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Tell a Story for the Ages: How to Keep a Travel Blog While You’re in Turkey

Did you know that 51.9 million people visited Turkey in 2019, breaking the previous year’s record by 13.7 percent?

Well, it’s true, and with good reason! Turkey is an amazing place to visit, and keeping a blog while you’re there is a great way to share your experiences with those at home. Not only that, but you’ll be able to look back on it in many years and remember your time there.

Read on for some tips on how to keep a travel blog while in Turkey!

Have an Allotted Blogging Time

The first step to keeping a travel blog in Turkey is to have a specific time set aside to post. This will stop you from putting off writing blog posts and hold you accountable for uploading consistently.

This time doesn’t need to be every day- in fact, two or three posts a week should be sufficient. Choose what days of the week you want to upload on and stick with it!

Write on Your Phone

That being said, the time that you allot to write blog posts can simply be when you’re on public transit. There’s nothing better to do when you’re sitting on a bus or a train, so you might as well whip out your Smartphone and begin to talk about your daily experiences and the cool things you’ve seen.

Not only will this make it easy to blog- you won’t even need to take attention away from your travels!- but it will also make sure that the things you’re writing about are fresh in your mind.

Take Pictures to Go With Posts

People back home will want to experience what you’re seeing rather than just reading a description of them. That’s why you’ll want to put some pictures of cool things that you see with each blog post you make.

Check out https://madeinturkeytours.com/history/ for some information on sightseeing in Turkey. On the tours offered by this site, you’ll get to see lots of amazing historical locations and artifacts that are photogenic enough to upload to your blog.

Don’t Stay in a Hostel

Many people who travel abroad will choose to stay in hostels, especially when you’re going somewhere that you don’t speak the language. These buildings have many people staying in the same room, which has benefits but also has downsides.

One of the biggest downsides to staying in a hostel is that you may be distracted from writing and uploading blog posts. People will be making noise around you and making it difficult for you to focus. Instead, find a bed and breakfast that’s within your budget and stay there.

Enjoy a Fantastic Trip

If you want to write a travel blog that stands out, you’re going to need to have an amazing trip. Go to new places, try interesting things, and don’t shy away from the unknown. Turkey is a place filled with unique cultural traditions, friendly locals, and authentic and interesting food. Don’t be scared to try new things!

More on How to Keep a Travel Blog

Now that you know how to keep a travel blog while on your trip to Turkey, it’s time to learn more writing tips. Check out the ‘writing’ tab on our home page for more information on how to write well and make your blog stand out online.

Blog to Book: How to Turn Your Blog Into a Top Selling Book

Building a successful blog is hard work. You have to become an expert in your field, learn about web design and search engine optimization, spend a lot of time on marketing, and hope you have a post or two go viral. Once you’ve built a solid platform, it’s natural to start looking toward the next steps in your writing career.

Many successful bloggers have been able to take their business to the next level by writing a book. You already have an established group of readers, several hundred thousand words written on a subject, and a reputation as a relative expert, so it’s a natural fit. If you’re thinking about taking your writing from blog to book, read on to learn how.

Find a Unique Angle

When you’re starting the process of turning your blog into a book, the first thing you’re going to want to do is find your unique angle. One of the advantages of starting out as a blogger is you already have some expertise on your particular subject. You know what’s on the market, what readers are looking for, and which questions still need to be answered in your field.

Try to find a book topic within your wheelhouse that presents a unique angle. Think about what it is about your blog that keeps readers coming back and sets you apart from the millions of other websites. If you’re looking for inspiration or ideas, you can find some great choices here. 

Create a Content Plan 

Once you’ve figured out your angle, it’s time to map out the content plan of your book. This should at the very least be a general sketch of the topics you’ll cover in the book, if not a detailed table of contents. This will serve as the skeleton you’ll build your book around.

It can be tempting to put together a book with blog posts you’ve already written, but that won’t fly in the publishing world. Why would readers pay $25 for a book when they can read the whole thing online for free? Instead, use your blog as a guide for ideas when you’re developing this content plan.

