Also, I am excited to announce that I am going to be releasing a comprehensive course all about blogging VERY SOON! So many of you have asked lots of amazing questions about blogging and how to make money from it, and honestly these are questions I’ve been getting for YEARS so finally I’ve decided to put it all together in a online course to teach you every thing I know. Be sure you are on my email list so you’ll know exactly when the course is open…plus maybe receiving a early bird discount I’ll release more details soon, so stay tuned!

Blogging Resources:

• How to Start a Blog: The First Five Tips
• How to Setup WordPress.org and Bluehost
• How to Select, Install, & Customize Your WordPress.org Theme
• How to Write Your First Blog Post

So I last told you actually HOW to create the blog post in WordPress and get it published, but today I want to share more of what makes a blog post “a good blog post”.  Of course this post is a bit subjective but after many years of both reading blogs and writing a blog, this is what I think.

Qualities of a Good Blog Post

Every post (or at least most every post) should have a takeaway of some kind for your reader or benefit them in some way. So how do you ensure that each post does just that? Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing your posts:

• Am I sharing anything that would be beneficial to my reader or helping them solve a problem in any way?
• Am I helping answer a question that many people may have?
• Am I making something easier on someone by providing my own insights or assistance?
• Am I sharing something about myself, my life, and/or my experiences that I think will bond me with my readers and vice versa?
• Am I creating content that will make them come back for more?

That last question is one that is answered really by the previous questions. If your answer is yes to at least one of those things, then readers will continue to come back for more. Don’t forget to get personal, again this is how people will connect and relate to you.

Along with your written content, you can’t neglect the visual content. Imagery is so important as well, so be sure to remember to have a camera or a phone handy with you whenever possible.

**Blogger tip: I have learned as a blogger that I should take pictures of the things I see and encounter throughout the day. You may not realize it in the moment, but so much of what you do throughout the day can be used for content on your blog. I also find inspiration in looking back through my photos if I notice a pattern, or perhaps a picture will remind me of a thought or a feeling I was having, and I can use that to generate blog content.

Creating quality imagery is another big topic I will cover in the upcoming blogger course, including how to use a DSLR, my favorite editing platforms and features, and more.  But you definitely want your pictures to be crisp and clear.  You know, “pretty” pictures.  Images tell a story too and they’re just as important.

Both of the next things I’ll mention are really more qualities of a good blog post from the blogger side of it rather than from the reader side of it.  If you want your content to be found on search engines such as Google, you will want to optimize your content using SEO practices.  I recommend installing Yoast SEO.  It gives you basic on page SEO techniques to help you drive search traffic to your blog. I also think it’s important to create images that are easily pinned on Pinterest.  Pinterest is another huge way to drive traffic to your blog (more to come on that as well).  Did you know that vertical images are more frequently clicked and re-pinned on Pinterest?  Think about how Pinterest is laid out.  The long, vertical images stand out and show up bigger on the feed than do horizontal images.  I love to use Canva to create my graphics because they have great templates and it’s easy to use.

These are just the basics but they are great things to keep in mind as you get started writing your blog posts.  Like I mentioned, I go more in depth on all things blogging in the course, coming soon! I’m so excited to share everything in detail.

xo,

Bess

The post Basic Qualities of a Good Blog Post appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

• How to Start a Blog: The First Five Tips
• How to Setup WordPress.org and Bluehost
• How to Select, Install, & Customize Your WordPress.org Theme
• Freebie! Want my “Starting a Blog Basic Checklist” sent straight to your inbox? Click here to join!

Alright, let’s make some blogging magic happen

How to Write your First Blog Post

Step 1: Login to your WordPress.org Dashboard

I know this is an elementary step but I wanted to remind everyone how to locate their dashboard.  Simply go to “http://yourblognamehere.com/wp-admin” and enter your username and password.

