Morgan Timm

Blogging + Business

3 Authentic Ways to Grow Your Instagram

Instagram is a strange beast if you think about it. The platform is exclusively built sharing photos with short captions (and now Instagram Stories) but there are some people who have harnessed the platform to reach Instagram fame, and then real fame.

For example, models are using it as a stepping stone to launch their careers, and there are bloggers who have ditched their WordPress sites altogether to focus on their much more lucrative Instagram accounts.

With the power behind the platform, it’s only natural that people are scurrying to grow their followings. Now there are endless ways to go about this, and some are ickier than others.

I’m all about growing a genuine and authentic brand, and my Instagram is an extension of my brand, so I focus on organically growing my account with followers who fit my targeted audience.

I’ve already spent some time in the past covering methods that I don’t encourage*, but if you’re looking for advice on what you should be doing, stick around. These are the methods that I’ve used to double my Instagram following in the past six months.

*Though I don’t encourage those methods, nothing against you if you use and love them! To each their own – everyone’s journey and end goal is different. 

The basics for growing your Instagram

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Before you’re going to see real growth in your account, there are a few steps you’ll want to take up front to get your account #InstaFamous ready.

Establish an Instagram theme

Instagram theme, cohesive feed, aesthetic….whatever you want to call it – have it. I have a huge in depth post on how to establish your Instagram theme, but here is the gist:

  • Have a consistent color palette so each photo flows into the next. This doesn’t mean you need to have a monotone theme or even stick to a two or three color palette. Even a very subtle palette can pull things together. Me? I have stark white and brown in 90% of my pictures.
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    See? Those colors are pretty easy to accomplish as a brunette who wears a lot of neutrals. Look through your camera roll and see what colors are the most prominent and choose your palette based off of that.
  • Post consistently. OK, do as I say, not as I do. If you can post every day – that’s awesome. Some superhumans even post twice or three times a day (#jealous). Me? I try to post at least 5 times a week. Being consistent means that your content is going to be put out there more often and your followers will get to know you more quickly so they’ll be less likely to unfollow.
  • Use hashtags. If you’re new to the world of marketing yourself online and are used to only using Instagram to share selfies with your friends and family, hashtags can feel tacky. (Trust me, I resisted them for months.) But, they’re necessary to see growth. Check out how you can grow your account with hashtags here.

Now that we’ve got that covered…

Let’s dive into strategy! Like I said, there are a million different ways to grow your account, but I won’t be talking about methods like Instagress or Loop Giveaways because I believe they are detrimental in the long run. Instead, let’s dive into growing your account authentically.

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The number one strategy I use takes a few steps:

Identify key players in your niche

These are the people whose followers would also be interested in the things you’re posting. These people probably have 30-100k (the huge accounts don’t have targeted enough followers for this to be effective, though you can throw a few into the mix.)

For me, I am looking for people whose followers are women in their late teens and early twenties who are interested in fashion and lifestyle. I check to see the content of their feed, and the more similar to my feed, the better.

Turn on notifications for these people and engage

Identify ~10 of these people and turn on their notifications. When you get notified that they posted, like their picture and leave a genuine and thoughtful comment. Other people who see your comment might check out your account and follow if your aesthetic is similar.

I get anywhere from 5 to 20 notifications a day (usually close to 10, though) and sometimes I don’t get any followers from my comment, but more often than not I’ll get two or three. It’s not a game-changing number by any means, but it’s an easy way to get followers who are genuinely interested in you.

And you have the bonus of being one of these larger Instagrammers’ “regulars” and I find now some of these people will come back and like my pictures which usually leads to a boost in engagement.

Take it a step further

If you’ve got extra time go through and interact with the other people who have left comments. You don’t need to follow them, but liking a few pictures and leaving a genuine comment can go a long way. When I do this I’ll get around ten new followers.

Why this works

This method is introducing you to an audience that has already proved to be interested in content like yours but who may have never found you otherwise.

By engaging with someone that they are a fan of they’ll see you have common interests, and by engaging with them they’ll be likely to check your account out and engage back. If you’re lucky, they’ll follow.

Commenting right away accomplishes two things: The person who posted is on Instagram right when you comment and they might comment back or like your pictures which helps you gain favor from the algorithm, and also the other people commenting will still be on, too.

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The hashtag strategy:

This one is a little less effective if you don’t do a good job researching your hashtags, but it’s still a great way to get your name out there and introduce yourself to a new audience.

