5 Ways To Make Your Blog More Appealing

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You created your blog, you know who your target audience, you’ve got some traffic, so things are going well.

BUT.

You want your visitors to turn into dedicated readers.

We all want that as bloggers, don’t we?

If you’re newer to blogging the tips I’m going to share with you will set the foundation properly for your blog.

If you’ve been blogging for a little while, these tips may have been missed, but will surely help with turning visitors turn into readers.

I want to share with you ways to make sure your blog stands out in the sea that is blog land – tips that will make your blog more appealing.

These tips aren’t groundbreaking – there are other bloggers who make these suggestions.

What I want you to do is put the advice into context.

These tips WORK.

Think about how to make them work for YOU.

5 Ways To Make Your Blog More Appealing

1. Write Authentically and Be Yourself

People love real.

They love authenticity.

They trust people who are honest.

They connect with people who are genuine.

I bet you’ve heard/read/seen the most appealing blogs are those where the blogger is unapologetic and stays true to themselves.

That’s what draws readers in.

There’s so much being ‘sold’ to us it’s getting tiresome, to be honest.

A successful blog starts with laying the foundation of authenticity.

Doesn’t that just make sense?

It’s like when you encounter someone in your daily life and you know and feel they aren’t authentic.

You know what I’m talking about – these people try to appear a certain way, but you know it’s fake.

Their behavior is so bogus, it doesn’t make YOU feel good.

“The greatest wisdom is to see through appearances” – Buddha

So you find yourself staying away from them.

I know what you’re thinking – What the heck does all this have to do with making your blog more appealing?

If you’re genuine, people don’t just read it, they FEEL it.

Being real makes people want to be around you.

You build a connection that will ultimately lead to loyal readers who can’t wait to read and engage with what you’ve written.

So, to sum it up, be yourself.

Let that unique personality shine!

We NEED more people to be authentic. It seriously doesn’t get much easier than that.

2. Add a Photo of Yourself

Tying into writing authentically, is adding a photo of yourself on your blog.

You could place it in your sidebar or build a section that features your smiling face and details about why you started your blog.

Readers love the personal connection.

A face to the writer.

They love that you trust them enough to be transparent about who you are.

And not just by writing authentically, but by putting yourself out there.

There are no steadfast rules around what photo your should use – choose one at your discretion – most bloggers suggest a professional headshot flaunting your best smile.

I agree to some extent – but I also love photos that show character and don’t just follow what “everyone says you should do”.

You don’t want to add a cropped photo of yourself from the last party you attended, but you do want to add a photo that is authentically WHO you are. One that exudes your personality.

That’s who your readers want to see.

Not the person who paid a photographer a couple hundred bucks to take those shots everyone thinks they need on their blog.

To be honest, they’re SO boring.

Play around, get creative – just remain tasteful.

If you place your photo in your sidebar, it will be the first thing your visitor’s eye will be drawn to – so stand out and be YOU!

3. A Good Blog Theme

I ain’t new to the blog land, yet it took me a LONG time to realize just how important a well laid out, good looking blog REALLY is.

I started blogging when people thought you could have the ugliest website (seriously!), but as long as your content was super duper, you would be successful.

And, there were successful bloggers with some oogly blogs.

I don’t care what anyone says – there’s a reason the Internet is so much prettier now.

I’m willing to bet people feel better and stay longer when the blog they’re on looks good AND is easy to navigate.

Oh yes, they’re judging the book by the cover more and more.

It might not be the most important way to make your blog more appealing but it sure does need some attention.

Don’t you agree there’s nothing worse than a dated, ugly and overcrowded blog?

How quickly do you click away from blogs like that?

Overall user experience is crucial and people are VISUAL – hello, Pinterest and Instagram! 🙂 

Do yourself a favor – find room in your budget to buy a good, professional, pretty or any other word you want to use to describe it theme for your blog.

And, while we’re at it – make sure it looks good and functions well across all devices.

I’m amazed at how many blogs aren’t mobile friendly.

Seriously. Yes, I know it’s 2018, but it STILL happens.

It’s an immediate turn off – I’ll click away if I have to zoom in to see the content.

UGH.

Don’t be one of those bloggers.

Test your stuff across all devices – you want your content to look good – that’s ultimately what is bringing people back to your blog!

One more thing, please don’t get a FREE theme either.

Yes, there are nice looking ones but their functionality and ability to expand as you grow as a blogger is limited.

