Today's blog post was inspired by a request I got earlier this week where I was requested to write a tutorial on how to remove dates from a blogger blog post. This got me thinking, is it really necessary or beneficial that we remove dates from our blog post URLs?
So I started digging around, and read many blog posts published by many SEO pros out there, you know all the big names and I finally came to a decision. The answer is neither a yes nor a no. It's complicated and that's why it was needed I write this blog post for my audience, to help them understand advices they have read somewhere on the internet and actually be able to make an informed decision.
If you take into account the entire topic of links (urls) most pros will give you a different opinion, however all of them according to my research believe that having clean, short, easy-to-remember URL structure is good for your blog and/or brand.
Let's dive into why URL structures are important
In his ultimate guide to permalinks, Neil Patel explains how clean URL structure are a good practice. That having a URL that's easy to understand, remember and clean is a good SEO practice.
However, there have been instances where you'll see representatives of Google themselves have said that dates in URL are absolutely fine.
Keeping in mind the authority Neil has in his niche, and that he has worked with companies like Google etc. it quickly becomes confusing on what advice to take.
This is why I thought to check on another authority site in the SEO niche and they were of the same thinking! The community over at Moz also thinks clean URLs are a good practice.
So what do we do now? Should we have or not have URLs with dates?
At this point the very short answer is that it depends. And the longer answer is that you need to be able to understand the basics of SEO and how SERP works to be able to come to a decision about what's best for you and your blog.
As is my belief with most things related to blogging, making an informed choice is always the best.
Google considers well over 200 ranking factors when deciding which page should rank the highest in SERP (search engine results page - if you still don't know what that is I'm attaching a picture below)
And because there are many Google ranking factors, the structure of your URL is just one of those factors and not one of THE deciding factors.
This is why I believe that the Google Webmasters replied in this fashion:
Having a date in the URL is fine! #AskGoogleWebmasters— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) September 23, 2019
This means that while it is recommended that you have clean URL structures from the beginning, it's really okay if you have dates in your blog post URLs.
What does this mean for new and old bloggers?
| New Bloggers | Old Bloggers |
|---|---|
| If you're a new blogger, or someone who is thinking of starting a blog it might be something you want to consider. Think about the blogging platform you wish to start with, your budget, and your end goal with blogging are all essential factors. |
If you've been blogging for some time and your URL structure does have dates in it and you wish to change it, you must remember that any permalink (URL) changes will lead to a negative impact on your SEO unless you set up proper 301 redirects for each blog post created. This is exactly why, I think if you don't have the time or resources to make a change such as this happen then leave your URLS with dates as it is. |
What does this mean for bloggers on blogger?
If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I write mainly for bloggers on blogger and that I love the platform just that much. I even suggest people to start their own blog using blogger.
As most people on blogger know that blogger as a platform includes dates in the URL that it generates. I believe that if you are on blogger or are starting a blog on blogger, you don't need to worry about the URL dates.
As bloggers, we are content creators and worrying too much about optimising our blogs technically can be counterproductive. If there is something you should know about Google is that it loves good content, sure you should make other changes to make your blog better but your content should still be your number 1 priority.
A date in the URL of your blog post in not going to make or break your blog. Don't let this deter you from choosing blogger as your blogging platform. People on the blogger platform are still making money despite dates in their URL.
But if it really matters a lot to you, I did write a tutorial on removing dates from blogger blog post URLS.
I'm still worried about the dates in my URL as a blogger
Like I mentioned above, your main concern should be someone giving your audience a better user experience, better content than dates in your URL.
Think about it, how many times have you actually paid attention to the address bar beyond the website name?
If you're like most people then you haven't paid that much attention to the address bar beyond the website name. And when you share URLS you just share them by the sharing tools available on your phone or copy pasting on your desktops, pc, laptops etc.
Depending on your blogging platform you can choose to change your link structure and set-up 301 permanent redirects from your old URL to the changed ones if you wish to retain your rankings and not effect your SEO in a negative way.
If you've followed the blogger tutorial or changed the URL structure on your blog on some other platform, make sure to set-up 301 redirects.
SHOP : If you have a lot of posts on your blog that will require you to fix your links, and you don't feel like you're up to the task of setting up redirects, you can hire me to help through the entire redirect process.
