This is a guest post by Timo Kiander.

When you started blogging, it used to be fun and exciting: You were writing posts, connecting with other bloggers and finding new and exciting blogs to comment on.

Even today if blogging is still fun, there is one doubt that has crossed your mind many times: You don’t have time to do anything else except to just write blog posts.

Although you love writing posts, you have also realized that you’ll need to do something else in order to grow your blog.

This “something else” could be the Amazon Kindle book that you’d like to write, the new e-mail newsletter that you have been thinking of creating for your list or a new lead magnet and a landing page, that would increase the conversions and the number of subscribers.

Let’s face it: Your hands are tied and until you make some drastic changes to your blogging routines, things are going to be the same.

However, if you are just willing to stick around for a moment, I’ll have some good news for you!

Did the workload come to you as a surprise?

When you started your blogging, you were excited. Heck, I even remember the time when I started writing blog posts and it sure was fun.

However, what you have probably realized by now is that blogging takes a lot of time and effort in order to do it properly. In fact, you could even consider writing a blog post as a “mini-project” itself, as it has many steps until a post is transformed from an idea to a published piece of content.

Especially if you keep publishing posts many times per week, you will be writing a lot for your own blog. It’s no wonder that you might feel stressed, since you just don’t have time to do anything else except to focus on your blog posts.

At the same time, the number of exciting projects is increasing all the time and you have lots of great ideas for growing your blog.

The question is, how do you find time to do that if your focus is on the blog posts?

This is a guest post by Mauro D’Andrea.

You are trying guest posting and results are good…

From your last guest post you got both traffic and a decent amount of email subscribers. The same is true for some of your other guest posts.

But, you feel that you are missing something. You can’t understand what.

Many successful bloggers describe guest posting like the Holy Grail of blogging. To you it’s not like that.

You have to send emails to many bloggers and wait for their replies. Some bloggers respond quickly, but others don’t respond or do it after a long time.

You have to put a good effort while you write your post just to see if a certain blogger likes it or not. You get some refusals. Many other times you need to edit your post before a blogger accepts it.

Guest posting give results, but from a certain point of view it’s a painful process. Why there are people who talk about it like the best way to succeed online?

You are Missing Something About Guest Posting

So many successful people can’t be wrong: there is something that you are missing.

Even if you do guest posting in a good manner, the chances are that you are skipping an essential part of guest posting.

There are many technical aspects that can bring your guest posting skills to the next level, but they are not the most important things.

You are missing the key concept of guest posting.

This is a guest post by Hannah Smith.

Whether you’re blogging for personal, professional or business; Google Analytics can offer a wealth of data – where your visitors are located, the search terms they used to find you, how much time they spent on your site and so on.

Trouble is, data in and of itself isn’t necessarily all that useful – how do you get from data to insight, and from insight to action?

Data’s great, but insight and action are even better – so today I wanted to share how to use Internal Site Search data from Google Analytics to figure out what content your readers want, and whether or not you’re providing it.

How?

Well, internal site search offers a unique insight into what your blog’s visitors are seeking from you and whether or not they’re finding what they’re looking for. Step one – you’ll need to set it up (if you haven’t already done so).

How to Set up Internal Site Search in Google Analytics

Somewhat irritatingly, site search isn’t set up by default when you install Google Analytics – fortunately it’s pretty easy to set up.

This is a guest post by Jon Dykstra.

One of the most important elements I look for when choosing a WordPress theme for a new website, is finding a theme with the right home page layout. When referring to home page in this article, I’m really referring to the front page.

With literally tens of thousands of themes to choose from, there is a vast number home page layouts to choose from.

However, home page layout and design doesn’t stop with choosing a theme. Most themes offer options for home page layouts as well. Yes, it’s a process.

Home Page Options

A good starting point is getting an understanding of the different types of home pages.

1.  The chronological full blog post home page.

This type of home page is one where a blog’s entire most recent blog post takes up the lion’s share of the home page. Previous blog posts may fill out the remainder of the home page, but it’s the latest post that takes up the most real estate.

2.  The chronological blot post excerpt home page.

For my blog sites, this is one of my favorite layouts. This format is a list of blog post titles accompanied with an image (usually) and post excerpts. It’s a classic magazine style. I love this style because it serves visitors by enabling them to scan several posts quickly and to choose one that resonates with them.

3.  The slider or slide show home page.

For business sites (my client sites), I almost always choose a theme with a slide show or slider above the fold on the home page. It’s a contemporary website design that works well.

Usually a slider or slide show home page sits atop a list of blog post excerpts or a full-blown blog post. Business websites often provide links to key pages such as the Services, Contact, About, Products, Features, etc. pages.

4.  The blatant opt-in home page.

For business owners seeking to build up an e-mail subscribers, their website’s home page may focus solely on a newsletter sign-up form. If above-the fold, there may be other content under it … but the bulk of the above-the-fold home page real estate is dedicated to the “opt-in” form.

5.  Product catalogue home page.

E-commerce websites often feature their best-selling or on-sale items on the home page. Often the top of the home page includes a slider or slide show followed by featured products.

If it’s a one-product website, the home page will offer links to more details about the product such as features, comparison charts with competing products and/or buying options (i.e. a package comparison chart).

This is a guest post by Steve Aedy.

These days, it seems all the blogging advice comes from professionals who know everything there is to know about SEO, plugins, themes, and killer content. While those topics are useful, there are other blogging experts who are willing to share their tips and tricks too.

While they probably couldn’t imagine it at the time, many of the world’s literary masters have offered up useful tips for writing blogs. Strip away all the technical aspects of blog ownership. Check out what these famous authors can teach you about running a blog.

Formatting

Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Think of what you skip reading…thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. – Elmore Leonard

What it means to you:

Visitors won’t read what they can’t read. Make sure your blog’s content is legible and skimmable (a blog reader’s favorite reading style).

• Use a color scheme that enhances readability. Generally, dark colors on a light background are best.
• Always use sans serif typefaces for your blog posts. Experiment sparingly with serif typeface in the sidebars and headings.
• Left-aligned copy is easiest to read. Full-justification should only be used for long lines of text; it appears choppy and distracting in narrow columns.
• Limit paragraphs to three or four sentences. Large blocks of text are intimidating.