s something I never imagined I’d get the opportunity to do.

I was also thrilled to have my blog named Best Australian Blog by the Sydney Writers Centre in 2011.

You so deserved it. How exactly do you earn money from your blog? 

The majority of my blog’s income comes from sponsorships and ambassadorships coordinated through my agency, The Remarkables. I also earn a little from banner advertising, freelance writing and affiliate sales. I just launched my first product, an ebook called Unlock Your Style in 14 Days so that will be added to the income mix.

Blogging Tips

Nikki Parkinson and me. This is what I look like after reading Nikki’s stying tips. I won’t show you the before version.

I just bought it and can’t wait to read it. I love your blogging success story and am inspired by your professionalism and work output. Have you got any tips about those things?

If you want your blog to be a business, treat it like one even when it’s not earning any money. Be consistent with your posting and consistently show up on the social media platforms where and when your readers are hanging out.

What’s the best way to get new readers to a blog?

Be consistent (can I say this too often?!).

Become part of the blogging community – not just in your niche but in a wide range of niches. Comment on and share other people’s posts. Trust me, it comes back to you 10-fold.

Lol, I think we’re getting the idea about the need to be consistent. What are your recommendations for other bloggers who want to monetise their blogs?

Build your readership and community through the tips above so that you have a platform from which to make money – however that monetisation plan looks. I mentor quite a number of bloggers and one of them has been blogging for less than six months and is selling some banner space and her own branded exercise gear to a small but loyal and engaged audience. She’s making money from her blog – it might not equate to the hours she’s putting in but it’s a hell of a good start.

Please share your best blogging tip for new bloggers

Just do it. Jump in. If you love it then the time and energy required to build a blog will not feel like a burden.

Have you got any writing tips?

Find your own voice and writing style. Don’t try and follow a formula. Create the formula that best works for you.

How about productivity tips?

My love of a conversation often leads me down the social media time vortex – let’s just say some days are more productive than others! The newspaper girl in me loves a deadline and I tend to write the day or night before for the next day’s post. A habit of a lifetime is difficult to break.

Oh I work better under the hammer too. Can you please share one final blogging tip?

I get a lot of commenters on my blog who tell me they appreciate that I reply to their comments. I know everyone has different time pressures but this is something I’ve prioritised from the very first time I received a comment.

I figure if someone takes time out of their day to talk to me then it’s courteous to talk back – whether that’s on the blog or on my social media networks. So my tip: don’t just broadcast, get into the conversation. That’s what sets blogging apart from mainstream media.

That’s great advice. Where can people find out more about you? Is there anything else you’d like to share? 

I’ve got a media page on my blog that highlights some of the interviews I’ve done.

Thank you so much Nikki for taking the time to answer these questions and share your blogging tips with the Successful Blogging team. We really appreciate that. 

Do pop over to Styling You to see why Nikki’s succeeded in turning blogging into a full time business and why her blog is so popular. Thank you. I know she’ll love that. And I recommend you sign up for her weekly newsletter too if you’re a woman and you’re even the slightest bit interested in looking good. I love it.

I also recommend Nikki’s spanking new ebook  Unlock Your Style in 14 Days. Reading Styling You has helped me break out of my usual clothing rut  and feel more confident about what to wear so do check it out if that sounds good to you.

If you’d like to thank Nikki personally here’s a tweet you might like to share:

THANK YOU I @StylingYou for sharing your blogging tips in the interview with @BloggingMentor - http://bit.ly/10gPbbc You’re fab!

Want More HOT Blogging Tips?

If you’d like on-going blogging and success tips from Successful Blogging click here for free updates by email now or get the RSS feed here.

Need Help with Blog Design?

If you need help with blog design or updates email me now - I’ve been helping creatives and small business owners set up effective websites for 17 years and I’d love to help you too.

The post The Beauty and Business of Blogging with Top Blogger Nikki Parkinson appeared first on Successful Blogging.

What I’ve always loved about web marketing is that it allows the little guys like you and me, people who might work from home on our kitchen tables, to compete on a levelfooting with much bigger companies.

In New Zealand I sometimes pitched for web design business against huge advertising agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi and Ogilvy & Mather. And sometimes I won.

I put a lot of time and thought into my proposals and the pitching process would always end in a face to face meeting which clinched the deal. But I know that it was my own website design that got them interested in working with me in the first place. Having a great website opened doors.

