52,726
62,341
25,2035 Tips to Make Your Blog Shine *
I think most of us have gone through periods of blogging fatigue, or phases when it seems like we aren’t standing out among a sea of other blogs and bloggers.
If you want improve your blog and make a lasting impression on readers, check out these 5 tips that will truly make your blog shine.
How to make your blog shine
1. Make yourself known — Are you showing your readers who you really are? My favorite blogs are authored by people who aren’t afraid to put their personality front and center in their posts. I favor blogs that include a great about me page, and I also love seeing a photo of the blogger.
2. Beautify your blog — Yes, design is important. The best way to really set your blog apart from the crowd is to create a beautiful digital space that frames your content. Make the investment in a professional blog design if possible, or use an attractive premium theme that is free of clutter.
3. Highlight your strengths — What are your strengths, and what makes your blog special? Isolate the topics or skills where you excel, and run with them. If food is your thing, pour your energy into crafting incredible recipe posts. If you love photography, don’t be afraid to use large images that really showcase your passion. Put a spotlight on your awesomeness — people will notice.
4. Be confident — Be proud of your blog, your content, and your hard work. I truly believe that a confident blogger is a successful blogger, and the more secure you are in your vision, the farther that vision will propel you.
5. Be fearless — While we all find inspiration from other amazing bloggers, don’t get caught up in trying to fit the mold — it will sink you. Instead, visualize your perfect blog, and know what your blogging goals are. Be experimental, try new things, and strive to be unique.
Tell me what you think
What qualities do you feel make up a great blog?
Bosch Dishwasher from Sears
Cuisinart 16-Piece Knife Block Set Review
Get Lucky #Giveaway Blitz $50 Amazon GC!
Hi, I'm Crissy, a Mom, writer, and photographer from Ohio — welcome to my blog! Want the full story? 
Making A Good Day Better #BrewABetterDay #Spon
Breastfeeding Second Or Third Child May Be A Charm #bfing #breastfeeding
Summer Skin Routine #JergensNaturalGlow
Wordless Wednesday: Green
This is one to bookmark! I KNOW I need a decent design–just needed a little push.
Love this post! I think sometimes I get caught up in trying to include a little bit of everything, and often posts to (hopefully) garner Pintrest traffic that I forget to just let my strengths shine :)
Right on the mark…I am fairly new to blogging …make your blog authentically you and keep it that way. Feel free to tweak whenever necessary but make sure the changes are what you really believe in.
I’m totally with you on the About page. I think I did pretty ok with mine, and I’m happy with my blog’s design (which was 100% done by me, which means there’s still room for improvement!). I could definitely do with more confidence and fearlessness, though. Thanks for the encouragement! :)
Stacey, I think your blog is gorgeous – you definitely don’t need to hire a professional!
I agree with Chrissy, I think it’s gorgeous all ready!
I agree. All of those are really important. I think the be proud of your blog is the most important. Be proud of all the hard work you do.
All of these are excellent suggestions! One thing that has helped me hugely is developing an ongoing relationship with a great site designer. When your blog breaks (and it will) having somebody talented around to fix things is a god send. Once your site starts earning any money, set aside a percentage of it for blog upkeep, you’ll be mighty glad you did.
As usual crissy great post!
Thanks Crissy!
I totally needed to hear these words today :)
I totally agree Crissy! I will definitely be sharing this post.
All great points Crissy! Thanks for reminding us of them!
I feel like I do all these things and have for awhile. But still I struggle to build my audience. It’s frustrating but I know there are more things I could be doing. Participating in forums, doing guest posts . . . it’s just a matter of having the time to do them and I just don’t right now. So I remain patient that day by day my readership will grow. It has been a very slow process for me.
These are very valid points. I would say that great photography is a plus for any blog. The more attractive/professional looking the photos, the more appealing it is to readers/viewers. I am in the process of creating a blog to go along with my cake business and my husband is helping design it (software/web developer), but he’s a busy man…so it’s taking awhile. I would also say a bad habit would be dropping too much bad language. It’s one thing to drop a cuss word now and then if that’s how your personality is, but if it’s a F-bomb every other sentence I leave that blog in a hurry!
Great article, Crissy! It’s a good reminder for all of us bloggers. I have an About Me page, but I do need to redo – thanks for the reminder. And the whole stay-confident, keeping-our-own-vision going is something I need to work on.
Thanks a lot for the advice. I think I pretty much am following all these suggestions. :D
These are great tips, and I wholeheartedly agree with them all. I like #2, especially. Even with great content, it is hard for me to want to hang out somewhere with a dark background and clutter.
thanks for the post!
I needed this today! I think the reminder to be you but be the best of you is so important! Thanks for some great tips and getting me refocused on what I need to do and where I want to go with my blog!
Thanks for the great confidence booster!! Blessings Crissy!
Great great post! I definitely need to update my About Me page…: ) Your blog design rocks by the way
I think it’s hard to always get this formula right, but you made some excellent points. I’ve been contemplating a redesign-guess it’s time again! ;)
thanks for the ideas….I’m working right now to get my site redesigned as well. And on working my about page. Right now it’s really really LONG. I also work really hard to be myself, but it’s hard to do…there’s definetly a mold.
Thanks again, good stuff to chew on!
Such a helpful post and one I think all of us can learn from. I just had my blog redesigned but I am still not sure it is exactly what I would want it to remain. As for my About Me page I also know it needs redone and so Thanks for reminding me to do this.
Thanks for these great tips! Bookmarking these for sure. Now to examine 4 and 5 and how they relate to me and my blog {smile}.
Being confident – that can be a hard one for me. But I understand how it can be important to show confidence. Thanks for the tips!
Fantastic tips. Especially the about me page. That is the first place I look when I find a new blog.
These are great ideas, I have to start working on them. I would love my blog to shine.
I am planning to make Madhubani Paintings Art and craft Blog/website.You provided great content here for guidelines.
http://www.learntourism.com
http://www.facebook.com/LearnTourism
Crissy,
Thanks for the inspiring words! As a new blogger I spend a lot of time trolling other blogs and trying to figure out what makes them successful. Afterall, why would I put so much time and energy into this if I didn’t want it succeed right?
Your insight here is comforting as it is easy to look at successful blogs that aren’t like yours at all and feel tempted to follow in their footsteps. Really the whole reason I started my blog was because I didn’t see anything out there like mine, but I do admit as I see other great blogs I can begin to doubt myself and wonder if I’m doing this thing “right”.
Thanks for encouraging me to stay on task and see my own vision through. I really like your blog and wish you all the best!
I have tried to access your post about a bio page from a couple of places and it leads to a page with no post at all. The hyper link in this blog post is one of the access points I tried that takes me to the same place the others do.
I love this post! I am constantly wondering how to make my blog better. I look around all the time for inspiration, but bottom line my perfect blog is a blog that is about life, love, family. Plus, it’s chock full of the sarcastic zaniness that is me! Life’s too short to be boring!
I pinned this post a while ago and I am so glad I finally got a chance to read it. I find myself avoiding my blog sometimes, cause I am not confidant enough in myself to feel like people would really want to read what I have to say. I am so going to work on that. Thanks!
Cari