Depending upon the number of posts it may take from 1 week to up to 4 weeks (even more in some cases) to make sure there are no broken links. It's a tedious process, but know that I'm available for help at all times.
Depending upon the number of posts it may take from 1 week to up to 4 weeks (even more in some cases) to make sure there are no broken links. It's a tedious process, but know that I'm available for help at all times.
I hope that this blog post will give you clarity on what route you want to go. Personally for me, I'm on the blogger platform and I'm happy with the way things are with my blog post URL. It's the kind of optimisation I don't think too much about.
I believe in providing my audience with a good user experience, and content that helps them. The URLs are fine as it is.
If you have any thoughts and feedback to share, I'm looking forward to reading and responding to your comments.
As always, If you've liked the content and it has helped you in any way then please consider signing up to receive my blog posts directly in your inbox, or add my blog to your reading list. Alternatively, if it resonates with you, please consider donating and helping me keep the blog up and running and make our mission reality.
I was requested to do a post about removing dates from blogger blog posts. Being a fan of the blogger platform I decided to do a bit of digging. And the good new is, it's possible. The other news is that there is a bit of a catch as blogger otherwise does not let you remove or change the permalink structure.
WARNING : The code used in this method was neither created nor tested by Balkeni Studio. You may not hold us liable for any harm that comes from using third-party code.
To remove the date structure from URL of your blogger blog posts:
- Copy this script and click Theme
- Then click Edit HTML
- Click anywhere on the code in your template once, and then press CTRL+F or Command + F (for Mac users) and type in "</head>" and press enter.
- Paste the code you copied earlier right above the tag "</head>".
- That's it and you are done.
INFO : There is a catch that I noticed in using this code, when you do internal linking from one blog post to another, it flashes a 404 error page before redirecting to the actual page and correcting the URL. I am not sure how this affects ranking or what Google crawlers think of it.
I know many bloggers want to remove the structure of blogger links, but if that's truly the case, why not start with WordPress itself?
Personally, I don't wish to change my link structure, I'm happy with the way it is, and I don't wish to change it because I don't think it affects SEO that much. Google is smart and cares for content and user-experience.
Which only means this neither breaks or makes my SEO. However it was fun to see if there was something available that helps this particular case.
INFO : Another thing I'd like to point out is that if you've been blogging for a while, changing your link structure without proper redirects being set can affect your rankings in a negative way. It's just something to keep in mind.
If you don't have much clue about redirects, or SEO then it's best to hire help professionally than to risk losing all your hard work and paying someone more to do the clean-up of the mess you've made.
I hope this tutorial has helped you, and you've learned something from it. I'll be adding another post concerning SEO, and URL structures in the future so that I can help my audience better understand what works and what doesn't.
Feel free to share this tutorial with your friends if needed, save it, and/or request for another tutorial or blog post if you like. Alternatively, if you've enjoyed this post please consider donating to help me keep this blog up and running smoothly.
If you have any feedback or comments, I'd love to read and respond to them all in the comments section below.
I have been dedicated to the blogger platform for years now. It is my blogging platform of choice, and I love that it is extremely customisable. It is a very popular myth that blogger is not a customisable platform, it's not true. And for 4 years now, I've been helping bloggers make the most of their blogger blogs.
I know a lot of lifestyle, DIY, fashion bloggers review products and so I often got requests from bloggers on helping them with a star rating widget.
Are you a blogger on the blogger platform and you do reviews?
Then you'll be happy to know that this star rating widget will help your blogger blog stand out from other generic blogs. Now let's get into it.
Even if you weren't a blogger who often does reviews, you might find unexpected ways to make use of this simple yet beautiful star rating widget in your blog. Let's get right into it.
01. Save The HTML Code in your own computer
Go ahead and save the HTML Code somewhere in your computer or book mark this post in your browser, or pin it to read it later and go back to it when needed. I like to use Evernote to save all my blog codes and embed webpages, you may also use Trello to do so if you wish.
<div class="rating">
<div class="rtxt">
My Rating:
</div>
<span class="fa fa-star checked"></span>
<span class="fa fa-star checked"></span>
<span class="fa fa-star checked"></span>
<span class="fa fa-star"></span>
<span class="fa fa-star"></span>
</div>
02. Add The CSS Code in your blog template
- Log in to your blogger blog, the click on Theme.
- Then click on Customise.