Of course after that it was up to me to make sure the door stayed open and they let me in, but I loved that a work at home mum and dad business could beat big businesses because our website didn’t make us look like a small family run business, it made us look like a dedicated, professional team.

Of course you and I know you can be professional AND small but it’s all about perception. I know if those clients had realised we were a mum and dad business in the beginning they would never have considered working with us. But they did end up working with us because our website made them trust us from the very beginning and convinced them to give us a chance.

Continuing to help other small business owners beat much bigger competitors has kept my passion for web marketing alive.

It’s a scientific fact that people like to support the underdog and I set up Successful Blogging and wrote Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps so I could help more small business owners, even if I don’t actually design their website or blog.

So I’m thrilled the Successful Blogging book is now for sale in print and on Kindle from Amazon and to celebrate I’m having a blog consultation giveaway.

Anyone who buys either version of Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps during April will go into the draw to win one of three 30 minute blog consultations with me valued at $199 each.

So if you’ve been thinking about buying my book now’s a great time to do it.

How to Enter:

1. Buy Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps either in print or Kindle. Please keep your receipt as proof of purchase – you will be asked to show it if you win.

2. Leave a book  review in Amazon.

3. Leave a short comment here saying you’ve entered the giveaway.

Rules of entry:

1. Buy the book in print or Kindle from Amazon.

2. Leave a review on Amazon on or or before April 30th 2013. Do allow time to read the book before leaving your review and be honest. The giveaway is random and definitely not related to what you write in the review. The aim is to give real feedback on the book to me and other people who are interested in blogging decide if it’s right for them.

3. Leave a comment here. The three winners will be chosen from the comments at the end of this post. They will be emailed at the beginning of May and will be able to book their consultation after showing proof of purchase.

How the three blog consultation winners will be chosen:

I’ll use a random draw to pick winners from the comments then we’ll organise a good time for us both to talk via Skype or, if you prefer, you can call my on my landline or cell phone.

Is Print or Kindle Version Best for You?

If you’d like the chance to win a 30 minute blog consultation with me all you have to do is decide whether the print or Kindle version works best for you and buy the book.

Advantages of the Print Version:

The print version of Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps is a beautifully laid out course and workbook. You’ll be able to fill in the workbook section and use the book and your ideas as a resource for years to come.

The print version is slightly more expensive but it’s still great value for $25 because it should save you months of work and, if you’re blogging for business, help you grow your business and increase your income as fast as possible.

Pros and Cons of the Kindle Version:

The Kindle version is only $9.99 and will be delivered straight to your mobile device giving you immediate access. It has the same content as the print version in a slightly different format and can be bought either for you or as a gift.

Buy Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps Now

• Get it in print from Amazon.
• Get the Kindle version on Amazon.

Thank you. And good luck!

The post Blogging Consultation Giveaway for Kindle and Print Book Launch: on Now Until April 28th appeared first on Successful Blogging.

If you’re reading this you’re probably one of the thousands of bloggers who’s affected by Posterous shutting down and now ready to switch WordPress.

It’s stressful and sad when your bloggy home gets taken away but let’s focus on how you can use this change to improve your blog. Although Posterous is dying this is a chance for your blog to be reborn bigger and better than ever in WordPress.

So hopefully you’re ready to transfer your Posterous blog over to WordPress and get your own custom domain name because that way your blog that can never be taken away from you again.

It’s a hard lesson to learn about free blogging platforms like Posterous. Imagine that you come to work one day and find your office has gone. Vanished. Now there’s just an empty space that’s appeared and taken all your work, client contact details and client leads away.

That’s what happens when a free blogging service like Posterous closes. That’s what could even happen to your Facebook page or your Twitter account one day if someone reports it accidentally or if a hacker takes it over and it gets shut down.

So for Posterous bloggers there’s never been a better time to secure your own piece of Internet real estate, buy your domain name and transfer your blog there using WordPress. As regular readers will know I’ve been banging on about why I recommend WordPress for years so let’s not go there again.

Let’s just assume that you’re ready to take the plunge. You’re ready to switch your Posterous blog to WordPress and get your own domain name and hosting.

How to Transfer Your Blog from Posterous to WordPress

Here’s the official statement from Posterous:

“On April 30th, we will turn off posterous.com and our mobile apps in order to focus 100% of our efforts on Twitter. This means that as of April 30, Posterous Spaces will no longer be available either to view or to edit.