Mine Your Blog Posts

With your content plan in place, it’s time to dive into the process of writing your book. And while you shouldn’t copy any of your blog posts directly, they can still be a huge resource in writing your book.

Go back through blog posts related to the chapter you’re working on and mine them for information. You’ve already done a huge amount of research, thinking, and writing on the topic, so use that to inform your book chapters. Pull relevant factoids and ideas, and revise old statistics and information that’s changed since you published older posts.

Create the Missing Content

Your book content plan should contain brand-new topics that aren’t on your blog. Once you’ve written everything that you have already blogged about, it’s time to start filling in the gaps. Research the new topics the same way you would for a blog post and start adding those into your draft. 

It’s not a bad idea to put out some blog posts related to the missing content after you’ve written the chapters. This can start priming your audience for your book. Once you get closer to the release date, you may even want to release a chapter or two of the new content as a sort of teaser.

Hire an Editor

Once everything in your book has been written, it’s time to start the editing process. Read through the book several times, and change everything you can to make it as perfect as possible. Once you’re convinced the book is as good as it can get, it’s time to bring in an editor.

A good editor will help you make your book even better than you thought it could be. They’ll correct the grammar mistakes you’ve missed, suggest changes where things may be unclear, and help you improve the overall flow of your manuscript. You only get one chance at a good first impression with an agent or a publisher, so it’s worth every cent to hire an editor who will make your manuscript shine. 

Assemble a Solid Platform

One of the biggest things publishers look for in potential authors is a solid platform. Your platform is the specific thing that will help your book sell; in some cases, it may be that the author is a celebrity or that the book covers a topic that’s been making news lately. In your case, your platform will be your established body of readers.

If you can go to a publisher with a guarantee that you already have 10,000 people who will buy your book because those people read your blog every week, you’re much more likely to get a publishing contract. Get together your blog’s readership data to include in your publishing submission. The more detailed information you can give about the readers you’ve already garnered, the better.

Start the Publishing Process

Edited manuscript and platform presentation in hand, it’s time to launch into the publishing process. You have two choices for how to publish your book: with a publishing house or through a self-publishing service.

If you have an extremely well-developed readership and don’t mind doing a lot of legwork for marketing, self-publishing may be a good choice for you. Self-publishing allows you to keep a greater percentage of your royalties, but the trade-off is all marketing for the book will be on you.

You may choose to work through a professional publishing house as well. If you want to submit your book to the Big Five publishers (Harper Collins, Penguin Random House, Simon and Schuester, and the rest), you’ll need to work through an agent. Be sure to find an agent who specializes in your genre.

Make the Leap From Blog to Book

Writing a book is a challenging process no matter how you slice it. But starting with a well-established blog can make the process easier and give your book a better chance at success. Make sure when you’re making the leap from blog to book that you stay focused on your unique angle and give your readers something new to love. 

If you’d like get some advice on growing your blog, check out the rest of our website. We can help you drive traffic, generate leads, and create content that will bring in money. Check out our other articles about writing today.

How to Start a Successful Health and Wellness Blog in 2019

Did you know that 43% of people tend to skim blog posts? This means it is crucial to grab attention early and prioritize the online user’s interests. 

If you’re ready to start your own health and wellness blog, be sure to follow these tips to success.

1. Select a Health and Wellness Blog Theme 

The first stop on the journey to creating your own health and wellness blog is to select a theme or niche. What are you most passionate about within the industry? This is a great starting point for your theme.

Examples of themes include:

• Nutrition
• Fitness
• A Specific Sport (i.e. running or swimming)
• A Specific Diet (i.e. keto or low fat)

Once you select your blog theme you can dive into your niche and expertise. If you select a topic that you are truly passionate about it will come through in your content. Blogging will be a source of fun and income instead of stress and anxiety.

2. Design a Beautiful Health Blog Website 

Before you launch your new blog it is important to understand blog design best practices. There are a few key design and layout elements to consider when you build out our website.

