9 Tips from 10 Years of Blogging… What I’ve Learned

Believe it or not, this blog is 10 years old! Whoop whoop.

Technically it was also my business (andy kinsey designs) back when it was started but that still counts and its gone through 101 different guises. Every few 6 to 12 months it’s had an overhaul, as my experimental playground – I mean what SEO wouldn’t on a site they have 100% free reign on – and it’s changed domain a few times because of hacking, change of platform being really complex (really don’t ask) and recently this year because I decided to just be me not a brand.

So, today I want to share some tips I’ve learned from blogging for business to celebrate 10 years of blogging.

Tips for Blogging

Pretty Doesn’t Matter, CONTENT IS KING
Above I said that I have changed the design of this site, overhauled it, changed platform – I’ve had much fun with it and much stress – I change its design continuously and get obsessed with little stupid details for conversion rates and clicks. But none of that matters if no-one is reading the content and getting to the site in the first place. It stands to reason then CONTENT IS KING. In my mind it always has been king, and it’s something Google has long thought of too – moving people away from their spammy antics of crappy links towards being clearly authoritative in their own right. In 2014 I wrote about compelling content for the second time on the Boagworld Blog, you can check out how to write compelling content here (and yes it’s still highly relevant).
What’s Relevant Now Won’t Be Relevant Then, Update & Cull
I was always hugely proud of having wrote over 800 articles on this site, they were all still live and many doing really well. However overtime content becomes old and soggy – it becomes irrelevant even some ‘evergreen content’ can feel stale. Earlier this year I reviewed almost every piece of content and either updated it, or culled it with a redirect to a more relevant article or category – this later move also can allow you to redefine your traffic flow through your website to more important page and blogs.
People Love Pictures
A blog isn’t complete without a picture (or two), honestly people adore photos and want to share them – thats why social media has them so large across their statuses. So add one or two and make them stand out. Obviously, try to make it relevant – unlike this picture which is just a cute cat…
Blogging Gives Back What You Give
The blogging and world of internet communities give back what you give to them. The more you blog the more you will get, be that traffic, shares and love. The more you spend time in facebook groups or forums helping people the more you will get help yourself or support for your own work when you need it. Karma gives back wonderfully on the internet.
Be Real … People are reading your blog for you!
I know all too well how much people love operating as businesses there is a sense of security and scale that comes with it, but honestly people don’t come to most blogs for that. They come to my blog because of my decade of experience, knowledge and skill – the same reasons they go to the blogs of Pat Flynn, Janet Murray, Paul Boag and 101 other people, not that for a second I would compare myself to those great folk. But my point is it’s about being you and not being a business, it’s about being authentic and talking as yourself and not being corporate, not pretending to be some massive organisation when it’s you and a few helpers perhaps (or even just you at times). Be open and honest.
Give Quality NOT Quantity
This year I decided to only blog quality and not just blog every few days or week because I felt I had too. This blog has taken 2 weeks to pull together because my life has been busier than normal – it’s late but I decided rather than rush to give you the best I could. I want my blog to offer the best advice it can. Quality trumps quantity – its what makes you an authority and not someone else. It’s what makes people come back to your blog.
It’s better to niche down and excel
One great thing I’ve learnt over the years is that when blogging with a site that’s been around for a while, if you niche down for a while it becomes easier to rank for the terms in that niche. It’s really cool as an idea and it generally works, it doesn’t always work as easy with some terms but often it does. Two terms over the past year I found success with were ‘Online SEO Courses‘ and ‘SEO Tips for Photographers‘ – I’ve done it before with many other niches not even related to this industry like coffee, and then spun off the rankings I gained into microsites and sold them as business interests. It’s a great way to grow a passive business as well as a ranking base.
Use Reliable Hosting
Honestly, awesome hosting with ~~fucking shit hot~~ great support will not only mean your site is fast and reliable but you don’t have to worry when something screws up, which lets face it – it probably will! For many years now I’ve used CloudAbove having had issues with about 7 other providers in the UK and elsewhere. CloudAbove are affordable and have probably the best support I’ve ever come across – yes they have their limits and actually that’s nice to know, they aren’t trying to be a Rackspace and take over the world they are trying to be the best at what they do. So for awesome uk hosting, CloudAbove is who i recommend.
More Visitors Does Not Mean More Revenue
Quality over Quantity is Always the Rule! I could pay to drive a million hits to any website and you’d see it as traffic, but it wouldn’t convert and your conversion rate would drop – the person would hate it. The point is you should be pushing for quality traffic and not quantity of traffic. Traffic which will spend time on your site, care about your site, be active on your site and interact on your site. Not traffic which is useless and has probably clicked a rubbish ad somewhere or is a bot.
Give Extra Value!!!
Give value in a way your readers are probably not expecting.
With that here is a bunch of amazing websites and blogs with blogging tips, don’t think I’m going to hog this for a minute