- Scroll down to where you see the option Add CSS.
- Copy and paste the code below
- Click Apply to Blog.
- Then click Go back to blogger.
.checked {
color: #54c5d0;
}
.rtxt{
display: inline-block;
text-transform: uppercase;
padding: 0 5px;
}
Congratulations, you have now completed all the steps required in setting up the widget. Now, you'll need to understand how to use this widget in your blog posts.
Every time you need to display the star ratings in a blog post you'll need to copy and paste the HTML code provided to you in the beginning of this post to wherever you want that ratings to display.
By default, this rating widget shows three star rating, you can easily customise this by changing the code by just adding the word "checked" in the code for every star you would like to show. For example: You can show a 4 star rating using this code, notice how this is the same HTML Code as before but with an extra "checked" added.
For your ease I've added bolded the extra word added:
<div class="rating">
<div class="rtxt">
My Rating:
</div>
<span class="fa fa-star checked"></span>
<span class="fa fa-star checked"></span>
<span class="fa fa-star checked"></span>
<span class="fa fa-star checked"></span>
<span class="fa fa-star"></span>
</div>Similarly, you can add five stars, and remove the word checked from the code to show less amount of stars.
Once you've added in the codes properly you can adjust the colours of the stars by changing the values of:
.checked {
color: #54c5d0;
}
This value affects the colours, you can easily look up the colours using the colour picker and and match them with your theme.
Live Demo
You can hire me to add this to your blog if you feel it's too complicated and you don't wish to DIY it.
I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial, and it helps you extend the capabilities of your blogger blog! As always you can send in a request for a tutorial or blog post, and if this blog post has helped you, please consider subscribing to all my future blog posts or follow my blog.
If there's anything else, please let me know. I enjoy writing tutorials for you guys as always. Please consider donating to help me keep the blog up and running smoothly if it resonates with you.
Designing logos for others gives me great joy. The process which helps me determine exactly what my Client wants their brand to represent, is always a roller coaster ride, that I happen to like.
My Client this time was a Perfectionist — if I should say so. I loved working with her as she knew exactly what she wanted. She was clear with her vision which really helped me understand her brand better.
Such Clients are a breeze to work with! Here's what she had to say after she received her final draft and files, "I absolutely love the work you have done. ❤️ Thank You, so much!".
And those words meant so much to me!
If you feel you're ready to start your custom brand journey, then visit my custom design shop. Or if you'd like something premade, head over to my premade designs shop.
Ever since the launch of Balkeni studio, it has been my aim to bring trustworthy and credible information to new bloggers as well as people who are considering taking up blogging as a hobby or a means to earn an income doing something they love and like.
This also means, that I don't believe in generic advice that you've probably read everywhere. I wish to give you the best option possible for your specific case! You'll also notice, if you've been reading my blog that I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to blogging, this is also true in case of choosing a blogging platform.
I'm very serious about putting in a solid foundation for your blog, and if you choose the wrong platform, you ARE going to lose money. So, to help you avoid such mistakes, let's take a look at one of the most-asked question, is WordPress.com a good blogging platform?
What even is WordPress.com?
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) which is owned and operated by Auttomatic Inc. Meaning, it is a blogging platform (a place where you can host your blog) that is hosted and served by Auttomatic Inc.
Is there a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
The short answer is yes. WordPress.org is an open source software (also a CMS) that is used mainly to build websites and blogs and e-commerce stores. While it is free to use, you will need to find your own host to be able to host your WordPress powered website if you choose to go with WordPress.org instead. This is what is often called having a self-hosted blog.
Pros of starting a blog on WordPress.com
WordPress proudly states a significant fact, 35% of all websites are powered by WordPress. This is an impressive stat as the internet today has billions of websites. WordPress in of itself is a well-built, and efficient CMS.
Some features that make WordPress.com stand out are:
- You don't need to have any technical knowledge of running a blog or coding experience.
- It is hosted on fast, secure and reliable servers by Auttomatic and you won't run into hack problems as you might if you're not careful with your self-hosted blog.
- As your host (WordPress.com) takes care of your version of WordPress updated, you don't need to worry about updating your site and you can concentrate on what you do best; write.
- It's easy and simple to use, with lots of free (yet well-designed) themes as well as premium themes to choose from, I believe it shouldn't be hard to set up a well-designed blog for yourself.