Step 2: Locate “Posts” and “Add New”

On the lefthand side of your dashboard is a menu.  Locate where it says “Posts“.  Hover over it and click “Add New” to begin writing a new blog post.  A new, blank post will open just ready for you to write on it.  It will look something like this:

Step 3: Begin Writing

Whether or not you like to start a post with a title or prefer to title a post after you’re done writing is completely up to you.  I personally already generally know what my blog post is going to be about before I start, so I like to go ahead and title it.  If you chose to wait to Title it until after you’ve started writing, WordPress will save drafts for you as you write and in order to do this, it will assign the blog post a generic URL that is automatically applied, that will generally consist of your blog domain name, the date, and then a series of numbers.  See below:

You can also edit this later using the edit button next to the link.  Just don’t forget because that can harm your search engine results.  A helpful plugin I use to help with SEO is Yoast SEO.  If this is way over your head, don’t worry. I will come back to it, and it’s not going to make or break your ability to post.  It’s just a helpful tip for when generating traffic is your goal.

So, in that same picture above, you can see the right handside of the text box has 2 tabs, one says “Visual” and one says “Text”. The visual tab is where you will primarily be writing.  The Text tab is where you will see the HTML for your post displayed. So whereas you may see an image that you upload in the visual tab, on the text tab it will only be HTML code of that image.  This will automatically populate at the same time that you write, so you don’t have to worry about it, but I did want to point it out.

Step 4: Uploading Images

Adding imagery to your blog posts is so important!! Who wants to just go see a bunch of words on a post?  Not me!! Adding good quality imagery (that topic I will have to be another post!) will help your readers connect with you so much better.  To do this, you will click the “Add Media” button at the top lefthand corner under your title.  Here you can upload files directly from your computer.  Be sure your cursor is where you want the image to upload otherwise it will just go wherever your cursor is clicking, and that might not necessarily be where you want it to be!

Another note about uploading images, when you upload them to your media gallery, once you click on them to select, you will see the information for that picture show up on the right hand side, like this:

Here you can name the image, give it a caption if you’d like, change the alignment, the size, and even have it link to a custom URL if you want.  For example, if you want someone to click a picture and take them to another website, you would enter that website’s link under where it says “Custom URL”.

Step 5: Hit Publish

This is exciting!! Once you are ready for your post to go live on your blog, you’ll go over to the righthand side of your page to where you see something like this:

Here you can also choose to save as a draft, make the visibility public if you want everyone to be able to read, and to either publish immediately or you can schedule a post to publish automatically at a set time.  That is one of my favorite features.  Great for when you go on vacation!

Step 6: Share!!

Sharing our blog posts is obviously a crucial step if our goal is to gain traffic and readership!  I know it can be kind of scary at first, but trust me, it will be worth it.

Share the URL of your new blog post in emails to your friends, share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc!! Anywhere you feel comfortable!  I have more tips and workflows for how to share to these platforms and optimize your traffic, but that is for another time.

xo,

Bess

The post How to Write Your First Blog Post appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

Alright, you ready? Of course you are

How to Select, Install, & Customize Your WordPress.org Theme

So in case you’re wondering what the heck a “theme” even is, lemme give you a quick rundown.  A theme is essentially the appearance of your blog, which can include things like colors, fonts, headers, number of columns, etc.  You want to select a theme that will achieve what you want your blog to do and that matches your personality and style.  There are literally thousands of themes you can choose from and so many free ones you can install right through WordPress.org. There are paid ones too.  Just find you one you connect with and I think that’s the most valuable thing to do.  The great news is you can see demos of the sites before you activate on your own.

Step 1: Select Your Theme

Be sure that you are logged into your WP Dashboard.  Remember last week I shared anytime you want to login to your dashboard you can go to “http://yourblognamehere.com/wp-admin”.  I recommend bookmarking this page for ease!

Then, scroll down on the sidebar on the lefthand side of your dashboard to where you see “Appearance“.  Hover over that and you’ll see another menu pop-out.  Click “Themes“.  At the top of this page, you should see “WordPress.org Themes“. Click that.

A page will appear that has all of the available themes you can choose from, and you can sort them out by Featured, Popular, Latest, Premium (these are the paid ones), and you can also search in the search bar for something specific.  For example, I typed in “lifestyle blog” just to see what kinds of themes generated from that search.  See below:

Pages upon pages populated from the search.  Hopefully you don’t struggle too much with decision-making, because this part might be tricky for you

If you see one you like, you can view more by hovering over the image and you will see “Details & Preview” pop up.

