This is a space for me to reflect on the business & share some of the ups + downs of being a Content Marketing freelancer in Edinburgh.  

I’d also like to bring some of my personal life into these posts because I don’t think we can ever truly separate our work + home life.  One will always affect the other. And, for me, freelancing is a way to enrich my home life + lead a happier non working life with greater flexibility. So, home life is really important to me.

The final reason is to embrace vulnerability. I believe it’s really important to share the highs + lows, it’s easy to put on a brave face and to pretend that everything is perfect all of the time.  But, we all have our own stories and our own challenges in life. I’d like to be more transparent about my own challenges & show them alongside the positive! 

Octobers Happy Moments 

Oscar came to stay
I started with Rover, a new client
My new website launched
I’m feeling more at home in Linlithgow, Edinburgh (after moving here in the summer)
The autumn trees are simply stunning !

Octobers Challenges

I am still recovering my profits, finances are tough
I’ve been really struggling with burnout


My kind of tiny home 

I recently brought a small flat in Linlithgow, Edinburgh.  I think of it as my tiny home. You know those little homes on wheels that are popular in the USA?  The whole idea of tiny houses is to become debt free. Instead of needing to pay a mortgage every month you invest your money into a home on wheels which cuts costs and thus frees up more of your time to live rather than work. 

More living less working, to me that sounds fantastic.  But, the only issue with a tiny home is unless you can find somewhere you are allowed to legally pitch up, you need to be on the move all the time.  And I didn’t like the sound of that! So, my little flat in Linlithgow is my, kind of tiny house, but with a small mortgage so I don’t have to leave & can live next to the gorgeous linlithgow loch.

The gorgeous Oscar! 

A few months after I moved in, I discovered pet sitting.   I never thought of it as a way to earn extra income, but I put a profile up on Rover and started getting some dogs to look after.  After a few dogs came and went I met Oscar, literally the cutest dog ever. The kind of dog that when you look into his eyes his whole face lights up and his tail immediately starts wagging. 

New client & website

I also started doing some outreach for Rover this month.   Its how I found out about the pet sitting, they contacted me to see if I could help them with outreach for a link building campaign they are running.  Very interesting client, great topic & a new challenge, so I’m really excited to be working with them for the next 6 months or so! 

​

Simply put, anchor text still plays an important role in SEO and has an effect on where your website will show up in search rankings.
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Most people will click on one of the first few Google results, so of course you want your website to appear near the top whenever possible.

Since part of Google’s algorithm involves backlinks, using anchor text effectively will help with that goal.

How has Anchor Text changed?

Once upon a time, building anchor text was easy. All you had to do was pick a keyword and make sure that your anchor text linked to your website. Even if you used exact match for all your anchor links, you would still show up high in search results.

Simple and effective.

However, that all changed with the 2012 Penguin update. Google caught on to people over-using anchor links and artificially link building.

In this case, over-doing optimization actually backfired in some cases. If all of your anchor links used the same word or phrase, you could now be penalized. 

There was a period of time when SEO's became overly cautious, worried about using any anchor text at all for fear of a penalty. 

But, many now agree that it is still an important part of SEO and can't be ignored.  The only thing that has changed is that we have to be a bit more varied with the anchor text we use. 

Optimum Anchor Ratios

Effective use of anchor text for SEO does not stop with knowledge of the different categories. You’ll need to decide what percentage of the different types you’re going to use.

Just like modern anchor text won’t be effective if it’s all keywords, it’s best not to make all of your anchor text any one category. Rather, you can use a range of categories, with emphasis on Brand, Natural, and URL Anchor.

Here is an example of what the anchor text profile for a homepage should look like.

● 80%-95% of your links should fall in the Brand, Natural and URL Anchor category. If that seems like a lot, it’s because those are the categories that are most important for high search engine ranking.
● Up to 10% of your links should fall in the Key Phrases Mixed Into Anchor category. While they’re no longer the end all be all, key phrases can still be helpful.
● Up to 5% of your links should fall in the Exact Match Anchor category.

Following this breakdown will get you effective SEO for your homepage.

This profile is not the same across the board, however. The strategy for an inner page should be different.

Here’s the breakdown for an inner page.

● 35%-45% of your links should fall in the Brand, Natural and URL Anchor category. Notice that that’s significantly different from what you want a homepage to look like.
● 40%-50% of your links should fall in the Key Phrases Mixed Into Anchor category.
● Up to 20% of your links should fall in the Exact Match Anchor category.