• Use blog cards in your page payout for easy user experience.
• Short and sweet descriptions are best for capturing your audience’s attention.
• Design your layouts with images at center stage.

A nutrition blog with stunning photography or a fitness post with clear instructions will keep your followers coming back for more. A beautiful web page design will take your blog to the next level.

3. Create a Blogging Template

Have you ever bitten off more than you could chew? Creating your own health and wellness blog might get overwhelming at times. Consider making a blogging template to make your content uploads easier and more efficient.

A blog template will predetermine the layout of your posts including text, images, and social widgets. It can be beneficial to create 2-3 blog templates to use in rotation for convenient uploading.

A template will ensure you have all of the necessary elements in your blog with every post.

4. Market and Advertise your Health and Wellness Blogs

There are many reasons someone may create a health and wellness blog. Some people create a blog to market their business like Ask Dr. Kan, others want to share their fitness content, and some want extra income. No matter your reason, it’s important to advertise your blog.

In order to earn income from your blog, you’ll need to grow your blog’s following to monetize ads in the future. A great way to start your following is with social media accounts. Instagram is a great place to start for a health and wellness blogger.

Ready to Launch Your New Health and Wellness Blog?

Starting a wellness blog is exciting! Now you’re ready to launch your very own blog. Follow these tips on your journey to blogging success. If you’re interested in learning more about blogging check out our website for more information.

8 Real Estate Blog Topics for Real Writing Inspiration

87% of buyers purchase their home through a real estate agent or broker.

This statistic proves real estate professionals hold a lot of influence on buyers. But with so many other real estate professionals out there, you’re under some serious competition. How do you rise above the masses?

It’s time to go digital! Revamping your website, optimizing technology such as drone imaging and virtual reality, and utilizing SEO can make the biggest impact. If you would rather start small, blogging about real estate can entice an audience and draw some serious leads.

What do you write about? Start with these 8 real estate blog topics!

1. Neighborhood Profile

Let’s say someone is moving to your town and have no knowledge of the area. They’re looking for a neighborhood profile to ensure they’re moving to a safe area with close proximity to jobs, schools, and other essentials.

In addition, writing a neighborhood profile will boost your credibility and will establish you as a trustworthy figure in the local real estate market.

For example, is there an up and coming area that’s driving younger people and many jobs? Write an article about that neighborhood and why it’s a great place to live.

You can also rate the best neighborhoods in your area. Break each list down by categories; for example, rate the best neighborhoods for families, the best neighborhoods for college students, and so on.

2. Current Market Insights

Are you in a buyer’s or a seller’s market? This is information your clients will like to know. Keep an updated blog about market insights.

You can also research other topics that relate to the market and home buying and selling process. For example, did you learn that mortgage interest rates are rising? Do some research and educate your clients so they know what to expect.

Market insights can also be more specific and nichey. For example, did you discover a high-priced area now sells more affordable housing? Be the first realtor to report this and get that commission!

3. The Best Places to Own a Business

Real estate blogging isn’t limited to residential real estate.

If you offer commercial real estate, reach out to your business owner clients. They will want an expert opinion on the best places to own a business and other information regarding buying commercial property.

If you cater to a wider market, you can report specific cities where business owners will thrive. If you stick to one specific area, focus on certain districts such as a downtown area.

You can also interview business owners and discover what they say. For example, a restaurant owner may state they receive a lot of customers or a store may state they’ve been getting better foot traffic after moving to a new location.

4. Best Jobs in the Area

While this topic doesn’t fall in line with real estate, your potential clients want to ensure there are jobs close by to where they’re moving. Do some research and speak to surrounding businesses about the hottest jobs in that neighborhood.

You can also report on specific markets. For example, if your clients prefer living in an area that’s close to a busy area, discover the local businesses that are in walking distance.

Or maybe you target clients who make good money but are still young. Discover businesses catering to tech, marketing, and other high-demand and well-paying jobs.

5. Home Seller Spotlight

Do you have a client who is selling an amazing home? Write a feature on their property!

