Sparkling Advice For New Bloggers

Last year, I was lucky enough to participate in Plum and June’s New Blogger Blog Hop 2013. What a blog-life-changing experience it was! I improved my blog, made incredible friends, and really began to find my voice. This year, I was asked to come back as an alum and spread some sparkle as part of The 2014 New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop. Make sure you check out other tips and tricks from previous alumni as well!

As a special treat, at the end of this post you’ll find a link to last year’s contribution, where I reveal the secret origins of Molli Sparkles.

Without further ado, let’s do this! Pay attention because I’m gonna give it to you straight up, Paula Abdul style. Now tell me, do you really want to love me forever? (Oh! Oh! Oh!) Follow any or all of these tips for new bloggers and you’ll be on your way.

One: If I have to squint to see your photos, I will close that window and not come back. As I’ve said my entire life, bigger is better.
Two: Write about what you love. If you don’t love it, I’m not going to either.
Three: Stop apologising. You don’t even know me; you certainly don’t have to tell me sorry for not blogging on time, for your indoor camera phone pics, or for having *gasp* an opinion.
Four: Be your unique self. You’re the only you, you’ve got. Make sure I know it.
Five: Link me baby, one more time. Link to your own posts, and link to other pages on the interwebs. It will drive traffic internally to your site, make other bloggers love you for your thoughtfulness, and improve your search engine results.
Six: Set yourself blog goals. These can be as simple as blogging once a week, or as ambitious as having 1,000 followers after six months. You then know what you’re aiming for, and can find ways to achieve it. If you fail, so what? No one died.
Seven: If you build it, they will come. And then stop again. Then they’ll phone a friend and bring the party to your place. And then go on vacation. Then come back with their baby’s daddy. Just know that your readership will grow in waves.
Eight: Not everyone will like you. And that’s okay. I definitely don’t like everyone either. And that’s okay, too.
Nine: That’s Molli, Ms. Sparkles if you’re nasty. Due to the very nature of the written word, expect to be misunderstood, misinterpreted, misrepresented, misread, misquoted, misheard, mistook, and misconstrued.
Ten: Keep your house tidy. Don’t let your blog wind up on an episode of Hoarders. Buttons should be minimal and all in one location, choose an easy-to-read font, be mindful of column widths, and ensure menu pages link to places full of content readers want to see.
Eleven: No-Reply Bloggers. Seriously, fix that shit. (Unless you’re WordPress, and then you’re excused).
Twelve: Ra-ra-ra! Be your own cheerleader! If you serve me a drink I’ll drink it. If you just happen to spike it with happy pills, well then I’m gonna love it, love you, and love everything about it and you!
Thirteen: Lastly, and most importantly, this is your house, so don’t let anyone, especially me, tell you how to make it work for you. 😉

My stop on last year’s Let’s Get Acquainted Blog Hop tour.