Research your hashtags

This step is crucial to seeing results. You need to find a hashtag that is active but not oversaturated. Look for one that has a very clearly defined niche audience that would be interested in what you’re sharing. For example, if I were a vegan food blogger I might choose the hashtag #veganlunch. It has around 250k post so it’s active but not crazy saturated like #vegan is with over 32 million posts. It’s also comprised of 95% food shots so your vegan food photography will fit right in.

My go to hashtag for this step is #collegeblogger. I no longer am in that category (#adulting) but that’s where I got my start, where people know me, and where a lot of my target audience hangs out. Plus, with only 33k posts, it’s not too busy.

Start engaging

Same here as when you’re interacting with a bigger Instagrammer. Like pictures, leave comments, and follow any beautiful accounts that you find.

As always, comments have a higher return than just liking does, but sometimes if I only have a minute or two to kill I’ll go through and just like 15 pictures super quick.

For this if you’re leaving comments you can expect a higher return on followers than if you’re just liking, but either one should yield great results.

Why this works

Again, we are finding an audience that has already proven to be interested in content similar to what you post so engaging with them in a natural way puts you on their radar.

By leaving genuine comments catered to the picture (i.e. “That lip color is great on you, red is definitely your color!” rather than “Great pic!”) you’ll leave them feeling proud of their content (yay!) but now they might also check you out and return the favor.

Follower appreciation strategy:

This one takes the longest and you get the smallest return in terms of followers, but you get a big return in follower loyalty and actually getting to know your followers.

Start engaging

Go through your following list and repeat the same exact steps I mentioned earlier. Like your followers’ pictures, leave comments, and be your charming self!

Why this works

The benefit of this is that your followers’ followers are now going to see you engaging with them and might check you out, too.

Plus, you’ll win extra brownie points with the people who already know and love you!

As always: stay authentic and make your mark

There are so many “get rich quick” schemes when it comes toInstagram, but so many will come back to bite you in the butt in the long run. You’re better off going with a slow and steady approach if you want to have positive, long-term results.

Want more Instagram tips? I created a BRAND NEW Facebook group called The Instagram Fam where you can share your feed for critique, partake in follow Fridays and engagement threads, and meet other like-minded, Insta-obsessed bloggers!

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Grow Your Instagram Following with Hashtags

Instagram is my favorite social media – but I find it to be the most challenging social media site, too. With so many people using the platform inauthentically, the ‘like for like; follow for follow’ mindset, and the new algorithm shaking everything up Instagram can be a truly dizzying platform to try and grow.

Despite everything else, I’ve found that one consistent way to reach a new and targeted audience is through hashtagging intentionally.

Now, don’t roll your eyes. I know, I know. We hear all about hashtagging, but (excuse me for saying so) a lot of the advice that is being spread is a little basic.

There are countless posts touting the power of hashtags (right on!) but then they go to recommend a series of broad hashtags that aren’t going to help you grow. Chances are, if you’re using a list of generic hashtags you found on somebody’s blog a few years back, you’re not getting the biggest bang for your buck. I want to talk to you about what hashtags are and why you should use them, how to use them and get the highest return for doing so, and which hashtags you should be using.

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Why should you use hashtags?

Even today a lot of people have reservations about hashtags. They think that they look tacky, desperate, or all of the above.

I know when I started using hashtags I was still a baby blogger – the only people who followed me were people I went to school with and none of them used hashtags. I was self-conscious and was afraid of people judging me and thinking I looked desperate for likes.

That’s silly.

Hashtags are a powerful tool and they will skyrocket your growth and if anyone judges you for using them, well, they’re silly, too.

Hashtags categorize your content so people can find your pictures even if they don’t follow you. If people have a particular interest (yoga, fashion, cats, etc.) they will go through hashtags in those niches to find content that interests them.

If you don’t use hashtags – the only people who see your posts will be your followers.

That’s fine and great and good if you’re not trying to grow your account and influence, but if you’re trying to be intentional about your growth, hashtags should be a non-negotiable.

How should you use hashtags?

How you should use hashtags is a hot debate. In the caption or in the comments? Should you max out at 30? How popular is too popular?

Well, gather round.

I’ve been researching hashtags for a hot minute, have conducted an experiment or two (or seven or eight), and am confident in my hashtagging methods.

In the caption or the comments?

The comments. Hands down, no question. Remember the insta algorithm update that sent the internet ablaze?

Yeah, me too.

Well, that update shows favor to content that has been engaged with.

This means that it’s in your benefit to engage with your own content in a natural way right away. Now, hashtags are timed to when the picture was posted – not the hashtag comment – so you have to be strategic.

Write the hashtags out in your caption, select, cut, publish, and paste in the comments immediately after posting. Do not wait. Do not pass go. Do not collect twenty dollars until you post your hashtags. It will look something like this.

