11 Easy Hacks to Stand Out as a Brand New Blogger

Starting a blog is a piece of cake, I won’t deny that.

You heard right!

There are currently over 600 million blogs in the world and the number is increasing by the second.

But in order to really stand out from the sea of Blogs, you are going to have be a special cookie and have a unique Blog.

Is it easy to stand out, blogging?

Learning to stand out from the norm while mercilessly writing posts that gain traction and earn money can be a wee bit difficult.

Just saying.

If you spend a whole lot of time blogging and see close to zero results, it can be a bit of a downer. The best way to grow quickly is to set yourself apart from the rest.

Meaning, you need to be the chocolate cookie among butter biscuits.

Or a rose among a field of daisies.

Or a ruby among diamonds.

I’m going to stop because I think you get the idea.

I can understand just how scary and intimidating this is for a brand new blogger.

But it’s not hard to stand out. You just need to tweak the way you blog and you’ll be on your way.

So in this post, I will share with you the secret sauce to actually standing out from the sea of plain-ish blogs.

How is it a secret if I’m telling you? I have no idea.

All of the tips listed below, I have followed myself in the past year so I can assure you that they work because people tell me all the time that my Blog stands out.

And I’m not saying this to praise my own bushy tail.

You have to admit… it’s quite bushy, non?

Now, if you don’t have a blog or are thinking of starting one, I have a free 7 day email course (extremely detailed) that will help you start a blog that makes money on autopilot!

This post includes affiliate links to products I truly (from the bottom of my heart) recommend, meaning at no extra cost to you, I may earn a small percentage which I will use to buy my poor dogs food.

1. Be Authentic

When you’re just starting out, I know it can be absolutely terrifying to be yourself.

Because you don’t know who you are yet and it can take a while to become comfortable putting your content out there for the whole world to see.

Added to which, you will want to aim for perfection.

This isn’t over the top at all…

Let this feeling go. And just be yourself. Write from your heart. Infuse your personality with your Blog and let your individuality take over.

And ask yourself what you truly want to be known for and think back on all the times people complimented you.

What is your true calling?

People have constantly praised me for my bright and colorful personality and have appreciated my humor. So, it only made sense to seamlessly integrate this with my Blog.

2. Your Blog’s Design matters

Having worked as a Website and Graphic Designer in the past, I can’t stress enough on how important your website’s looks are.

Yes, yes, we all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover but in reality, we all do it.

Yes, I’m a judgy judgemental person. Sue me.

Apart from your theme and your overall design, speed and functionality is just as important.

People are going to leave if:

• Your website is slow
• They find it difficult to navigate or understand where everything is
• You use fonts and colors that are just not savvy
• Their user experience is just downright cumbersome

Basically, if your Website looks cheap, people are going to assume that your Blog is not worth reading.

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This is somewhat similar to putting sawdust in cupcakes and expecting people to buy them from you.

All of this can be avoided if you buy a good WordPress theme. So, I will suggest that you focus on finding a paid WordPress theme that:

• has good customer support
• is extremely easy to work with
• is SEO friendly and lets Search Engines crawl pages and posts easily
• has a lot of demos and cool short codes that provides you with a lot of designing flexibility
• is really user-friendly and helps boost your overall Brand

These are the two themes that I currently love.

1. Divi

What I love about Divi is that, it’s extremely stylish and customizable. And the best part? It’s a drag and drop theme! Meaning you can re-arrange everything while looking at it.

Did I mention that when you purchase Divi, you get over 800+ premade website layouts?

This is super useful if you don’t want to waste time trying to figure out how to design your website!

>>Check out the Divi Theme here<<

2. Avada

The second theme that I suggest (and I’m currently using) is Avada. It’s only $60. And you can use it for a lifetime.

There are no additional fees.

It comes with lots of pretty demos.

This makes building your Blog so much easier.

SEO wise, this is one of the best WordPress themes because it allows Google to index and crawl your website very easily.

It’s not a drag-and-drop theme like Divi but it’s mighty easy to set up.

You can check out the Avada WordPress theme here!

3. Focus on building a Brand that sticks

The main purpose behind your Brand is that it should not only look good but be extremely memorable.

This means, that apart from having a good layout, a pretty and functional theme, and beautiful brand colors, it should be coherent. For example:

• People should be able to recognize your pins when they see it. Sticking to 2-3 fonts and a simple layout helps!
• When anyone sees your writing, they should immediately connect it to you. This is where being authentic comes in.
• Every image you incorporate should scream your Brand’s name.

