My Best Blogging Tips + Your Questions Answered

My Best Blogging Tips + Your Questions Answered

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been getting a ton of emails with a lot of questions about blogging.

While I personally reached out to a lot of you guys, I thought that the best thing to do would be to write a post, answering your questions. A lot the questions I get were already answered in some of my previous posts, so I thought that in addition to answering to some of your questions, I’d also share some of my most popular and helpful (according to you guys) posts about blogging.

CREATING CONTENT

One question that comes up quite often is “what do you when you run out of ideas?” The answer is simple: I don’t let myself run out of ideas. I keep a small notebook with me at all times and that’s where I write all my ideas down, as soon as they come to me. Whenever I feel stuck or don’t know what to write about, I go through my notes and look for a topic I like. One thing that I try not to do, is to force myself to write, whenever I don’t feel like it- it’s a quality over quantity thing. I think that your audience can pretty much always guess when you’re posting just for the sake of posting. Whenever you feel stuck, you can always go through one of these:

113 Ideas For A Blog Post For Beauty, Food, Lifestyle And Fashion Bloggers
113 [more] Ideas For A Blog Post For Beauty, Food, Lifestyle And Fashion Bloggers
What to Blog About When You’re Out Of Ideas

GROWING YOUR BLOG

How do I grow my blog? How do I get people to read it? These are also questions I get all the time. Unless you get lucky and your blog grows overnight, it’ll take a lot of commitment and some time. Creating quality content, staying patient and consistent, connecting with other bloggers, commenting on other blogs- this is what will help you grow your blog. Blogging is fun and it can have a lot of fun perks, but the truth is, it’s a lot of work. A LOT of work. In addition to creating content, you also have image editing, networking, answering to comments, promoting your content, making sure that your blog is running smoothly, answering to emails. I’ve been blogging for nearly four years and it wasn’t until about a year ago, when I finally noticed a steady growth- that was also when I decided to spend more time working on my blog; I started posting more often, connecting with other bloggers- you kind of get what you put in. This is why blogging isn’t for everyone- it’s a commitment, especially once you have established a decent audience. If you don’t write for a week or two, eventually people will stop checking in to see if you’ve published a new post. This is why it’s not for everyone and if you do decide to start a blog, make sure that you write about something you are passionate about, something that you love. Otherwise, you will get bored very easily and will eventually give up. If you want to grow your blog, you might find some of these helpful:

Taking Your Blog To The Next Level- 50 Resources For Bloggers
Taking Your Blog To The Next Level- 100 Resources For Bloggers
How To Increase Your Pageviews 
7 Ways To Increase Your Blog Traffic

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT?

I always get a little surprised when I get this question, and always have the same answer: you should write about things that you’re passionate about, things that you know, things that you like. At the same time, you shouldn’t be afraid of trying something new. My blog started as a beauty blog, but I knew that I wanted to write about more than just makeup or skincare.  I kept getting a lot of questions about my photography, so that’s when I decided to create a Photography category. I thought it doesn’t hurt to try, and if it doesn’t work out- no harm was done. It turned out to be a great idea and ever since I’ve introduced that category my photography posts brought thousands and thousands of referrals to my blog- through Pinterest and from being shared on other blogs. Maybe you have a fun hobby, what is something that you’re really good at? People love reading content that is somehow helpful to them, that teaches them something- don’t let them walk away empty-handed. The same thing happened with my Blogging and Girl-Talk categories. I was a little afraid of trying something new once again, but pretty much every time it turned out to be a good decision- a lot of you guys always tell me that my Girl-Talk posts are your favorite. That’s how my beauty blog transformed into a beauty and lifestyle blog.

MY PHOTOGRAPHY

There is a whole category on this so I won’t get into too much detail here. For those of you who ask about my equipment, you can find everything listed in this post. I also have a Blogging Resources section where I list a lot of my resources. If you’re a beginner, this post is a must-read for you. If you want to know how to take bright photos see this post and here you can find out how to take bright photos during gloomy weather.

HOW DO I CONNECT WITH BRANDS?

When asking for blogging tips, another question that comes up quite often as well is “How do I get brands to send me stuff?” I have “blogging” friends who reach out to brands, asking for samples and most of the time, it works- it all depends on your statistic. I personally never tried doing that- after my blog started to grow, brands simply started to reach out to me via email, usually telling me that they like my blog, asking if I want to be added to their mailing list. I also get a lot of emails from brands offering to send me products in exchange for reviews, but I always say no to those. I say “no” to probably 80% of offers I get. It’s important that you value yourself as a blogger, as a lot of people will try to take advantage of you. I will not spend half a day photographing, editing, using my expensive equipment, then writing a post, in exchange for a $10.00 lotion. So, if someone expects me to write a post in exchange for a product, I send them my media kit and tell them that they’re more than welcome to send me a product, but that doesn’t guarantee a blog feature or they can reach out to me if interested in a sponsored post. There’s nothing wrong with writing posts in exchange for products of course, but once you get tens of thousands of pageviews a month, you can easily start offering sponsored posts. When I get PR samples, I am not obligated to write about them and only mention products that I really like- that’s how you know that my reviews will always be honest.  The same thing goes for sponsored posts- I only accept about 90% of offers that come my way. You will never see me write about products or things that I personally wouldn’t use. So, if you’re just starting out and don’t feel comfortable reaching out to brands, stay patient. Post quality content and always tag the brands you write about when posting on social media.

I think that three of the best blogging tips I can give you are these: make sure you have fun, write about something you’re passionate about and stay patient and consistent. If you have any other questions, make sure to leave them down below and keep an eye out on the BLOGGING category for more blogging tips.

I also have a Group Board for Beauty and Lifestyle Bloggers on Pinterest where you can share your blog posts. If you’re interested in joining, follow me on Pinterest and shoot me an email with your Pinterest link. 

If you want to launch your own WordPress blog and start earning money online, check out my step-by-step guide to starting a blog right here and a list of all my blog resources, including my favorite affiliate marketing programs, right here. 

This content uses referral links. Read my disclosure policy for more info.