How to Start a Blog

Starting a blog can be both exciting and very frustrating! When I started, I was completely guessing how to go about it, a little bit of googling and about 50 YouTube tutorials later and I had figured out how to technically create a blog. From there I was just chancing my arm, hoping it would somehow work out. There are a lot of things I wish I had known before I started blogging and there are a lot of things I would change. Today I'm going to give you a complete guide on how to start a successful blog. If you click on any of the highlighted words/sentences that are a different colour, it will bring you to a post that I have done that's gone into more detail about that particular topic!

Grab a cuppa, it's a long one, enjoy!

Why Blog ? Blogging has taken the world by storm in the last few years, the industry has exploded! THIS post explains exactly WHY you should start a blog!

The Tools
First things first you'll need some tools to get it all set up. Now all you really need is a laptop and internet but there are some other things that will make your life easier and your blog better. Now you don't need to spend a fortune, a little budget will go a long way.

• A good laptop or computer - Obvious but clearly essential.You probably already have one or the other or at least access to one.
• A camera - Content is King but good graphics and photos can really make or break a blog. Get yourself some cool backgrounds, use natural light and a decent camera to take clean, clear bright photos. I use the Nikon J1, it comes with two lens and cost around €250 when it was on offer. 
• An editing program - I use two editing programs, Photoshop and Picmonkey. Picmonkey is free and is an online program, It's good, especially if you don't have access to the likes of Photoshop. I do prefer Photoshop as you have a lot more freedom and can create absolutely anything.

Decide on a Topic 
 Choosing your niche early on, will help you reach your target audience and grow your blog a lot quicker. How to decide on a topic ? Well just think about what  you are passionate about, what can others learn from you? what do you already do/ talk about? There are 'nicheless' blogs out there and if your blog is a bit of everything, that's fine too but be clear about what your blog is, for both your readers sake and yours.

Decide on a name for your blog
This is the fun part, It took me about a month to come up with mine. Things to remember when choosing your blog name is that this will become your brand. It sets expectations and the mood of what your blog is about. Think of names and then go and check if that domain is free. Also check if various social media platform are free too. Tips on a name would be to choose something that appeals to your target audience, something easy to pronounce, simple and easy to remember, something that relates to your core topic but be creative!

Choose a platform 
 The big question is where do you want to blog? Blogger, Wordpress.com, Wordpress.org, Tumblr? If you want your blog to be taken seriously or you want your blog to be monetised, I'd stay clear from Tumblr as it isn't really recognized as a serious platform.I personally use blogger but have used wordpress.com in the past. I found blogger to be far more user friendly than wordpress. If you choose wordpress then you'll need to set up your hosting, I've heard great things about bluehost. Do your research when it comes to choosing a platform. Maybe try them all out, see which one you prefer. I''m not going to give a small tutorial here on how exactly to set up blogger & wordpress etc. There are plenty of great tutorials out there, just google it!

Choose a theme 
This is essentially when and where you will create your brand. The theme you choose and how you customize it should reflect the purpose of your blog and the mood of your blog. Try to create a brand/theme that you will use across all your social media channels, business cards and anywhere that your blog will be represented. I bought my blog design from pipdig and found them to be great. Within 24hrs my blog was transformed, it's easy to customize it myself and nothing was lost when they changed it over.

Writing - what to write, how to write and when to write.

• A location - Try and have a set placed that is your 'blogging space' whether that's the college library, home office, your bedroom, wherever it is try and have this predetermined. The only reason I say this is because if like me your a college student(or maybe your house is just a mad house in general) then waiting for a rare quiet moment won't help when you're trying to prepare posts, schedule social media etc. I find it easier to goto the library for an hour a couple of evenings a week and get all my stuff done.
• Find your blogging voice - this is something you might hear a lot, what it basically means is finding your unique way of writing. You may be used to writing academically for school but blogging is very different. A more personal tone when writing is used. For me, I write how I speak. If I was to read all of my blogs posts out loud and you weren't looking at me, you probably wouldn't be able to tell that I was actually reading what I'm saying. A conversational tone works well on my blog.
• A great post includes - length, most of my posts are at least 300 words long but don't just have a block of writing, no one likes to read that, make it easy for your reader.Break it up into headings, subheadings, paragraphs and pictures. A great post also has great graphics! Use a decent camera and a decent editing program and put time into your graphics. Your graphics and your blog title is what people will click in on so do put in a bit of effort. Lastly you're posts need to have a purpose, what are you teaching people, what will they learn or feel after reading your post. All of these combined will have your writing up to scratch!