To help you further with your anchor text, try using this anchor text suggestion tool by Linkio for anchor text tailored to your brand and the type of page you are building.

​

5 Step Anchor Text Audit And Actions

Keeping up with anchor text is an important step for SEO. As search engine algorithms continue to advance-- and with them, best practices for anchor text-- it may be time for a self audit to make sure that your website is using anchor text to its best effect.

Good use of anchor text can make or break search engine rankings and, with them, the success of a website. Read below for 5 steps to identify the split of anchor text categories for both a homepage and an inner page, plus how to easily improve your anchor text profile.

1. Brush up on the anchor text categories


Anchor text is the clickable text that links to another webpage. To use anchor text effectively, it’s important to be familiar with the different categories of anchor text.

Although there are many categories, the big ones we’ll be discussing are:


Brand- the anchor text is the name of your brand or company


Natural- the anchor text is incorporate into the normal flow of the article, usually included in a call to action like “click here”


URL- the actual URL is written into the article, so the reader clicks on the exact URL they’ll be directed to


Exact Match- the anchor text is the exact keyword or key phrase that you want to incorporate, for example “anchor text audit”


Key Phrases Mixed into Anchor- the anchor text uses key words or phrases like the previous category, but incorporates them into longer phrases, for example “an anchor text audit is important”


2. Take stock of the anchor text on the current page


Once you know what you’re looking for, you’ll want to take stock of what anchor text you’re using now, and what categories it falls into. You can do this by simply reading through the page you’re wanting to audit, or by using an SEO tool like Moz or Cognitive SEO.


3. Know the most effective split


Now you know what your page looks like currently, but how should it look ideally?

For a homepage, you want 80-95% of your links to be Brand, Natural, and/or URL. Then up to 10% should be Key Phrases Mixed into Anchor and finally up to 5% should be Exact Match.

For an inner page, you’ll want 35-45% Brand, Natural, and/or URL with 40-50% being Key Phrases Mixed into Anchor. Then you can have up to 20% be Exact Match.
​

Last Updated 03/08/2018

Today I have a a technical post for you.

Not technical in the sense that you need any technical skills though - queue sighs of relief.

​I’m going to break down how to fix your broken links & 404 errors without needing any technical skills at all.

YAAY.

Before I begin, this post applies to Weebly Users.   

My website is hosted & built through Weebly so I will base the post off this platform. 

Having said that, the first half of this post will be relevant if you use Wordpress, Squarespace, Wix or any other platform so if you are not sure what a 404 error is it is still worth reading through.
​

This post covers:

What Are Broken Links & 404 Errors? ​
Why Are Broken Links & 404 Errors Important To Fix
How To Identify Broken Links & 404 Errors On My Site?
How To Fix Broken Links & 404 Errors In Weebly
​How To Set Up A Custom Weebly 404 Page




What Are Broken Links & 404 Errors?

Very simply this is any link that a user might follow on your website which takes them to a 404 error page instead of the page they were looking for.

This will happen anytime you update or optimise a url.

For example, say this post about getting a hobby was live on your website:

OLD URL: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/hobby-can-boost-motivation-change-life/

It’s doing really well and you are getting traffic and shares.  But, you do some keyword research and notice that the URL could be optimized to improve its ranking position.

So, you update the url to:

NEW URL: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/boost-motivation-with-hobby/

What you’ve done is created a new url, and the old url now goes to a 404 page (unless you have an automatic redirect set up, some wordpress sites do).

Anywhere on your website where you have linked to the old url, and anyone else who linked to your old url, all of those links now go to a 404 error page.

(This is the 404 page which you would get on a weebly website if you follow a broken link.)

Now you can create whatever you like! 

And you can get really creative.  Here are some of my favorite examples of 404 error pages for inspiration (note, these were not all created on Weebly). 
​

Ebay 404 Error Page - good for function! 

As you can see there are lots of ways you can go with this page.  The perfect page is one that stays on brand but still helps the user gets to where they want to go.  So make sure you have a link through to your homepage, or even better your site categories to help your visitor easily find what they are looking for.


That's it for this post! I hope this is a great reference for you.  Good luck on your blogging journey and feel free to comment below or contact me and say hi. 

If you want to work with bloggers check out Guest Bloggers Wanted, our new outreach tool which helps you connect with the bloggers & influencers SUPER easily.  You don't need to build long outreach lists & get lost in email.  Just post your guest post title in the tool and you'll find bloggers who want to collaborate with you! 

