This post may contain affiliate links.
Do you know the saying, “It takes one to know one”? Â Well here I am, a blogging newbie giving you some invaluable tips that I have learned in my first few months of blogging.
Even though I am a Faith-Blogger I feel these tried and true tips can be helpful to writers in any niche. Â I have realized that there is a tremendous amount of investigating and studying involved with starting a blog. Â You never really learn everything, because like anything else blogging is continually changing. Â What may have worked 3 years ago is now obsolete. Â In order not to be left behind you have to stay up to date with the trends of the blogging community. Â With that being said, here are 6 things that I have learned in the past 3 months that been super helpful and that I’m still trying to fully implement.
6 Tips for the Blogging Beginner
-
Your Photos need to be the Right Size –Â
Ever post a picture to your blog only to realize that after publishing it is blurry or is larger than your actual post? Â Maybe it is bite-sized and you need a magnifying glass to see it. Â Â This means you aren’t uploading the photo in the correct size. Â Do a little research on your blog theme layout and find out what the dimensions are for your header, post, and sidebar are and make some changes to your images.
Perhaps you don’t have Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop so you might be wondering how you can resize a photo without buying these programs.  No need to worry.  I don’t own those programs either.  I use a free resource called Lunapic.  It is fairly easy to use and edits photos in a snap.  It gives you the option to download the finished product in either PDF or PNG format.  PNG looks the best so that is what I recommend.
Another thing that I am learning is that photos that are uploaded in their original size are usually fairly large.  Large is anything over 1000 px.  It may look something like 4400 x 2240…this size image eats up large quantities of your site bandwidth and makes your blog super slow when trying to open.  That is a big no-no and one I’m still working on myself.
-
Your Graphics Need to be Pinterest Friendly –
You can make Pinterest friendly photos on Canva.  It’s free and awesome!  Canva is a user-friendly graphic making machine.  All you need to do is create a profile and choose a template of the graphic you’ll be creating.  There are tons of photos to choose from, appealing fonts to use, and they take the guess work out of finding the right size because they are perfectly sized for whatever platform you will be posting to.
When making graphics for your blog I recommend using either a Pinterest template or a Tumblr template because vertical graphics do better on Pinterest.  Make sure that your font is large and easy to read.  You may not even use Pinterest yet so you might be wondering why I’m making so many references to it.  Pinterest is a great way to drive traffic to your blog and you should be taking full advantage of it.  If however you are uncomfortable with that platform or just haven’t gotten around to starting an account my advice is to still make your graphics Pinterest worthy so that your visitors are able to pin your posts to THEIR Pinterest boards.  That makes it a win-win for everyone!
-
Sign up to Gravatar –Â
Ever wonder why when you comment on someone else’s post other users have their friendly photo pop up and yours only shows your name or a generic pic? Gravatar is a simple site that you can sign up to that creates a photo image for when you are commenting on other blogger’s sites.
Commenting on other blogs in your niche will build friendships and spark interest from other commenters.  Having a recognizable photo is an awesome place to start.  I know that when I am visiting other blogs I will often browse who is commenting so that I can visit their blog too.  More often than not I’ll click on the ones that have an image and ditch the ones that don’t.  Your friendly face will create interest and may bring some attention to your blog.  Gravatar is a resource that can be easily overlooked and I’m kind of surprised that I don’t hear more about it.
-
Get a Cohesive Look for Your Blog and Social Media –Â
While this isn’t a huge deal I find that it really does wonders when trying to attract an audience. Â There are oodles of options out there so you can get super creative with your blog look. Â One of my favorites is Creative Market. Â They have an ginormous (yes that’s a word lol) selection of fonts, stock images, blog themes, and more to choose from. Â For those of you who are willing to invest a little money into your blog they have some of the most aesthetically appealing items out there. Â However, even if you are going the free route Creative Market has something you’ll just love. Â If you sign up with them they will send you free downloads every Monday in your email. Â I’ve already accumulated quite a font and photo collection thanks to them.
While there are hundreds (maybe even thousands) of places to go for a nice looking blog theme, Creative Market showcases some stunners for awesome prices. Â Just make sure you do your homework and pick a theme that offers all of the features you want for your blog. Â Pick a color you love. Â Choose some fonts that appeal to you. Â Then make sure your blog, graphics, logo all fit nicely together and use that same color scheme for your Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram posts. Â It will make your “brand” a recognizable and memorable one! Â I wrote a pretty lengthy post about branding that will help you tons!
