So You Want To Start A Blog?

img_5720I wrote my very first blog post in July 2016 after thinking about starting a blog for a good few years. It began solely as a personal project that nobody knew about and it’s only in the last few months that I have started to put more time and effort into it to really make it into something to be proud of and to bring in some income. I’m by no means a big blogger but I thought I would share some of the things that I have learnt along the way to help anyone reading this who might be thinking about starting a blog.

1. Think about why you want to start a blog

What do you want to get out of blogging? Is it just to share your life online and to have a creative outlet or do you hope to make money from it and receive products to review. I don’t think there is a right or wrong reason to blog but bear in mind that if your reason is the latter, it may take a while for you to build up the following to be sent items or paid for posts. Blogging takes a lot of hard work so think about if you are happy to put that work in before getting anything physical or financial out of it.

2. If you want to do it, just do it

I uhmmed and ahhed about blogging for literally years before taking that first step. I was worried about all sorts of different things. Would I have anything to write about? Would anyone read it? Would people laugh at me and think it was silly? Eventually I just decided to go for it, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I decided not to shout about my blog for the first few months so that I could get to grips with it all without the pressure of knowing that people I know in real life would be reading it. I also have a tendency to give things up pretty quickly so once I’d stuck to it for a few months then I knew that I was in it for the long run and ready to come out of that blogging closet.

3. Focus on content first

Unless you already have a large social media following or are just insanely good at SEO, the chances are that your views will be pretty low at the beginning. When people do eventually stumble across you site, you want there to be lots of lovely content for them to read so that they decide to stick around for more. For me, this is the part that I enjoy the most and so I was happy over in my little corner of the internet just churning out post after post waiting for those readers to arrive. But, don’t forget to always focus on the quality of your posts too, there are so many blogs out there that you want yours to stand out as one of the well written ones with quality content.

4. Photography

You don’t need to be the best photographer in the world, I certainly am not! But including photos on your blog makes it seem more personable and helps your readers to get to know the person behind the blog. Most of my favourite blogs to read have really beautiful photography, it certainly helps to capture your audience. You can also use your beautiful blog photos to share on social media and Pinterest, which leads me onto my next point…

5. Promote, promote, promote

Unless you truly don’t care about views, you will need to do some promotion on social media to get your blog out there. I would recommend setting up a Facebook page for your blog, a twitter account and an Instagram account as just the bare minimum. From these accounts you can promote your posts and interact with your readers and other bloggers. Growing your following on these accounts also helps in the future for any brand collaborations where they might want social media coverage alongside a blog post.

6. Become a part of the blogging community

Interact with other bloggers, support them, share their posts and they might share yours and support you too. It’s always nice to make friends in life and the blogging community as a whole is such a friendly thing to be a part of. You can do this on your social media accounts and it is the best way to get blogging tips, hear about brand collaborations and to get motivation and inspiration for your blog, as well as making friends along the way. I recently became a part of a big Twitter chat with a group of other bloggers and it’s done wonders for my motivation and I’ve already picked up so many helpful tips from them all.

7. Don’t lose the fun

Whether you want to make money from your blog or not, it’s important to enjoy what you are doing. Otherwise it can seem like a lot of work for little reward, especially in the beginning. I truly love writing my blog and so whatever direction it may take me, I never want to lose that love for it and the enjoyment I get from it. Like anything in life, you have to enjoy it to be really committed to it and passionate about it.

If anyone has any other questions or if you are thinking about starting your own blog, feel free to leave them down below or send me a message. I’m no expert but I’m happy to help!

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This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Charlotte Stein

    I started in February and I’m trying hard to do all these things and I really love it! X

    1. littlesnippets

      Loving it is the main thing I think! Good luck with it all 💖

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