Ways To Take Your Blogging Game To The Next Level

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When you first start a blog or if you're thinking about starting one, you don't always know what to expect. Although blogging has been around for some time now, when you're a newbie you often feel unsure of what you're doing. As long as you're enjoying creating your content, that's all that really matters. When you put in the hard work, your blog will begin to grow organically & opportunities will start to flood your inbox. If things are going really well you might consider turning your blog into a business instead of a hobby. Taking your blog as a serious business can actually be a lot of fun & it doesn't have to be a big deal or a lot of pressure. Sometimes you think that in order to take things to the next level, you have to put in a lot more time & effort. However you can continue to do it with the same passion & enthusiasm as you are now, just with a few simple changes to get some incredible results.

It's important to remember to work smarter, not always harder. That's quite often the difference between blogging for fun & blogging as a business or earning money from your blog. Most of the time, you can still put in the same amount of work (or perhaps a little more) but notice that the results you're getting are just infinitely better. When you've been blogging for a while you naturally become more knowledgeable & have a lot more experience in order to propel your blog to the next level. Blogging is an ever changing industry so there's always new things to learn & new ways to improve your results. Here are a few handy hints to help you to develop your blog & achieve professional success.

Set Goals For Yourself
Setting goals gives you a clear purpose of why you're doing this & what you want to achieve. I'd highly recommend coming up with a set of goals for blogging because they give you a reason to keep going when you feel like giving up. You can always go back to your goals & remember why you started blogging in the first place. Goals hold us accountable, especially if we share them with others. You might have a huge goal to strive towards like earning enough money to give up your regular job or it might be something much smaller like being able to pay for your weekly food shop using your blogging income. Come up with a positive statement or mantra & use this as motivation.

Create A Better Brand
Something that a lot of new bloggers often overlook is that you need to think about creating a brand for your blog. What is your blogging niche? Do you want to provide the best makeup swatches or inspire people with your stylish outfits? Do you like sharing delicious recipes or documenting the lives of your children? There's nothing wrong with being an all-rounder but there are some clear benefits to having a distinct topic for your blog. You can target specific clients & show them that you're a specialist in that subject. Plus you'll only be writing about stuff you love which makes the whole process so much easier. Also think about how the way your blog looks represents your niche. You might decide to use different styles of photography for each subject. Colours, fonts, imagery - all of it matters.

Redesign The Blog
To help you make sure that you're creating the brand that you want & bring it to life, you could also think about redesigning the blog. Sometimes your old blog design might not look all that professional, nor does it suit your niche or what you're trying to achieve. You may find that you can improve your blog design to better suit your brand. When you do this, you'll feel so much more professional because of it. There's plenty of wonderful designs on Etsy that you can customise to your heart's desire or you might commission a web designer to make you something truly unique. If your blog looks good, it'll showcase your content in the way that it deserves.

Come Up With A Marketing Plan
Next you'll want to make sure that you have a plan for your marketing. This can seem quite daunting as there are so many different areas to focus on. When it comes to your social media, you'll want to be strategic about it. Make sure you post regularly, even if you don't have new blog content to share. Tag brands that you've featured on your blog because this can be a great way to find new contacts. Try to include SEO in all of your posts. Simple things like adding alt tags to your images & correctly naming your photos can make a huge difference. You may also want to start a newsletter to further interact with the people that love your blog. You can offer something in exchange for their subscription such as a free E-Book or some Photoshop Actions for them to download.

Get Your Name Out There
If you want your blog to be able to grow, it needs to be known. In order to be successful, it's important to get your name out there into the world. Brands won't offer you any opportunities if they don't know that you exist. So as you're coming up with your marketing ideas, make sure that you know how you're going to deal with your own online reputation management or get help with it. You can do this with social media but there are other PR tactics to consider too & that's why it might be a good idea to enlist the help of an expert.

Work With Experts
As blogs become bigger businesses, many people have started to hire others to help them out. If you become really successful you might want to hire an assistant to go through your emails or edit your photos. Not many people are quite at that level yet but you might still want to think about working with experts to help you grow your blog. This could be a graphic designer, a web developer, a marketing consultant or even an accountant, to help you with all the behind the scenes stuff. That way you can carry on creating content without being bogged down with the finer details.

