How to Get Your Blog Posts Shared (And What To Do When They Are)

How to Get Your Blog Posts Shared – it's something every blogger wants to know.

Every time you publish a new blog post, you hope this will be “the one”. This will be the one that really takes off. Everyone will share it and your traffic will increase to numbers you've never seen before.

And when that doesn't happen you wonder why in the world not.

If you're wishing for that share by the blogger with the huge following or for your own followers to spread your latest post like wildfire, here is what you need to know.

Note: this is not meant to be a tutorial on how to make your blog posts go viral. No one can make that happen. But you can definitely make it more likely by making sure every blog post is share-worthy.

1. Content, content, content

First, your content must be awesome. I didn't say good. I didn't say great. I said awesome.

What makes a blog post qualify as awesome?

Content will resonate with people for a number of different reasons including:

• “Why didn't I think of that?  That was so clever!”
• “That really moved me emotionally.”
• “I wish everyone else knew this.  It's so important.”

There are literally millions of blog posts out there.  Make yours the best; otherwise it will get lost in the endless sea of blog content.

2. Headline

After the main content of your post, your headline also needs to be amazing.  Which is going to more likely to compel people to click if they see your post come across their Facebook feed: “Frugal Living Tips” or “The Secret to Debt-Free Living”?  What about “Pumpkin Recipes” as opposed to “25 Mouth-Watering Pumpkin Recipes”

If you need help coming up with compelling blog headlines, you can try out HubSpot's Blog Topic Generator.  It won't necessarily always work perfectly for your topic, but it will at least give you some great ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

3. Blog Design

If you want people to take what you say seriously, your blog needs to look professional.  Even though every content creator is just a normal person, people naturally give more credence to a blog that looks professional.  If you can't yet afford a professional design, at least keep your blog clean, without a lot of gizmos and gadgets.

4. Share buttons

When people see your awesome content and have one of those “Other people need to know this!” reactions, make it easy for them to share it!  Your blog needs to have obvious sharing buttons available for people to share your posts.

5. Call to Action

Okay, so someone shared your post and you're getting a lot of traffic!  Instead of just enjoying the nice little spike and then going right back to where you started when those visitors leave, make sure you have a clear call-to-action on that post so you can keep those visitors around for the long-haul.

Make it obvious what you want people to do – and don't give them too many options or they will not do any of them.

You may want people to:

• Sign up for your newsletter
• Like your page on Facebook or follow you on Pinterest. (I actually talked how you can decide which of these to do in this post.)
• Click around to related content
• Buy something

Whatever it is, make it clear and obvious.

If you're hoping to get your blog shared and read by thousands, make sure you have all these things in place!  They're all crucial elements to growing your blog!

Is there anything you would add to this list?

If you're looking for more blogging help, be sure to sign up for my email list and/or join my Facebook group, The Busy Homemaker's Guide to Blogging for Profit.  I offer regular tips to help busy bloggers earn some income while keeping their families first.

Free Preschool Printables: Learning Colors

Here's a brand new set of preschool printables I've created.  It includes 5 different activities for teaching colors.

I have moved all of my homeschooling posts to christianhomeschoolfamily.com. You can go here to read this post at the new site.

You can go here to read this post at the new site.

Easy Gluten-free Cornbread

(Have you noticed that most of my recipes have the word “easy” in them?)

My family really likes pinto beans and cornbread, but we have not had it in a very long time – pretty much since we decided that eating non-GMO foods was one of the biggest areas in which we would not compromise.  Non-GMO cornmeal is hard to find and expensive.

Last night I realized, “Hello!  I have a WonderMill now!  I can grind my own cornmeal!”  (Thank you, WonderMill company.  You are my hero.)

I had purchased a humongous bag of Non-GMO popcorn to go with the popcorn popper we got as a family Christmas present.

Lots of cornbread recipes have wheat flour in them besides cornmeal, but I am still trying to stay off wheat as much as possible.  I tweaked a recipe I found online to be gluten-free, and (of course) easy to make.

Head over the Grain Mill Wagon to get the full recipe.

Freezer Cooking Guide: Tips for Success

 Now that you know why you should be freezer cooking, and you know which foods do and don't freeze well, I want to share some tips to make your freezer cooking a success!

1. Be Prepared

 It's important to get prepared for your cooking session if you're going to cook several freezer meals at once. Even if you are just doubling your nightly meal to put into the freezer, you'll need to get everything prepared, and make sure you have all the ingredients and storage containers.

2. Get Comfortable

 You should wear a good pair of shoes (I have these shoes and absolutely love them!  They're the most comfortable pair of shoes I've ever purchased!)  If you can invest in a comfortable standing mat for your kitchen floor that is great too. Have a snack before you start to avoid snacking as you cook.

3. Shop with a List

 You definitely do not want to shop for a freezer cooking session without a list.  Go through all your recipes and write down all the ingredients as well as the amounts you need, taking into account the fact that you may be doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling some of your recipes.  You need to know exactly how much and what to buy so that you will not be lacking anything when you get into the middle of cooking.

4. Cook What You Like

 Most families actually rotate the same 8 to 10 dishes, and rarely try anything new. It's important to understand what you and your family like and work within that parameter to truly be successful with freezer cooking. Try only one or two new things in any give month and you'll be a lot happier with the outcome.  Believe me, I've put some recipes in the freezer that were new to me, and ended up not liking them at all.  Not fun to have to throw it out or eat something you don't like!

