During the workday, we listen to a lot of music in the IFB offices. To get our posts done and stay focused, we put in our headphones and put our fingers to the keyboard. Perhaps all this music is what inspired the headline for this post – and by that we mean a certain Janet Jackson. (She’s an office favorite.) Her seminal hit, What Have You Done For Me Lately?, inspired us to think about how important it is to keep putting in effort, even after you think you’ve got this whole blogging thing figured out. What have you as a blogger, done for your site, your social media, your partners – lately? We asked a few community members to share just what exactly they’ve done for their blogs lately, and we think seeing how they’re staying fresh and evolving will give you some food-for-thought on doing the same.
So, just what have you done for your blog, lately?
“A few times a week, I now devote about half an hour to going through my favorite blogs, and discovering new ones, and actually commenting on posts. There are so many times when I read a post I really respond to, but I rarely take the time to actually comment on it, or ask a question that I’m thinking. I’ve noticed that there are times when I won’t receive as many comments as I usually do on my posts even though I’m getting the same amount of hits, and instead of fretting about it, I figured people were doing what I tend to do and just not commenting. By disabling the captcha and adding Disqus, I’ve found that readers are more likely to respond because it’s easier. And by commenting on others’ posts (real, genuine comments) you’re also helping to build your own community!”
Asma, Haute Muslimah
“We updated our social media buttons to make a better use of our page space. It makes the page crisper and more user friendly. We also added a new Outfit button and buttons to link to Britt’s Style and Whit’s Style. It has actually really helped in terms of additional traffic to posts that have a tendency to get buried. We post everyday so sometimes weekly visitors do not get to see all the content that we create. It also has allowed our readers to go directly to posts that are more relevant to what they are looking for in terms of style or outfits, and they end up staying longer on our site. We also love that it helps differentiate us to our readers as sometimes we still get asked “Who is Britt and who is Whit?”"
Britt and Whit, Brit & Whit
“I’ve gotten back into dedicating time to it. It’s easy to become overly busy but I’ve once again made my blog a priority!”
Meghan, Wit & Whimsy
“I started taking a photography class a few weeks ago! It’s just a month long 4 week class but after 2 sessions it’s already been so helpful and informational. It’s helped with both the photos I take myself for my blog, as well as helps me to instruct others who help me with outfit posts on how to work my camera!”
Kiley, A Sequin Dress At Breakfast
“I’m working on a redesign for my site to launch pretty soon, with a focus on higher-quality images and displaying more posts on my main page.”
Jenni, I Spy DIY
“The best thing I’ve done for my blogging lately was actually to shut down my blog, Holier than Now, and start a fresh new chapter, called Lady (heyladi.es). The format of Holier was challenging to keep up because every trend post / collage / round up was extremely time consuming. I wanted to be able to keep up Cult of Pretty (the beauty blog) and do a personal style/fashion blog as well, and there was no way I could do both unless they were each in an effective format so I could post efficiently. I was afraid to shut down Holier but so far so good. My major partners (in terms of advertising projects) have had no issues with the move and are happy to support style projects on Lady. Most importantly, I felt that I had to continue to feel excited and inspired to blog, and I wanted a blog that was reflective of who I am today vs. who I was 3 years ago when I started Holier, and if it meant closing one book and opening another, that was OK with me. It was also definitely a strategy of weeding to watch it grow (in terms of the blogs overall). To weed out Holier meant to invest in Cult of Pretty, which had grown to be the bigger blog and arguably a more valuable platform for me.”
Ann, Lady & Cult of Pretty
We want to know, what have YOU done for your blog lately?
i’m a relatively new blog and found myself writing posts that would garner traffic vs. posting things that i really love and adore. i took a step back and said to myself what do i really want to achieve and how much time do i really have to dedicated to achieving it. this wake up call resulted in me restruturing my content and now i’m in love with every single post! if i believe in it, they will come!