Interview the seller and ask questions such as recent renovations or what they loved most about their home, and then emphasize those features in your article. Include information such as square footage, bedrooms/bathrooms, and other useful information such as whether or not the house has a pool.

You can also offer additional insight that will help the buyer. For example, you and the seller can explain how they determined the buying price and if you’re willing to negotiate.

6. Listing Spotlights

Listing spotlights shouldn’t be limited to one home seller. Blog about all of your listings! But spice them up — don’t settle for a general “new listings” section.

Instead, find interesting categories. If you noticed more buyers are interested in condos, write a blog about the best condos on the market.

Let’s say you discovered amazing patios are the new feature that home buyers want. Make a list of the home listings with the best patios to interest these buyers.

7. Write a Guest Post

While this won’t go on your blog, writing a guest post is a great way to improve your blog’s SEO and gain backlinks.

Partner up with a website that isn’t a competitor. For example, find a local news website or a website that accepts guest blogs from local businesses. Write a blog about real estate or your business and include a link to your website and blog.

Your backlinks will be crawled by Google, helping improve your SEO ranking. The content you write will also benefit the publisher website, helping their website rank too.

8. Real Estate Investing Philosophy and Advice

Do you target real estate investors? 

First, identify a target audience. Do you cater to beginner investors? Or do you attract experienced investors who are maybe going through a dry spell or want to improve their strategy?

From here, decide on the pieces of advice you want to share. For beginner investors, write blogs about finding the best properties to invest in or how to make connections with other real estate professionals.

For experienced investors, offer advice on increasing your sales and information about doing a 1031 exchange to avoid taxes, which you can read here.

These Real Estate Blog Topics Will Improve Your Blog

No matter what sector of realty you’re in, there’s always a way to find new clients and improve your digital presence. If you run a blog, these real estate blog topics will take you to the top!

Need more content and writing advice? We offer even more advice to amp up your blogging game!

How to Find Travel Topics For Your Blog That People Will Actually Read

Would you like to write a travel blog but aren’t sure what to write about?

The world of blogging is full of interesting content that can entertain others. Blogging lets people look into the lives of others, and gather inspiration to do things.

Not only can you entertain people with a blog, but you can also provide valuable information. With a blog, you can post about several travel topics, such as how-to articles and advice.

Continue reading to learn about some ways that you can gather travel topics to write about.

Decide What the Goal of Your Blog Is

When you start writing a blog, you need to decide on what you want people to take away from it. Your blog should revolve around a specific theme. Writing travel blogs allows you to provide several topics to people, but you can’t be all over the place.

If your goal is to help people, you should write articles that help people figure out how to do things and provide travel advice.

If your goal is to inspire people, you can write about the positive things that come with traveling. You can also incorporate photography into your posts to show the beauty of the world.

You can also use a travel blog to document your life. People often use blogs to post about the things that they’re doing, the places they’re visiting, and what their plans are. 

What Do You Enjoy Doing?

You can come up with several travel article ideas by figuring out what you enjoy doing. If you’re someone that enjoys visiting beaches, you can write about cities that are on the coast.

Do you love food? You can be like Migrationology and travel the world to eat food. He goes around to different cities in foreign countries and writes about them and the food that he’s eaten. 

Basing your blog around the things that you enjoy doing will make it more personalized, but readers will be able to expect 

Discuss Travel Topics That Are Useful

One of the reasons that people read travel blogs is because they are planning on traveling themselves. They will want to read the information that they find useful because it will benefit them on their future travels.

Anyone can write about their travel itinerary, but you’ll make a difference to people by providing useful info. You can write about things like travel gear, places to visit, a country’s laws, and what there is to do.

Start Traveling to Get Inspired

If you’re going to write a travel blog, you need to have experience traveling. If you don’t have the experience, you need to, at least, have plans to travel. Without travel experience, you won’t be relatable to viewers.

Having already traveled will allow you to answer questions that you had before traveling, which are the same questions that others ask. You’ll also be able to provide realistic information.