You can select that to see a preview version of the theme.

For example, I selected the “Juliet” theme here to see a preview, see below.  The lefthand side gives some information about the theme and then the righthand side is a live demo version where you can kind of click through to see what it has to offer in terms of layout.  This helps you get a good feel for what theme you want.

Step 2: Installing Your Theme

Once you select the theme that you think best suits you, your personality, style, and needs, then you can either click the blue “Install” button on the theme preview page, or you can go back out to the themes main page and click Install there.  The installation will begin automatically.  Once the installation is complete (it should only take a few moments) then you will see the “Activate” button appear.  The theme will not be applied to your blog until you click “Activate“.  See below.

Clicking the Activate button will apply the theme to your blog.

Step 3:  Customizing Your Theme

This is fun, right?!  Now you can customize.  Each theme will be different, so really the best way to figure out what you want within that theme is to play around and test things out.

To customize, you will go back to that “Appearance” section in your WP dashboard on the lefthand side of your menu, then click “Customize“.  That will open up a toolbar on the left hand side and your live blog on the right hand side.  You can make changes here to make things the way that you want them including font, color, etc. here.  You will see the change take effect on the right hand side, but it will not save unless you press “Save”.

Once you get everything the way you want it, you’re ready to write your first blog post for the world (or your mom, whatever!) to read. And don’t worry about committing to a theme, you can always change your theme if you decide you don’t like it later on down the road.  There are a few variables to think about if you’re going to change an existing blog with different posts, pages, and widgets to another theme to ensure you don’t lose any of that, but when you’re just starting out, if you pick a theme and decide a couple of days later you don’t actually like it, that’s fine.  Don’t fear the commitment

So yeah, like I said, now you’re ready to write your first blog post!  I will be covering all the details about writing your first blog post next week, so be sure to check back and I’ll walk you through every step and what all those little icons in your text box mean, plus, I’ll give a few of my favorite tips to share your posts to get more traffic.  See you then!!

xo,

Bess

In Case You Missed it:

How to Start a Blog: The First Five Tips

Join Now to get Free Blogging Resources

The post How to Select, Install, & Customize Your WordPress.org Theme appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, there are a variety of blogging platforms out there, but it’s important to be clear about what your goals are when it comes to starting a blog.  My tutorials here are going to help people that are interested in starting a blog that could potentially have the power to earn them money someday…because we all like extra income, right? Why not do it while you write and share your passion?  So anyways, in order to do this, WordPress.org is going to be necessary to allow you to do this without any kind of limitations.  WordPress.org is going to be able to give you full control and customization of your site and it’s functionality. You can add plugins (no idea what that is? No worries. We’ll get there!) and run ads to make money, as well as choose whatever theme you want, just to name a few things!

So Tip #2 from my last post was “Pick a Blog Name and Platform“.  By now you’ve been brainstorming a blog name and a domain name.  Your blog’s domain name is the web address that people will type in to visit your site, for example, mine is www.bessharringtoncarter.com.  Your blog’s name or title does not have to be the same as the domain name, although I would recommend it for consistency’s sake.  For example, no one is going to remember a site title of “Healthy Lifestyle Blog” when the domain name/URL is www.risingsunjournal.com.  Yes that is a totally random example, but you get what I’m saying.

Alright, so let’s do this.

First up let’s get your Bluehost account set up and get you that domain name.  (For disclosure, I personally use both WordPress.org and Bluehost and have been extremely happy with them and their customer service is amazing.  I would not recommend it if I did not!  I am an affiliate of Bluehost and may make a small commission if you decide to use Bluehost for your web hosting needs. I appreciate your support!)    Click here to open Bluehost in another tab so you can follow along step by step for set up!

How to Setup WordPress.org & Bluehost

Step 1:

Go to Bluehost and click the “Get Started Now” button, as shown below.

Here you can choose the package that is right for you.  I recommend selecting either the “Plus” package or the “Prime” package, both are on sale for $5.95/mo right now.  Whichever you decide suits your needs, simply click “Select” below the package of your choice and you will be taken to the next page.

Step 2:

Get your domain!  If you already own a domain (if you bought it from another site such as godaddy.com) you can input it on this page, or you can get your free domain through Bluehost.  Type in your desired domain name and click “next”.

