10 Things I Wish I'd Known Six Months Into My Blog
Last summer I wrote a mail entitled 10 Things I Wish I'd Known When I Started a Blog. Having re-read it a little while ago, and the fact that I however receive the occasional comment on that post, information technology got me thinking nigh all the things I've learnt equally my blog and I have grown. As with the post I wrote all those months ago, there are some things I've establish out the hard way, some I had to ask for help on and some stuff I looked upward.
I idea I'd share with you lot the things I idea nigh relevant to those who are getting a bit more serious about their blog and want to reach out to a wider audience or start to monetize their web log. As with all these I'm not challenge to be whatever kind of expert – I'm simply sharing the things that I found useful and could have done with knowing earlier! Delight feel free to share any thoughts and extra things you think are relevant… I'yard ever willing to learn new things. And then, in no particular gild:
i. Tweet more!
Twitter. Oh, how I should have embraced you a long time ago (every bit written in this mail service last month). But I didn't, and I lost a lot of opportunities to tell more people virtually me and my blog and my thoughts and my outfits and… you get the idea. I try to keep the tweeting weblog or fashion/style relevant, merely occasionally thoughts near the weather or who I'chiliad daughter crushing on volition pitter-patter in, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I autofeed my posts into Twitter using Twitterfeed, which is a no-brainer and saves me forgetting to tweet most new outfits or stuff I've written on the web log.
2. Pin my ain outfits onto Pinterest
This may exist totally obvious to some of you, merely it took meagesto realise that I could (should) be pinning my own outfits, not just those of other bloggers. It makes total sense to feed your own fashion into the might of Pinterest for all your followers to see and (hopefully) repin. Nearly bloggers that I follow on Pinterest accept dissever boards for their own style/outfits.
3. Instagram my ain outfit posts
Like Pinterest, Instagram can too be used to promote your blog to people who just similar looking at pictures. Although I didn't accept a smartphone until the end of final year, I could have Instagrammed my outfits via my iPad directly away – but didn't. It took me a few months to realise I could.
I'm sure it due south eems obvious to some, but i f yous're wondering how to do this: on your telephone or tablet, get to the website that you upload your photos to on the net; open up up the photo you desire to Instagram and salve it to your photostream (on my iPhone I hold my finger down on the image and it comes up with a "salve paradigm" pick); in Instagram yous merely "cull existing" from your photos, then go along as if it were taken on your phone.
4. Utilise chapter links
Like most bloggers, I like to provide links wherever possible to give others the opportunity to buy the aforementioned or like items to what I'm wearing. Now if you think about it, y'all are giving the relevant retailer gratuitous advertising. Therefore, I retrieve it makes perfect sense that if someone buys something through the link that y'all'd provided, you deserve a cutting of the profit that the retailer makes – that'south where affiliate links come in. You're providing visitors with a service, the retailer makes a auction, you earn a little coin from it – everyone'south happy.
Advantage Style is probably the nearly well-known website that bloggers sign upwards to, and it has some vivid tools to assist bloggers and is very user-friendly. However, it is past invitation just*: if you lot'd like a referral, please e-mail me instead of leaving a comment here. Ship me an electronic mail me atnotdressedaslamb@gmail.com, and tell me your full proper name, blog name, blog URL, and why you want to join… I'll and then allow you know when I've referred you, and fingers crossed y'all'll get accepted and be able to start earning from your hard work.
Update 2014: RewardStyle is no longer by referral only, yous tin can apply directly yourself. Only go to www.rewardstyle.com and click on "Employ".
5. Sign up to blogger networks to partner up with retailers and businesses
I'd ever wanted to partner up with companies from the time I started my blog, but didn't really know where to start. It is possible to contact companies yourself and this is a good starting betoken, but an easier way to do it is to sign upwards to blogger outreach companies who put you in touch with brands and retailers, thereby saving you a lot of piece of work and research. I signed upwards to E-tail Webstores and Best British Bloggers and I am regularly contacted with partnership offers: some good, some bad, only always interesting and varied. Or yous can join retailers' networks directly (Next is a popular one amidst bloggers). Other expert networks to bring together are Better Blogger Network and Bloggers.com – companies may well use these networks to notice you.