Traveling is a unique experience that lets people learn more about the world. Seeing new places, meeting new people, and eating food that you’ve never seen before will make your mind flow with new travel blog ideas.

During your travels, you may pick up new hobbies or take an interest in a certain lifestyle. This will give you content that you can use for your blog.

If you’ve never traveled before and are interested, you can look into a travel agency to help you plan a vacation. They will help you with hotels, activities, and provide you with more information about the locations that you’re interested in.

Travel Blog Advice

Here is some advice that you should consider if you’d like to make your travel blog successful:

Use Social Media

Social media is dominating the internet, with nearly half of the world using it. With social media, you’ll be able to interact with your audience and post more about your travels.

Platforms like Instagram allow users to post photos and videos to their profile page and “stories.” This gives people something to look at throughout the day, rather than waiting for a new blog post.

Post YouTube Videos

Creating YouTube content will give your blog a boost because you’ll be able to do more. With YouTube, you can post videos, polls, and photos. Users can comment on your posts, giving you a way to receive feedback on your content. 

You can use YouTube hand in hand with your blog, posting videos about your travels. People like to see videos because they provide a real feel of the environment at hand.

If you’d like to get creative, you can invest in a drone for videos of cities and landscapes. Pair your footage with smooth editing and music, then upload your video to YouTube and your blog.

Try New Things

Don’t be afraid to try new things. The whole point of traveling is to experience new things and go out of your comfort zone. If you aren’t willing to do new things, you’ll be limiting your creativity and traveling for nothing.

While traveling in itself is a new and different experience, you should open up to things of different cultures. This will let you think of new things to do, and you’ll be better prepared for future travels.

Start Your Travel Blog Today

Once you have decided that you’d like to start a travel blog, the first thing you have to do is make one. After you make one, think of some things that you’d like to do and places you want to visit.

Coming up with travel topics doesn’t have to be difficult, you just need to allow yourself to embrace the world. 

Feel free to browse our website to find more topics relating to travel!

How to Start a Gardening Blog and Monetize It

Are you inspired to blog about gardening? The easiest way to share your passion for gardening is to start a blog. In addition to sharing information with the world on your blog, you also have to take advantage and make money in the process.

If you find the idea of starting a blog confusing, you can follow a  helpful guide to make an informative site that you’ll be proud to own. Learning how to write a blog and make money is not as difficult as you think. This article explores how to start a gardening blog using the easiest steps.

Here are some basics to get your blog up and running.

1. Set Up Domain and Hosting for a Gardening Blog

Create a keyword-rich domain name that reflects what you’ll be writing about on your blog. Expect to pay at least $15 per year from popular domain hosts. Dedicated hosting providers are flexible, they offer enhanced security and performance, and you also have the assurance that your personal information is protected.

Next, use a WordPress hosting platform that offers reasonable prices. The process is simple for you to connect your domain to a reliable WordPress host. There are many free WordPress themes and plugins for you to install.

Be sure to select a WordPress theme and design layout that represents your blog’s niche. 

2. Share Your Gardening Expertise

There is so much information that you can write for your readers. You can inform them about house plants for sale, how to set up a garden and other essential details.

Write search engine optimized content for every blog post you publish. SEO is an effective technique that helps your content to be found in all major and popular search engines. You can even install and activate SEO plugins on your WordPress blog.

These plugins are designed to help you save time and to gain more readers. Sharing your content across popular social media platforms also gives you the advantage to grow your traffic.

3. Earn Money

Once your blog has a constant flow of monthly traffic,  you can have it monetized with affiliate products. Affiliate marketing involves selling products and services for merchants that commissions for each sale. 

Almost all online merchants have affiliate programs that you can join for free. With just a few steps, you can install gardening related affiliate links and banners on your blog to earn money. 

A simple step for you to earn affiliate sales is to write quality SEO content that includes your affiliate links. This is a lucrative technique you can use to monetize your blog from your target audience. 