-
Break Up Your Paragraphs –
So sometimes you come across a blog and you start reading and your eyes begin to get blurry and your mind starts to wander. Â The text starts jumbling together and you wonder why…you like this blog and want to finish this post! Â There are no photos, no paragraphs, no line breaks…it’s all one large paragraph. Â You HAVE TO break these babies up into small paragraphs with white space between. Â Use different size fonts, headings, sub-headings, photos…anything to break up the monotony. Â PS. Â I’m learning this myself lol.
-
Be Sociable –Â
Get out there and make some friends.  Comment on the blogs you subscribe to, join some link-up parties, and make friends with people on social media.  If you haven’t subscribed to Milk & Honey Faith yet you are missing out on a valuable tool that will connect you with other Christian Bloggers.  If you haven’t started collecting emails I must suggest that you do so immediately by setting your blog up with an email provider like Mail Chimp.  They are free until you reach 2000 subscribers.  There is nothing like recieving emails from new like-minded friends.  It’s truly refreshing!
…
I really truly hope that at least one (or all) of these tips helped you in some way. Â I know that I had to do lots of homework before I found this stuff out for myself. Â I’ve saved you the leg-work. Â If you have a new blog please comment so I can stop in and see how you are doing on your journey and give you some encouragement. Â I want to see those pretty new Gravatar pics ; )
If you are looking for a resource that will teach you how to grow your blog without compromising your faith then I have the perfect solution.  My dear friend Carmen Brown wrote an eBook that you can download immediately so you can get your blog started with a solid plan.  I highly recommend “By His Grace We Blog” and only wish this book had been around when I started blogging.  It would have saved me hours of research and it would have kept me from wasting hundreds of dollars.  There’s nothing out there that I would recommend more than her eBook.  If you feel like you are going around in circles, Carmen’s book will help you get on the right track.  Buy yours today!
Many Blessings on your new endeavor,
Oh wow! I have been doing all of this wrong. Thank you so much for all your tips. Where do you get your stock photos? Is your site WordPress.com or WordPress.org?
Hey Karin,
I’m so glad this has been helpful to you. I get most of my stock images from Creative Market. They have tons of options for a fairly decent price. I also use Pexels for some free images and I also pay for some images on Canva. The only problem with getting images off of Canva or Pexels is you see those same images swimming around Blog Land pretty often lol.
Oh and I use WordPress.org
This was such a great post! Thank you for all the tips…as a new blogger I am just trying to soak it all up! I’ve never even heard of Gravatar! So I will get right on that, thank you!
Oh awesome Kelly!
Glory be to God! I’m so glad I found Gravatar. It seems like such an insignificant step yet it is so useful for commenting. Glad I could help! Let me know if you have any questions.
Natalie, thanks so much for this post! Super helpful. I didn’t know about the whole image size affecting the loading speed of your blog. Overall just really good article. Thank you for the links. I’m going to check out creative market. And I never even thought about using Pinterest to gain traffic for my page. Thanks again. God Bless.
What an awesome post and inspiring blog Natalie! May you grow from strength to strength and continue to glorify God.
Yours in Christ Jesus, Natalie xo
Thank you so much Natalie!
I’m thrilled that you stopped in and I can’t wait to see what you put together. Love you Sister-in-Christ!
You’re so very welcome Shi Marie,
I’m happy to have you and I’m just thrilled that this post has been informative. Pinterest absolutely rocks when it comes to driving traffic. I’m actually very close to signing up for Board-Booster so I can automate my pins. That will save me so much time!
Wow, you have no idea how much I wish that I had found this post a month ago… That leg work is no-joke when it comes to the blogging world! I too had to spend hours finding this stuff out on my own. ;D
On another note, what are those link-up parties you keep mentioning? I tried looking up a few of the ones you sent out on that list to other subscribers, but couldn’t quite figure them out…
Great post!
Oh Lydia,
How I wish someone had written one of these posts for me 3 months ago lol. It’s all good though, I’m happy to help other bloggers get to their sweet spot. As far as the link-up parties go I will send you an email about them : )
Great post Natalie, very informative. I have never heard of Gravatar, Lunapic, or Creative market. Thank you so much for the information. I was in the dark about photos and Pinterest too… great job!
Awesome Marie!
I’m thrilled that my tips have helped you. Yet, these are only the tip of the iceberg. Let me know if you have any questions : )
All I can say is yipes. 😛 You got me addicted to Canva! I am loving designing pictures and am afraid our bank account is not going to like me. Ha. Anyway, any tips on designing images in landscape instead of portrait? Or is that only after I subscribe?