Update 2015: I have since written a post entitled 12 Blogger Outreach Programmes to Sign Up to – a great resource for all the programmes that I've institute so far.
6. Get a media kit sorted
Information technology took me ages to get this sorted, and to be honest information technology took so long because I was unsure what a media kit was. Damn my lack of initiative at the time…! Also known as a printing kit, Wikipedia describes information technology every bit a "pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional employ". So in other words, if you intend to partner up with businesses or organisations, y'all're providing a prepared information pack about everything they need to know about you as a blogger. That would exist your visitor stats, followers, purpose of your blog, what you lot tin can offer, etc.
There are lots of formats – here is mine if you want to read it – merely if you'd like to read more about how to write one, I'd recommend reading this postal service past vmac+cheese. It saves then much fourth dimension as hopefully virtually companies volition ask less questions when they do contact you as most of them are already answered in your media kit, or they won't be put off contacting you through lack of information.
seven. Utilise larger photos
This one is piece of cake… I should have made my photos bigger much sooner. I only did so when I gave my blog a makeover subsequently more than than a twelvemonth, when I could but have increased the width of my main body (long before whatsoever other design changes) and proportionately increased the width, and therefore the quality, of my photos. Larger photos ever look more than professional, equally long equally the quality of the photos can handle beingness that size.
eight. Have up visitors on their suggestions for posts
I'd had a few lovely visitors to my weblog ask very nicely if I could practise a mail service on this or that, and the suggestions were oftentimes things I'd not thought of covering before, or I wondered whether anyone would actually be interested in a mail on that subject. I then realised 1 day that duh, I've been asked to do a post on "ten", so of form someone is interested in me covering that subject field.
For example, last summer I was asked if I'd consider doing a mail service about dressing for piece of work and coming upwardly with outfits for the office. I thought no-one would want to come across outfits I hadn't really worn myself, every bit they'd be outfits styled purely for the blog (I accept a very slack wearing apparel code in my office). After many weeks I finally decided I would accept up the challenge, produced a "ten Ways To Wear: Office Chichi On A Upkeep" mail, and found information technology to be the about talked about, most visited, and most pinned post I've ever written. On the back of that, I was approached by Marks & Spencer to compete in a blogger fashion challenge, and the "10 Ways" is nevertheless the nearly-read postal service every month, despite it being written all of six months agone.
nine. Employ drafts to schedule posts in accelerate
I now plan my posts upwards to about a month in advance. Not every postal service is planned for that time as I need to be flexible depending on what comes upwards that I demand to blog most, but I utilise a wall agenda (a real one made of paper!) with small Post-Its showing postal service titles that can be moved around and rearranged. It's a great visual tool that I use alongside the drafts that I have part-written in my blog. Any mode of doing it is fine, whether electronic or not – I like an old-fashioned calendar equally I like to run into something on a board in front of me at all times.
The other thing I should have started a lot sooner was to jot downward post ideas every bit shortly as I thought of them – quite often I'd be racking my brains trying to remember a nifty subject I wanted to write well-nigh. Use a notebook, your telephone, anything yous like to write down those ideas to shop for when you need some inspiration.
10. Report your stats
Whilst I'one thousand no Google Analytics adept, it is an invaluable tool to larn how visitors are using your blog. In that location is then much information to utilize that can help bloggers learn what is working and what isn't on their blogs. In that location are many other like websites than can aid bloggers this way, and some I'g still getting to grips with, like Klout for instance, which measures your influence based on your ability to drive action on social networks.
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Phew… it's a lot, I know, and I hope at to the lowest degree one or ii points may be of some interest or assist to you. Every bit I said, if yous take annihilation to add please share in the comments!
Accept a great week everyone 🙂
Source: https://www.notdressedaslamb.com/2013/03/musings-monday-10-things-i-wish-id.html
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