Create a Unique Blog That Attracts Readers

One important rule to make a successful gardening blog is to create helpful information for people.

To get long term success, be consistent writing valuable content people want to read. Readers love solid, engaging content and it makes them inspired to keep returning to your blog to get more updated information.

If you’re interested in learning about content strategy, keep browsing our site.

From Beginner to Pro: 5 Things a Beginner Needs to Start a Professional Blog

Did you know that there are over 80 million blog posts published every month? Blogging is a trend you don’t want to miss out on, and it’s easy to get started. Blogs are a fantastic way to share helpful information with the world around you and start generating content that is all your own.

Before you dive in head first, we’re going to show you five things you need as a beginner to start a professional blog.

Starting Your Professional Blog

If you’re thinking about starting a blog, there are a few items you must address before proceeding. A successful blog requires a lot of planning and a clear vision.

Have A Plan

The first thing to do is create a plan that walks you through the steps you need in setting up your blog, preparing for blog content, and pushing your content out on a schedule. Do you have a specific topic in mind you’re an expert on or you’re interested in?

Determine the types of topics you’d like to discuss, then you’ll set some goals.

Set Blog Goals

The goals of your blog will depend on the type of blog you’re rolling out. Is it personal or for a business? Are you attempting to raise awareness, make some side money, or use it as an online diary? It’s great to have goals even if your blog is just for personal use.

Set goals on the number of blog visitors you get per month, how many articles you’d like to post and when, and if you’re monetizing – a dollar amount.

Choose a Platform

There are many different blogging platforms to choose from. The most popular today are Squarespace, Tumblr, and WordPress. This is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make when setting up your professional blog. The platform you choose will dictate how you maintain your blog.

These platforms allow for blog hosting, support, adding plugins and making your site more customizable. Do some research and determine which is right for you or get some more info here.

Write Good Content, Ensure You’re Found

One of the biggest things to be successful with your blog is to continuously publish good content. If you’ve stuck with a topic, be relevant, and don’t wander off the path too far. You’ll keep your readers by providing them with valuable information, and create a community that keeps coming back.

Blog For Your Audience

Your audience is your greatest asset in blogging. Getting engagement from them is key. We’ve all stumbled across a blog that has thousands of posts, but no comments, likes, or reshares. It loses validity and credibility if no one is saying anything.

Make sure you don’t lose sight of who your audience is and be active with your readers. Turn your blog into a conversation and it will surprise them every time!

To Blog or Not to Blog

Now that you know these important steps, you’re ready to create a professional blog! With the help of these guidelines, you’ll develop a community of readers, release relevant content on a schedule, and use a platform to promote your work.

If you’re interested in learning how to write engaging and creative articles, take a look at our blog today.

7 Blog Design Tips That’ll Make Your Site Look Professional

The number of websites online is quickly approaching 2 billion. Yes, I said billion, with a B! Wow!

How do you possibly compete with those billion other people that want your customer’s attention? It seems impossible, right?

Well, I have good news for you. Many of those websites are not good at all. Their blog design is – let’s say, not so great?

If you want to get the respect and attention you deserve online, you need to have a professional blog. You need to make sure your brand is on point and representing you in a way that is going to get the right kind of attention. The good kind that is.

To learn more about how to make your blog look professional, continue reading this article.

Boost Your Blog Design to the Next Level

As you’re looking over the latest web design trends, it is easy to get distracted. You aren’t sure what you need to do first. Maybe you start one thing and then another and another.

Before long, you’re left with a bunch of half-finished projects, and your website is looking a little neglected. Knowing how important the design of your blog is, you’ve come here. And you’ve come to the right place.

1. Plan Out Your Design

If you throw your design together on a whim, everyone is about to tell. Instead of piecing your design together element by element, make a plan before you even get started.

As with your content marketing strategy, you need to have a strategy when you want your blog to look professional and well organized.

2. Watch Your Grammar

The fastest way to negate from a beautifully designed site is to riddle it with terrifying grammar mistakes. You don’t want to make your readers gasp and shake their head when reading through your information.

