With all the incessant changes in the Instagram algorithm about saves and shares, it might seem like hashtags have lost their importance. But no, they have not.
Hashtags still matter a lot on Instagram, despite all the algorithm changes.
You can use up to 30 hashtags on a post, so make the best of it. I personally use all the available thirty hashtags.
That brings me to next question: whether to add your Instagram hashtags in your caption or comment? Why not do them both? You get the best of both worlds.
Do not repeat the same set of hashtags over and over. Mix and match relevant hashtags for better reach.
Include hashtags that have large, medium and niche/small reach in your posts. I have added a bunch of them at the end of the post, and again mix and match to your heart’s content.
Try to add in some geography specific hashtags, depending on wherever you are and the photo was captured at.
Also do not forget to count in book and author specific hashtags like #StephenKing or #TheClockworkPrince.
120+ hashtags for bookstagram
Here are more than 120+ hashtags that you can use for bookstagram (or any social media platform, for that matter) for your bookish content.
I typically save the hashtags on notepad or spreadsheet with their number of posts mentioned. That avoids the last minute frantic search for hashtags, and I can just copy paste relevant hashtags for Bookstagram when I am posting one.
Bookstagram Hashtags with over 1 Million posts (20)
I hope these Instagram hashtags for books and bookish content will be useful to you guys! If yes, please do leave a comment and share it with your friends.
What are your go to tricks for bookstagram? How do you choose your hashtags for bookstagram? Do you have an Instagram account specifically for books/reading and writing? Let’s talk.
Regularly publishing on your blog seems like a huge deal, often. And we usually forget about them after the first time we promote it. But it is also critical to revamp and update the old posts for improving the SEO ranking and increasing the traffic too.
10 ways to update old posts for higher SEO ranking
Adding relevant updates to your old posts is critical, especially the time sensitive topics like “New Year resolutions” or “Holiday gifts”. These are evergreen posts, but unless you update them with new content the algorithms might ignore them as old posts.
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Instead of churning out content week after week, spend sometime to update old posts and that will help you in improving your SEO ranking and thereby driving more organic traffic. Here are some ways to do just that.
1) Edit your content with relevant updates
Has your opinion or thoughts recently changed about the topic? Or have you learned more on the subject?
Do not hesitate to make the changes in your old posts. Even adding the current year to the heading (H1) might be a good idea for periodical posts.
Linking with time sensitive researches and infographics are other smart ways to update old posts for higher SEO ranking and traffic.
2) Tune up to the current formatting style
With all the fast changes in blogging world happening, keeping up with the recommended formatting style becomes vital.
For example, including a schema and adding relevant H2 tags to your posts will help you get to that spot as featured snippet in Google search page.
Also the uniform layout and styles will keep it easy for your reader’s eyes.
3) Add related posts
One of the easiest ways to keep the readers hooked to your blog is showing them more related content.
A few months ago I started doing this on my recent posts as an attempt to take some traffic to my old, neglected posts. I added a “Similar posts you might like” section before I signed off (or CTA), and there has been a significant decrease in the bounce rates.
You can even add a simple plugin if you are on Self hosted WordPress to do this for you!
4) Fix (or remove) broken links
Adding external links to your posts improves your credibility in the eyes of your readers. But as time passes, those links may become irrelevant or broken.
There are many free sites that can scan your site for broken links (for free!). And once you get the list of broken links on your site, remove and/or update the broken links manually.
Fixing these broken links creates a better user experience as well as shows the search engine and its crawlers that the post is still relevant and updated.
5) Rewriting your meta descriptions and titles
Ensure your older posts have your meta descriptions and titles filled.
With all my enthusiasm to churn out content, I had not bothered to fill those important details for quite a number of posts in my earlier days of blogging.
As a step in improving the SEO I am writing and rewriting the meta description and adding meta title tags to my older posts.
And guess what? The search engines consider this as new content and sends in more traffic!
6) Add in Alt text tags to your images
While updating your meta descriptions and titles, add the alt texts with relevant descriptions (or keywords) of your images.
I have already spoken in depth about the importance of alt texts in my post on Easy steps to SEO for bloggers here. But in short, alt text tags help the search engine crawlers to identify what the image is about.
7) Create Pinterest worthy images
With more and more bloggers shifting to Pinterest for promoting their sites, it has become essential to have a few Pinterest sized images in each posts.
While some might choose to hide a few of these images, they all have to be Pin-able and Pinterest ready.
If you are newly adding these Pinterest sized images, update your old posts first!
8) DO NOT CHANGE THE URL
When you are in the process of updating old posts for higher SEO ranking and traffic, ensure you do not edit the page URL, unless it is absolutely essential.