5. Get Organized

 Before you start, make sure you begin with a clean kitchen and an organized workspace. Get out the pans and supplies that you need in advance and set them out like you work in a factory so that they're ready to go.  Fill your sink with soapy water so you can wash dishes as you go.  You'll need to reuse some of your utensils for other recipes and you'll be glad to have them clean and ready to go again.  Plus, you don't want to end your cooking session with an avalanche of dishes to wash!

6. Packaging & Labeling

 You can use freezer bags to store a lot of your meals.  Lay them flat and you will find that you can fit quite of bit of food in the freezer that way. You also need to make sure you label everything so you'll know what it is after it freezes.

7. Handling Food Safely

 Do not mix utensils when handling raw meat. Wash your hands often in hot soapy water. Use a thermometer to ensure proper internal cooking temperatures.  Don't leave foods sitting out on the counter; get them back into the fridge or into the freezer. You can read more about the Core Four Practices of safe food handling at fightbac.org.

Are you ready to get some meals in the freezer?

Free Illustrated Bible Verses (KJV)

Teach your child a new verse every month with these free illustrated Bible Verses!

Each verse directly applies to things children will face in their daily lives, such as:

• Salvation
• Obedience
• Being kind
• Being generous
• Being cheerful
• Being diligent
• And more!

You can use these along with the Bible time suggestions for toddlers and preschoolers to help your little ones get to know God and his word better.

Each verse is full sized with colorful illustrations that are appropriate for each month of the year.  All scriptures are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

These cards are free for subscribers.

Download these today and help teach your little ones God's Word!

Bible Time Suggestions for Toddlers and Preschoolers

The Lord has impressed upon me the need to be pouring Scripture into my children while they are young.  One tool that I have used to accomplish this is a daily Bible Time.  I struggled at first to know what to do with my young children since they don’t understand a lot of Bible terms, and they get the “wiggles” pretty quickly.  Through suggestions of godly older ladies, and some trial & error, I have put together three elements to make Bible Time fun and successful.

I have four children ages four and under, so our Bible Time isn’t always daily, though that is the goal.  And it usually isn’t at the same time every day, because we have to flex our schedule around the ever changing needs & schedules of twin babies.  To accommodate this, I put my Bible Time items together in a basket near the couch so that it is always easily accessible whenever we have a few minutes to sit down together to read, sing, and pray.

Just as in a corporate worship service, I believe that the key ingredients of devotions or Bible Time with our children are reading God’s Word, praising God through song, and bringing our requests to God through prayer.

Reading God’s Word

Be careful in selecting a children’s Bible.  Many have quite diluted the Word of God.  Others have introduced many inaccuracies or changed God’s Word in order to make it “child friendly.”  The Egermeier's Bible Story Book was suggested to me, and we love it!  It goes through the Bible in order, but divides the stories/chapters into kid-friendly portions.  Though written in story form, it follows the Scripture carefully and closely.  And the pictures are very beautiful!

Right now we are reading through it in order from Genesis, but we have also picked stories to correlate with a “letter of the week”.  (Lazarus, Lot, and Salt & Light for the letter L are some examples).  I read one section to the children.  Often they are riveted and ask me to continue reading, but sometimes they are squirmy and so we end with just one story.

Singing

My children love to sing!  And though they have favorite songs, they are eager to learn new ones also.  I have been trying to introduce them to a couple of new songs per month.  I often visualize the songs by printing the lyrics and adding clipart in Microsoft Word.  Sometimes I print out the words and we color the pictures together for a craft project.  (I like to laminate them to make them more durable). Even though my kids can’t read yet, the pictures help them follow along as they learn the song.  We also sprinkle in some songs that have hand motions, which is very helpful if they kids are squirmy.

My kids get a good dose of children’s Bible songs at church.  We sing their favorites and teach them new ones too.  I also want them to learn the good old hymns, which are so rich in doctrine and Scripture.  We take it slow when learning these new songs to be sure they understand.  After we sing the song, I discuss the words and the meaning with them.  Through this repetition they come to understand what the song means.

For example, Nolan loves to sing “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.”  Our visual folds out into the shape of a cross.  After we sing I ask them questions like, “What shape is this?”  “Why is it a cross?”  “Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?”  “What is the only way we can be clean from our sins?”  “What is sin?”

Prayer

We have three different approaches to praying with our kids.  We mix them up based on the time and their attention span that day.  Sometimes I ask them to share one blessing and one prayer request, and then we pray for those things.

Another way to guide prayer time is to pray for missionaries.  We have a basket of prayer cards, and my kids love to pick out a card and pray for that missionary.  This teaches them to be concerned with the needs of people around the world.  It also helps them put a face to people we are praying for regularly.  When a missionary was badly burned in an accident, we showed the kids his picture to help them make associations as we prayed for his recovery.  And they each have a favorite card they dig through the basket to find!

The last tool we use is a jar of “prayer sticks.”  We wrote blessings and special people on popsicle sticks.  We let the kids pick a couple of sticks out at prayer time, and that is the blessing/request for which they are to pray.  Some examples are people with chronic illness, family members (we have all of our grandparents on sticks), and people in need of salvation.  Some examples of blessing are friends, books & toys, health, etc.

Do you have a daily Bible Time with your children?  So often they are a thirsty sponge, absorbing everything they encounter.  It’s important, and a great opportunity,  to “fill them up” with the things of God!  What have you found to be the best way to have a devotional time with young children?