Starting a blog is definitely one of the cheapest businesses to start, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest your money wisely.

Here are my two cents: If you plan to build an online business seriously, of significance and properly, do yourself a favor and choose a paid professional theme.

You plan to stick around in blog land for awhile, right?

You can get an absolutely fantastic looking theme for well under 100 buckaroos.

You’re up, running and looking professional for around 100 dollars?

Yup. Spend the money.

If you decide to cut corners, I can guarantee, your audience will see it.

RELATED READ: Feminine Genesis Themes for Your Mom Blog

Free themes just aren’t as useful.

They’re limited in capability and when your blog grows, you’ll have to switch themes anyway.

Very doable, of course, but ANNOYING and if you’re not techie.

You’ll spend money hiring someone to switch your site when you could have bought a good theme.

Remember, you’re investing not wasting your money 🙂

Spend the money on a good theme.

Are you using WordPress for your blog? I really hope so!

I have two favorite companies who produce OUTSTANDING, professional themes that are perfect for your blog.

I’ve used them for YEARS and have many of their themes.

The first is any theme using the Genesis Framework by StudioPress.

Here’s what Genesis themes have going for them:

✔ Clean and professional
✔ Beautiful designs
✔ Easy to use (for both the reader and YOU in the back end)
✔ Endless layout possibilities (you can update them to suit your blog and audience)
✔ Their ‘how to’ guides for installing and setting up any theme are EASY to follow (Good for the blogger who doesn’t want complicated!)

You need to purchase the framework in order to use what’s called Genesis Child Themes.

There are lots to choose from – here are a few places to check out first: Creative Market, Studio Mommy, StudioPress, or Restored316Designs (very feminine and pretty! 🙂 )

The second place I buy themes is through Elegant Themes.

MomBlogLife.com is built using their Extra Theme – let me know what you think 🙂

They have a yearly membership of $90USD, BUT it’s totally worth it!

You get access to ALL themes and the Divi Page Builder, which is worth the money on its own!

Here’s what Elegant Themes have going for them:

✔ 87 Gorgeous Themes – ALL available with your membership
✔ The Divi Page Builder (perfect for creating professional blogs without tech knowledge)
✔ Bloom – an email opt-in plugin so installing your email service is a breeze
✔ Clean and professional
✔ Awesome support – real-life people or detailed tutorials

I realize I can write an entire post on a good blog layout and style. Stay tuned – it will happen 🙂

4. Images That Help Your Post Tell Its Story

Buying a good stock photo package is another blog expense that you can expect to add to your business budget.

Similar to an aesthetically pleasing layout, your audience wants to see nice photos as they read your content.

Pictures tell a story on their own.

They also break up a really long post and help draw your reader’s eye down the page.

Not a guarantee your reader will make it through your whole post, but definitely something that will increase your chances of it happening.

There are free websites where you can download photos, but everyone uses them. 

Invest in good stock photos.

The cheapest I’ve found is Depositphoto.com.

Their photos are good quality and the packages don’t break my bank.

PLUS, once a year the throw an incredible sale.

If you join my mailing list, I’ll let you know when that deal happens.

Other than that, they run general sales that are still good all year long.

RELATED READ: 3 Good Online Photo Editors for Your Blog

5. Blog Posting at a Good Rate

Truthfully, how often you post on your blog depends on how much time you can spend writing.

It also depends on how much readers in your niche are able to consume.

If you have a cooking site, there’s a good chance your readers wouldn’t mind if you posted a new recipe every day.

On the flip side, if you have a craft site, your readers may not be able to keep up if you post a new craft every day.

Too many posts may irritate your readers and they won’t come back to read your new posts.

The last thing you want to do is make people NOT want to read your blog.

On the flip side, if you post once or twice a month, the likelihood your readers will forget about you is very good.

In my experience, a good rule of thumb is to post at least once times a week.

This rate allows your readers time to consume your blog post and digest while you’re working on your next one.

It’ll also keep the search engine bots coming back to your blog regularly which may help your rankings.

**BONUS ADVICE: Add different kinds of posts. Video, list, how to and series posts give your readers lots of interesting ways to access what you have to say. They won’t get bored, so your chances of keeping them as regular readers increases. I’m working on this advice here at MomBlogLife.com**

What do you think about my top 5 ways to make your blog post more appealing?

What have you tried to do to make your blog more appealing? Do you have any other tips that you’ve learned and are worth sharing?

How do you keep your blog readers coming back for more? Comment and share below!