Looking like a “newbie” was something that held me back from starting my first blog. I was terrified everyone would immediately see my “newness” and click away and I would never grow as a blogger. Which is why now after almost 2 years of blogging and 2 pretty successful blogs I want to share the 9 ways to avoid looking like a new blogger.
But before we get into these tips for new bloggers I want to make sure you understand that looking like a new blogger is NOT a valid reason to not start blogging!
These tips are meant to make you feel more confident in your blog and start growing your blog traffic right away. It is totally fine and normal for your blog to look new when it’s new!
But if you want to put a little extra effort into not letting your blog look new then it will help your blog traffic grow faster. So keep reading for these ways to avoid looking like a new blogger. Avoiding these blogging mistakes is how I was able to get 100k+ blog views monthly after just one year of blogging!
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9 Easy Ways To Avoid Looking Like A New Blogger
1: Don’t stay on the free platform.
This is the #1 expense that I recommend new bloggers invest in.
I don’t say everyone has to immediately go self hosted especially if technology isn’t your strong suit! But most bloggers really recommend it so keep an open mind.
The main thing is to invest in either a package through wordpress or a self hosting site so that you don’t have .wordpress or .blogger at the end of your url!
2: Find a theme you will love long term.
It is so tempting to switch around themes until you find the “perfect one” and that is important but it’s better to commit one hour to trying out a bunch of themes right away.
Try out all the ones you are interested in and find one that will work long term. Think about when you have lots of posts and your sidebar perfected- what do you want your blog to look like? Find that theme and stick with it!
If people go back to your blog once a week and it’s always a different theme then that is confusing and screams “I’m a new blogger!”.
3: Learn to create graphics.
I would argue the main thing that makes my blog posts look professional is the graphics!
It took a few months but mastering Canva was worth the time and effort. It makes your posts look professional and good graphics creates natural divides throughout your posts that make them more readable.
Plus- when you get better at graphics you can share them on Pinterest which will majorly help boost your blog traffic.
4: Set up social media accounts for your blog.
When I find a blog and like it I immediately go to check out their social platforms so I can follow them!
So it’s annoying when they don’t have any which also means I will probably never see any of their new posts because I can’t follow you.
Take the time to make the main social media accounts for your blog to avoid looking like a new blogger. I recommend making accounts for: Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
5: Make sure your blog has all the legal disclaimers.
Privacy policies, affiliate disclaimers, terms and conditions, and cookie policy are all necessary parts to your blog.
You may think you can wait until your blog is being monetized to get those disclaimers and policies but that is not the case! You can purchase those policies online for affordable prices and for affiliate disclaimers make sure you read all the rules of each affiliate program you are apart of.
6: Be careful with your ads.
Yes, you want to make money blogging. We all do!
However- you have to be careful with ads. By having too many ads on your site you make your site unreadable and people don’t want to deal with closing out of ads constantly.
You also need to make sure you are using a reputable ad service. If you don’t then you can quickly end up with inappropriate ads without even realizing it!
7: Start an email list ASAP.
This is one I learned the hard way- I didn’t start really starting my email list until about 1 year into blogging and I regret it!
(Also…join my email list below!)
But join an email list source like ConvertKit (which I use and LOVE) and make a couple landing pages. It’s worth the effort to start building your email list right away.
And when you don’t have one you automatically look like a newbie blogger.
8: Focus on high quality over quantity.
Pushing out 2 blog posts a day is tempting when you first start blogging because you want a lot of content.
But writing quick, sloppy posts makes you look like a new blogger and won’t help you build an engaged audience that wants to return.
So focus on writing 2-3 high quality posts a week and slowly building your content. I would rather follow someone that puts out 1 amazing post a week then 7 mediocre ones!
9: Make your site searchable.
The final tip I have for avoiding looking like a new blogger is to make sure your site is searchable.
That includes having a search bar on every page (usually a side bar works best), having clear categories, and using keyword tags. But with the tags don’t go overboard. Just use the words that people would search for related to that post- I recommend using 3-5 tags per post.
Blogging is such a fun and exciting activity and the rush of starting a new blog is one of my favorite things! But if you want to start growing right away then follow these helpful 9 ways to avoid looking like a new blogger!
For more blogging tips check out my 5 favorite blogging posts:
- Before You Post: Blog Post Checklist
- 7 Myths About Blogging
- How To Brainstorm Blog Post Ideas
- 15 Blog Post Ideas For Any Niche
- How To Make Your Blog Posts Readable
Korra-Shay
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