So, you’ve got your crochet blog all set up and looking beautiful, if not you can check out part 1 of this series here. Now you’re ready to start adding come content, but where to start?
The best place to start is by making a rough draft, yep just like in high school English class. I usually do this in Microsoft Word or in Google Docs on my computer. After you have your draft be sure and spell check that sucker!! Don’t get caught by the grammar police.
*this post contains affiliate links, if you click through and make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Keywords are key!
While your writing be mindful of your style, you want your voice to come through. Also think about keywords. Let’s say your post is a crochet hat pattern. You are going to want to be sure to include some keywords and phrases pertaining to that crochet hat.
I put these keywords in my blog post title, URL and in the intro paragraphs before my patterns starts. These keywords are how people find your blog posts via search. This is part of a little thing called SEO, search engine optimization. Here is a great blog post all about SEO and why its important.
After that I usually copy and paste it into my Wordpress blog post editor and do what I like to call the “final edits”
Add H2 Headings
These are great for breaking up your blog post and making it no look like one big block of text. If it’s a pattern I usually make all my pattern parts H2 headings – Materials, Abbreviations, Notes, Instructions. Sometimes if my intro is longer I will add one as appropriate there too.
Related Post: How to Start a Crochet Blog!
create a Call to action
Give your audience a job. Tell them to do something. Tell them to pin your post to their Pinterest board, tell them to share it on their social media, tell them to add the pattern to their favorites on Ravelry. Ask them a question and invite them to answer by leaving a comment. Ask them to like your social media pages. Invite them to sign up for your email list. I created a document of these snippets of copy or wording, so I just need to copy and paste them into my blog post. It saves so much time.
Email list sign up form
An email list is essential for growing a blog following. The people on your email list are your true fans. I highly recommend signing up for a newsletter service and sending a newsletter to your subscribers at least weekly. We will talk more about this later, I promise.
I always add a sign-up box somewhere within my blog post. Most of my readers are on mobile so they don’t see the one in my sidebar until they scroll alllllll the way down. Putting a sign-up form within the post get it seen sooner. If you don’t have a newsletter service yet, I highly recommend Mailerlite. It is very user friendly and the best part is it is free up until 2000 subscribers.
Add in all the links:
There are 4 different categories of links I use on my blog: affiliate links, social media links, links to my previous content and links to other people’s content.
I use affiliate links for products I mention in the post and in my materials list. When people click through and make a purchase you get a small commission. How cool is that! There are many affiliate programs out there. We will go over this in more detail when we talk about creating income from your blog but signing up as an Amazon affiliate is a great place to start.
Add in your links to where ever you mention your social media profiles so they know where to go. If you asked them to share it on Facebook, link the word Facebook to your Facebook page and so on.
One of your main goals is to get people to stay on your site longer. If you have ads on your site, the longer people stay the more money you make. One great way to do this by linking to your past patterns and posts! So, lets go back to that crochet hat. You could say something like:
-If you liked this hat check out this one!
Or, you could also link in your intro paragraphs
..this hat is worked from the top down, just like this one, and is a great beginner project…
Or, something as simple as:
Related Post: insert post title here
And lastly, linking to other blogger’s content. Now you might be thinking, why would I want to send people off my site? Well because it is good for SEO and it also good for your readers! These links give search engines a better idea about what information people can find on your site because you aligned yourself with these other established crochet sites.
I like to link to any helpful information your readers may need to complete your pattern. Let’s say your pattern calls for using post stitches and you don’t have a tutorial on your site (and you don’t have the time/desire/resources to create one), linking to someone else’s tutorial is a great way to help your readers and as a bonus it helps your fellow crochet bloggers!
Social share buttons
If you want people to share your crochet patterns and posts on social media, make it easy for them! I use a plugin called sassy social share.
Disclosures
If you are using any sort of affiliate links in your posts you need to add a disclosure letting people know you use affiliate links BEFORE the links. I usually put a little blurb near the top of my post between paragraphs that reads something like this:
*this post contains affiliate links, if you click through and make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
This is another one of those things I add to my list of copy like I mentioned above.
Want to start your very own crochet blog? Start here!
Check all the boxes
Don’t forget to add categories and tags to your post! These will be in the right sidebar of your Wordpress post editor. You can set these up under the “posts” tab in Wordpress. Here is a post about how to use categories and tags.
On-brand, quality photos
If it’s a pattern I usually ad between 3 and 5 photos including a featured photo and a Pinterest photo. I also like to include a progress shot or two and a close up. You’ll have to check with your theme on the recommended sizes. All my photos are 600px wide by varying heights tall.
I use the photo editing program PicMonkey to make all my blog graphics. I can touch up the exposure, resize and crop as needed and add my logo/website name. There is so so so much content theft out there be sure to put your website name or logo on all your photos.
I think photography deserves its very own blog post but it is possible to get great photos of your crochet without spending a zillion dollars on a fancy camera. Most of the photos on my blog were taken with my Samsung S7 cell phone!
When it comes to photography, natural light is your friend. position your set up next to a window (but not in direct sun) and make sure all other lights are off in the room. Be sure to play with your camera settings to get the exposure right. My phone’s camera has a “pro” mode where I can change things like the brightness and the white balance.
Get this FREE blog post pre-publishing checklist!!
I have created this handy cheat sheet you can print out and use as a reminder when you are writing blogs posts for your crochet blog. I use the points on this checklist every single time I sit down to write. Most of the time when I’m writing I am doing it between taking care of the kiddos and house and it’s easy to loose my place and forget something. This checklist is my saving grace.
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I am really enjoying writing this series, blogging is something I have spent so much time researching and learning about and I feel like I could talk about it all day long. This is by far my favorite job (besides mothering lol) I’ve ever had. Its definitely not easy but its fun and I am so excited to share my tips with you.
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Next week we are going to be chatting all about how to make REAL money with your crochet blog!! I am excited, are you?
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