Now being an Illustrator, I choose to incorporate my illustrations in all my blog posts, pins and even comments on Facebook.

Anyone who sees these illustrations immediately recognizes it as Stray Curls.

Allison from Wonderlass uses bright colors on her website and her fun-loving and colorful personality just fly off the page.

Even the way you interact with people really matters and helps you stand out. For example how you:

• Reply to your comments: Make sure you reply to every single comment with a positive and kind response. This really goes a long way in building a loyal readership.
• Write your newsletters: Once you discover your style of writing newsletters, stick to it and watch your readership and sales blossom.
• Engage in Facebook Groups: By being super helpful and kind, you will automatically draw an audience.

So, be kind and reciprocal.

Show genuine love and compassion to your readers or clients. Be understanding. Really take the time to understand what they’re saying and make sure you hit every point in your response.

Because these little things go a long, long way when it comes to building a Brand that sticks.

4. Write long-form quality content consistently

Aye, that’s quite a mouthful.

I’m very much aware of that.

There are 2 parts to this particular point though.

1. Your content should be extremely practical and useful

This means, it needs to be long in order to cover the subject of your discussion.

The easiest way to stand out from other blogs is to go the distance and write really long-form posts that help your readers actually solve their problem.

So, how do you do this?

First of all, understand whom you are blogging for. Once you understand your target audience, you will know what problems they are facing.

It becomes very easy to plan your blog content and list out possible blog post ideas.

Wanna make your blog post go viral?

Firstly, find out what’s trending in your niche by hopping onto Pinterest and then jump in with a spectacular post that focuses on your views alone.

I’m not asking you to copy other blog posts.

This makes one sexy Halloween costume though…

NO.

I’m telling you to find out what is clicking with your target audience and then write an out-of-this-world post that brings you a ton of traffic.

2. You need to put out this good quality content consistently

Easier said than done.

Writing quality posts is pretty easy, but when you write consistently, that’s when you stand out.

See, blogging is hard work.

And a lot of people take shortcuts by writing one long post followed by 5 short ones.

Don’t do this.

Aim for quality.

Considering I’ve never held an arrow before…

Go the extra mile to write posts that knock everyone else’s out of the park.

And strive to be unique by consistently publishing these posts.

This will let people know that you’re here to stay and that they can trust you enough to keep coming back for more advice.

Look at me being all professional and sassy…

This is basically what will make you look like a friggin’ expert and stand out from the rest of the bloggers out there.

You can download my free cute, adorable, colorful (and more kawaii words) 12 page blog planner to help you plan your Blog!

5. Focus on writing clickable headlines

You can write the world’s greatest blog post, and no one might click on it because the headline may downright suck.

Yes. Your headline can make or break your blog traffic. This is a hard pill to swallow but it’s the truth.

How dare you question my medicinal background!

A good headline:

• Fits within 55 words (in order to not get cut off by Google)
• Is easy to read and understand (don’t try and be smart with your headline)
• Is extremely eye-catching
• contains your long-tail keyword and is SEO rich

Additionally, once you’re done drafting your headline, rewrite it at least 10 times and then pick the best one from the lot.

You can use the others for your pins.

6. Focus on the journey, not on the present

The longer you blog, the more traffic and momentum you will gain.

At the end of the day, the amount of time you’ve spent doing this really matters. Because with time, you become an expert and build trust and credibility.

You need to remember that most people who start blogs, give up quite quickly because they don’t see fast results.

So, this is where you can beat them and stand out.

By continuing to focus on your work and blog consistently, you will automatically get way ahead more quickly!

So, no matter how hard it gets, don’t give up.

Blogging isn’t a walk in the park. Successful people make it look easy, but I can assure you that it’s not. It’s going to feel like an uphill battle sometimes and this is where you are given the opportunity to prove your strength and willpower.

My knees are going to cry tomorrow.

However, when I say don’t give up, I don’t mean that you should go in the same direction that is leading you nowhere.

You have to constantly research, analyze your competition and backtrack your steps sometimes.

See what others are doing differently and adapt. As long as you are in a niche (that’s proven to be profitable) and you are doing something everyday to get you closer to your goals, you cannot and will not fail.

This is my promise to you.

7. Pay attention to feedback

A lot of Bloggers or people in creative fields generally, cannot take constructive feedback.

I used to be one of those people. No joke.

Rejection or negative remarks would crush me and my ego would take a huge hit and I’d not want to put out anything for days or weeks.

But here’s the thing, little grasshopper.

You need to understand that the second you put out content, or drawings, or poems or anything else that has a bit of “you” in it, you’re going to get feedback. Whether you want it or not.

