17 Awesome ways to avoid looking like a newbie blogger

Do you want to know how to avoid looking like a newbie blogger when you first start out?

Let’s face it you are a newbie blogger and you simply can’t change that!

So how can you fake it till you make it?

And when have you made it?

This post will help you to avoid looking like a newbie blogger by giving you some hints and tips to help you succeed.

Don’t forget if you can make your blog stand out you have a greater chance of being found and for people to share your content and hopefully increase your income.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(If this post contains affiliate links please see our full disclosure policy although I have to say I tried really hard to make it interesting and even I struggled to write it so if you really must read it you can find it here)

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Here are 17 easy steps on how to avoid looking like a newbie blogger:

1. 1. Make sure your domain name makes you look like a pro
   2. Add your Favicon
   3. Don’t add every little plugin and widget
   4. RSS counters do you need them
   5. Consider adding a welcome video
   6. Structure your blog posts –https://smartpennies.com/structuring-blog-post/
   7. Make your headlines good and SEO friendly
   8. Title tags – avoid using the and a 
   9. Make your brand cohesive – colors and fonts
   10. Images make sure you add Alt text especially to pin images – as this is what will show up on the descriptions when someone tries to pin directly from your page
   11. Add a featured image
   12. Make sure you have a privacy and disclosure policy and amazon associates, also consider adding an about me page- https://smartpennies.com/create-about-me-page/- but these in the footer area
   13. Make sure each of your posts are under a category and not under archive or uncategorized- it’s also best if you can have a post in each category when you first launch
   14. Avoid site loading slowly- link to speed test add in link
   15. Ad monetization avoid using ad’s straight away you want to wait till you have posts and pageviews
   16. Make sure your optin helps your readers answer one simple question- Link to my new optin and don’t ask for readers surnames
   17. Blog consistently

 

 

1. Make sure your domain name makes you look like a pro

Make sure you use a domain like dot.com as usually ,this means you will have to buy hosting and domain name as you won’t be able to get this using any of the free blogging sites like WordPress.com you will need to use WordPress.org.

2. Add your Favicon

You can do this in your WordPress theme if you got to appearance and customize see below you can upload an image for your Favicon. This is a little picture that appears beside your website address in the google search bar when you go to the website.

3. Don’t add every little plugin and widget

Plugins add extra functionality to your WordPress blog but be careful how many you add to yuour site. Each time you add a plugin or widget it takes up space on your WordPress site and the more you add the more space it takes up and slows down you site. You do NOT want a slow site it will put people off coming to it.

 

 

4. RSS counters do you need them

Nobody worth their blogging salt uses RSS counters now – but do correct me if I am wrong so there is no need to install your RSS counter widget.

5. Consider adding a welcome video

What about a welcome video for your site. It would make your homepage more appealing and it would be different.

Honestly, I don’t have one it would be tempting maybe not sure I look good on camera though!

6. Structure your blog posts

If you structure your posts in a logical way with images text and a consistent style you can make your blog very professional.

If you want more information on structuring our posts have a look at one of my earlier posts here.

7 Great Tips on Structuring killer blog posts

7. Great Headlines with SEO

Structure your headlines there are lots of templates available now to structure great headlines.

You can use free tools to get SEO worthy headlines so check this post out for more information.

6 Best Headline Generators And Content Idea Generators For 2023

Or you can go with templates

http://www.twelveskip.com/guide/blogging/1247/blog-post-title-templates-that-work

Here is a great post on structuring your headlines

https://coschedule.com/blog/catchy-blog-titles/

And don’t forget to make sure you use long tail keywords for SEO I use

https://kwfinder.com/ to find out if my long tail keywords will work and only use the FREE version I do like it it’s easy to use.

8. Title tags

If you are adding tags to your titles in WordPress avoid using ‘the’ and ‘a’

 

9. Make your Brand cohesive

This is self-explanatory make sure you use the same fonts throughout your posts and also the same color combo’s.

10. Images

When you add images to your site make sure that you have added the Alt text to them in the edit image section. This is especially important for any pin images as this is what will show up if people share your pin directly from your website.

I also like to fill in the Image attribute section as well basically with the same info I added to the alt text descriptions.

11. Add a featured image

Add a featured image to your WordPress site.

I create my Pins in Adobe spark and then my featured image at 300 x 300 in Canva using one of my pins.

 

 

12. Make sure you have a privacy and disclosure policy and Amazon associates disclosure

As exciting as it sounds you really should set up your privacy and disclosure policies as soon as possible on your website. Remember to take into account GDPR for the EU disclosures too.

Also if you want to join Amazon as an affiliate then your really need to make sure your Amazon disclosure is visible on your homepage. If you look at mine at the bottom of my homepage

https://smartpennies.com

You will see I have a short Amazon statement plus clicking on it will bring up a more in-depth disclosure- its overkill but want to make sure its right!

Consider creating you’re about me page too.

13. Make sure each of your posts are under a category

Don’t leave your posts uncategorized it’s easy to forget though! This should be one of the first things you do when you set up your blog is have your relevant categories set up.

Make sure you also make the archive category invisible too.

See my post on setting up your blog on WordPress for more helpful hints and tips

https://smartpennies.com/

 

14. Avoid your site loading slowly

Make sure you periodically test your site speed.

Consider changing to Siteground for hosting as this can also help to speed up your site if your hosting company slows your site down.

 

 

15. Advertising monetization

This is a difficult one – I tend to have the opinion of avoiding ad monetization till you have decent page views and can apply to the big networks like Mediavine or Adthrive. People can be distracted from your posts if you only have a few and lots of ad’s but at the end of the day its a trial it and see if it works for you.

16. sure your Optin answers one simple question

We can all be guilty of this one – make sure your email optin only answers one simple question for your reader. Do not overwhelm them.

Also, don’t ask your readers for their surname – first name is sufficient especially with the new GDPR rules best to have the least amount of information on people that you possibly can.

Here is my latest optin

What do you guys think does it answer one question?

ADD IN OPTIN TEMPLATE

17. Blog consistently

I think this title is self-explanatory!

That’s it guys how not to look like a NEWBIE blogger in 17 steps!!

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