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What I’m lacking in the above picture is an appropriate number of hashtags. I used six generic hashtag limiting my chances of anyone ever seeing this picture.

So how many hashtags should you use?

The maximum number – the solid 30. I advocate for using hashtags relevant to the picture, your account, and your brand, but if you run out of ideas for hashtags and don’t have time to research there is no shame in filling in the last five or six with more generic tags.

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But! Be careful: If you use more than 3o hashtags Instagram won’t let you post your comment. A lot of times I only post 28 in case I count wrong that way I have a bit of wiggle room.

Which hashtags should you use?

Here is where so many people go wrong – they use the same hashtags that everyone else is. These are the people using #liveauthentic, #ootd, #thehappynow, #etc. exclusively.

Now, those hashtags are fine and dandy, and I use them a lot when I’m not feeling on top of my creative game. Really, though, you should be focusing on hashtagging relevant and targeted tags instead.

If you copy and past the same exact 30 hashtags for every picture that you post – you’re doing yourself an injustice because you’re reaching the same exact audience every single time rather than branching out.

The answer to the “Which hashtags should you use?” question isn’t cut and dry – there is no perfect combination that will work for every blogger, or even for every blogger in the same niche.

So how do I know which hashtags to use?

Here is where things get exciting! Figuring out which hashtags you should use is actually pretty fun – and you will probably stumble on great accounts while you’re researching.

  1. Figure out what the main subject of your picture is. Maybe the subject is yoga, or fashion, or cats.
  2. Enter that hashtag into the search bar.
  3. Look at the ‘related’ hashtags.
  4. Click through related hashtags that you think apply and look at those related hashtags.

Searching a general term and then going through the related hashtags will help you find more focused tags that aren’t already taken over by spammers. When you click through to check a hashtag out look at the pictures in the popular post sections – are they all related to the niche? How many likes do they have on average?

You want a mix of popular and new hashtags – use hashtags where the pictures in the popular section have thousands of likes, but also aim for using some where they might only have a hundred or so – this means you might be able to break into the popular section of some of the less popular hashtags and that means more exposure for you.

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And good news! For all of you fashion and style bloggers out there – I did the research for you! I rounded up some of the most effective hashtags in the niche and compiled them into one easy cheat sheet so you can pick and choose which works the best for you and your brand!

OPT-IN FOR THE CHEAT SHEET HERE!

Plus! I’m working on sheets for other niches, too! So comment your niche and I’ll add it to my list, and keep checking back as I add more sheets!

What is your Instagram hashtag strategy? Will it be changing after reading this post?
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Common Course Misconceptions

Creating an online course can quite literally be a life changing experience for you. Working at Teachable I’ve had the incredible opportunity to see course launches that allowed the instructors to quit their jobs in favor of online entrepreneurship, and for others their courses fund vacations, their kid’s travel soccer league, or weekly date nights with their husbands.

But a lot of people tend to have a limiting mindset when it comes to online courses.

“Sure other people can launch a course and make tens and thousands of dollars, but never me.”

COURSE MISCONCEPTIONS

Well, my friends, that’s where you’re wrong. Anyone and everyone can launch a profitable and successful online course, it’s just a matter of moving past a few common misconceptions. Everyone has different fears holding them back, but I thought I’d address a few of the more common ones.

You have to be an “expert”

So many people are under the impression that they can’t create an online course because they aren’t an “expert” in their field.

They don’t take into account where they were when they started and how far they came. If you’re wanting to create an online course on a topic, chances are you are at least knowledgeable enough in the field that you’re ahead of a good chunk of beginners.

You don’t need to be the ultimate authority or know every inch of the broad theme of what you’re teaching inside and out. You just need to be a step or two ahead of your student base.

In fact, in many cases we’ve found that people who aren’t experts in their topic are actually better teachers. The people who were in the same spot their students are in now just a few months ago are better at recalling the specific pain points they had and how they overcame them.

You don’t have a large enough audience

It can be discouraging when all of your role models who are celebrating 6 figure launches also have audiences large enough to populate a small country and the mid-tier blogger is keeping quiet on their launch.

But take it from someone on the inside who gets to take a sneaky little peak at course launches from influencers small and large: you don’t need to have a massive audience to have a successful and profitable course.

I’ve seen influencers who I’ve never even heard of pull in tens of thousands of dollars on launches. Their audiences are small, but loyal.

Conservatively we say that around 2% of your email list will convert. So if you’re selling a $100 course and have a list of 1000 people you’ve already made $2000 right there. And of course we’ve seen launches with a significantly higher conversion rate, too.