Thanks so much for these tips! Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!
Hiya Tiffany!
I’m so glad that you are utilizing Canva because I truly think it’s one of the best resources out there for Bloggers. As for landscape or portrait…I’d have to say portrait…hands down. Vertical images stand out on Pinterest and that truly is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your blog. If you don’t really fancy having vertical images only, you can make multiple images for your posts. That way you have some for Pinterest and other Social Media platforms. I hope this helps ; )
Hi Natalie,
I have read many, many of these post about making your blog better, getting more traffic etc, but this one was really sweet and relate-able, especially as I am learning to master it myself. At least you are honest that you have areas to fix up too!. good job 🙂 and hope to continue to read more from you.
How sweet of you Sue!
I’m so glad you can relate to what I’ve posted. I know what it feels like to feel overwhelmed by all the info out there and just felt led to share the tips that have truly helped me. I’m still learning and will continue to learn : )
Thanks for the great post Natalie!! As a new blogger, I’m trying to learn as much as possible so this was super helpful.
You’re so very welcome Katelyn! All glory be to God!
I’m off to visit your blog : )
What does your average week look like when it comes to sharing your blog post on social media? What has worked best for you in terms of getting your message out there?
Hiya Karin,
Right now I’d say I average anywhere from 300-500 views a week. The more I promote on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter the higher my numbers go. I sometimes post to Facebook groups as well but only when I have the time to read and comment on other posts in the share threads. The same goes for link-up parties. I feel it’s important to engage as much as possible when I post that way I’m giving encouragement to other bloggers. I haven’t fully utilized Facebook yet because I haven’t launched my page and I am also very limited on Twitter. My main sources of traffic as of right now are Pinterest and Instagram. I also plan on sharing on Google+ again because I believe that can also be a good source of traffic that is generally overlooked.
Great tips and spot on! Blogging is a lot of work and learning, but it is an amazing tool to be used to spread some Jesus love.
Thanks so much Christa! I agree with you 100%. It’s one of the best ways to share the Gospel : )
Dear Natalie, this is a fabulous blog. I love the information that you are so kind to give for free. I blog, and have to say it has been challenging since, well I am just learning, and trusting God to help. I want to help women of Faith to harvest their faith. We all need encouragement, and I do feel God is leading me in this direction. Thank you for your information.
Thank you so much for your sweet words Virginia. It makes me so happy to hear that bloggers such as yourself are being encouraged by what they read here. Thank you for blessing me with your presence.
Hi Natalie!
I really enjoyed your post. Thank you for the tips! I thought your suggestions were great and I can’t wait to implement them into my blog
Hi there Cassidy : )
I’m so glad to be of some use. I pray success for your blog and ministry. It isn’t an easy calling but I applaud you for stepping out in faith.
Totally love your blog! Thanks for the tips as i am about to start a new nlog pretty soon.
That is awesome news! Please stay in touch so I know when you launch!
Awesome! Thanks so much for the tips. I am in the beginning stages and this is very helpful
How exciting Celestine! I can’t wait to see where the Lord leads you. I hope you stop by again soon : )
Right on! Thanks so much for the tips. I am in the “Deer in the Headlights” phase right now lol. So, very helpful post 🙂
Blessings
Ps. I set up a gravatar account (a bit ago), uploaded my profile pic, but doesn’t seem to show up. Not sure what I am doing wrong. :/
You’re so very welcome Paula! I’m so glad this article was helpful for you. It may have taken them a few minutes to upload your pic but I’m sure when you leave comments on sites who have this feature activated, your lovely pic will show up. I know this because I’m looking at you now!
LOVE THIS! Thank you for the tips 🙂
You are so very welcome Casey. I’m so glad that my thoughts on this subject could be of some use!
Awesome post! I found this post through your branding post in Pinterest! You’ve definitely hooked me! As a blogging newbie myself, this provided some great insight!
Thanks for the tips!
Tay
That’s awesome Tay!
I’m so thrilled that you have joined me. I hope to hear more from you soon : )
Thank you for sharing. This is so helpful. Please check out how I’m doing. I just stared. Thank you and God bless. Keep Flourishing! 😘
Hello! Thank you for stopping in! I’m on my way to pay you a visit : )
Hello Natalie! Thank you so much for all these useful information! I’ll take note everything. May God bless you more!😘
Praise the Lord! God bless you as well : )