- It is free to use, until you decide to upgrade it. And offers extreme scaleability when your blog grows from being just a blog to a full-time business.
- Practically no downtime, anyone who has ever self-hosted a blog probably knows the pain of a post going viral and their blog going down. Or on shared hosting when sometimes your blog experiences downtime but no sir, not here. On the two years that I was using WordPress I never had a single minute where my blog went down.
- Responsive and amazing support. The support is just beautiful, they care and they WILL help you out. That's not something I can about some other blogging platforms or hosts.
- Built-in monetisation opportunities such as an exclusive ad program, payment buttons and the ability to add a store to your website or blog makes it very easy to monetise your blog.
What are the cons of starting your blog on WordPress.com
There are some obvious cons to using WordPress.com as a blogging platform. As the platform operates on simplifying the pains of a self-hosted blog and help you focus on what you actually want to do - run your blog/website rather that spend time managing it and keeping it updated, a few shortcomings may be seen.
Some cons that I found WordPress.com to have:
- As a blogger, you also assume the role of a webmaster, especially if you are the only one on your team. This means you will be using follow links and no-follow links along with these new guidelines from Google as well. Well, there is NO easy way of adding these links in WordPress, you will have to switch to the HTML section of your post and add these attributes into your posts until you upgrade to the version that lets you install custom widgets and themes.
- Which brings me to this con, unless you're on a very specific plan that lets you do that, you cannot install third-party widgets and plugins. This is to make sure you don't accidentally install something that makes your website vulnerable to attacks and hacks but some people still find that limiting.
- You cannot run Adsense or any other ad networks that isn't WordAds. WordPress offers it's own ecosystem of Ads and you may only use that. Many people say that the earnings from WordAds is not as high, however I can't comment on it since I don't use much ads on any of my sites anyway for the sake of user experience.
- The free version of WordPress comes with Ads, your blog/website will show ads that will bring WordPress revenue, not you.
- You may not add custom Javascript to posts and pages that is not pre-approved by WordPress for security reasons.
My experience with WordPress.com
If you've known me or read my blog in the past then you know how keen I am on experimenting with new blogging platforms and thoroughly testing them out before I make an opinion. I like to test things out for myself rather than taking someone else's word for it.
This is partly because I am tech savvy, can code and am familiar with designing and like to do things my own way rather than a preset way. Being a web and graphic designer, I fail to understand the one-size-fits-all approach to blogging platforms. As a developer, I don't agree with it.
I started my very first blog around late 2014, if I remember correctly in December 2014. Like any other new blogger I got started with blogger and with some research, I was convinced that blogger couldn't be long-term for me as I had to go self-hosted.
But boy was I wrong. And when I shut down my first blog which was co-owned with my sister I was soon looking for a new blogging platform for my own blog. Which would be 100% me. I will be very honest with you, I didn't know much about blogging then and I didn't even know how to code back then.
So I have to admit, I didn't appreciate spending a good 45 minutes to keep my blog updated and as the blog grew in content and pages etc. it started to take lots of time to load in the backend, and was overall slow because of the shared hosting and we weren't at the point where we could afford a much more expensive hosting.
It took some time to learn WordPress but the real pain was performing these backend and admin tasks. And the overall slowness of the website. Not to mention downtimes as well. They were short, maybe like 5 minutes-15 minutes but they were there.
Of course, the speed of your website depends on a lot of factors but one of them is your host as well. We were hosted with GoDaddy and while I still believe they are good (especially in India, the shared hosting plans in itself will always be slow because they host many sites on the same server.) they are still slow.
I also just wished if I could lessen the burden on myself, just be able to blog without all the extra bits. I already had to wear many hats as a solopreneur, the marketer, editor, content writer, planner etc. so not having to deal with one more role, meant a lot to me.
Let's dive deep into my experience with WordPress.com now. In 2016, when it was time to start my own blog I wanted to give other blogging platforms a chance, I wanted to try many of them out and see what I liked.
I knew how to use WordPress and when I came across WordPress by Auttomatic Inc. it was something I loved. It was the power of WordPress but none of the hassle that came with a self-hosted blog. My art blog (no longer online either was hosted on WordPress for two years, until I made the decision to merge it with Balkeni Studio (this blog).