Right now and over the next couple months until April 30th, you can download all of your Posterous Spaces including your photos, videos, and documents.

Here are the steps:

1. Go to http://posterous.com/#backup.
2. Click to request a backup of your Space by clicking “Request Backup” next to your Space name.
3. When your backup is ready, you’ll receive an email.
4. Return to http://posterous.com/#backup to download a .zip file.

If you want to move your site to another service, WordPress offers importers that can move all of your content. Just remember: you need to back up your Spaces by April 30.”

If you have a Posterous blog download that .zip file now before you forget or your blog will be lost completely.

If you have time, patience and/or some technical knowledge you can probably work out how to get your blog set up in WordPress.

But if you want to save time and make sure it gets done right and is up and running as fast as possible we’d love to help.

Can We Help with Your Posterous to WordPress Switch?

From now until 30 April my WordPress-wrangling husband Rich Candy will get your old Posterous blog set up with a simple WordPress theme from $400 plus a monthly hosting fee.

That’s the base price which should be fine for most bloggers but it may cost slightly more if you have specific needs. To get a fixed quote for importing your Posterous blog to WordPress email me now. This service is likely to be quite popular given the deadline so if you want to get to the head of the queue email me today.

Once we’ve given you a quote if you decide to go ahead Rich will handle everything for you so your Posterous to self-hosted WordPress blog transfer is quick, easy and painless. He’ll even pick a free WordPress theme for you and install a couple of the most essential plug-ins to tighten up blog security and reduce comment spam.

But of course once you have your blog in WordPress you’ll be able to take advantage of over 18,000 free and open source plugins to extend the WordPress platform and customize your blog. That’s just one of the reasons we love WordPress and want to get your blog onto WordPress because we know you’ll love it too.

If you’re new to WordPress or have questions about buying a domain name or transferring your blog from Posterous to WordPress just email me. And if you’d like to get a quote for making the change from Posterous to WordPress email’s the best way to get in touch.

We’ve been helping people set up effective websites that stand the test of time for 15 years and we’d love to help you too.

This may be the end for Posterous but for your blog it should be the beginning on an exciting new reinvention.

The post Need Help Switching Your Posterous Blog to WordPress? appeared first on Successful Blogging.

Blessed as I am with a WordPress-wrangling husband who takes care of all the techie stuff I struggle with, we still had our share or blog hosting problems last year.

During 2012 both my WordPress blogs grew and, with increased traffic and content, became too high resource for our regular shared hosting. So we moved them to a Virtual Private Server which should have worked a treat but it didn’t. In fact it was a disaster.

As soon as we moved to the private server both Get In the Hot Spot and Successful Blogging started crashing repeatedly and, even though we stayed with them hoping to solve it, the hosting company couldn’t fix the problem long-term.

With so much downtime on my blogs we were losing traffic and credibility fast, so we looked around for a better option and found the web hosting company WP Engine* who specialise in WordPress hosting for blogs and websites.

WP Engine sounded like the perfect solution so we rehosted both blogs there and held our breath to see how things would work out. Thankfully Get In the Hot Spot and Successful Blogging have both been hosted at WP Engine for three months now with no problems or embarrassing crashes during that time.

Even if you’re happy with your current blog hosting company things can change as your blog grows and they may not be able to handle your account any more.

Blog hacking is becoming more and more of a problem with many bloggers finding their blogs offline for up to a week because of hacking. To avoid loss of income and reputation  you need to find a good blog host before you have any problems.

Here’s what you should be looking for in a web host and what WP Engine offers in case you’re looking for the rockstar treatment for your web hosting.

4 Keys to Great Blog Hosting and Why I Love WP Engine

1. Speed

If your blog is slow to load you’ll lose readers and you’ll be penalised by the search engines.

Fast hosting is essential and WP Engine is the fastest WordPress hosting option available because their servers are optimised for serving WordPress and they automatically compress elements like images which could slow your site download speed.

2. Security

You can find WordPress blog hosting options for under $10 and some are free but you get what you pay for.

Cheap blog hosting tends to be insecure, so your blog could easily be hacked. It’s much better to pay more for secure hosting so you avoid the hassle and expense of your blog getting hacked.