Promoting
It's called 'social' media for a reason. Scheduling is your best friend as in engaging. Engage with your readers and other content creators this will help your blog grow very quickly. A lot of people start out on absolutely every platform out there and wear themselves out. Start with three, maybe Facebook, twitter and maybe pinterest. Build up these platforms and become comfortable before launching into more, especially if you're not used to social media. Don't be afraid to promote your blog, social media moves so quickly that people will enviably miss your tweets or Facebook posts so don't be afraid to promote the same post over and over, but don't spam people either.

Analytics
If you want to monetize your blog, work with brands or just keep track of how much your blog is growing then you will need to set up some analytics. I'd recommend using google analytics, it is industry standard. All analytics systems or softwares will report different numbers and that is because what they count as a view varies. While Blogger and Wordpress counts can sometimes be a little high, google analytics can be a little low. They undervalue your views just a little, to allow for bots etc. But Google Analytics is industry standard so get them set up ASAP.

Before announcing your blog to the world

• Fill out the about and contact section, you'll be surprised how many people will read them!
• Have content already there - Have something ready for your readers to read when they land on your blog for the first time. 
• Install all of your widgets - As you'll know at the side of my blog, you'll see all my social media widgets which will take you straight to my social media platforms so you can follow me and not have to spend time trying to find me. Do this for your blog before people arrive, so that if they like your blog and they want to follow your social platforms, it's easy to do so.
• Have some posts scheduled to up - If you have a little fear about putting yourself out there, write up enough posts to last you through the first few weeks, that way when you go to write your first post after launching the blog, you won't get too scared or intimidated, they'll already be done.
• Set up social media platforms - Do this for two reasons, one so that you can make sure you're blog name isn't taken on any of them and two, so that you have already build up an audience that are excited for the launch of your new blog! 
• Set up a blogging calendar - I would be lost without mine, here's a full tutorial.
• Have a plan- if you want to monetize and you should after putting in all this hard work, have a plan before launching about how exactly you're going to make money. Sponsorship? affiliate links? Adsense? Your own product? Have a good think about it, create a plan and implement it!

Lastly have fun! As I said at the beginning, I had absolutely no clue when I started out and as frustrated as it was at times, I wouldn't have it any other way. If you made it this far, well done! I hope you learned a thing or two, if you have any questions or want me to elaborate more on anything, feel free to leave me a comment! 

Erin X

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Blogging Q&A

I asked you on snapchat(chasingrubychat) and twitter(@chasingrubies2) to send in any and all blogging related questions and boy did you send a lot! I combined a lot of them and there were a lot that were basically the same question. So I hope I answered all your questions and I hope that this post is helpful!

How to think of things to write about?

I usually do a big brainstorming session ahead of each month, I'll see what new products I have or what I can review. Some months are easier than others, October and December are usually good months because you can have lots of different themed posts because of Halloween, Autumn and Christmas. Sometimes if I feel I'm suffering from a little bit of bloggers block, I'll either ask my audience what they would like to see or I'll just step back from all things blogging and social media, take a little break and I always come back refreshes and inspired.

How do you keep motivated?

Well I'm very passionate about blogging, I love to write so I have an advantage there. It can be tough to balance everything sometimes, but I just love the feeling when I hit publish on a post! I also get really motivated when I get good feedback from my readers. My advice is to only write when you feel inspired, don't force yourself to write. Take breaks and go out into the real world, that way you won't get overwhelmed and lose motivation.

Why did I start blogging? Any tips for someone who's starting out?