While grammar isn’t a design element, it will kill all of your chances of credibility, so we wanted to throw it in here for you.

3. Don’t Sacrifice Too Much for Conversions

We’ve all been to that website. You know the one. The one with three different pop-ups, a scroll over and an abandonment opt-in form. 

Sigh.

Frustrating, I know. You don’t want to be that guy or gal. When you’re going for conversions, make sure you keep the user experience in mind.

If you sacrifice the user experience to increase your opt-in rate too much, you may lose a high percentage of your visitors. And you’ll definitely upset more than a few.

When you have too many pop-ups, pop-overs, lightboxes and such, it doesn’t look professional. It looks cluttered and unattractive.

4. Thinking in Colors

When you’re building your brand, you need to create your brand color palette. Your business cards, website, and other marketing materials should all work with those same colors.

People associate you with colors, and it makes it easier for them to remember you. You want people to remember you and your brand so don’t forget your color scheme when you’re designing your blog.

A professionally put together color scheme compliments the other colors in the scheme and makes people enjoy browsing through your website more. Avoid flashy and clashing colors as they may hurt the eyes and be a turn-off.

5. Branding Your Graphics

Honestly, people are going to hi-jack your graphics. We know it, but if we’re prepared, we can get some exposure out of it, at least. Put your logo in your graphics so if someone takes them from your site, they will still know who made them.

Not only will branding your graphics help you keep your name in front of people looking at your content, but it will also make you look more professional. When you brand your graphics in a classy manner, it shows you know how to take care of business.

6. Bye Bye Clutter

Remember when I said early about all of the pop-ups, pop-unders and other opt-in forms? Well, those aren’t the only kinds of clutter that make a blog look unprofessional. 

Think about some blogs you’ve visited. Maybe you’ve seen a blog with a tag cloud with random phrases. If you click one of those phrases in the tag cloud it takes you to a blog post that is tagged with that keyword. 

People very rarely use tag clouds and it looks tacky. You can either get rid of the tag cloud or put another type of more useful navigation in its place.

7. Hello White Space

Whoa. You’ve got a lot of stuff going on there.

Just like you wouldn’t want your date to show up wearing a striped suit with a checkered necktie and bowling shoes, your website shouldn’t have too much going on either.

Leave plenty of white space, so people’s eyes get an opportunity to rest. When you leave white space on your blog, you allow users to focus on the most important part of your website. Use whitespace to direct attention instead of feeling like it is a waste of blog space.

Bonus Tip – Your Content Needs to Be Easy to Scan

When you write your blog posts, make sure to break your content into easy to scan pieces. If people don’t want to read a specific part, they should be able to skip to the next header to get into the next important part of the post.

When you structure your content this way, it is put together thoughtfully. Thoughtfully and well-structured content is valuable to your visitors and shows your level of professionalism.

Creating a Content Marketing Strategy for the Win

Now that you’re a blog design ninja and you know how to give your users an amazing experience, it’s time to level up. Learning how to make your blog look amazing is great, but now you need eyeballs on the blog.

We’ve created amazing content for you so you can learn how to promote your blog and get more traffic. Read our content marketing strategy articles today and learn how to grow your traffic.

Cybersecurity For Blogs: How to Protect Your Blog Against Internet Threats

Cyber attacks are one of the most significant threats to American businesses. In fact, hackers have targeted some of America’s largest and most powerful corporations.

For example, Marriott hotels and Google+ were both hacked in 2018. Hackers collected valuable customer information such as credit cards, passports, and birth dates.

Every online business, including blogs, is vulnerable to a cyber attack. If your blog is not secure, hackers can access your customers’ most sensitive information.

Read on to learn more about cybersecurity for blogs. Explore the actions required to protect your company and customers from a potential online threat.

What Are the Security Basics?

Some of the most basic security measures prevent hackers from gaining access to your blog. The first rule of thumb is to limit login access and give very few people admin privileges.