WP Engine hosting starts from $29 per month and automatically scans for, and fixes, many hacking attempts on your site. They guarantee to do everything possible to ensure your site won’t get hacked and if your site still gets hacked, they’ll fix it free.

WP Engine also back up your blog automatically so you can easily restore it if necessary.

3. Support

If all goes well you shouldn’t need support but if you do have problems WP Engine are totally geared to hosting WordPress blogs so they’ve already come across most problems and will be able to sort them out or tell you how to fix them.

Meanwhile cheaper blog hosting options usually have poor or no support.

Many web designers offer a hosting service so ask them who they host with and expect to pay a bit more because they should organise everything for you and offer personal support if anything goes wrong.

4. Stability

As your blog grows and gets more traffic regular hosting probably won’t deliver the stability you need and if you get a big traffic spike after guest posting, or because a blog post goes viral, your site will probably crash at the worst possible time.

Cheaper hosting is often unreliable and, as we found, even having your own Virtual Private Server can be problematic too.

Other Benefits of WordPress Blog Hosting with WP Engine

Having tried and tested WP Engine  it definitely delivers on those four keys to great blog hosting and offers a few more benefits including:

• Staging – so you or your web designer can develop a new blog or a blog update while the old blog is still live then switch it over when you’re ready with minimal down time and problems.
• Rehosting help – they’ll help you switch from your old blog hosting company to WP Engine.
• Free Back Ups - a one-click backup and restore option is available free with blog hosting.
• No contracts – so you’re free to leave if and when you want.

WordPress Blog Hosting Costs with WP Engine

WP Engine WordPress blog hosting rates start from $29 per month for blogs with up to 25,000 unique visitors per month and all hosting comes with a 60 day money back guarantee so if you’re not happy you can get a refund.

WP Engine isn’t the cheapest blog hosting option around but, having tried and researched most other options it is the best. By hosting your blog with WP Engine you’ll get peace of mind and stability leaving you to do what you do best: writing more great content and promoting your blog posts.

Not all bloggers can be blessed with a WordPress-wrangling husband but the best WordPress blog hosting is available for all at WP Engine and it’s worth paying a bit extra for.

Please note: I rarely promote products but am an affiliate WP Engine because I’ve tried and tested their hosting service so I’m happy to recommend it. If you check out WP Engine, like what you see and sign up I’ll get a referral fee. Any income created is used to maintain Successful Blogging to help make YOUR blog effective. If you decide to run with my recommendation and use my affiliate link you’ll be helping me help you so I appreciate that. Thank you. If not or if you’re happy with your existing hosting that’s great too. Either way I’ll be back soon with more blogging tips.

• Click here to find out more about WP Engine.
• Click here to find out about our blog design services.
• Click here to book a blog consultation.

Still Confused About Blog Hosting?

Oh, and if you’re not sure if WP Engine is right for you or are confused about hosting options feel free to email me clearly explaining what you’re worried about, where you host now, how much you pay and include a link to your blog.

Then my husband, Rich Candy or I will look into it and let you know if WP Engine is right for you or not because we want to make sure you get the best advice and every blog is unique.

The post WordPress Blog Hosting: Why You Need the Rockstar Treatment and How to Get it appeared first on Successful Blogging.

Are you using blogging to start or grow your freelance or consultation business?

There are many ways to monetize blogs but blogging for business is the fastest and most lucrative if you have products or services to sell.

I started blogging four years ago to learn blogging and social media so I could help my web design clients but I didn’t expect blogging to get me any new business. So I followed my passion and started a travel blog.

It took a while to grow but when it did take off I noticed that, even though I wasn’t blogging about business or online marketing, readers started getting in touch to ask if I could help them with web design or copywriting.

I’d had my own business for eight years before I started blogging but I could never get a job unless I met a client face to face. Now people were emailing me from all over Australia and as far away as the USA and the UK which surprised me because some of the travel stories I shared, like the one where I suffered sleep paralysis while staying on a Greek Island and ran out of my hotel room naked, were hardly the type of thing that screamed professional.

What I realised was that these new clients didn’t care about my qualifications or work experience, they were more interested in my personal experiences. Some of my stories resonated with them and made them feel as if they’d met a kindred spirit.

So that’s how I started to see the power of blogging for myself and why I’m passionate about helping other people learn about it.

