Blog Tip Tuesday: The Right Way to Run a Successful Blog

I mentioned before about all the amazing opportunities I’ve gotten since moving to the NYC area, like connecting and collaborating with other bloggers. It’s interesting to learn their stories, if they get paid, and how they run their blog. Each blogger’s opinions and marketing tactics are so different and I love hearing their thoughts on the right way to run a successful blog. From Instagram to email marketing, we’ll cover it all.

What social media is necessary for a successful blog?

From interviewing bloggers for my Style File Friday series, to attending events around the city, I’ve found the #1 social media platform for bloggers right now is Instagram.

In fact, some of my SFF guests don’t even have a blog; they just use Insta. Because their followers are niche and they target a very specific market, brands recognize this and have no problem sponsoring a post.

Other bloggers use Instagram to convert their followers to loyal readers by sending them over to their blog with the Insta caption: “today on ::blog URL:: (link in bio)”. This is a great technique to see if the amount of followers actually coincides with your blog’s page views. (You can track this via Google Analytics.)

Bloggers who get paid vs. bloggers who don’t

This is on every blogger’s mind: how to make money blogging. The bloggers who get paid are the ones with a lot of followers because it’s smart advertising. Blogging is a great marketing tool since bloggers are ordinary people who have developed an organic following, which means if they endorse a product their followers are likely to… follow and buy that same product.

Traditional advertising has gone out the door and there’s no more selly selly, pushy pushy sales tactics with beautiful, already rich celebrities on TV. In today’s world we want real people with real struggles. We want people we can relate to and these people right now are bloggers.

Is there a right way to run a successful blog?

For starters if you have a blog, you’re on the right track. I see a lot of “Instabloggers” out there and I can’t help but think what a foolish business move that is. If you’re reading this #sorrynotsorry but get a blog homegirl!

I can even teach you how to make one with Build Your Own Style Blog.

The thing with Instagram is it’s constantly changing and you have no control over it (we’ll talk more about this next week), but your blog is yours forever. You can do whatever you want with it.

So to answer the question, yes there is a right way to run a successful blog and it’s through consistency, authenticity, and smart marketing.

You don’t need to pump out tons of content every day but you should stick to a consistent blog schedule. For example I post 2-3 times a week M-F. I also have Blog Tip Tuesday and Style File Friday so readers know exactly what to expect on those days.

When you blog you want to be authentic. You should write how you speak. People will see right through your blogger persona to who you really are no matter what so you might as well give them the real deal right off the bat. If you follow me on Snapchat (un: notanothrblonde) you know there’s no secrets here!

In order to grow your following and be successful you need to be relatable yet admirable. You want to give people something to strive for while staying humble because without them your blog can’t survive. Don’t worry about being proper and perfect, worry about being real.

Lastly, running a successful blog is when you’re really running a business. When you’re no longer blogging as a side hustle and it is your full-time gig… that’s when you know you’ve made it.

What is your take on successful blogging? Tell me in the comments below!

xx