Did you have a hamster as a kid? I did.  We had Teaky, and Hammy From Hell (that one used to escape all of the time), Ham - Burger came a little later (But we used to call him Ham) & Snowy.. Decided to go conventional with her.

Jubious hamster names aside the strongest memory that has stuck with me from owning those hamsters was listening to the squeak of the hamster wheel turning round, and round and round at night.   

Squeeek

Silence

Squeeek

Silence

Squeeeeeek

Poor little hamster.

Stuck in a cage with only a squeaky wheel as entertainment. (p.s. I am dramatizing this a little for effect...  our hamsters were very much loved!).

The image of my hamster running round and round on his squeaky wheel has stuck with me.

It’s the same feeling I get when I’m on the running machines at the gym (which is the reason I do yoga instead).   

And it’s the same feeling I get when I am scheduled down to a rigorous content generating schedule.

In this post I’d like to share some top tips to help you drive traffic to your blog WITHOUT needing to feel like a hamster caught on a wheel.

Because no-one wants to feel like that.   

We didn’t quit our 9-5, start blogging or start a business to feel trapped in a cage of our own making.

It’s true that studies show that through creating more content your traffic will go up.  Makes logical sense right? BUT, producing more is not the only way to generate more traffic to your blog.

1. Add Storytelling To Your Writing

See what I did at the top there? I told you a little story about my hamster.  If you are reading this sentence it means I got you this far down the page which means you are far more likely to make it down to the end of this post.  

The longer I can get you to stay with me, the less lonely I feel (jokes!), the more value I can offer which means you might take action - leave a comment, share this post or even join me on my email.

Woohoo! That would be grand!

Adding storytelling makes your writing more engaging.

Two Examples:

Without Storytelling;  Cheryl is a copywriter who has several clients she needs to write content for today.  She loves writing.  

With Storytelling; Cheryl gets up with a million ideas buzzing in her head.  She can’t wait to get to her laptop & immediately pours a coffee, sits down at her desk and switches it on.  It’s going to be a busy day writing content for her clients with the sun streaming through the window.

This is just a short example but you can see that with just a few extra lines you can really paint the picture for your readers.  

Show don't tell.

Take your audience on a journey and allow them to feel the mood of your writing rather than just telling them blandly.

Instead of writing “Cheryl loves writing”, in the second example I am showing the reader through the excited way Cheryl starts her day writing.

P.s. plug time.  If you need content, find hundreds of amazing bloggers who can work on your project on Guest Bloggers Wanted.

2. Publish > Shout > Market

I mentioned this concept in an article I wrote for for Rising Tide, I’ll mention it again. It’s important.  

Very rarely does content magically start getting hundreds of thousands of views and shares.

I’ve seen people in tons of Facebook groups complaining that they’ve been blogging now for 4 whole months and they aren’t getting the results they expected.

Um. Sorry, let me get my violin out.

Do you know how long and hard top bloggers have worked to get to where they are?  They spend hours and hours (if not days) crafting content, and then they spent 10 X the effort promoting it.  

And that doesn’t mean tweeting it out a couple of times & sharing it on a few Facebook group threads.

These bloggers write hundreds of Guest Posts, they actively reach out to other bloggers to promote their content.  

They engage, network and work their freaking asses off. It’s great that you want to help millions of people with your wisdom, but the honor of doing so comes after learning not just how to write, but how to market. Sorry.  

I’ve written more about Guest Blogging here and here.  And will be publishing a post soon about different ways you build links to your blog without Guest Blogging.
​
Or, check out our guest blogging service and have us spark conversation around your product or service. 

Not sure you have time to market your posts? Get creative, bloggers come up with all kinds of ingenious ways to get the word out there.  Check out this hack for getting Haro Traffic for example, it resulted in 238 + free subscribers.

3. Reference & Link To Influencers In Your Post
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Adding examples and references in your blog post boosts its credibility.  Why would anyone believe a word you have to say?  Back it up with proof from other well known sources.

There are a couple of rules to follow here:

1. Ensure the example or reference genuinely adds value to your blog post
2. Link to reputable sources! That doesn’t mean you should only link to Forbes & the top bloggers.  If you genuinely want to endorse another blogger in your niche then go for it.  Just stay away from picking a random website on a Google Search and linking to it for the sake of it.   Top tip: If you have a fave website and want to find out if they have covered the topic you are writing about.  Use search operator: Site:[DOMAIN] “KEYWORD” = Site:http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/ “copywriting”.  This will show you all of the content related to this keyword on the site.