Why Blogging Works for Freelancers and Consultants

Blogging for business is a cost-effective and effective marketing tool which helps you:

• Find and convert clients.
• Retain them and get repeat business.
• Improve your search engine ranking for specific keywords people are using to look for what you offer.

Unlike a static website, a regularly updated blog entices people back. Blogging keeps your business to mind so when people need your services they automatically think of you. It enables permission marketing when people subscribe to your blog and turns readers into a marketing team who spread the word about you.

Since realising that I’ve started focusing more on using my blogs to help me get more business and I’ve got five main tips that have helped me grow my business through blogging that will also help you.

Blogging Tips for Freelancers and Consultants

1. Create a great first impression

I’m not that good at maths but it seems like there are a zillion great photographers, accountants and copywriters out there. So you need to make yourself stand out from the crowd before you even get to say a word.

I wrote a post for Copyblogger about How to Captivate New Readers in 5 Seconds or Less because that’s how long you’ve got to create the right first impression online and make people want to find out more. You have less than five seconds to convince a new blog visitor you’re credible and your blog is worth reading. Otherwise you’ll never see them again.

Making fast decisions is as much a question of survival now as it was back in the caveman days when people had to make split second decisions about whether to spear the woolly mammoth that was bearing down on them or to make a run for it and go back to the cave hungry but alive.

These days there’s so much information vying for our attention that it would be impossible to get anything done if we didn’t make fast decision. We do it all the time without even thinking about it. If you’ve ever seen a headline on Twitter and clicked it or visited a blog then left straight away without reading any posts you’ve done it too.

The other thing about first impressions is that they count. Once someone’s made up their mind about something it’s very hard to get them to change it so you need to make sure you create a great first impression straight away.

Here’s how to create a great first impression:

• Be consistent – Check all your online profiles including your About page. You never know where people will find you online or which page of your site people will see first. Your profile photos don’t need to be exactly the same but use a smiling photo of yourself and make sure your branding and tone are consistent everywhere. Be aware that branding isn’t just the colors you choose, it’s about what you say, how you say it and who you associate with. Successful businesses and blogs evolve constantly so your online profiles need to reflect that and be up to date. Update your blog regularly and aim for quality over quantity. Posting once a week or fortnight is fine. Post monthly if that’s all you can manage but stick to a schedule to get you in the swing of it and establish a body of work. Otherwise you may appear uncommitted and undisciplined.

• Be clear – People scan things online. New blog visitors have three main questions: What’s this blog about? Who writes it? And What do I get out of reading it? Make sure a quick scan of your photo, slogan and blog headlines makes that obvious and be clear about the services you offer. They’re web readers, not mind readers. Concise wording and benefit-rich headlines help readers know instantly if they’re in the right place. Format your static pages such as about, hire me and all your blog posts. Choose a big, readable font and keep pages short and scannable. Use short paragraphs, watch your grammar and punctuation and avoid exclamation marks.

• Be minimalist – If you’re not confident with blog design less is more. Like kitchen drawers blogs tend to accumulate clutter overtime. You start off with simple, clean design, then add a few links, a couple of widgets and some banner then suddenly your sleek design has become a confusing mess. Clean up your side bars and be sure to leave white space where readers can rest their eyes. Clients don’t care about the widgets, subscriber numbers and blog rolls that we bloggers love. Avoid advertisements – you’re selling yourself, not someone else’s product and unless you make a good income from advertisements they’re probably costing you more money in lost business. Avoid distracting animations and big images which slow download times too.

• Be client-focused - Remember that a lot of the things we add to our blogs aren’t important to your target clients just to other bloggers. What new readers and prospective clients will notice is basic stuff like if every single post is showing zero comments. Make sure you have at least one comment on every post or turn your comments off because zero comments might make you look like a zero. Make sure you get and respond to comments.

• Be professional – A professional blog design will make a huge difference and boost your confidence as well as your readers confidence in you. If you don’t have the budget for it spend time learning how to create an attractive blog and keep it as clean and professional as possible.  Use WordPress and choose a free theme but do buy your own domain name and be prepared to invest a small fee in that and hosting fees. Once you’ve got some work and proven your business is viable you can start reinvesting in branding and blog design. Always credit images – you’re a professional so you need to behave like one and make sure your blog looks as good as you are. Unfortunately if your site looks boring, amateur, or cheap, that’s how you’ll be perceived.