Out of a 100 good comments, there will be one negative comment.

Once you filter those noise of hate and envy you may come across some genuine feedback. In this case, ask yourself if there is some truth to the negative remark.

If so, make an attempt to change and improve your Blog. The key to not letting it affect you is to never take it personally.

It’s your work that you’re putting out there, not you.

Remember this.

So, focus on growing your Business and adapting in order to become better at blogging.

You will also love: How to deal with negative comments as an Artist

8. Be visual

We live in a world that’s extremely visual and people are now moving to video. In order to charm people’s pants off, you’re going to need to go with the flow and become more visual.

Are textual blogs a thing of the past?

Most definitely not.

Furthermore, I can say this with certainty, because I’m still making a full time income with mine.

Because text based blogs are extremely knowledgeable and quick to consume. But that doesn’t mean you should bore your readers to death.

So, learn how to format your posts so that it becomes super easy to read and absorb (on phone as well as desktop)

Make sure you add lots of photos, images, charts, etc in your posts so that your reader does not feel like they’re reading a classic novel.

By making your blog more visual, you are sure to stand out.

Additionally, you can also add videos to your Blog. Like I said before, you are going to have to adapt if you want to keep up with the best.

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9. Be omnipresent

Picture a singer or actor you heard of recently. You’d not really pay much attention to them.

But in the last month, you’ve seen them on billboards, on your Instagram and on the Ellen Show. Now, your respect for them kinda surges.

Am I right or am I right?

If your name starts popping up everywhere, your readers will know that you are important and you will stand out.

In order to do this, you need to really strategize a good plan and then work towards it. Here’s what your plan can involve:

• Aim to publish a guest blog post in a blog that is in the same niche as yours at least once a month.
• Pick 2-3 social media that you’re comfortable with and post updates regularly. By sharing posts by other bloggers in your niche, you will show that you are social and you will end up networking with them as well.
• Engage in Facebook Groups and Online Communities. Attend blogger meet-ups in your locality and mingle with people who are in the same field as you.

In short, return the love.

Share posts by other bloggers that you really love and constantly try to help people in your niche. Most Bloggers are scared that they’ll lose their readers to someone else if they talk about other Bloggers.

But this is not true.

Because every one is unique. And your readers love you for you.

So, the more confident you are, the more you will stand out.

All of this will contribute to your Brand image.

10. Improve your SEO

Now, what’s the point of writing long-form content consistently if nobody can find your posts?

It’s a waste of time.

Everyone who blogs must have a solid (if not basic) understanding on SEO in order to grow their blogs organically.

Implementing SEO is easy if you have the Yoast SEO plugin. It’s a free plugin that will help your posts and pages rank higher in Google.

I recently upgraded to the premium version and I am loving it! It does make a world of a difference and will most definitely help you stand out. This is not a plugin you need to upgrade to immediately. Use it for a year or two so you can make a positive decision.

Additionally, here are a few posts to help you build your online presence and gain more traffic!

• 13 Proven Strategies to Decrease your Bounce Rate
• 27 Easy Ways to Double your Blog Traffic
• 13 Free Ways to Market your Blog and Business
• How I used Pinterest to gain 18,000 views in my 3rd month Blogging!
• 17 Killer Ways to get Tons of Blog Comments

11. Analyze your progress regularly

This can be very daunting work but doing this one tiny thing will help you grow exponentially and stand out with your blog.

I’m not kidding.

Every month, use 2-3 methods to grow your blog and track your results using Google Analytics.

And once you do this, you will understand what methods actually work and what don’t. This is exactly how you build your Blog and grow your traffic.

I explain all this in my traffic eBook which you can check out here.

Or take my free 5 day email course that teach you how to more than double your blog traffic.

Tracking your results and comparing charts isn’t very exciting. You can either hire a VA to do this for you, or you can do it yourself in the beginning.

But this particular task will help you understand what you can do to stand out more. Checking your Analytics will help you understand:

• Which blog posts are fairing well
• What type of titles do your Readers engage with more
• Which traffic growth tactics are working and which isn’t
• How many posts should you publish a week
• Which monetization strategies are more meaningful

Summing up how to stand out with your Blog:

In general, it takes time to become known in the Blogosphere.

Whether you like or don’t like the extra attention, standing out and being a unique will help your Blog grow at an alarming rate.

And standing out is all about finding your unique talent and then doing it consistently so that you create a Brand. Write a Business Plan to help you see where your Blog will be 5 years from now.

What tip are you going to try to make your blog stand out?

Let me know in the comments below!