Are you intent on your blog being more professional?  This is the first step to take if your end goal is to turn your blog into a business!  Whether you’d like blogging to be your side hustle, or your main source of income, from an outsider perspective, professionalism is the key!  I recently started an overhaul of my website, and the buzzword was professional.  Whilst it is still a work in progress, I would like to share a few things I have discovered thus far!

Please be mindful that this post has been written with blogging as a business in mind.  If blogging is your hobby and you’re not bothered about generating income, then don’t sweat it.  Keep doing your thang!

Content is King … Well Kinda

Content is king, I know, I know!  That’s what everyone says.  Tough truth time.  If you want your blog to become a business, it’s not good enough to only focus on content.  You also need to work on the overall design.

This includes things like the colour scheme, the slogan or tag-line, the title, the graphics, logo, categories, art, images and video to name a few.

In the beginning, it’s totally acceptable to not think too carefully about these things.  Jeepers, just look back at my earlier posts! Unless I’ve addressed them during my website overhaul, then the knowledge of the sloppy layout and design will die with me!!

Anyway, back to the issue at hand.  TRUST ME, I know that at first you just want to get up and running and worry about finer details later.  But if you are at the stage in which you really want to make an income from your blog, then you do need certain things to look the part as well.

Provide More Detail

Blogs live and die based on the quality of the writing.

No matter what kind of new media you’re using, if you don’t have intriguing perspectives you won’t grow a significant audience.  But how can you provide more details in your blog posts?

If you’re writing reviews,  provide more detail with regards to your pros and cons. Take pictures of not just the product standing alone, but of the key areas that you’re referencing in your post.  If you are writing about your holiday, then really explore the country’s history. This should help to paint a vivid picture of the whole experience.  Even though you may only be visiting a small portion of a particular nation, you’re showing what could be on the outside.

You could combine a video review with a blog post but don’t overlap any details. The more information you provide your audience the more time they will spend on your blog.

If you are looking for some pointers to help you write more descriptively, I found the below video useful.

Keep Track of Your Expenses

A professional blog isn’t just something you can boot up and get straight to work.  There are things you will need to do in order to plan out your day properly.  This will include exploring your list of potential ideas. Once you have decided on what you’re going to make content about write a list for the things you need.  These expenses could be buying tickets to go to a concert you’re reviewing, booking a table at a restaurant, it could be buying clothes from a brand you’re interested in etc. tracking these expenses can be difficult.

So far due to budget constraints, I have been tackling this feat manually.  It’s been pretty painful, to say the least.  But I’ve heard accounting software uk is great!  The software helps to not only deal with the prices and spending but how much of it is tax-deductible due to a business expense.  This has been firmly planted at the top of my ‘to buy‘ list!

Move from Ready-Made

In the beginning, when you’re just small, it’s okay to use Wix and SquareSpace as website platforms.  However, when you’re a professional blogger, you need to stand on your own two feet.  If you have the budget, hire a website design company or professional.  If not, research, research, some trial and some error and hey presto!  You can design your own website from the ground up and make it your own!

If you are looking for some awesome website inspiration check out the video below!

FIN

Let’s do a quick recap:

• Begin your day with a professional mindset
• List the things you need to create content and map what expenses you will face
• Really explore your ideas and provide as much detail as possible when writing a post
• Mix it up with some video content to keep things fresh

As always I hope this post has been helpful! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and wish me luck with the completion of my website overhaul. Blogging…it sure ain’t easy!

P.s. If you find my content useful and enjoy what I share, why not buy me a coffee by clicking the button below?

P.p.s. If you enjoyed this post why not check out my previous post by clicking the image below.