Once you’ve written and published your post, reach out to those that you have included and let them know.  

The chances are, if it’s any good they will share it.

Neil Patel links to around 100 - 150 different sources PER POST.  By the way if you haven’t checked him out, he offers a fantastic resource for learning about Content Marketing.

4. Start With Keyword Research

Use keyword research not just to for the SEO, but to improve your writing and relevancy.  Google is the number one research method aside from word of mouth.  You have access to all of that beautiful lovely data (slightly less accurate data now but we will get to that).

Why wouldn’t you want to see what your audience is searching for and make sure your content is exactly what they need?

Not only will your content do better in search (eventually when you’ve built a ton of links and social equity), but it will do better in social media as well.

I’ve written in more depth about how to use Keyword Planner here.

5. Use Quality Images

This applies to within your post and the images you use to promote it.  The web is a visual place and with the rise of easy design software like Logojoy and Canva the competition is fierce.  

Your audience is far less forgiving now, they expect perfection.   

Once your business gets to a certain level and you can afford to outsource images, design is one area to do that. 

Quality images really do make a difference.  They increase your click through from your social media channels, and they encourage users to come back to your website & sign up.

T Harv Ecker, one of my favorite coaches likes to quote; How You Do One Thing Is How You Do Everything.

We all subconsciously know this.  So, don't skimp on your photos! 

Having a professionally designed logo also makes a huge difference.  It is much easier to align the imagery on your website when you can tie them back to a central point - your logo. 

We always place our logo on our Pinterest graphics so that we have visual branding on our social media channels.

Logo Joy is a great tool to use for creating your logo.  It is intuitive and easy to use, the AI technology is like having a designer in your back pocket.  

6. Join Popular Facebook Groups

There are tons of great Facebook groups for you to join. 

For more groups you can join check out Hit The Gems post The Best Facebook Groups To Hang Out In If You’re An Entrepreneur

And white corner creatives; 8 Facebook Groups Every Blogger Should Be A Member Of

Each of these groups has special days when you can promote your content or sell your services.

Make sure that you check out the other content on the thread and retweet / pin / comment on posts which you enjoy.  

I have gotten a lot of cross promotion from doing that, and it’s quite fun reading new posts.

7. Share Your Post On Pinterest

If you aren’t on Pinterest yet then get on it now. I don’t buy into the idea that we need to be on all the social networks doing all the things. But don’t miss out on Pinterest.   Disclaimer here, I haven’t had a chance to analyse the quality of traffic coming from there yet… so I can’t comment on that.

But I can comment on volumes of traffic which bloggers are getting from Pinterest.  And I can contest to that because I set up Pinterest two months ago and it has already sent me the same amount of traffic Instagram has in 6 months. So um, I’m going to run with Pinterest as a core channel to focus on for traffic generation.  

That being said, Facebook blows every channel out of the water and most of that traffic is coming from these group threads - so Facebook group threads is an important channel to focus on!  P.s. if you are not following us on Pinterest come join.  We also operate a group board called Viral Guest Posts, if you send me a message I can add you. 

8. Map The Outline Before You Write Your Post (With research)

If you want to increase visits to your blog then you need to be producing epic content.  And that starts with mapping out your content before you start.  You wouldn’t write a novel without having an idea of where it is going right?

Well, it’s the same for your blog posts.

Readers need to go on a journey with you through the post, it needs to feel cohesive and that only happens when there is some structure.  

It is also highly important to research before you write. Sometimes I think we can get in the habit of creating content in a vacuum.  

I know I have been guilty of that.

I used to think my content needs to be original, innovative, 100% unique.  

But the reality is that innovation comes from smashing together different ideas, not from sitting in a dark room.  

So, before you begin your content do some searching on Google.  Find out who has written about this topic and take notes!  Buzzsumo is a great tool for finding out what is popular in your niche.

​Read more: 21 Types Of Content That Audiences Like To Share

​9. Use Your Email Signature

I learnt this tip from one of my previous clients the lovely Nadia Finer and I think it’s fab! 

Nadia’s email signature always contain loads of really useful information including her latest podcast.  I’m pretty sure she used a plugin to generate this dynamically.  I haven’t actually implemented this one yet but it is possible!