FYI, if a domain name is already taken, Bluehost will notify you and it will look something like the image below.  I used my own domain name since I know that is already taken to give you an example.

Once you select “next” you will be taken to the payment portion of the page to complete your account set up.  Here you will see different options in the drop down menu box for “Account Plan”.

The 36- or 60- month plan is the best value but it’s entirely up to you.

Enter in all of your details and then click “Submit” at the bottom of the page.  Once you do this, you will receive an email confirmation to the address you put on file that will look something like this:

This email has your account login attached and will give you access to what Bluehost calls the “cPanel” (the control panel).

Step 3: Installing WordPress

On your cPanel page (If you aren’t taken directly there, you can navigate there by going to “hosting” then “cpanel” in the menu bar options.  Under the “Website” section, click “Install WordPress” as circled below:

You will then be taken to a page where you will enter in the domain name you wish to set up with WordPress.  Select your domain name from the drop down box and click “Next”.

Then follow the prompts to enter in your Site Name, then a username and password for your site. Check that you understand all of the boxes on that page and click “Install”.  When the installation is complete, you will get a “Installation Complete” confirmation message on the page.  Click on the link to view your credentials, and once you do this you’ll be taken to a page that will have your WordPress login information, including the link to your admin side of your blog.

CONGRATS! You’ve installed your very own self-hosted WordPress blog.  To login to your WordPress site at any time, you will enter in “http://yourblognamehere.com/wp-admin”, enter in your username and password and Voila! You’re in the dashboard of your blog where all the magic happens.

The next step here is to customize your site by selecting a theme.  We will touch on that next week!  This is where the creativity and your own personal touches are able to start coming out in the blog’s design.  I want to dedicate a full post to it since for me, this is when the “fun” really starts!!

Check back next week, y’all, cause we are going to dive in!!  And if you haven’t already signed up to receive my free blogging resources and email newsletter, you can do so right here!  I’ll send you the “Starting a Blog Basic Checklist” straight to your inbox

xo,

Bess

The post How to Setup WordPress.org & Bluehost appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

I am asked all the time about how to start a blog, how to find your voice, how to grow a following, and even how to turn a blog into a side income or full on business! I’ve always taken the time to answer questions any of you send over, but those questions were becoming so frequent that I realized the best way to make sure I was answering everyone and providing the best resources possible is to put it right here on the blog!

To give you some background on my relationship with blogging, I have been blogging since 2010.  I started my first blog, Bess Be Fit, a few months after I graduated college because I wanted to document my passion for living a healthy lifestyle with food & fitness.  I kept that blog going for approximately three and a half years or so, and had over 2.5 million page views in that time.  I experienced a big shift in my life around 2014 when I decided to move to Charlotte on my own. I wanted a separation from a lot of the negative things that I had experienced in my life (mainly a breakup that I wanted to move on from and never look back if I’m being honest!), because I had documented every little aspect in those blog posts.  I was at a turning point in my life and I wanted a fresh start.  So I took about a 6 month hiatus from blogging, decided I missed it SO MUCH and started to brainstorm how to start again.  (If you’re wondering, YES I really regret letting my old domain go and losing that readership. I thought I was going to be done with blogging but little did I know my life would come back to it.  We live and we learn!!)

Enter my second blog, The Fit Fave. Long story short, I wanted this one to be a mix of fitness and style, but I never truly felt at home with it.  I re-evaluated what and how I wanted to share my life and I wanted to open it back up to my readers like I had with Bess Be Fit. So, a re-branding of sorts happened very recently with www.bessharringtoncarter.com.  It’s my name and it’s me and I can’t wait for it to grow with me. I’m excited to share my real life again!!

I’ve been through many years and experiences with being a blogger and I can’t wait to share it all with you.

So now back to the point of this post.  Today I am going to share my first five tips on “How to Start a Blog”!! There is just wayyyy more information than I can fit into one blog post, so I am going to make these regular posts, at least one per week on how to get your blog going and make it successful.  People tell me all the time that the “blogosphere is so saturated” and to that I will ALWAYS disagree, because there is no one out there just like ME or just like YOU sharing her story.  And because of that there is nothing already out there that will be exactly what YOU can offer the world.  Remember that!  Being yourself is going to be the heart of everything I teach & preach!!  Let’s get into it!

