Blogging Tips : Getting Started

I already know what you’re thinking, “she’s hardly the blonde salad, whats she got to say?”. Well I’ll stop you right there, I know I’m no expert, but I’ve been getting a fair few emails asking me about getting started. Seen as that’s something I’ve been through myself, I thought I’d give you a little list on my top blogging tips and what information I found most helpful when I was setting up my blog.

The Name

The name of your blog needs to be consistent with the content, it also has to be easy to say and spell! You don’t want people getting fed up when they can’t figure out how to spell your web address now do you!?
Remember that this name is also going to stick with you if you’re in it for the long run, so make sure you don’t rush the name!
Once you’ve chosen the name google it, youtube it, instagram it, facebook it, twitter it, basically check, check and check again if this name exists else where. I’ve read advice on just going for the .org or another address if your name isn’t available but I definitely disagree with this. Do you really want someone else blogging under the same name or worse still, selling fishing tackle!? Personally, I go by .co.uk and I also brought .com to make sure all bases are covered, ain’t no body getting my name!

The Website

I personally went with wordpress, I did my research about getting your blog noticed and found lots of recommendations about how wordpress is great for building a community, whether this is right or not I have yet to find out! However, WordPress doesn’t use HTML which means unless your a computer wizz you have to buy a theme. I bought a theme and still struggled, it took a lot of guilt tripping and ‘I’m just a poor little girl who can’t use computers’ to get someone from work to help me with mine (look it works ok!).

Content 

The best advice I found on your content is to write as you speak and be true to your voice. Don’t just write about something because someone else is, people will read your blog because they want to hear your opinions which is what makes it unique, which is exactly the reason why you shouldn’t be copying others. Obviously there’s a difference between copying and taking inspiration from, it’s hard not to be inspired by other blogs, after all that’s what blogs are there for!

Blog Genre

Ok, for lack of a better word, what’s your genre? I think this is the hardest thing, I’ve gone down the fashion route with my mindfulness post’s to make it more personal and incorporate something I feel strongly about. That doesn’t mean that later on down the line I might decide to do a beauty post or post about my holiday etc. Lifestyle posts are a given I think as generally that’s what people love to see from bloggers. People like to know what you’re going to post about, there’s nothing worse than following someone who’s a ‘fashion blogger’ then being overloaded with cooking recipes.

Schedule

It’s super important to stick to a schedule when you first start blogging. To build up your content the more posts you can do the better, after the first few months you may decide to post more often or less depending on how much you have to talk about. I went with three days, Monday, Wednesday and Friday always at 9am, I struggled at first to find what to talk about but now I find myself adding in extra posts all of the time!
I also found that my schedule changed as I noticed my traffic was different and began to understand my audience, I changed the days to Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, who’s reading blogs on a Friday night? I also changed the time to 7pm as I figured 9am was too early in the day and I wanted the post to get maximum reach.

About me page

I think it’s super important to have an about me page, readers love engagement and a little bit about who you are, what your doing and why you’re doing it opens up your world to your readers and helps them get to know you a little bit. I focused on what had led me to blogging, it’s probably way too personal but that’s me, I have no secrets and tell everyone everything! One thing I will say, is that my pet hate is people who talk about themselves in a third person, ” Sinead is a fashion blogger bla bla bla” no, people want to get to know you so don’t do that!

Social Media

It’s no good just starting a blog and sitting back, hoping that people will find it in the over saturated ocean of blogs. From now on instagram is your best friend, you eat with her, you sleep with her and you take her to work with you. I think I post way too often but honestly I’m far too excitable and can’t keep to a strict schedule, generally from what I’ve read, posting three or four times a day is plenty, spacing these evenly. I’m not really up to speed with any other social media sites, I do try with twitter but I don’t really get it? If any one does and have tips, leave me a comment I will be uber grateful!