I started blogging because it was part of a college assignment. We had to write two posts about our module and one on absolutely anything we wanted. I wrote about my first two months in college. Afterwards I kinda felt like I wanted to write more, after reading other people's blogs for quite some time I eventually set up my own! When you're starting out, take some time to build up your blog, find your niche and your blogging voice, don't worry about stats or what everybody else is doing just focus on you and your blog. I wrote a post recently on what NOT to do when you start blogging if you're interested. 

Any tips on getting traffic to your website?

Promote promote promote! Social media is so powerful and can really help your blog take off so start building up your social media platforms and use them to promote your posts. Also give readers that do visit you website, a reason to come back or to read more. At the side of my blog, there's always an archive list as well as a popular posts feature. 

What do you wish you knew when you started blogging?

When I started blogging I was comparing my blog to others who were full time bloggers. I would often feel like I wasn't good enough, my stats weren't high enough etc. But I was comparing my two month old blog to blogs that had been around 5+ years! I was also constantly worried about people I knew in real life finding my blog. The fear of being myself was very real and stopped my blog growing because I was too afraid of what people I knew three years ago would think. 

How to get the confidence to share your blog & promote it?

My answer above is quite apt for this question too. As I said, I was terrified of people finding my blog when I started out. But what surprised me was that when people did come across it, they actually reached out and said they loved it and asked advice on certain products or how they should do things, so don't be so hard on yourself! You really do just have to feel the fear and do it anyway. Use the power of social media to promote your blog, it's crazy how much it helps!

Any tips for getting your snapchat out there?

Snapchat is all about engagement. Engage with others, give other people shoutouts because you might get some in return, take part in some of the challenges that happen, promote your snapchat on other platforms. Give people a reason to follow you. If there's a particular day that you get a lot of engagement or new followers, try figure out why that was, what did you do that day to get high engagement, once you figure out what your audience want, do more of that. Ask your audience questions and put in the time and effort to chat to them, they'll probably end up talking to their friends who will follow you and they'll tell their friends and so on. 

How do you grow your blog audience?

This is a tough one, for some people they seem to be an overnight success and have a million followers after a month, please know that this is very very very rare. For 99.9% of us, it takes years to build a big audience. Create content that you would like to read, give people a reason to follow you, take good pictures and have a nice blog design that suits your blog. Utilise social media and try to go out and network in the real world, go to events etc. It takes time and it happens a different way for everyone. 

How do you get invited to events  & work with PRs?

Engage with PRs online. If you write a post reviewing a product that the PR agency represent, tag them. Try and make yourself seen without spamming. If there's a particular event coming up that you'd really like to go to, email them and ask. But don't just say can I come to the event, tell them who you are, what you do and why you think you should be there. In terms of working with PRs if there's any agency that represent some brands that you really want to work with, ask the PR out for a coffee and have a chat. It's much easier to build up a relationship in real life than it is online. If you are not in a position to go and have a coffee, create a media kit and send it to the PR along with a pitch as to why you want to work with a brand and what ideas you have to collaborate.

How often should you blog?

As often as possible but be consistent. Two or three times a week would be pretty good, the more you blog, the faster you'll grow your blog. In saying that content is king, it's better to blog once a week on the same day at the same time and have a fantastic post rather than 6 times a week with 'just ok' posts. Quality is better than Quantity. 

What's the best platform for blogging?

This is completely up to you. I chose blogger as the big bloggers that I was reading when I started out were all using blogger, so I did too. I have to use wordpress for college and it just seems way to complicated for me personally. But I think it's nearly 49% of the world's websites are built with wordpress so that is definitely something to take into account. I'd recommend trying both wordpress and blogger out, see which interface you like more and go from there. 

Any advice on taking pictures?

Try to have a nice background, clean clear photos that are well thought out, aren't blurry and have good lighting!

How do you make time to blog when you're really busy?

