5 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level

1. SELF HOSTED EMAIL ADDRESS

One of the quickest and most widely effective ways to take your blog to the next level is to set up a custom domain email address. Subconsciously, when your readers see ‘[email protected]’ they automatically question your legitimacy and authority on the topics that you speak about. Self hosted email addresses are a small investment and render a large return!

Related: Setting up your custom domain email.

2. NETWORK AND CONNECT WITH OTHERS

Nathalie Lussier has this great catch phrase: “A rising tide lifts all boats”. I love that one because it really highlights the way in which connecting with others and working together can produce amazing results and in the long run it helps everyone! Some of the best networking I have done comes from connecting with others on Facebook groups. Some of my favourites include:

Savvy Business Owners – This is a private group for women who are or want to be Savvy Business Owners, hosted by Heather Crabtree.
For Love + Money – Hosted by Cailtin Bacher, this is a great, supportive community.
Brand IT Girls Connected – Brand IT Girl Connected is hosted by yours truly and it is a place to share and connect with other lady bloggers and business owners!

 

3. GIVE YOUR ABOUT PAGE A MAKE OVER

Your about page is one of the most frequently visited places your readers browse, so make sure it’s up to scratch!

There is nothing worse that finding an awesome blog and then when you delve deeper into the person behind it, you get hit with a half-hearted about page, a coming soon notice or worse, a broken link! This is your chance to really introduce yourself, tell your readers who you are and why they should listen to you! It’s prime real estate and with some easy little tweaks, you can get you about page looking great and have it go to work for you!

Related: Check out this guide to creating a stellar about page that engages your readers!

4. DESIGN A KILLER OPT-IN OFFER

One of the best ways to level up your blog game is to provide your readers with a way to stay connected with what you are doing without putting in too much effort. Mailing lists are great for this, because you can reach the readers that really care about what you are saying by speaking to them in their inbox. But getting people to sign up in the first place can be a challenge.

People love getting something for nothing (or almost nothing). So creating a killer opt-in offer is a great way to entice people into leaving their email addresses.

Some great opt-in ideas include:

• Creating a workbook or e-guide to something you know a lot about.
• Worksheets can be really helpful in giving your readers clarity on a specific topic.
• Give away a list of your favourite resources.
• Give away a few of you guarded secrets that have helped you to be the fabulous self that you are!

The main thing to consider when you are designing an opt-in offer is what will truly help your readers. Start by thinking about who you want to sign up to your opt in and then consider what problems, questions or needs that they have. Your opt-in offer needs to create the value for them, otherwise they won’t bother sharing their email address with you.

A great way of identifying what sort of opt in your readers want is to ask them! Perhaps on the blog itself, or maybe on your social media channels.

5. CLEAN UP YOUR SIDEBAR

The sidebar makes it or breaks it for me. It you have an overly monetized sidebar or perhaps an overly messy and cluttered sidebar, I will very quickly leave your site. I find these kinds of sidebars to be super distracting!

There are a huge array of sidebar widgets that you can use on your WordPress site to help create a beautiful sidebar, so there is no excuse for presenting your readers with a mess!

Related: 21 Widget to Dress Up your WordPress Sidebar.

Down times are a great opportunity to take your blog to the next level and with just a little effort and a few changes, you can reinvigorate your blog easily!