I was on their personal plan, and I honestly never felt that it was restricted or limited. It was also possible to easily monetise my blog with it and I had access to WordAds as well as Simple Payment buttons integrated into the system.
The cons never bothered me very much, I was able to do everything I wanted. Blogging, displaying ads, and monetising my blog along with selling a few handmade items here and there.
The support was amazing as well! They were always willing to help and listen to me. Had I not decided to merge my art blog with this blog, I would have still been on WordPress by Auttomatic Inc.
I was going through a lot of changes in my blog during 2019, I even tried Wix out for almost an year. But I ended up coming to blogger because of many reasons which I will highlight for you now.
This is partly because I am tech savvy, can code and am familiar with designing and like to do things my own way rather than a preset way. Being a web and graphic designer, I fail to understand the one-size-fits-all approach to blogging platforms. As a developer, I don't agree with it.
Fun Fact : I'm sorry but I don't believe going the self-hosted route is for everyone or for that matter, even required.
The self-hosted blog problems with my first blog
I started my very first blog around late 2014, if I remember correctly in December 2014. Like any other new blogger I got started with blogger and with some research, I was convinced that blogger couldn't be long-term for me as I had to go self-hosted.
But boy was I wrong. And when I shut down my first blog which was co-owned with my sister I was soon looking for a new blogging platform for my own blog. Which would be 100% me. I will be very honest with you, I didn't know much about blogging then and I didn't even know how to code back then.
So I have to admit, I didn't appreciate spending a good 45 minutes to keep my blog updated and as the blog grew in content and pages etc. it started to take lots of time to load in the backend, and was overall slow because of the shared hosting and we weren't at the point where we could afford a much more expensive hosting.
It took some time to learn WordPress but the real pain was performing these backend and admin tasks. And the overall slowness of the website. Not to mention downtimes as well. They were short, maybe like 5 minutes-15 minutes but they were there.
Of course, the speed of your website depends on a lot of factors but one of them is your host as well. We were hosted with GoDaddy and while I still believe they are good (especially in India, the shared hosting plans in itself will always be slow because they host many sites on the same server.) they are still slow.
I also just wished if I could lessen the burden on myself, just be able to blog without all the extra bits. I already had to wear many hats as a solopreneur, the marketer, editor, content writer, planner etc. so not having to deal with one more role, meant a lot to me.
My search for a managed WordPress platform ended on WordPress.com
Let's dive deep into my experience with WordPress.com now. In 2016, when it was time to start my own blog I wanted to give other blogging platforms a chance, I wanted to try many of them out and see what I liked.
I knew how to use WordPress and when I came across WordPress by Auttomatic Inc. it was something I loved. It was the power of WordPress but none of the hassle that came with a self-hosted blog. My art blog (no longer online either was hosted on WordPress for two years, until I made the decision to merge it with Balkeni Studio (this blog).
I was on their personal plan, and I honestly never felt that it was restricted or limited. It was also possible to easily monetise my blog with it and I had access to WordAds as well as Simple Payment buttons integrated into the system.
The cons never bothered me very much, I was able to do everything I wanted. Blogging, displaying ads, and monetising my blog along with selling a few handmade items here and there.
The support was amazing as well! They were always willing to help and listen to me. Had I not decided to merge my art blog with this blog, I would have still been on WordPress by Auttomatic Inc.
Why I moved from WordPress to Blogger
I was going through a lot of changes in my blog during 2019, I even tried Wix out for almost an year. But I ended up coming to blogger because of many reasons which I will highlight for you now.
- I was running way too many blogs and it was getting harder to keep up with them alongside my client work. I wanted to streamline my blogs (I had more than 4) under one brand, and concentrate on just one aspect of my business first and gradually add to them (a very valuable advice from my friend and mentor Mary Angela, in her book).
- My work blog was already hosted on blogger, I was learning code and wanted to experiment with everything, and Blogger unlike how many people suggest is NOT a limited platform. It is very customisable, and I've grown to love it!
- Blogger is free, fast, secure, with no downtimes. It is so customisable that it's helping me in my journey of learning to code more and more.
- It is easier to use. It was made for simplicity, hence it is actually easier to use.
- And it's possible to monetise it as well, unlike what you may have heard, and yes, I do own my content. Read Blogger's policies to find out that they never say that they own your content!
If you're interested, you can read more about the platform in this blog post.