2. Share Compelling Content

Sticking to a niche is important to show people that you’re really passionate about what you do and focused on it 100%.

After people have checked out your blog design, your logo, slogan and the photo of you they’ll start scanning your blog post headlines looking for specific information. So you need to make sure that 90% of your blog posts are focused around one theme that ties your blog together.

If you’re a freelance writer, photographer or stylist you don’t necessarily have to blog about that niche. You can blog about anything as long as it’s not x-rated and interests you enough that you can keep blogging about it long-term.

Most people will only ever see the headline of your blog post, either on your blog, on Twitter or Facebook or even in your email newsletter so you need to write compelling headlines if you want people to click on them. The headline is the most important part of your blog posts so you need to spend time working on them. Don’t be afraid to run with tried and tested formulas to begin with like:

• Numbered lists – eg. 101 Ways to be a Happy Traveller
• How to posts – eg. How to use Twitter as a motivational tool
• Best or Worst posts – eg.  Best and worst things about living in Australia
• Why…. posts – eg. Why I’ll Never Quit Commenting on Other Blogs
• Other questions – eg. Do You Need a Mobile Friendly WordPress Blog?

Copyblogger and Jon Morrow both share headline formulas you can start with if you’re not confident in that area.

But remember compelling headlines will get people to your site but you have to deliver on that promise.

3. Get Personal, be Local

Remember how I discovered the power of personal stories for helping people get to know me and build trust? So will you.

There are thousands of photographers, wedding planners and social media gurus out there and the best point of difference is YOU.

You may be happy sharing all the gory details of your life and family but you don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. Personal stories can be a funny thing that happened to you in the supermarket yesterday or a childhood memory. As long as you relate them back to your niche and keep them relevant to your audience, personal stories should be a mainstay of your blog and something you include in every blog post.

It’s not easy to share useful tips, focus on a niche and share a personal story at the same time but the best bloggers do that and you can too with practice. You can find more tips in my Free Personal Writing Magic ebook.

Personal stories are the magic touch that create a connection with people which makes them actually want to work with you and get in touch with you.

It’s also easier to stand out from the crowd if you aim local and that can make your search engine optimisation easier too.

In theory people can work with you where ever you are but they may not be comfy with that. It’s far easier to aim for local business and get a good search engine ranking for “tax accountant Manly” than for “tax accountant Sydney” or “tax accountant Australia”.

4. Build Trust

The easiest way to build trust is to keep blogging regularly. Focusing on your niche and telling personal stories will all help but being constant and consistent is the key.

Be true to yourself. As a blogger we get email requests all the time for guest posts, paid posts or reviews and link requests. If something doesn’t feel right to you it probably isn’t and in the scheme of things a few dollars for writing a review are nothing compared to how much you’d earn from selling your own product or service to readers who know and trust you totally.

We’ve talked about how personal stories build trust and you can take that to the next level by using photographs, audio files or videos to create that bond and trust faster.

Commit to blogging and be patient because you won’t see results overnight and trust takes time to build.

5. Promote Yourself With Pride

Self-promotion is hard for many consultants and freelancers so let’s start with the basics. Make sure you advertise what you do clearly on your blog. Here are some ways to do that:

• Make sure you have a Hire Me page to let people know that you want to work with them.
• Add a footer to each blog post reminding people what you do and how to get in touch.
• Create an email signature – you can make a plain text version in Gmail or use WiseStamp for something fancier – including your job description.
• Use those media mentions and testimonials – they’re a great form of social proof.
• Build your email list. Repeat exposure is key so when people actually need a photographer or book-keeper you’re the first person they think of. If you collect email addresses for a newsletter people are giving you permission to market to them. Don’t abuse that but do get in the habit of sending regular promotional emails (say monthly) with a special offer or promoting a new service. Every time you do that you’ll get a flurry of unsubscribes but that’s normal. Some people will never buy from you and as a freelancer or consultant you probably couldn’t handle it if they all did.
• Talk about your work – There are plenty of ways to promote yourself without being overtly promotional. Share case studies, write blog posts about growing your business or offer a free consult to one commenter who says in 25 words or less what they most need help with.

Now you know the essentials of blogging to market your freelance or consultancy business go forth and practice. In time your confidence will grow, you’ll start enjoying it and you’ll get good at it.

Stick with it, follow these blogging tips and your business will fly.

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