Your audience can find what you’re teaching for free

Ok, so this one is true. Realistically in this day and age you can find and learn anything you want on the internet for free. BUT! What online courses do is create a shortcut to an outcome.

Sure. Your audience can spend months researching, sifting through information, and deciding which sources are credible and reliable versus which are not – but that takes time.

With your online course you are able to cut out the middle man and provide a shortcut to an outcome. You’ve done the research and sifting for them, and now you’re presenting the information in an easy to follow, informative manner that will get your students to a result far quicker than if they had done everything themselves.

No one will be interested in what you’re teaching

Every course has an audience if you know where to look. Maybe the general population isn’t interested in learning about horticulture, but there are thousands of plant enthusiasts that are. You just need to know how to find them.
Chances are, if you’re wanting to teach an online course on a given topic you are somewhat of an enthusiast. Think about the places you hang out online, and chances are you’ll find your target audience there.

Whether it’s a subreddit, forum, facebook group, or even a hashtag on Twitter you use go there and observe. See what questions people are having and figure out their pain points. Create a product upgrade that addresses the most common painpoint, and use emails you collect through that to market your related course.

If you try to sell to a general audience, say your Facebook friends, you might not have much success. The key is finding your target audience and selling to them.

You aren’t teaching a topic that will help people make money

Out of the misconceptions I hear, this is the one that is the hardest to address. People are more willing to spend money if that money is an investment that is going to help them make money – that’s true.

But that doesn’t mean that people won’t spend money if they aren’t going to make money.
Again, it’s all about finding your target audience and marketing your course to them. For example, one of our instructors at Teachable, Angela Fehr, teaches watercolor painting. Realistically very few people will ever make money watercolor painting yet she makes 8k a month selling her online courses.

I might sound like a broken record, but I’ll say it again: It’s all about finding and selling to your target audience and using benefit driven language.

Sure, watercolor might not make your rich, but you can market as something that will help you destress after work, or a way to express your creativity. A lot of people are looking for a creative outlet, and something that they can be great at – help them get there!

Want to create an online course?

At Teachable we are hosting our #CourseBizNow Accelerator this week into next and we would love for you to join us! We brought in 7 experts who have been incredibly successful in creating their own online courses and they are walking you through step by step. We are on day 2 now, but replays will be sent out so you can catch up!

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How to Grow to 2500 Daily Blog Views (Without Being Hacky)

When it comes to blogging – I’m an open book. I am more than happy to share my stats and income with y’all because when I was a new blogger I obsessed over income reports and traffic analysis because it’s how I learned not only what was possible, but how I might be able to achieve it myself.

Transparent bloggers helped me learn the strategies I needed to see growth, and I’ve gotten to the point where I can consistently predict my stats and income.

I’ve been blogging for almost three years now and have had my share of viral months (reaching over 500k pageviews in some months). I foolishly thought that traffic would be lasting and that it existed due to my superior blogging strategy rather than dumb luck.

Now I realize that dramatic spikes in traffic are generally brought on more so by the internet powers that be rather than strategy, and that growing your page views is a slow and steady race. Huge spikes generally will fall back down to some degree.

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With that said, there are some slow and steady methods that you can employ to increase your page views and see steady growth. Now these aren’t “hacky” and you aren’t going to see overnight results, but in the long run you will see an increase in page views that won’t fall back down. Using these tips I’ve gone from 0 views when I started this blog in January, to at around 2,500 a day now.

Improve your SEO

SEO seems complicated. When I first started blogging I refused to even think about it for months because I was intimidated. Major mistake.

SEO is how search engines find your website, and if done right you will probably be getting most of your traffic from search engines.

You do this by making it easy for search engine crawlers to know what you’re talking about. Your blog posts should have keywords sprinkled throughout (organically!), the title should be clear, and any images should have alt text containing your keywords.

Oh, and use headings like these.

Use a lot of images, headings, and bullet lists to help break up your post and make it a bit easier to read.

How I got ranked #1 on Google

Warning: I’m about to sound real nerdy, BUT one of my biggest achievements ever is that I’ve got a post ranked as #1 for a popular search term. #GeekingOut

If you Google “Instagram Themes” you’ll see this post listed as number one, and the accompanying image highlighted below.

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Now, I will be honest: part of getting ranked as number one is luck because there can be five different posts doing everything right with SEO, but with proper strategizing you can at least get on the front page of Google by following some of the same steps I did.