Is WordPress.com a good blogging platform for me?
That's a good question. And the answer is, it depends. In my blog coaching sessions for new bloggers I recommend them to weigh out the pros and cons of each blogging platform and think about what they want to do with their blog and decide which platform let's them achieve their specific goal in the easiest way possible.
I usually recommend WordPress to writers, technically challenged, and/or people who would rather just leave the backend tasks to the experts and give themselves a website manager for free that will keep their site secure, fast and happy 24x7.
As WordPress is scaleable, your plan can grow with you, that means it doesn't have to burn a whole in your pocket every month. And you get unlimited bandwidth, so if a blog post goes viral, you need not pay anything extra.
WP (WordPress) even makes it easy for you to get started even if you don't know what things like a host or domain name is. WP guides you through it.
If you ever need to start selling products and/or services through your website, then that's possible too. Monetising is easy with in-built tools.
Okay well, here's the secret. Most bloggers that tell you that self-hosted is the only route to a successful blog is not giving you the information you actually need to be successful with blogging.
#SorryNotSorry
I take pride in being able to tell my readers that I put honesty, credible knowledge, and my intention to actually help my reader (you) before anything else. I believe that it's more important to let my reader know the options that are available to them, than just recommending something just because it helps me make money, or because others are doing the same.
I'm not sure where the myth of needing to "self-host" your blog to become a successful blogger originated from but it was probably an intelligent way to earn revenue by affiliate marketing. Tell someone that without buying product A, they cannot make money or it will be harder to make money.
Not only do I not like such misleading techniques, but these days I just see everyone recommending people to go self-hosted even when there's no actual need to have a "self-hosted" blog if you want to make money blogging.
I wish to tell you proper reasons and give you actual information so that you can feel empowered enough to make a decision by yourself, without having to ask anyone else for it.
As a web designer and developer, this is my advice: WordPress is a robust content management system. However, most bloggers on self-hosted WP blogs will never use 80% of the power that WP has, simply because bloggers do no require it.
If you were a multi-category e-commerce business that needed something very complex (and you have a developer to manage and maintain your site), then, sure, self-hosted is a better option for you, but for bloggers, it's just not a requirement.
I think WP is a great platform for starting a new blog, you can get started for free and build upon it once you believe you are getting more serious about your blog. I prefer it over a self-hosted version of WordPress because it saves you a LOT of time, headache, and hassles.
Just ask anyone running a self-hosted WordPress blog about their blog getting hacked and whether or not it was a fun experience for them.
If you are extremely new to blogging I suggest you go with their free plan and adjust with blogging regularly, if you already think you'd like to get started in a more serious manner, choose a plan (it comes with a free domain name too for an year) and start your journey!
I will leave the ultimate decision to you, if you need professional help, I offer blog coaching to clients that are new to blogging to help them make their goal a reality. If you'd like to book a session, you can get in touch with me.
If you're not ready for professional coaching then feel free to get in touch via the comments section for a question or two. I'm always happy to help! Or you if you have something you'd like an extremely detailed advice on, send in a blog post or tutorial request and subscribe to my posts so that you know when it's live.
I usually recommend WordPress to writers, technically challenged, and/or people who would rather just leave the backend tasks to the experts and give themselves a website manager for free that will keep their site secure, fast and happy 24x7.
As WordPress is scaleable, your plan can grow with you, that means it doesn't have to burn a whole in your pocket every month. And you get unlimited bandwidth, so if a blog post goes viral, you need not pay anything extra.
WP (WordPress) even makes it easy for you to get started even if you don't know what things like a host or domain name is. WP guides you through it.
If you ever need to start selling products and/or services through your website, then that's possible too. Monetising is easy with in-built tools.
If WordPres by Auttomatic Inc. s is so good, why does every other blogger suggest going self-hosted instead?
Okay well, here's the secret. Most bloggers that tell you that self-hosted is the only route to a successful blog is not giving you the information you actually need to be successful with blogging.
#SorryNotSorry
I take pride in being able to tell my readers that I put honesty, credible knowledge, and my intention to actually help my reader (you) before anything else. I believe that it's more important to let my reader know the options that are available to them, than just recommending something just because it helps me make money, or because others are doing the same.
I'm not sure where the myth of needing to "self-host" your blog to become a successful blogger originated from but it was probably an intelligent way to earn revenue by affiliate marketing. Tell someone that without buying product A, they cannot make money or it will be harder to make money.