Editing the URL would lose the valuable traffic and history that the post had gained so far. For this reason, it is better not to have any dates/years (like 2018 resolutions) in your URL.
But if you had to change your URL for some reason, ensure you use a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one.
9) Update your affiliate links
If you have joined new affiliates sites or if the links have changed, now is the good time to scan and fix them.
Using a plugin like thirsty affiliates this might be easier to do, in a self hosted WordPress.
10) Promote all over again
Finally, when you have finished all updating your old posts, promote the post like you would promote any new content, for higher SEO ranking and traffic.
Now that your old post is refurbished with updated info, new images and links, it is as good as a new one. And this will drive more traffic from social media as well.
Final word
Once you re-up your old posts keep an eye on its performance and metrics. I am sure there will be a spike in a week or so. And if you schedule some time to update a few of your old posts every week, you will can see a continuous increase in your organic traffic too.
How often do you update old posts? Have you seen any improvement in your organic traffic due to that? What other blogging topics do you want me to discuss? Let us talk.
I love posting bookish photos on my Instagram account. Often, I run into some slump and freeze when I try to come up with captions. Then I realized I can use my favorite quotes for Instagram captions. And that is a life saver, honestly.
Do you ever feel stumped when you write captions on your bookstagram? Here are some book quotes for Instagram captions that may perfectly say what you want to and keep your readers hooked.
“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.
― Groucho Marx, The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About Groucho Marx
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.
― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish
Books are a uniquely portable magic.
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
It’s strange because sometimes, I read a book, and I think I am the people in the book.
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.
― John Green, An Abundance of Katherines
It is is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially.
Welcome to the final part of the series on making blogging schedules work for you, and this is where I tell what works for me and what doesn’t. Here is my typical day as a book blogger to inspire and help you make your own blog schedule that works.
Typically I spend more than 30 hours per week on my blog and book blogging related works, making me a part time blogger and more. I also juggle between beta reading, writing and content development work for my clients. And none of this would be possible without a proper blog schedule that works for me.
I normally post four times a week and I have a bookstagram where I post thrice a week. And I am nothing if not being consistent. Yes that sounds like a lot for a hobby blog, but fortunately Elgee Writes is not just a blog that I work on for fun.
To put it in perspective, I work so hard on my blog because it acts as my portfolio and this is where I generate my paid clients from. You will understand it better if you start substituting “content marketing” every time you call it “blogging”.
I have an almost set routine, though the COVID19 situation has thrown the balance a little off. But it still works with minor tweaking here and there.
My mornings
My typical day begins around 6 30 AM. I am not a morning person, but I have come to realize that waking a bit early gets a lot of things done and you can always slack later in the day, if you want to.
I love spending the first hour or so on writing, so that I can actually focus and not worry about answering texts or calls.
7 to 8 30 AM: Usually I have prepared outlines for the blog posts or article for my clients the previous day or so, and I just have to put my thoughts into words without having to use the browser for research (AKA the distractions) much.
8 30 to 9 30 AM: Once that is done, and as my family wakes up I make a quick breakfast and coffee hustle. If you personally know me, you would understand when I say “I need a breakfast before 9”. Else, you will have to believe me when I say “HANGRY” was made up to describe me.
Since we are all working from home at the moment (and possibly until the end 2020 at least), things are kinda slow for now. Else this would be my peak time in terms of household chores.
9 30 to 11 00 AM: This is when I write down my to-do list for the day and check if any weekly goals have to be changed. Speaking of goals, I also do a check in of my Google analytics and social media stats on a daily basis.
I also quickly hop on to the social media to check if my scheduled posts are getting posted and answer any DMs or mentions I have received. This invariably ends up with my scrolling my Twitter and Instagram feed for a while.
If there were any client calls I schedule them here, so that I can alter my schedule if needed.
Depending upon the day and the work schedule, I usually spend the morning reading something for work (AKA beta reading a manuscript) or a non fiction.
11 00 AM to 1 00 PM: This is the time I spend on cooking lunch, catching up on errands and household chores. I also have a very long curly hair routine which I try to squeeze in here too.
My noons
1 00 PM to 2 00 PM – I usually hit the gym on weekdays just before lunch. This is a practice that I am trying to build again, now that the gyms are open in the UAE and we are free to use them.
Being the bookworm that I am, I usually read on my phone while workout on the treadmill or so just to keep me distracted from the fact that I am actually working out. I will let you know when it actually works.
2 30 to 6 00PM – This is the time I completely spend on research and development which means I am doing email outreach and pitching for clients.
