I had the pleasure of interviewing three amazing bloggers, from veteran and newbie alike and they have some very good advice to share with you all, So here it is.
The blog changes interviews.
1. Whats your name? Rebecca B. Bird
2. What is the name of you blog/s? HelloPrettyBird.com
3. How long have you been blogging? On and off for nearly 15 years (whoa), but about 6 months on my current blog
4. What are the changes you have made to your blog recently? (Layout, Commenting system, etc..) I recently switched from the standard Blogger commenting system to Disqus
5. Why have you made these changes? ( if you weren't satisfied with anything please let me know what these were.) I noticed that some of my readers were responding to each other in the comments on my site, so I wanted a commenting system that was more conducive to ongoing discussion. Blogger's standard comments are fine for just leaving a quick note but aren't very interactive.
6. What was the most difficult aspect of your blog/s to change? The transition to Disqus was pretty seamless, but one thing I didn't anticipate was that Disqus imported the old comments by the date they were posted, rather than by what was in reply to what! So if you look at some of my older posts now it's difficult to make sense of who is replying to who.
7. What was the easiest aspect of your blog/s to change? Installing Disqus only took a few clicks and a bit of waiting so it was very easy!
8. What are your most important widgets for your side bar if any. The search widget, though it hasn't been working properly lately so I may have to research alternatives.
9. What aspects are you looking to add to your blog in the future? I hope to add an improved search function at some point, and maybe streamline the navigation a bit. I think I could also be utilizing my footer better, but I haven't decided what changes to make yet.
10. Any advice for your fellow bloggers looking to make changes? Research your options carefully before attempting to implement a change! With commenting systems, for example, there are other choices besides Disqus (i.e. IntenseDebate, Google+ comments etc.) so it's a good idea to find out the strengths and weaknesses of each one before deciding which one will be best for your website. It gets a bit tricky if you're switching back and forth between different ones all the time!
1. Whats your name? Karen Pasto
2. What is the name of you blog/s? Kpsays.com
3. How long have you been blogging? 6 months
4. What are the changes you have made to your blog recently? (Layout, Commenting system, etc..) I am planning to completely do away with comment moderating. I decided to try the free version of Comment Luv to see if I liked it and test it before I completely changed over.
5. Why have you made these changes? ( if you weren't satisfied with anything please let me know what these were.) I like the fact that other bloggers who take the time to comment can leave a link to their most recent posts and maybe get more traffic. I have also found new blogs myself. Win/win!
6. What was the most difficult aspect of your blog/s to change? This was an easy change.
7. What was the easiest aspect of your blog/s to change? I use Word Press, and the plug in was super easy to install.
8. What are your most important widgets for your side bar if any. I have an Instagram photo carousel and most popular posts plug in on my sidebar.
9. What aspects are you looking to add to your blog in the future? Since I am still new, I plan to hire a blog designer to take my blog to the next level. Also learn more about HTML coding.
10. Any advice for your fellow bloggers looking to make changes? It's your blog, so don't be afraid to change it up. If you don't like it, you can undo it :). Thank you Laurie for including me in this project! Much love, kp
1. Whats your name? Hi, I am Jules, from Lippy Likes
2. What is the name of you blog/s? lippylikes.com
3. How long have you been blogging? Since October 15th so still a real noobie aw x
4. What are the changes you have made to your blog recently? (Layout, Commenting system, etc..) When I started my blog, I had no experience of blogging and was a total technophobe so I just googled free blogs and followed the instructions on Blogger. I quickly realised that there were some things I could do to really improve the look and layout of my blog and the readers enjoyment of it. I added my Blog to Bloglovin' which let me be easily found by potential readers. I set up a profile on Google+ which increases my visibility to search engines. I bought a decent camera to improve the quality of my pictures and found PicMonkey, a free editing site. Using PicMonkey I made a decent header and blog button which I proudly display on my sidebar. I use Google+ for comments which does away with the dreaded Captcha. I added adverts from Adsense and skimlinks to start monetizing my blog. I bought a custom Domain name for my blog
5. Why have you made these changes? ( if you weren't satisfied with anything please let me know what these were.) I bought the Domain name - www.lippylikes.com because I thought it indicated how seriously I take my blog. It cost very little but one day I would like a custom made design which can cost a great deal which was why I decided to start monetizing. I personally hate Captcha and often abandon a comment at that stage when a bogger has it enabled.
6. What was the most difficult aspect of your blog/s to change? Adding the custom Domain name was something I found ridiculously difficult and I eventually had to seek the help of a friend the lovely Hayley at TeaPartyBeauty,
7. What was the easiest aspect of your blog/s to change? Everything else was really simple and believe me, if I can do it, anyone can,
8. What are your most important widgets for your side bar if any. For me the most important are the follow buttons - for google+, GFC and most importantly Bloglovin'.
9. What aspects are you looking to add to your blog in the future? As I said, I would love to have a whole blog redesign, something plain and classy but will all of the necessary elements in place.
10. Any advice for your fellow bloggers looking to make changes? I would advise simply googling anything you want to do. There are some very simple step by step guides out there If you really can't manage to do something then I suggest asking for help on twitter There are some super lovely ladies on there who are really great at all this kind of stuff and I have always been lucky enough to find someone to help. Most of all though remember, whilst everyone wants their blog to look fantastic, what is most important of all is the content. So Keep Calm and Carry On Blogging x
So as you can see its basically all about personal style and how you want you blog to look and feel.
Don't be afraid to make changes especially early on.
Always remember if you get stuck there's always Google :)