Not only do I not like such misleading techniques, but these days I just see everyone recommending people to go self-hosted even when there's no actual need to have a "self-hosted" blog if you want to make money blogging.
I wish to tell you proper reasons and give you actual information so that you can feel empowered enough to make a decision by yourself, without having to ask anyone else for it.
As a web designer and developer, this is my advice: WordPress is a robust content management system. However, most bloggers on self-hosted WP blogs will never use 80% of the power that WP has, simply because bloggers do no require it.
If you were a multi-category e-commerce business that needed something very complex (and you have a developer to manage and maintain your site), then, sure, self-hosted is a better option for you, but for bloggers, it's just not a requirement.
Conclusion
I think WP is a great platform for starting a new blog, you can get started for free and build upon it once you believe you are getting more serious about your blog. I prefer it over a self-hosted version of WordPress because it saves you a LOT of time, headache, and hassles.
Just ask anyone running a self-hosted WordPress blog about their blog getting hacked and whether or not it was a fun experience for them.
If you are extremely new to blogging I suggest you go with their free plan and adjust with blogging regularly, if you already think you'd like to get started in a more serious manner, choose a plan (it comes with a free domain name too for an year) and start your journey!
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Here, at Balkeni Studio Sarah Skilton has contributed to an interview before, she's an amazing, lovely and strong woman. She runs her small business store Adventure Accessories - gifts for outdoors. She's very active on Twitter and has found her success through the platform.
Today, she'll be answering some questions about how you too can make use of Twitter to help your business or blog.
Q.
Hi Sarah, welcome back to Balkeni Studio Small Business Spotlight interviews. Can you tell everyone a little bit more about yourself and what you do?
Answer:
I created Adventure Accessories in 2018 when I changed direction in life. I took voluntary redundancy to care full time for my youngest son when he was diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive cancer in 2016 aged 14. My crafts were and still are part of my therapy after I had a breakdown in 2017. My small business is an escape, a therapy and a something good to come from a nightmare that we still fight every day since he relapsed in September 2017.
I created Adventure Accessories in 2018 when I changed direction in life. I took voluntary redundancy to care full time for my youngest son when he was diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive cancer in 2016 aged 14. My crafts were and still are part of my therapy after I had a breakdown in 2017. My small business is an escape, a therapy and a something good to come from a nightmare that we still fight every day since he relapsed in September 2017.
Q.
So we know you're quite active on Twitter, a social media platform that most don't rave about, especially in comparison to Pinterest. When did you start with Twitter and Why?
Answer:
I actually created my Twitter account in 2013. A first I found it a confusing platform as I had no idea what the difference was between @ and # and how you used them in your tweets. However, you quickly get the hang of the platform and I love Twitter. It is by far my favourite social media platform to use. Why? Twitter is like a live rolling news service about everything that is going on in the world in real time. It is a window to world news, politics or even silly hashtag games. You can connect and chat with users all over the world even if you don’t follow each other.
I actually created my Twitter account in 2013. A first I found it a confusing platform as I had no idea what the difference was between @ and # and how you used them in your tweets. However, you quickly get the hang of the platform and I love Twitter. It is by far my favourite social media platform to use. Why? Twitter is like a live rolling news service about everything that is going on in the world in real time. It is a window to world news, politics or even silly hashtag games. You can connect and chat with users all over the world even if you don’t follow each other.
Q.
You mentioned that twitter drives 48% of your traffic, can you tell us more about the strategies you used and how long it took you to get there?
Answer:
As I already had an established Twitter account it hasn’t taken me long to grow my following as my new business Adventure Accessories. What has helped drive traffic is taking part in Twitter Chat hours. Each chat has a specific hashtag. You use that # in each of your tweets and everyone taking part in the chat can see and respond. There are literally hundreds of chat hours taking part all the time, but I made a hand infographic of my favourite ones to take part in.
As I already had an established Twitter account it hasn’t taken me long to grow my following as my new business Adventure Accessories. What has helped drive traffic is taking part in Twitter Chat hours. Each chat has a specific hashtag. You use that # in each of your tweets and everyone taking part in the chat can see and respond. There are literally hundreds of chat hours taking part all the time, but I made a hand infographic of my favourite ones to take part in.
