I’m probably not the right person to dish out blogging tips and tricks, but i’ve been thinking about it lately and I have been blogging a while now, I had a personal blog I started back in early 2009, which is now private, and a few of my close friends have started blogs and asked me questions so I thought I’d put together a nifty little guide.
Interaction – This is where I think some people truly underestimate the power of social media. With the rise of Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter etc, you can get so much more involved. Tweeting about posts, getting involved with hashtags and chats, interacting with brands and companies just gets you out there that little bit more and a little more noticed in the massive blogging community. It’s not all about getting noticed and gettin showy, but when some of your favourite brands tweet you back, it makes you feel a little fuzzy and slightly acknowledged.
Commenting – Personally, I read every comment I receive, and reply to them all. I think that commenting on blogs not only boosts the confidence of the blogger, and makes them smile, but I also click on the comments and check out the blog of the commenter, and sometimes scroll down the list of blogs the follow, to discover further blogs to read. Pointless comments like ‘pretty lipstick, please follow me’ are not going to get you that far though. Oh and whilst we’re on the topic, word verification, please turn it off. PLEASE.
Photos – You don’t have to be using a super duper fancy Canon DSLR type thing to take your blog photos, but just clear photos will always be a winner. Personally i’m a fan of rectangular landscape photos, instead of long portrait, but hey thats me. Do whatever you like, just make sure it is also as visually pleasing as possible for your audience. I used an iPhone camera for a good 6months-1 year and tbh my blog photos turned out okay, I think,
Organisation/Managing your time – When I first started this blog it was the summer holidays after sixth form and I had all the time in the world to write posts and to upload everyday, and so I did. Now though, its a whole different scenario and I have to write bulk posts in whatever free time I have and upload accordingly. My advice would be that when you start, whilst you want to make sure you have a few posts for people to read if they find your blog, you also don’t want to upload too many in the space of a week that you run out of ideas the next week and thus don’t upload anything for a week. I try to upload every other day, but that doesn’t always work out, and that’s okay. Quite often my best blog post ideas come to me as i’m drifting off to sleep, so I often write notes on my phone quickly, or draft them onto the blogger app. Keeping notebooks in your bag are also handy for writing down ideas and planning when you’re going to blog etc.
Don’t follow a ‘blogging guide’ – Whilst this sort of contradicts everything I’ve said in this post, ultimately you’re blogging for you, and so you should be writing and blogging about things that make you happy or interest you, and doing this will probably help you discover a niche which you can explore. I initially started blogging about beauty products and would just do reviews, now I write about uni, food, travel, music, films, whatever tickles my blogging pickle!
What blogging tips do you have?
Instagram: Sophierosehearts
x