With 50,000 page views, 35,000 unique visitors and nearly 72,000 combined social media fans and followers, TheItMom.com Daisy Teh knows a thing or two about creating web content people will actually read.
And she says the No. 1 rule to remember is to stop focusing so much on yourself and what you want to share and start focusing on your audience and what they want to read.
“High-quality content means providing the reader something of value that they can take away from after reading your post,” Daisy adds. “If there’s no substance to your content, it is difficult to engage and entertain.”
You can learn about your readers by reviewing your Google Analytics and monitoring social media stats. And you’ll appeal to them more by writing with a genuine voice rather than focusing too much on SEO, she says. Finally, keep an eye out on what conversations are trending and don’t be afraid to post brand-relevant, newsworthy content.
Daisy recently caught up with us to discuss how she has been able to grow the following for her lifestyles blog TheItMom.com and offer advice on how fellow bloggers should be using everything from images to social media to net more readers.
Hi, Daisy! Can you tell us about TheItMom? When and why did you start your site?
We started TheItMom three years ago on Aug. 15, 2011. We originally started the site as a way to help provide resources for friends and family to find AMAZING deals — whether from couponing or bargain shopping, we knew where to find them and wanted to share the wealth of information with others. What started as a personal blog emerged into a resource that started drawing in outside readers. Since then, we’ve transitioned into a lifestyle site where we focus on balancing life and style for women and families. We write about topics like family fun, travel, food recipes, beauty and fashion, DIY, and frugal living.
Who should be reading TheItMom?
We encourage women to be the confident and savvy women they should be. Our goal is to make lifestyle easily attainable with style and functionality – from the career woman to the stay-at-home mom, we’ve got something for every woman.
Why are high-quality visuals so important to a blog or website?
There are TONS of stats and reasons out there pointing to the importance of high-quality visuals. It not only creates professionalism in what you do as a Blogger, but it also benefits the reader because they process visual information much faster than text making it more appealing to stay on your website. It also drives engagement (like Pinterest and Instagram have successfully shown) and brings more traffic to your site. If there’s one piece of advice that I can recommend when it comes to growing your blog, it’s to master having excellent quality images.
What advice do you have on creating or finding great images to pair with your work?
When it comes to creating great images – lighting, angles, relevancy to the post, and having some text in the image work great for me. Using editing software like PicMonkey are great tools to use for easily editing images and adding text. Get creative with your photos and think of unique ways to present whatever product, service, etc. that you are writing about. When it comes to finding great images to pair with your work — Google Search is your best friend and can help you find websites that offer royalty-free images either as a subscription or for free. Morgue File and Dreamstime are popular sites for stock photos.
What tips can you offer on building a loyal audience? How can other bloggers not only reach more readers, but connect with them?
When it comes to building a loyal audience, there are two very important factors you have to consider: the time it takes to build it and genuine customer service. You need to build trust and cultivate relationships to have a loyal audience. You can reach more readers and connect with them by doing things like staying engaged by replying to their social media comments and blog post comments. Asking your readers’ questions of interest, knowing what they do and don’t like by staying one step ahead of them. And creating a marketing strategy by reviewing your analytics and social media stats will help you build it. Knowing you have a target and aiming towards that target is important when it comes to building up a loyal following, otherwise, you’ll be wasting your time reaching the wrong audience. Know your demographics and target audience!
How have you used social media to build your following?
Social media is a great way to draw in more traffic to your website. I’ve used social media to monitor trends, the virality of posts, and target what my readers like and don’t like. I’ve used social media to create groups with other like-minded individuals that can refer me to opportunities. I’ve used social media as a way to find people who have interests in what I offer.
What blogs or websites inspire you as a writer?
There are so many out there, but only one really stands out from the rest: Living Well Spending Less by Ruth Soukup. She’s my inspiration as an entrepreneur, mentor, friend and writer. Her level of excellence in professional blogging and writing continues to motivate me to want to do better. It’s because of Ruth’s mentorship and friendship that I am where I am today as a blogger, and I aspire to have the same willing attitude she has. Ruth recently launched her new Elite Blog Academy that I’ve become an affiliate of, and the program is a great way to help bloggers get on the right track towards monetization and traffic. She’s worked with many very successful bloggers and she’s so confident that the program can work for anyone that she offers a 200 percent Money Back Guarantee! I encourage other bloggers out there to seek a mentor they can trust, because having advisors is the right thing to do and they can lift you up on days when you feel like it’s not worth it. They’ve been there, done that and it’s comforting to know you’re not the only one dealing with the same types of situations.
What new innovations or trends excite you the most as a blogger?
New innovations or trends in content marketing and social media marketing are what excite me. Like technology, digital media is an ever-changing industry. I always get excited when it comes to learning something new or finding a new product, service, software or tool that can make my job as a blogger better, easier, quicker, and more efficient. The way we use apps, mobile devices, and social media are always evolving! It’s a lot of fun to see history in the making with the way we use technology.