My Search Engine Optimization Method:

  • Write long blog posts. Search engines see long form content as being more valuable, so make sure all of your posts are at least 1000 words long. The sweet spot is said to be ~2500 words!
  • Get backlinks to your post. This was the hardest part for me, especially given the fact that I”m an introvert and asking people for favors is hard. So, I went the easy and less effective route and did this:
    • I found around twenty blog posts that people had written about Instagram – it could be anything – gaining followers, taking better pictures, anything! Then I left genuine and thoughtful comments on their posts proving that I not only read it, but also took into consideration what they were saying. From there I emailed them and said something along the lines of, “Hey, I saw your post on Instagram and really liked ______ about it. I just wrote a post on Instagram themes I thought you might be interested in.” I never asked them to link to my post because that made me nervous, but a handful of people did regardless.
    • (Full disclosure, I have a second blog with a pretty strong presence on Google so I was able to link to the post from there, too.)
  • Link to yourself. Every time I write about Instagram on either of my blogs, I link to my Instagram Themes post. This is good practice regardless, but it really pays off as far as SEO goes.
  • I advertised like crazy. Google sees popular posts as being more helpful. I knew that this post had front page potential given the competition so I tried to get everyone possible to read it. I made a dozen different Pinterest pins, pinned it to every self-promo thread I could find on Facebook, and tweeted it out like a mad woman. Slowly it started gaining momentum, traffic, and comments; and that resulted in it finally showing up on Google.
  • I wrote related posts. I am trying to corner Google’s market for Instagram search terms, so I write a lot about Instagram and interlink all of my posts. This virtual web makes it easier for Google to find ALL of these posts and positions me as an authority.

Related Post: How to use SEO by Yoast

Consistency with Social Media

Truth is, nothing short of a miracle is going to quadruple your page views and remain consistent. With that said, viral spikes will bring your some long-term benefits and social media is a great way to grow your following and increase the chance of going small-scale viral.

I use social media as a way to attract new readers and of course I love going viral on any scale, but in the long run I’m looking for steady growth.

How to use social media to drive consistent traffic:

  • Post daily: this can seem tedious, but with schedulers like Hootsuite or Edgar it’s made a bit easier. You can even bring on a VA to help with the process! (Shout out to my girl, Desiree for being the best VA/Friend ever! <3)
  • Be authentic: Don’t just post links to your blog posts, people will quickly become bored of you. Instead post questions, fun graphics, quotes, and general thoughts. Then sprinkle in links to your own content amidst all of your other shares.
  • Share other people’s content: This not only creates good will, but these people may end up sharing your content in return. It’s a win-win!

Using Pinterest for consistent Traffic

Pinterest in my best blogging friend, y’all. No joke. I get a lot of traffic from Pinterest and I’ve been preaching about the wonders of the platform for over a year.

Which is why it’s so frustrating for me when I see bloggers give up after a week or two of no results. Pinterest is the bomb diggity if you spend time setting it up.

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My best Pinterest tips:

  • Make any irrelevant boards private. If you’re using your Pinterest account for your blog or business you should make sure all of your boards are relevant to said blog or business and the interests of your target audience. This will help you grow a targeted following, because you’re showing your audience exactly what it is you have to offer.
  • Pin all the time. “But Morgan! I don’t have time to pin all the time!” Don’t worry – me either. But what I DO have is an active Board Booster subscription. I’m sure you’ve heard of it by now, but if you haven’t take my word when I say you need it. The free trial lasts for forever, and after that it’s only $10/month.
  • Sanitize your boards. So this might be the greatest Pinterest debate out there: to delete under performing pins or not. I’m in the “delete” camp, and I can tell you why but it’s all a bunch of anecdotal evidence. I’ve seen results, maybe they are coincidence, but I’m a believer.
  • Join group boards. This is another one that you likely already knew, but it’s important. Group boards allow you to “borrow” other people’s followers and get your content in front of a new audience entirely.
  • Open your boards up to contributors. Nothing exploded my following more quickly than opening a few boards up as group boards. Now my Pinterest boards stay active passively through other people pinning to my boards!

Using Twitter for consistent traffic

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I am a recovering Twitter hater. I really hated it for a long time but I’m finally beginning to see it’s value. Twitter is a tricky beast. It moves quickly, has a lot of spammy users, and limits you to 140 characters.

BUT there is some good. It’s great for growing a community, and it’s a great place to engage with your followers. I don’t see great traffic from Twitter (maybe 100 views a week) but I do see some of my best engagement there.

The views I get from Twitter are returning visitors which is a very valuable commodity in the blogging world. You want people to come back to your site again and again because that means they liked it enough the first to return. Repeat visitors quickly turn into fans of your blog.

