I've never really done a post of
this nature before, but I'm hoping to write more on HN and hopefully
through that process we can all get to know each other better. To kick off my first word heavy post I'm going to talk about a few of my tips for simplifying your blog. Fair warning that I have a tendency to get a little rambly when I write to this extent. Anyway, here we go!
In
recent months I've done my best to make blogging on HN simpler. If
you've been following for a while you may have noticed some of the
changes I made, and although they were small, the ultimate outcome was a
blog that was much easier to write and also one that was simpler to
navigate. I made changes to the design of the blog, the pages on the
blog, the navigation links, and also with how I plan/schedule blog
posts. A lot of the changes I made on HN are easy and can be implemented on
your own blog to make your life easier too ;)
(Even if you have a custom layout a lot of these tips can still be implemented!)
1. Simplify Your Blog Design and Layout
When
it came to the design and layout of HN it used to be I was always
changing it because I was never happy with the look and always comparing
it to my favorite blogs. Nothing good ever comes out of comparing
yourself to others, and this is perhaps why I finally decided to just
simplify the design and layout. I opted for a monochromatic color scheme
of white, gray, and black. I love neutrals anyway, and a simple look
won't distract readers from the actual content on the blog.
I
also decided to keep the fonts used on HN to a minimum. I chose arial
because again, it's simple and won't distract from the content, and it's
also easily accessible on every platform or software. On any blog it's
important that the design of your blog doesn't compete your content
because that's a bit counterproductive. Go with you gut, pick a layout
that makes sense for you, and keep your color scheme simple.
2. Eliminate Unnecessary Work
On
my different pages I was making more work for myself than what was
necessary. It used to be I made buttons for all my outfits, projects,
recipes, and make-up posts because I didn't want my older posts getting
buried under more recent posts. I really liked the look of all the
thumbnails but the problem was that I had to make them all individually
(usually as I was preparing other photos for the post), and because I
made the thumbnails all separately the text was sometimes different
sizes and different widths and this resulted in a cluttered look. An
additional problem with the thumbnails is that they were all individual
pictures that made loading each page another problem altogether
especially if you were trying to view HN on your phone. In the end I
decided that having thumbnails was just more trouble than they were
worth. Now each page pulls up a feed instead and while it's more
difficult to navigate to older posts this way, they're still easily
accessible through my archives section, and I have much less work in
maintaining my pages and preparing for posts. Find a system that works
for you, for me it was labeling each post I wanted on a certain page
with a tag and assigning that tag to the page, easy peasy.
3. You Don't Have to Use Social Networking Icons
Another
change I made to HN recently was eliminating my navigation and social
networking icons. I now just use good ole' links. Why? I am not skilled
enough to make social networking icons on my own, and I'm not
comfortable with using someone else's property on my blog. My links are
easy to read and hard to miss when you visit my blog, and that's what was
important to me. Maybe it doesn't look as pretty to some, but I don't
mind it, and again I don't have to worry about borrowing someone else's
images. If you do want to use social networking icons on your blog be sure that they are easy to find, and clearly display with social networking site they correlate to (If you're like me and don't want to use someone's button's without their permission you can purchase some
here). I like to put my links directly under my welcome picture and caption since chances are people are looking there initially anyway.
4. Schedule and Plan Your Blog Posts
An
additional thing I've been working on is both planning and scheduling
blog posts in advance. I like to do this the old fashion way with pen
and paper. I jot down all my ideas regarding HN from outfit ideas to
recipes in a designated notebook. I try to plan things out a month at a time. My goal is to post
at least twelve to fifteen posts every month. There are a couple
features that I post monthly like wishlists and five things, and then
there's outfit posts that I share several times a month. Wishlists and Remixes can
be scheduled well ahead of time, and if I'm far enough ahead in my plans
so can 5 Things. Lately I've been doing my best to take at least two
outfit photo sessions at once so I can more easily schedule those as
well (this also helps me not have to worry about fixing my hair and
make-up every single day). Being organized this way makes me feel more
productive and also takes the pressure of having to come up with
something to post every other day. I'm more likely to meet my 12-15 post goal I set for myself, and it makes me feel like
the content stays more consistent. Planning and scheduling ahead of time
also gives me more time to think about what I'm writing or what I have
to say. This is a learning process but I definitely feel like the
content on HN has improved since I started planning and scheduling.
Since
I began simplifying and scheduling posts more regularly I have seen a
lot of things improve on HN, (although I can't promise this doesn't also
correlate to me being more active on social platforms) I experienced a
small increase in readers, I gained followers on my social networking sites, and I experienced my first sponsorship with
Chadwicks and
Metrostyle.
Blogging is definitely a learning process and if you have a blog
yourself it's important to understand that like most things, there is no
one right way to do something. Blogging is a growing field and you'll find advice about it all over the place. Try a few things and find what works for you!
I'm hoping to discuss a little bit more about blogging in the future so if you have any questions or points to add I'd love to hear what you have to say.
-Reagan
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