If dynamically adding in your latest content is too technical for you then just review your static signature.  

Chances are you could improve it just by adjusting your call to actions.  Make sure you link to your website & your core social media channels at a minimum.

10. Write Evergreen Content

Evergreen means that it is useful for your audience throughout the year.  This could be How To Guides for example.  Any content which provides practical advice about a topic which isn’t time sensitive.

Anything related to seasonality or specific events are topical posts which have a season to them and a specific time period where they will be read and shared.  It’s up to you how you want to weight your Evergreen & Topical content.

What I’ve seen larger brands do is create their Evergreen content first, with just a few topical posts thrown in to mix it up.  

Then once they have a strong base they start to add in more topical posts over time.  At HostelBookers, by the 2nd year we were focusing heavily on events in different destinations and building out the editorial calendar around what was going on around the world.  

But that was because we already had a base of good evergreen content.

I am using the same strategy for Ginger Marketing.  So right now I am focusing on evergreen content and in the future, when we have more recourse we can start to mix up the editorial calendar. 

I would love to know in the comments below which tactic drives the most amount of traffic to your blog! 

​Related Posts

3 Small Design Tweaks Which Will Have A Big Impact On Your Blog
How To Choose A Blog Name You Won't Hate In 2 Years
The Difference Between A Content Writer And A Copywriter
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Isn’t it amazing that small business owners have access to such a huge range of software products that can literally help us with every aspect of running our business?!

If it weren’t for all of this software I very much doubt there would be as many small business owners as there are today.  It makes it a lot more accessible to access the knowledge we need through software than paying someone to do it.

I’m very grateful for the software that helps me run my white label guest posting business and I’d like to share 3 tools I’d struggle to run my business without.
​

One: Google Drive

I remember the days when it was all about microsoft office.  Some people still use it, but I find Google Drive is just so much easier. When working with a remote team it is fundamental to keep everything running smoothly.

​We’ve used Google Forms to share new guest post opportunities and connect with new bloggers.  We use Google Spreadsheets to track our client orders & our budgets. We use Google Drive to organise everything. And of course Google Docs for creating content.  I’ve even hosted meetings before where multiple people in 2 different countries could edit and comment on one doc at the same time.

And it’s free - thanks Google!


Two: Zoom

For short calls, 30 - 45 minutes I tend to us Zoom.  It is super easy to connect with people via a video or call only - there is also the option of sharing the screen as well.  It tends to be a little bit more reliable than Skype and the host can invite attendees by sharing a link via email.

Again, this is super useful for remote working!

Plus, it is free for up to 45 minutes calls.
​

Three: QuickBooks

I’ll be honest that I actually only got this a few months ago, but it has hit my top 3 already. Quickbooks is accounting software for small businesses, and is so easy to use. I particularly love the tax estimation feature.  It gives you a rundown of the expected tax payment you will need to make for the previous tax year (which by the way you can get now as it’s a new tax year).

You can import your accounts going back as far as you like, and can connect it straight to your bank too. So, every time you have a transaction it gets tracked.

Create profit and loss reports, track your income & keep on top of tax from $5 per month.

I’d love to know, which tools you would struggle to run your business without. Let me know in the comments!

​

​Giving up.  

Or, giving up in order to try something new is an area where I should (up to this point) have some kind of medal for.   

I’m well versed in the art of saying “who gives a f*ck” or “this will never work”, or “I suddenly realised that it’s not what I actually want”, or “maybe it’s not meant to be” or, “the universe doesn’t want me to do it”. 

And about 10 million other excuses that I’ve given myself over the years.

And, I’ve also managed to not give up on quite a few things in my life over the last few years (despite feeling sometimes and often that I should be doing something else). 

If you are thinking about giving up.

Whether it’s on your blog, or on your career, or in your relationship, or on your fitness plan or any other area of your life.  I’d like to offer my thoughts & learnings so far on what I’ve found about giving up. 

And I hope that you can also share your thoughts too! 

The story actually starts in the outback of Australia. My brother and I were fruit picking grapes at a farm in the scorching heat, trying to earn some money as skint backpackers aged about 22.  

The working conditions were terrible.  If you think your office is tough, try picking grapes in 40-degree heat with no access to water and hundreds of flies buzzing around your head.  It was really, really terrible. 

When we asked for water, the farmer looked at us as if we were insane.  We literally couldn’t believe no-one else had asked for water before. It was crazy and we had another 6 weeks of it.  