This is probably the second most productive time of my day.
The daily chores can range from clicking photos for bookstagram to logo designing for a client. And one day is like no other. There is always something going on and fire to put out.
Sometimes (though I am trying curb that habit too) I catch up something on Netflix while I do some monotonous task. White noise helps me too.
My evenings
6 00PM to 7 00PM – Depending on the weather, I take a walk or watch Netflix or just take a break from work.
7 00PM to 9 00PM – Dinner and family time. I speak to my parents who are back in India and would be retiring to bed around this time. So that helps.
9 00PM to 11 00PM – I catch up with whatever is pending from the day.
I usually spend the time prepping for the next day’s writing session in terms of outline, tone etc.
I usually hit the bed by 11 00 PM and read a bit (or lot, depending on the book) until I can convince myself to sleep.
On most days, I get most things on my list done. It is generally a full packed day and I rarely take off. But it is only because I love what I do and I love keeping myself busy.
What do you think atypical day of a book blogger looks like? What is yours like? On an average, do you get most things done on a daily basis? Let us talk.
One of the major blog goals I had when I started was to have a consistent post schedule and be more organized. While I have things in control, it took me so long to reach this place of peacefulness. Let us talk about a few tips that can help you create a blogging schedule that you’ll stick to easily.
In our next post we will talk about the blog schedule that I have been following for a while, so that you can use it as a guide to make your own.
Set your blog time aside
Everybody’s life and routines are different. So to start with, identify the best time for you and your blog and set aside a few hours to spend only on your blog. When I say blogging it may include everything that you do for a blog from researching a topic to scheduling your social media or answering your DMs.
Next, you have to make some tough calls. Note that there is no magic number or correct answer to these questions. You just have to choose what works for you. Remember we are aiming for consistency, so think of the long term when you choose your blogging schedule.
How often do you want to publish on your blog?
Who are your target audience?
What are the broad topics that you will write on and does that match with your audience’s interest?
What are the items that you depend on someone else’s input?; and
Which ones can you outsource or automate?
Once you honestly answer these questions you will have a realistic idea on what you can and what you can’t do.
Create an editorial calendar
An editorial calendar is the correct place to start with while creating a blogging schedule that you’ll stick to. A blog schedule and editorial calendar are closely interlinked.
An editorial calendar will act as the backbone of your blog and will keep a track on what is being published and when, and also what are you planning to publish in future. Usually it is filled for a month and I know bloggers who do it for a year even.
I use Spreadsheets for marking down the special days on the calendar and the blog content for the month. If you participate in any memes or link ups, you can put them down on it too. This will ensure you won’t forget what is pending and what’s written up.
Build an idea tank
How many times have you sat in front of the screen and waited for inspiration to strike to write a post? Not knowing what to write is one of the major reason why we do not post as per schedule.
And that is why you need to build an idea tank. Yes it is exactly how it sounds. You need a place to dump all your ideas without judgement.
Credit: Giphy
I use Evernote for that and any topic that remotely feels like it can be a blog post topic goes into a note. It is not the right time to think if it is a good idea or not, just dump it there and stop thinking about it.
A quick tip to get things done faster – batch similar tasks. If you are designing header images for a post, do it for the entire week or even month at a time. Work on SEO research for all the posts at a time instead of repeating the same task for each post.
This is one of the best things that I learned in the last few years and it only saves me time but ensures I don’t get bogged down by small tasks repeatedly, and thus keeps me on the blogging schedule that I have been following religiously for a while now.
Social media time
Like it or not, we spend a huge amount of time on social media, especially for our blog. We try to be everywhere at the same time. Promoting our content and responding to our DMs and mentions are just a tiny speck when it comes to blog promotion.
So ensure that your blogging schedule includes time for all these social media activities like following your peers posts and engaging with them. And these activities should not be affect your other blog schedule.
Get a partner or ten
Another quick tip to ensure you stick to your blog schedule is to rope in a partner or two to keep you accountable. Or you can quickly join a Discord or Facebook group of like minded bloggers who are also working towards similar goals.
While all the above tips might help you to create a blogging schedule that you’ll stick to, I believe everything starts from your inner self. So when the going gets worse and it feels like the blogging schedule is getting out of your way – slog through it. Because slump begets slump.
The more you procrastinate or cancel things, harder it gets to go back to your routine and schedules. So as much as possible push it through and get yourself on to that discipline of following the schedule.
Of course that doesn’t mean you have to overwhelm yourself. Just take one step at a time and get things done.
How hard is it for you to create a blogging schedule that you’ll stick to? What are the challenges uou face when you make a blogging schedule? Let us talk.
