Type-A Tips: Grow Your Blog in 10 Minutes a Day
Warning: These spreadsheets are “editable,” which means you can copy and paste them into a spreadsheet for yourself. It also means that you can delete and rewrite the content. Please copy and paste the content into a new template, don’t overwrite the existing content!
You’ll want to start here and make a spreadsheet of your blog posts. Spreadsheets are Type-A, I know. Trust me on this–it’ll make your life so much easier. Why would you want to create an index for your blog posts? A few reasons.
- Quickly share on your social channels during certain seasons and holidays
- Easily find links when other bloggers ask for them (to link to in their posts)
- Reference and link to when writing new content
Here’s the template for the Pinterest Board spreadsheet I mentioned in my session. It’s a lifesaver when you need to keep track of what you pin where or find out how many followers a board has without scrolling through all of your boards.
Buffer is the social media managing app that I use and highly recommend. I rarely recommend paid products to my community, so if I do… you know it’s amazing. If you have questions about Buffer, click here to see their FAQs. Still have questions? Buffer is super helpful on Twitter.
And lastly, here’s the link to my 10 Minutes a Day schedule. The key to being successful with your 10 minutes a day is to focus on one task, so that’s where the spreadsheet comes in–it’s your plan.
Questions? Want to chat more? I’m happy to help. Take a look at my blog tutorials, tweet me or send me an email and I’d love to chat!
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- Design basics Check your sidebars often – remove anything that’s not working for you. Make sure your photo is updated and that your contact information stays at the top.
- Keep a spreadsheet of your posts. Use it for social sharing and to have a place to quickly reference your “old” posts so you can link within. Action item: Beginning a spreadsheet (by copying and pasting my template in Google Docs, from a private link on my blog) that you can devote 10 minutes a day to. Once you’re done, you’ll have a place to store trackable links, post descriptions, and sharing stats.
- Join support groups. While I’m going to guess that 90% of these groups are on Facebook, I know a few still run through email and I’m seeing more and more on G+ every day. These blogging havens can be a place where you bounce ideas off of one another, spread the word about one another’s best posts, and share blog opportunities from PR contacts (after you’ve asked to share). If you can’t find any that are a perfect fit for you, create one! Look within your niche, town or state, or others who started blogging around the same time as you. Action item: Search Facebook or G+ for “blogging groups” or create a group of your own.
- Connect with other bloggers by leaving comments on their blog. Nothing spreads bloggy love like a kind comment, but we often don’t have time to comment on other blogs–it’s an awful cycle. Action item: Spend 10 minutes a day visiting your favorite blogs. You have them all bookmarked, right?
- Write quality content, and update previous posts. Those awesome posts that you wrote two years ago? I’m betting that your skills have grown since then. Action item: Head back to those posts and refresh them–add SEO, make a pinnable image out of the current photos or take some new ones, and edit your text a bit. Of course, don’t forget to start sharing it again!
- Don’t underestimate SEO. We’re bloggers. We want to blog–that’s it. Why waste time on SEO? Right?
Wrong.
Have you heard the phrase, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket?” I hear a lot of bloggers talk about how they have so many Pinterest links, Facebook shares, and email subscribers that they don’t need to SEO their posts for traffic. But what if Pinterest or Facebook are gone tomorrow? What if your email service loses all of your subscribers? I know this is a stretch, but seriously–don’t you want to diversify your pageviews?
Action item: Download an SEO plugin and fill in at least 3 fields with every post.
- Share your content without using a plugin. Let’s talk about Buffer. And your spreadsheet.
- Share content that’s not your own. Buffer has a “feeds” tool where you can add the RSS feeds of your favorite sites, making it super easy to share their content. Also, the “suggestions” tab is another way to share great content that’s not your own. I find the posts that are often shared the most on Facebook come from Buffer’s “suggestions” tab.
- Get social.
Pinterest: Repin your content to different boards at different times. Pin to fast-moving boards multiple times.
Facebook: Switch to your blog Facebook page and leave comments and “like” other blogger’s updates.
Twitter: Use hashtags to find new bloggers and influencers to connect with. Follow new accounts and interact with tweets you see–remember, it’s not interrupting if you’re on twitter!
It’s best to stick with one social network every day (for 10 minutes) so you don’t become distracted.
10. Higher education Podcast, webinars, books – there is always something to learn. There’s also always something to share – write an ebook!