Q.
Do you see a good ratio of return on investment as a small business owner on Twitter, do you think it's worth it?
Answer:
Absolutely to drive 48% of my traffic and for this figure to be constant is a valuable investment. In comparison I have 44.8k monthly unique viewers on Pinterest but it only accounts for 5% of my website traffic. Yet I only have 7.3k followers on Twitter but 48% of traffic plus numerous sales as a result of Twitter chats and as a result of such high engagement from I have a Twitter reach of 1.7 million.
Absolutely to drive 48% of my traffic and for this figure to be constant is a valuable investment. In comparison I have 44.8k monthly unique viewers on Pinterest but it only accounts for 5% of my website traffic. Yet I only have 7.3k followers on Twitter but 48% of traffic plus numerous sales as a result of Twitter chats and as a result of such high engagement from I have a Twitter reach of 1.7 million.
Q.
If someone was just starting out on Twitter, what advice would you give them?
Answer:
Engage with other users, chat and use hashtags, but only max of 3 hashtags per tweet. It is not like Instagram. Less is more. Like and re tweet other users tweets. Take part in chat hours. A particular user will be the host and they will help you if you are not sure what to do. Each chat has its own rules but they are generally fairly laid back. Create an account and have a go.
Engage with other users, chat and use hashtags, but only max of 3 hashtags per tweet. It is not like Instagram. Less is more. Like and re tweet other users tweets. Take part in chat hours. A particular user will be the host and they will help you if you are not sure what to do. Each chat has its own rules but they are generally fairly laid back. Create an account and have a go.
Q.
Do you think anyone can drive about that much traffic from Twitter as you do? If yes, then what should they focus on when promoting on twitter? And why did you choose Twitter or other platforms?
Answer:
It is all about what you put in. At one point Twitter only accounted for about 12% of my traffic, but I have grown to 48% mostly from Twitter chats. Chats usually last an hour and I tend to take part in at least one a day, so I am on Twitter for at least one hour every day, but usually more going through and responding to my notifications. Follow the 80/20 rule. Spend 80% of the time engaging, offering advice and sharing other people’s content, the 20% promote you own content. You will then get the same in return.
Look at the trending hashtags and take part in those that are relevant to you, this will increase your exposure and reach greatly.
I love Twitter because you get to chat in real time to people all over the world. Twitter helps you to create links and networks with other business owners, especially in your niche, don’t see each other as competition, but rather, you are help and support for each other.
I would describe Facebook as a business to customer focus whereas Twitter generally is more business-to-business.
It is all about what you put in. At one point Twitter only accounted for about 12% of my traffic, but I have grown to 48% mostly from Twitter chats. Chats usually last an hour and I tend to take part in at least one a day, so I am on Twitter for at least one hour every day, but usually more going through and responding to my notifications. Follow the 80/20 rule. Spend 80% of the time engaging, offering advice and sharing other people’s content, the 20% promote you own content. You will then get the same in return.
Look at the trending hashtags and take part in those that are relevant to you, this will increase your exposure and reach greatly.
I love Twitter because you get to chat in real time to people all over the world. Twitter helps you to create links and networks with other business owners, especially in your niche, don’t see each other as competition, but rather, you are help and support for each other.
I would describe Facebook as a business to customer focus whereas Twitter generally is more business-to-business.
Author Bio
Sarah Skilton is the owner of Adventure Accessories, created in 2018, a successful creative handmade business based in Carmarthenshire, South Wales. Combining a passion for adventure with a love of crafts, Adventure Accessories creates unique handcrafted, fun and functional, gifts for outdoor enthusiasts. You can follow Sarah on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
When Miz Helen got in touch with me about getting badges designed for her blog, I was happy to discuss the scope of the project with her. She wanted these for her linky parties and also needed people to be able to copy them from a place in her blog and paste them to their own blog.
The idea behind the illustration came from the cloth pattern and a red plate she already was using as her button for the blog.
Being a blogger myself and being familiar with the link party trends, this project was great to work with. We ended up with two variations of the same design that she really enjoyed.
Her blog is filled with some pretty great recipes and I've really liked working with her. The fun thing about this project was that it wasn't just design work, coding was involved too and so it made it even more fun for me as a designer and developer!
Need a button/badge designed for your blog that matches your branding? Feel free to get in touch!
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