My Twitter strategy:

  • My lovely and beautiful friend and part-time VA, Desiree, has been helping me schedule tweets out. She makes beautiful quote graphics, tweets the videos out to my favorite songs, and shares links to great blog posts. I take care of responding to anyone who engages with me on Twitter, and live tweeting throughout the day in addition to what is already scheduled to go live.
    • Tweeting things like quotes and songs helps people relate to you and want to engage. You might share a quote that’s exactly what they needed to hear that day so they’ll retweet and send you a kind message – you’ve made a friend. Or maybe someone loves the song you just tweeted out – BAM! new friend.
  • Engage with people. Twitter is where I allow myself to fan-girl. If my favorite blogger writes a new post I’ll tweet her and let her know how wonderful I thought it was. Or maybe a blogger in my niche just wrote the best post I’ve ever read. I’ll let her know. Being kind and engaging is a good way to get your name out there.
  • Respond to tweets. This is a big one for me – I try and respond to every single tweet sent my way. I am not always the best at this, and I’m sure some slip through the cracks but I do my best.
  • Tweet my own content sparingly. Whenever I have a new post I’ll tweet it out once (maybe twice) but other than that I don’t do much promotion except on special occasions. I like to use Twitter as a way to be relatable and engaging, not a place to self-promote myself on a loop. You can always tell when bloggers are using a program to tweet out 8 links to their old blog posts every day and if it’s not done tactfully it can be quite off-putting.

Using Intstagram for consistent traffic

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OK, friends. I’m going to be real honest with you. Instagram isn’t where you should be if you want to drive real traffic. I love Instagram and it’s my favorite social media but I’d be disillusioned if I thought it was going to drive massive traffic to my blog.

Instagram is designed to allow people to mindlessly scroll and consume media effortlessly – it’s fantastic! Once someone follows you, they probably won’t be going to your profile very often to even see the link in your bio, and the ones who do visit your profile probably won’t click.

Mind you, I have a modest ~4,500 followers and can’t speak for those with massive followings, but I am lucky to get 100 pageviews from Instagram in an entire month.

What I do use Instagram for:

Instagram is a great place to diversify your brand. In the blogging world I create long blog posts chocked full with advice. I’ve got my niche and I stick to it. On Instagram I post pretty pictures with short, often sassy, captions.

Decide whether you want to stay on brand

The world of fashion blogging has always appealed to me, but I didn’t want to start another blog. Instagram allows me a platform to dip my toe into those waters without taking the plunge and starting a third (!!!) blog. I have a very different audience on Instagram than I do here on Morgan Timm, and it’s fun being able to create breezy, fun content that can be created quickly and effortlessly.

With that said, my Instagram would be a lot more powerful of a conversion tool if I were gearing it towards the same audience I’m gearing this blog towards.

Unlike any other platform, Instagram is a place where you can gain “fans.” I use the word fans for lack of a better one, but essentially that’s what happens.

If you post high quality content consistently, eventually you’ll amass a very engaged following. For me, my very engaged following is still tiny, but because they’ve gotten to know and like me through Instagram, they are now interested in what I’m doing on my blogs, too.

Instagram is another one that’s great for growing community, but you have to be in it for the long haul if you’re aiming to gain traffic.

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Consistently posting

So here is where you can all say, “Morgan! You hypocrite, you are the last person who should be saying anything about consistency.”

But I’m going to pretend not to hear you. (Kidding, I know, I know. I need to improve on this!)

Before my internship I was very consistent but I’ve found that I have trouble balancing and managing my time. (Yikes! I’m sorry!)

But! Consistency is how I amassed blog readers in the first place. When I started Mostly Morgan I was posting several times a week, and I even blogged every day for a month at one point.

Consistency, especially early on, earns you a lot of brownie points with your readers. Once you have a healthy library full of great content it’s less important to post several times a week (I aim for once a week, myself!) but it’s a great way to gain momentum quickly.

But Morgan! How ever will I come up with enough blogging ideas to post more than once a week?

I love this question because I love brainstorming post ideas and I’ve got a system that not only will keep your editorial calendar full, but it will have you writing what your audience wants to read.