How To Start a Blog

The First Five Tips

Tip 1:

Figure out what you want to write about. What do you want to share? To explore?  Chances are, you already know the answer to this if you’ve been debating starting a blog.  If not, what are your passions and interests?  Don’t just write about something because you’ve seen others do it.  Find something that you genuinely care about and enjoy.  Do you love to cook? Are you an excellent movie critic?  Do you like to share workouts?  Train for marathons?  Want to share your experiences as a mommy? Whatever the case may be, find what you are passionate about and focus on that.  Don’t just pick something because you think others would like it.  Always remember my biggest tip…being yourself!

Tip 2:

Pick a blog name and platform.  My recommendation here is to go with WordPress*.  There is a free version (wordpress.com) that has limited functionality, but has some upgraded versions there depending on what you need that can allow you to get your feet wet before jumping in.  However, I’m a big fan of just jumping in and getting used to that cold water faster.  I say, if you’re serious about it, let’s just do the dang thing AMIRIGHT? ! I use WordPress.org, which is a self-hosted platform (Bluehost is my hosting platform) because it gives me total control over design, aesthetic, and functionality.  Side note: when I got The Fit Fave back up and running, I did briefly use Squarespace, but ultimately it did not work for me.  Just do your research on what your needs are and if the platform you chose will be able to work for you.  A lot of these sites are intuitive and user-friendly and will walk you through set up, etc., but I am here to help you! More on that soon.  (Not sure if you need wordpress.com or self-hosted wordpress.org? Click here to read more.)  I will say, if you are one day looking to monetize your blog, you need to select the self-hosted wordpress.org option, and then in that case you will want to set up a Bluehost Web Hosting account.  If that all sounds like Greek to you, no worries. I will dive more in depth in subsequent posts.

*Since I have really only ever been on WordPress, any of my future posts will be in relation to a WordPress blog and how to start it and use the platform. It’s my recommendation and I will be here to help you!

Tip 3:

Establish a posting schedule.  You need to post regularly, but that doesn’t mean you have to post every single day.  You just need to be consistent.  Find a routine that works for you so your readers will know when to expect content from you.  This will also help you know what content you need to be creating when you aren’t actually blogging (taking pictures, making mental notes of experiences to share later, etc.)

Tip 4:

Create coordinating social media accounts.  I’ll dive more into growing those later, but establishing your presence on social media is a great way to get traffic to your site.  You can use your blog name, or your real name, but definitely pick one or the other and be consistent across the board so you are recognizable and synonymous with your blog and social media accounts.  So, for example, I am @besshcarter on Instagram, @besshcarter on Twitter, @besshcarterblog on Facebook, and @besshcarter on Pinterest.  This is just my personal preference to be easier to make connections for readers and followers.  Then you want to be sure to link your blog URL on all of your social sites!! It’s a simple opportunity to get a new follower on social media to click onto your blog and become a reader.

Tip 5:

Write your first post!! This is SO EXCITING!  Introduce yourself and your blog.  Dive right in!  I will be sharing another post soon on the “Elements of a Good Blog Post” to give you some direction, but the best experience in this case is to just start. It’s fun, you’ll see  And even more than that, it has become not only a passion of mine but a side hustle that allows me extra income. I’m not saying you should start a blog to make money, but I’m saying it’s possible to do so and I plan to share more on that in future posts if it’s something you’re trying to do.  (Sorry Mom, I hope you don’t think it’s tacky I’m talking about money, but I wanna help my sistas out!) Remember my favorite quote, friends: “A candle loses nothing from lighting another candle.”

So that’s it for now, but I do have more for ya…

Want my “Starting a Blog Basic Checklist”?

All you have to do is join my email list and I will automatically send you the checklist to getting started.  Simply click here to get on the list and I’ll send ya the checklist!  For all you blogger babes and girl bosses in the making already subscribed to my email, check your inboxes tonight, I’ll be sending it!

More to come, and please leave me any questions in the comments!!

xo,

Bess

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