After reading
CherrySue's recent post on her favourite blogging tools, I was inspired to jot down some of my tips that have worked for me over the past two years. These are not the be all and end all, just some things that have worked for moi and sharing is caring!
I blog regularly. It doesn't matter if it's once a day, twice a day, or once a week. If you're consistent, your readers will know to look out for a post at a certain time. I schedule my posts to go up at 7.30am, when people are getting up, having breakfast and heading to work, and at noon, when people are starting to go on lunch at work.
I use Twitterfeed. I tend to schedule my posts every night for the following day. Because I schedule them and like to tweet the link, I use Twitterfeed to post the link to my Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn page. Where I work has the worse phone signal ever and I can't always access Twitter and Facebook, so this just takes a bit of pressure off. I don't spam my Twitter with my link millions of times a day. Twice usually does the job and I tend to unfollow people who repost the link at least three or four times a day. That's just my own pet peeve though.
I try to be different. With the increasing number of beauty blogs out there now, it's important to try to be different, to put your own slant on things. If there's an event coming up or a product that a lot of bloggers have been sent, my little brain immediately starts thinking of how I can make my post different. I want my blog to stand out and if everyone is doing the same standard review of a foundation, I know people are going to read the first one or two that were written and that's it. I don't rush to be the first one to have a post up on a product, but then again, you won't see me reviewing something that has been out for months. Taking a long time to post on a product doesn't make my opinion any more valid and nobody will read it.
I show off the products. This is just a personal thing for me and I know a lot of people aren't comfortable putting their faces on the interwebs. If I'm trying to figure out what foundation to try, a swatch on someone's arm won't help me see what coverage it gives. The same goes for lipstick. I like to see it on the lips and those kind of posts are my favourite to read on
Temptalia. With eyeshadows, it's a bit different. I like seeing them on the arm but also in action on the eyes, so I like to try to do make up looks with them.
I label my photos. Name your photos before uploading them. It's annoying, yes, but it means if someone searches for a product name and clicks the images tab, they'll see your photo. It's an easy way to get more traffic to your blog. And speaking of photos, make them as clear as possible. You really don't need a fancy camera. I used a weeny Canon point and click for the first year and learned to be best friends with the macro setting and have almost blinded myself in the eyeballs with the camera flash.
I credit my inspiration. It's just good etiquette that if you've read a post or have seen a photo that has inspired you and end up blogging about it, just put a simple link to the blog post or photo. Imagine it was your post that you'd worked hard on or photo was used without your knowledge. It's just not on and just because you find it after Googling doesn't mean you shouldn't credit the photo!! This happened recently to a fellow blogger who saw a photo of theirs had been used in someone else's post and when they approached the blogger to ask to be credited for using their photo, they were told tough, it was found on Google so they don't have to credit it. Really bad form.
I absolutely love blogging and all things beauty related. And I think it shows in my writing. To me, setting up this blog was never about getting free stuff and if I was never sent another thing, I'd still be blogging to beat the band. You will never see me asking who the PR is for such and such on Twitter. I just think that's tacky. I set this up as a hobby and a justification so I could continue to buy lots of beauty products I didn't need but wanted! None of my friends are that interested in beauty products and it was my little outlet to tell whoever wanted to read about which mascara is my favourite and other such lovely girlie things! I want the reader to feel like I'm sitting down with them and having the chats and I hope that comes through on this wee little blog.
So I've shared my tips, what are your blogging tips?