How to come up with post ideas:

  • Check Google Analytics and figure out what your most popular posts are. How can you go broader with them? More narrow?
    • For example, if you’ve got a blog post dedicated to how to meal plan here are a few related posts you can write:
      • Best notebooks for meal planning – make a list and link this post to your meal planning post to forward traffic. You can even add in affiliate links to make extra money!
      • How to use coupons to meal plan – in this post you can teach people how to meal plan and save money based on that week’s coupons. You can link your original meal planning post here.
      • My week in meals – in this post you can show your audience everything you cooked this week based off of your meal plan and, again, link to your meal planning post.
  • Check your recent comments. Chances are that there is something your audience wants to see from you that they haven’t seen yet, and they might be asking questions. Even if they aren’t directly asking for you to write a post you can read between the lines and come up with posts from their comments.
    • For example, if I have a post on best Pinterest tactics I might get some comments like these:
      • “Great post, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to set up rich pins. Could you help?” In this case I could respond directly to the comment OR write a post going into the nitty gritty of setting up rich pins to further establish myself as a Pinterest authority while going above and beyond for a reader.
      • “Love this! I can never find accounts pinning ______, glad I found you!” Whenever your audience says they can’t find something or they can’t figure something out take that as a que for you to do your research and teach them. In this case I could find 10 accounts pinning the best blogging and biz tips and create a roundup post.
      • “Wow! I’d never heard of BoardBooster before, I’ll have to look into it.” Nah, girl. I’ll look into it FOR you. If there is a certain program that your audience is commenting or questioning, consider creating a super detailed post walking them through what it is, how much it costs, how they can use it, and why you recommend it. Bonus points if you can get the software you’re writing about to share your post!
  • Break up your blog posts. In case you haven’t noticed, this is a pretty beefy blog post (2808 words and counting!). In all honesty, I could easily break this up into a few different posts and still might in the future. You see this section you’re reading right now? I can expand on it and turn it into an entire post. Huh, maybe I will.
    • Even if you’re in a different niche entirely this can still be applicable. Say you’re a fashion blogger and you’re doing an OOTD: that cute hat you’re wearing? Write a post about it.
      • 10 ways to style a sunhat OR
      • Why sunhats are a summer wardrobe essential OR
      • The best sunhat steals and deals
      • You get the picture

What I’m getting at is there are endless blog post ideas floating around and even though it’s easy to get “stuck” it’s just as easy to get unstuck. If you’re ever feeling inspired sit down and pound out as many post ideas as you can come up with.

Now we wait

Like I said, these tips aren’t going to bring you massive page views overnight, but the will help you see success over an extended period of time.

Start now by recording your stats so you can monitor your growth and then pick and choose a few (or all!) of these strategies to implement into your blogging and business strategy.

Your Blogging Questions Answered: Blogging FAQ

There is a misconception that you can start a blog, post content, and be successful.

If only.

Unfortunately being a successful blogger takes a lot more than just writing a post every week and calling it a day. The most successful bloggers are out there promoting their posts and building a brand.

I’m nowhere near an expert, but I do consider myself authority. I’ve been blogging for over two years now (time flies, man!) and in that time I’ve been able to effectively monetize my blog and grow my audience to around 100,000 unique visitors a month.

With that said, I get a lot of people asking for blogging advice (which I love!) but I find myself answering the same questions over and over again so I thought it’d be wise to compile my commonly asked questions in one place.

BLOGGING FAQ

How do I start a blog?

This is my favorite question because 1. I love that more and more people are starting blogs because blogging is (no exaggeration) the best thing I’ve ever gotten myself into and 2. because I’ve got an entire post walking you through getting started step by step.

What do I write about?

This one is all you, friend. I get this question often and when I’m on top of my email game I’m able to ask questions and help you out, but sometimes I ignore my inbox for too long and come back to 400 unread emails to sift through and this question often falls through the cracks because it’s so vague.

So, let’s pretend you emailed me and asked what to write about, here are the questions I would ask you:

  • What is your intention with your blog? Do you want it to be a creative outlet or a business?
    • If you want to use it as a creative outlet then blog about whatever you desire! You can talk about your morning coffee or that time you dreamt you were a dragonfly. The sky is the limit.
    • If you want to use it as a business tool write content that will help people. A narrow niche on any topic that you might like will help you grow your audience and corner the market. Everything you publish should serve the purpose of being either ridiculously helpful or ridiculously entertaining.
  • What blogs do you like to read? Do you want to create something similar?
    • If you read exclusively beauty bloggers, did they inspire you to start your blog? What do you like about their content? What would you change? You can draw inspiration without copying.
  • What could you talk about for hours and hours?
    • Chances are, no matter what your passion is you’ll be able to find an audience for it. Even if you don’t know anyone in your immediate network who shares your passion, the internet is a big place. Whether you a horticulture enthusiast or passionate about color theory, you’ll be able to find your tribe online.

How can I get more pageviews?