6 hours in we had managed to pick a couple of buckets of grapes each (and probably ate quite a few too) I was settling into the rhythm doing my survival thing, pacing myself for the next 6 weeks.

My brother was already making an escape plan. 

Lets quit he said. 

QUIT?!  We’ve only just started, I replied, amazed at the suggestion.  Quitting just wasn’t in my vocabulary at that time.  No, we can’t do that I continued. 

Well, why not?  He replied. 

This one phrase shook me.  Actually yeah, "why the hell not" my mind was saying.  But I’d beat it back with thoughts of resilience, commitment, finishing what you started.

However, after several more hours of exhausting work and still an afternoon to go, it didn’t take much convincing to tip me over the edge.   

So, we quit.   

We basically just left our secateurs and our buckets and ran away from the farm. 

Finding a tap on the way out to hydrate and filling up an empty bottle of water we found for the journey back. 

There was no transport so we had to walk. 

To be honest, I don’t remember the walk aside from it being 40 degrees and endless road, I’m pretty sure it took us several hours to get home.

I got heat stroke and took several days to recover so my brother has a better memory of the actual escape than me. 

But, we escaped.  We complained to the people who assigned us to the job and demanded better working conditions.  And so, we got placed in an air-conditioned peach packing farm. 

Ah, the luxury! 

Water, several breaks throughout the day, lunch & air conditioning! We were made up. 

Our life had been drastically improved thanks to the act of GIVING UP. 

I swear this occasion then set a precedent for me and my life for the following years to come.  In my head from then on it was like, but if I give up then things will get so much easier and better and my life will be improved.

So, that, I think is where my ability to give up came from. 

And it’s filtered into lots of areas of my life, especially career. 

I’ve tried so many businesses over the years! So many different paths!  Even when I eventually found one I really loved; Teaching Mindfulness & Meditation, I still gave it up thinking that working on Ginger Marketing would be easier. 

Yes, Ginger Marketing and growing this business has been easier to monetize and earn a living from, but I could have found a way to continue my meditation & Ginger Marketing at the same time.

The grass is greener affects us all. 

Social media has a big part to play in it right.  

We see other people traveling the world, showing us their shopping haul or sharing their business revenue.   We see blog income reports and hear about others success and it’s really easy to think;

It must be the thing I picked. 

It must be that this topic isn’t very popular to write about.

Or, my business model isn’t working.

Or, this industry is losing traction. 

When it comes to relationships we might think that if only we had someone who was more like us, who listened more, who paid attention, who was more present to what we want, who booked more surprises and was more romantic (I’m speaking for the straight girls here as I don’t have experience of another type of relationship!). 

What I’ve come to realize is.  Very often, whenever I have these thoughts about giving up, moving on and doing something else the best thing I can do is to stand still. 

Whenever I feel like running away and throwing caution to the wind for a better, easier, more fulfilling life I’ve realized that if I can’t appreciate the amazing life I already have, there must be something going a little bit cray cray. 

​Standing still when we feel like giving up means that we can start to listen to what is really going on.
 
The issue could be as straightforward as too much time on social media and comparisonitis is setting in. 

It could be that I’ve forgotten to appreciate the little things in life that I love.

Or, it could be that it is time for a change.

Change is okay, change is great. But, that change can be something you add, not always something you take away.

As an example. Lately, I’ve realized how much I love getting on the phone and connecting with people.  It’s something I did a lot of with City Calm, my meditation business. And I miss that. 

Instead of thinking, well I don’t get to do that with Ginger Marketing, therefore, I can’t continue on with this business (*places hand to head in a dramatic way).  

I’m thinking how that can be incorporated into my business.   

How can that small change be made so that I improve on what I have already?

Often, when we want to shake things up there is a lesson to be learned. 

But that lesson can be applied to our current situation without needing to completely overhaul everything and start from scratch. 

Something which has really helped me with this is yoga & meditation. Without these practices, I’d find it very hard to stand still when I feel emotional, sad, confused and a whole host of other stuff.

It gives a certain resilience that despite feeling all these things you can just keep on going on!

Every time I decide to stand still, life gets better & better. 

Very often a breakthrough is on the other side of that still space right at the moment when everything feels like it just doesn’t fit. 

Instead of JUST DO IT (thanks Nike)

My new phrase is

JUST STAND STILL 

And I hope I've encouraged you to try it out for size and see if it works for you.   Your break through is just around the corner I can feel it.