It's all about priorities and time management. I always try to do at least an hour of scheduling every week, even if I don't have new blog posts going up, I promote older ones that I've wrote. Keep your social media going even if you're blog goes quiet. Try to fit in some time to blog each week, maybe pick a specific evening that's your blogging evening. If you want to have a successful blog, then you simply HAVE to put hard work and time in. Life can get in the way sometimes and things that are out of our control can take over, but there are 168 hours in a week, try and put two or three aside for blogging.

Who inspires you/ who influences you as a blogger?

I am inspired by so many people, I read an insane amount of blogs. Zoella, Lily Pebbles, Vivianna Does Makeup, Retro Flame, The Makeup Fairy, It's Cherry Sue, Too Dolly Makeup and so many more inspire me with their positivity and passion to succeed. 

What's your favourite thing about blogging?

I love escaping into my blog for a few hours, it's my happy place and has changed my life. I wrote a post on all  the awesome things about blogging here!

So I hope I answered all your questions, if you have any more just leave them in the comments! I hope you learned something from this post, let me know if you did! 

Erin X

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Things to consider before you start a blog

Blogging is a great way to express yourself, get your name or brand out there. Personally, starting my blog was the best thing I've ever done. It has taught me a lot about myself and introduced me to an industry I never even knew existed. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Blogging takes a lot of work. It can be difficult, time consuming and sometimes lonely. But the positives always outweigh the negatives in my book when it comes to blogging, you can read why I think that here. Before starting a blog, there are a few things I think you should consider or are worth having a little think about...

Money or Passion?
Why are you starting a blog? What motivates you? What drives you to want to write? Is it money or is it passion? Both by the way are completely legit reasons in my book. It's no secret that there is serious money to be earned from blogging and if money is what motivates you, then more power to you, there isn't anything to be ashamed of in that regard. If you write as a passion then what are you expecting from your blog? Do you want it to be your own little personal corner of the internet that you can go to whenever adulting gets too much? Do you want to share you love of something and share all your experiences? Be honest with yourself with this, so that you don't end up quitting or being disappointed.

What would you write about?
Regardless of what the answer to the first question is, you'll need something to write about. Find your niche, is there a market for it? Where would you find readers? Is there something similar already in existence ? Chances are, there is so what will make your blog different and stand out? Before launching your blog, try writing 10 posts or at least have a serious brainstorming session and see how far you get. Don't worry if over time, your blog or what you blog about changes, mine has and I love that it has changed.

Time 
This is a biggie for most people. How much time to you realistically have to devote to blogging. As I said above, blogging is hard work and boy is it time consuming. You also need to think about how long it takes you to complete a post. For me I write quite quickly and once I have an idea, I can get it out of my head and have it ready to be published, usually within and hour, taking photos and getting it ready to be published, I'd be looking at, at most two hours. But I know it takes some people days, entire weekends to publish just one post. Also don't just rush posts, take your time with them, if they take you a full weekend, let it be so, quality content will always win so don't worry if you're not getting five posts a day wrote. Figure out how fast you work and how much time you realistically have. Once you know this, you can create a plan and develop a consistent schedule with your readers. The reason for this is so that you don't quit after a few weeks or months, if you only have time to blog once a month, let it be so but be realistic about your time and how much you're willing to give up.

The Technical Stuff
There's a whole other side to blogging other than just writing. One of the most basic questions being what platform to you want to use? Blogger, wordpress.com, wordpress.org ? Then there's designing the blog, do you want to do it yourself or pay someone to do it for you? Do you have a certain budget? Do you have no budget what so ever? I didn't and had to learn it all myself, no harm in that either. Do you understand social media and how to use it properly? Do you know where you should be promoting your blog or how to promote it? There's so much more to it than you could ever imagine, but that keeps it interesting!

The Legal Stuff
So there's obvious legal stuff like copyright on images and of course content but recently new legislation has come into effect and you need to be careful about how you present yourself online. There are certain guidelines that you need to stick to, it's the law people! For example you now HAVE to disclose when your being paid to promote something(which you should do anyway out of respect to your readers) And there are a few other things you need to educate yourself on so do your research, a quick google search will help you a lot.

As I said above, blogging takes a lot of work but if you're passionate and you want to do it, don't let anything stop you! 

Erin X 

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