  • Post consistently – if you’re only posting once every week or two, your growth is going to be so much slower than if you’re posting at least twice a week. The more often you post quality content, the more growth you’ll see.
  • Be active on social media – People won’t just happen upon your blog, you have to show them! Create a presence on social media and promote your posts there! But don’t only promote your posts or else you’ll look spammy.
  • Concentrate on SEO – if you’re on WordPress download an SEO plugin and use it. Google is my second highest referrer and that’s because I spend so much time on SEO!
  • Write content that will help people. Before hitting publish ask what your readers will get from reading your post? Will they learn something? Be entertained? Is your post thought provoking? If not reconsider publishing!
  • Create beautiful graphics that people will share. Pinterest is a blogger’s best friend, if you’re not creating beautiful images for your blog post you’re missing out.

How can I make money?

  • Blogger make money in a lot of different way. Check out this post here where I walk you through making more money as a blogger.
  • Consider cultivating brand partnerships. You won’t be able to do this until you’ve grown your audience a bit, but brnd partnerships are a great way to bring a few extra dolla dolla bills your way.
  • Create and sell your own product. I think this is the best way you can go about making money as a blogger because you are in complete control. You create the product, price it, market, and sell it. You’re not relying on brands reaching out or having to deal with unfair rates.

How do you promote your posts?

Personally I rely on Bloglovin and Pinterest to do most of the work for me. I write posts with SEO in mind so they will (hopefully) end up ranking well on Google, too.

When I started blogging I would spend so much time promoting my posts and then I realized I wasn’t getting a huge return for that energy. Now I focus on publishing quality content (i.e. at least 1500 words of impactful advice) and hope people will share.

What blogs do you read?

I find 90% of my reading material by finding random blogs on Pinterest, but there are a few I regularly read:

How do you create your blog graphics?

I used to be a huge Canva enthusiast (and I still think it’s great!) but since investing in Adobe Creative Suite I’m too smitten to ever go back. If the graphic has an image in it I first will edit in Lightroom and then create the actual graphic in Photoshop.

I also dabble in InDesign and Illustrator, but those are still both new to me so not much of what I create there is any good.

How do you handle hate comment?

I am lucky in that I don’t get very many hate comments, I can probably count on my fingers how many I’ve gotten in over two years of blogging!

But for the hate comments I do get, I just delete them. My blogs are my space and I have no room for negativity here. I keep comments if they are disagreeing or expressing a differing opinion, but the second the tone turns rude or hateful I gladly will delete the comment.

If you blog about anything controversial (even if you don’t feel like it is, the comments on some mommy blogs get brutal!) you might get a lot more hate comments than I do. If that’s the case you can consider changing your settings so you have to approve comments or just be proactive in moderating your comments.

How do I tell people I’m blogging?

I love this question because I relate to it so much. I didn’t start telling anyone I blogged until I made money. I was worried that people would be judgmental because blogging is outside of the norm. When I started blogging I didn’t know any other bloggers (now I’ve made all of my friends start blogs!) so it felt weird having this hobby that no one else in my life shared.

After I got my first sponsored post opportunity (I only asked for $40 because I was clueless!) I told my parents. And after I got my next opportunity I made a general Facebook post letting my friends know that I was blogging.

Most people didn’t even comment, but the ones who did were very supportive. And despite the lack of engagement I did see a huge bump in traffic that day because people are nosy.

My advice for you, though: Blogging is super cool and you are going to learn a lot of skill you couldn’t get anywhere else as quickly. Through my blog I’ve walked in a fashion show, got an all-expenses paid trip to cover St. Louis Fashion Week, and landed an internship that gave me the opportunity to move to New York City.

Blogging is cool and having a blog is getting your foot in the door to a world of opportunities that most of your friends could never imagine. Own it and be proud, even if you’re just starting out.

People might think it’s strange at first but prove them wrong with your success!

How do you find time to blog?

Ah, the age old question. And one I’ve obviously been struggling with since starting my internship. I work 9:30-6:30 everyday, and usually go to bed by 11 leaving me four and a half hours after work.

While I’m interning I just need to make sacrifices and write because I love blogging. I save Netflix for Friday nights and I don’t leave my apartment on Saturdays until I’ve finished my to-do list (publishing this post is on today’s!)

It’s not ideal and I wish that I had an awesome life hack for you, but if you’re like me and are aiming to blog full time I live by the idea of working hard now so I don’t have to later.

At my internship I’m learning skills that I’ll carry with me throughout my blogging career and I’m saving money for when I make the plunge to full-time. I’m working hard, long days so in the future I can live life on my own terms.

Have any other questions?

Leave them in the comments and I’ll reply and add the question to the FAQ! And as always feel free to email me!