Well, that’s about it, this is less of a tips post and more of a share.

I felt like sharing on the topic of giving up, its something I think we can all relate to. And, I’d love to hear about your experiences too in the comments!  

Although I’m not a web designer, over the years I have looked at thousands and thousands and thousands OF BLOGS. 

I’ve added them up and I’ve come to the figure of 10,000. Yep, during my SEO & Content Marketing career so far I’ve looked at 10,000 blogs - or more. 

In that time, I have come to notice a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t.  Of course, to a certain extent, blog design is about personal taste.  And, design trends change quickly.

That is why this post focuses on 3 really small changes which can have a big impact on your blog.

And by big I mean, they can literally transform & elevate the entire perception of your blog for your audience (especially point number one).  Cool huh!

Let’s get started then. 

Design Tweak 1: Make Sure You Have A Branded Favicon

Navigate to your site right now.  Look in the top left-hand corner of your browser, if you have lots of tabs open it will be the top right.  Do you see a symbol there?  What is this symbol?

The favicon for Ginger Marketing is our logo. What is yours?

​Adding a personal favicon makes a big difference to the perception of your blog. 

If your favicon is a picture of an alligator, the blogger logo, the WordPress logo or any other generic logo - please, please, please spend 10 minutes & get this changed !! I cannot even begin to explain the difference it makes when navigating to a blog and seeing a branded vs a generic favicon.

As a Marketing Manager, my immediate thought is, this blogger doesn’t really have their brand together. 

If they don’t have their brand together, then why would I place my client’s brand next to theirs. 

I’m not saying that it’s a complete deal breaker. However, it is the first thing I notice when visiting a blog and gives me an immediate impression about how it is run.

Ana from Faded Spring does this really well. Her favicon is a tiny little pink sparrow which fits with the spring theme from her brand name. 

Check yours now and ask this question. 

What kind of impression would you like to give to prospective clients?

Design Tweak 2: Increase The White Space

The second thing I notice about your blog is how I feel navigating it.  Does it make me want to stay and read your content, or am I feeling overwhelmed with too much going on?

​The difference between feeling space, or feeling overwhelmed is in large part down to the amount of white space you have.

What is white space? 

White space is intentionally blank areas on your blog with nothing going on.

Leonardo Di Vinci once said, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.  Whether you believe this from a design principle or not, when it comes to your blog simplicity is important.   

Increasing your white space forces you to make decisions about what is important for your audience. 

Don’t make your audience decide.

You need to do that for them.  It may seem counterintuitive, but readers just want to enjoy the experience & do a minimal amount of thinking & decision making - because that is what they have been doing all day.

Increasing white space is particularly relevant to blog posts. Gina Caro from Gypsy Soul does this really well. Check out my zero waste beauty routine & see what I mean. 

Gina uses spacing on her blog posts really well.  The posts are broken up with big, bold subtitles, large full-width images, and regular paragraph breaks. 

If you look at the white space, it’s pretty consistent all the way down the post & in the sidebar.

This gives a fantastic feeling of space and encourages the reader to scroll and read all the way to the end of the post. 

Design Tweak 3: Use The Credit Space Under Your Images

This is a tip I am super excited to share.  Because it comes from one of the oldest and greatest copywriters of all time, David Ogilvy. It’s a very simple, piece of advice.  But, when you really sit back & think about it, can literally transform your site (and if you play it well, your conversions)

I’ve started implementing this on our blog and will be rolling it out to our guest posting clients soon. 

The space underneath your images is usually used for what? It’s probably

a) Nothing
b) Credit for the image
c) Explaining the image
​
Did you know that this space is one of the most viewed areas of your entire blog post! 

Naturally, your audiences eye is drawn to the images on your post and then to the space underneath it. 

​Why not use this space to get your point across?

We all know that readers like to skim read.

That is the reason we use subtitles and bullet points to break up the text. Use your images in the same way.  Save the space underneath to get a point across which you want your reader to have a few split seconds to think about before they move on. 

You might be thinking, but where does the image credit go?  Well, why not credit on top of the image instead? Who said the credit needs to go underneath.  

By placing a credit underneath your image, you are effectively giving another website free advertising and the most viewed space in your blog post.

So, there are my top 3 small design tweaks for a big impact. 

If you have some further tips, or some comments on any of these please let us know about it in the comments below!