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Creating a blog from scratch can be pretty daunting. I remember when I set up my site for the first time – I was totally clueless! I’ve learnt a lot along the way, and wish I knew then, what I know now, which is why I’m writing this guide.
My top tips for a professional looking blog
Getting the professional look is hard to achieve if you don’t know where to begin, and it’s easy to feel disheartened. There are so many beautifully designed blogs out there, it’s easy to feel like yours doesn’t measure up – I know I did. After seeking a little advice, I could see what I was doing wrong and how to tweak certain areas to make it look like your site was made a pro.
Get the perfect theme
The theme is a term that describes the overall look of your website. It’s basically a template that makes your site look uniform and controls the size of the header image, the way the menus look and even the font used. Picking the right theme for your website is the starting point for creating a professional-looking website.
The trend at the moment is to go for lots of white, so if you haven’t got a specific look in mind, play it safe with lots of white space. Go for something that reflects the character of your content. For example, if you’re writing a fashion blog, the theme you pick shouldn’t look like a website for a nursery – instead you should pick something classy and not overly colourful.
Stick with strong branding
Once you’ve decided how your website should look, create some branding that makes the site jump out as yours. For example, you might want all of your Pinterest and header images to be made up of similar graphics in the same colours.
Your best bet is to buy a design bundle that’s ready made for you, so you can create beautiful images in the exact style you like. You can view mock up designs before you buy, to give you an idea of what’s in the bundles. You can even invest in in fonts to go with your graphics bundles to customise your branding further.
Strong branding will give your website and social channels a professional look. A lot of the bundles on sale let you look at a ‘mock up‘ version of their graphics and fonts. This is that you can narrow down your choices and reach a decision that’s exactly what you want.
Branding extends beyond the look of your site. It’s also important to remember that your online image plays a large role in business. Online reputation management becomes necessary. Reviews and public perception concerning your blog need to be handled well.
Triple-check your blog posts
To appear professional, you must always do what the professionals do. Big name websites will have someone on the staff to vet all spelling and grammar before the articles go live. Chances are, you don’t have that luxury, so you need to get good at proofreading – fast!
A poorly spelt post that’s full of grammatical errors will be a real turn-off for brands when it comes to possible collaborations. Everything you write should be of a publishable quality, so that brands want to collaborate with you and they’re proud to have an advert on your site. If you really struggle with this side of things, you can use software like Grammarly – or just ask a friend to give it a quick once-over.
How to start earning from your blog
The biggest challenge at the start of blogging is getting your site ready for collaborations. Once your site looks professional and has started to fill up with posts, you’re ready to seek out brands to work with.
Firstly, you’ll need to create a “work with me” page, that tells brands what sort of work you’d be open to, as well as how to contact you. Once you’ve got this set up, you can start looking for agencies and blogging opportunity groups on Faceboook. If you’ve never worked with anyone before, then you won’t be on any PR lists which means in the early days, people are less likely to approach you.
The blogging opportunity groups on Facebook are a great place to start. Usually, they have a Google form that you fill in to register your details. If the PR person likes your site, they’ll usually get in touch from there.
I hope you enjoyed this practical guide on making the transition to professional blogger – please share or pin it to spread the love!
For more blogging tips, you might like Parent Blogging Secrets.
You might also like to read about some of my previous blogging goals.
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