Happy Thursday friends! I hope you are staying safe at home and finding plenty to keep you busy with. Since we’ve been in quarantine, I have had various people reach out about taking this time to start a blog. Since I have been doing this for almost 7 years, I’d love to share my top 5 pieces of advice. This post is definitely more for beginners but I can share more advanced tips another time.
Five Tips to Starting a Blog
1. Pick Your Passion
Congratulations! You’ve taken the first step of blogging- deciding you want to start a blog! Now you just need to figure out what you are going to blog about. Whatever you decide- food, fashion or lifestyle- stick with it. I’ve seen so many blogs that are ALL over the place. They end up being disorganized and hard to follow. This is one thing I have learned over the years with my own blog-it’s better to be good at a few things than try to tackle every possible category. Also, I think it’s easier to grow you blog if you have a specific niche. For example, if you want to develop a food blog you can specifically attract followers that are interested in learning new recipes. It’s much harder to attract followers when you have 10 different categories.
2. Pick Your Platform
You decided you want to start a food blog, but now what? This is where you decided how serious you are about blogging. Do you want to “try it out” to see how it goes OR are you ready to go all in? If you are unsure about how much blogging you want to do then I advice using a free platform like blogger. This is actually where I started my blog then transferred it to what I use now, WordPress.org (different from WordPress.com). There is a BIG difference between these two options. Blogger is free but you are limited to only using their templates and you will also not have your domain. WordPress.org you have to buy your own domain and host but you have full creative freedom. I bought my domain (www.peachestopearls.com) from godaddy.com and use hostgator.com as my host. I pay a yearly fee for the host service- I believe it’s $150/year. I also purchased a template from Etsy and had the designer install it. Going the WordPress route is definitely an investment!
3. Uniformity
If possible, make sure all your social platforms match your blog name. If you are just now thinking of a name, make sure your name is available in every platform. Also, try to make sure all your platforms have the same color palette. That way when people think of you brand, certain colors come to mind as well.
4. Follow Accounts that Inspire You
Instead of reaching out to big bloggers to “pick their brain”, follow accounts that you strive to be like and do some research. See how they post and what seems to be working for their niche. Many bloggers offer one-on-one sessions or free webinars with tips on growing your blog. Also, once social distancing is over, consider signing up for workshops and retreats. I did a few workshops when I first started out and I learned SO much! It’s also a great way to meet fellow creatives.
5. Edit Your Photos
I cannot stress this step enough. Take the time to take good photos and edit them for ALL your platforms. This does not mean you need an expensive camera- you can easily do it from your phone. I get about 1 DM each week asking what filters I use for my Instagram account. I never use a filter (okay maybe I did in the very beginning!) but instead take the time to edit every single photo I post. You can read my full editing process by clicking HERE.
If you are able to afford it, I HIGHLY recommend investing in working with a professional blogger- especially if you are starting a fashion blog. My two favorite ladies to work with in Atlanta are Shelby with Shelby Rae Photographs and Katie from KVC Photography. Both ladies are incredibly talented, super friendly, and give great direction.
Also, during quarantine Katie is offering web mentoring sessions on photography and social media. Shoot her a message for pricing and more information on the mentoring opportunities (email: hello@kvcphotography.com).
I hope you find this blog post helpful! Stay safe friends!
Xo,
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