Many bloggers make the mistake of retaining a generic username, such as “admin.” This is the same as holding up a welcome sign for hackers.

Instead, you should develop a unique username and use a strong password. A strong password requires using capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.

Finally, establish a new user with full administrative privileges. Once you finished, go ahead and delete the admin account that is automatically set up by the CMS.

How Can You Protect Personal Information?

Sometimes, managing a blog requires that you share contact information. In some instances, you need a phone number for certain apps or services. Another example is the use of a personal e-mail address for a newsletter or marketing campaigns.

You should safeguard personal information by using business-specific accounts. Instead of giving out your phone number, for example, use a Google voice number. Also, list a PO box number instead of a physical mailing address. Hackers are so sophisticated they could this information to try and access your ADT Small Business account.

In addition, do not use your personal e-mail address on a blog newsletter. A better strategy is to use another e-mail address so that you don’t compromise your personal account.

Last, you should exercise caution about the content that is posted. Security experts recommend that you do not post identifying images or names.

How to Keep Your Website’s Domain Private?

When you buy a domain for your website, the hosting service requests a significant amount of personal information. This information goes on a public website called WHOIS.

The good news is that you do not have to submit this information to the public database. Instead, you can buy domain privacy from the web hosting service.

This is the best option for people who are unwilling to share personal information. Perhaps the best advantage is that domain privacy is inexpensive and only costs a few dollars per month.

Recap of CyberSecurity For Blogs

You put yourself out there when you start a blog. Hackers target vulnerable websites so that they can steal personal and financial information.

If major companies like Google are vulnerable to hackers than your website is too. If you enjoyed this article about cybersecurity for blogs, check out our blog for other great pieces.

Get Sponsored to Travel: How to Land Awesome Sponsors for Your Travel Blog

You’ve always dreamed of being a successful travel writer.

You love combing through Instagram and checking out the most luxurious hotels, beautiful destinations, and seriously breathtaking scenery and landmarks.

The only thing standing in your way? 

Your lack of knowledge about how to get sponsored to travel as a blogger and influencer. 

Don’t worry — this post is here to help you to learn how to make it happen. Read on to start living your dream life.

Start with Brands You Know

If you want to learn how to get brands to sponsor your Instagram or blog, the best thing is to start with ones you know. 

After all, a cold pitch email to a company whose products or services you use as a part of your routine will sound much more genuine than reaching out to a company you know nothing about. 

Maybe you’ve traveled across the world with some seriously durable luggage, and want to feature your favorite suitcase and its ability to stand up to the elements in a post. 

Contact the marketing department, specifically the public relations manager, to find out how to make it happen. 

Network on Social Media

In your quest to become a travel influencer or travel photographer like David Highbloom, you’ll spend a lot of your time on social media. 

In-person networking is still important, but the truth is that most of your networking will take place on social media. 

Of course, make sure you follow other travel bloggers, brands you love, and popular hotels/resorts (and even airlines!) But also get active on popular travel hashtags. When you upload a photo of yourself, tag the companies whose products you’re wearing or showing off. 

You might be surprised by how many free travel opportunities within your niche come pouring in once you establish yourself on social media.

Publish on Travel Sites

When you’re trying to get sponsored to travel, you have to make sure that the biggest players and companies in the game know who you are. 

Yes, coming up with content for your own blog and your social media platforms is incredibly important. 

However, you also need to do what you can to get published on well-read travel blogs and sites. Become a contributor, and include links back to your own blog and social media handles in your content. 

This makes it much easier to connect with hotels that work with bloggers and other sponsorship opportunities. 

Are You Ready to Get Sponsored to Travel?

We hope that this post has helped you to better understand how to get sponsored to travel. 

Whether you’re connecting with powerful brands and other influencers on social media, or if you’re trying to make a name for yourself on travel sites, remember that things might take time. 

Our blog is here to help you to learn how to write interesting, informative travel content — that lands you tons of travel sponsors in the process. 

Keep checking back with us for more writing, SEO, and social media tips and tricks.