Monetise In New Ways
When it comes to levelling up, you'll definitely want to think about how you can make more money. To do this, you need to consider diversifying the ways in which you do it. Are you using affiliate links, advertising or sponsored posts? If not, can you use all three to take your earnings up a notch? Personally I've found the most success from sponsored posts & affiliate links. Most of the time brands approach me for sponsored posts but I've recently started sending out pitches & it's not as scary as it sounds. Choose some brands that you love or are planning to feature on your blog anyway & ask them if they would be interested in working with you. Make your pitch personal to the client & explain what you can bring to table. Give them examples of your best work & tell them about your experience. Include some of your personality & finish with a subtle call to action. An easier way to do this would be to create a media kit with your stats & rates. It'll make you look really professional to boot!

Take On Freelance Work
One of the ways that many bloggers earn money is by offering freelance services. You might think that you can only make money from the blog itself but you can also use your skills & experience to find other work. This is where the idea of being a freelance writer can come in. You can write for businesses or media outlets & these often tend to pay better than sponsored blog content. Another thing to consider is registering for freelance job boards such as PeoplePerHour, UpWork or Fiverr. They might only be small jobs but they can certainly set you on the right path when it comes to making connections, building your portfolio & getting references. You never know, a client might really like your work & hire you for a much bigger project.

Create A Product
Another idea for you here is to launch a product. This could work in one of two ways. You could think about downloadables such as E-Books, online courses or design services. Some people are willing to pay a lot of money for your photo editing secrets. But another thing to consider is making merchandise. A lot of YouTubers come out with merch but there's nothing to stop bloggers from doing it too. Maybe you like the idea of creating t-shirts or notebooks or anything else related to your niche? I'd love to design a set of enamel pins based around makeup or skincare products. Let me know if you'd be interested in buying some haha!

Write A Book
Now this may not be the case for you but if you love blogging because you really love to write, then maybe you've always wanted to write your own book. If this is the case, you may find that you're actually put off from doing it because it feels like such a distant dream. But as you're building your blog, & essentially your online presence, you may find that it's the perfect time for you to think about writing that book. While you will need to actually get to writing, find yourself an agent & aim to get published. You could even publish it yourself via Amazon as the Kindle book market is growing all the time. There are so many bloggers, YouTubers & even Instagram influencers that have come out with books now so there's no reason why you can't write one yourself.

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Tips For Perfecting & Professionalising Your Blog

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Like most bloggers I started out writing blog posts as a fun hobby that also helped me to connect with people who had similar interests in beauty & fashion. After working with brands on collaborations for a number of years, the progression to becoming a professional blogger was gradual & almost accidental. Many people still don't see blogging as a real career & wonder how it's possible to make money from writing stuff on the Internet but the amount of hard work that goes into running a blog could easily prove them wrong. Blogging is an already crowded market & a lot of the people who have become really successful were simply in the right place at the right time. However one of the best things about blogging is that there truly is room for everyone. No matter what you want to write about, there's bound to be someone out there who wants to read it. People are naturally drawn to websites that are easy to navigate & pleasant to look at so it's important to make your blog look as professional as possible even if it's only something you do in your spare time. It can also increase your chances of getting to work with the brands you love! Turning your blog from a hobby into something that you can pursue as a career isn't an easy task but there are a few simple changes you can make to create greater success for your blog. Perfecting & professionalising your blog will take a lot of time & dedication but trust me, it will all be worth it in the end. Whether you're improving your blog photography or working hard to improve your writing skills, there are many ways to better your blogging business. I thought I would share some tips that can help to catapult your blog from simple to spectacular.

Buy A Business Address
When you collaborate with brands or receive letters from your followers you might not want to let them know that your blog is actually based from the corner of your bedroom. Although that is nothing to be ashamed of, you want to come across as professional as possible. For privacy's sake, it's not the best idea to give out your home address to anyone & everyone. Head to PhysicalAddress.com & see how you can obtain your own business address to receive blogging mail. PR samples are a great perk of blogging but you never know which courier they're gonna use. Having your own business mailbox means no more waiting in for parcels from the likes of Hermes or Yodel for fear of them getting left in a bin. You can even check your mailbox from your mobile phone, so you can go and collect your bits & bobs as soon as they arrive.

Update Your Equipment
When starting out as a blogger you might not have the best camera or editing software but this is definitely something you should invest in. If you want to professionalise your blogging business you need to get up to date with your equipment. Whether you're updating your laptop, investing in new lighting or splashing out on a state of the art camera, it will all be worth it when you see your blog succeed. Blog photography is so important & it's harder to take good pictures without a decent camera. I started out blogging with a Canon 400D & then moved to a 650D when I wanted something a bit better. I now use a 70D which is brilliant for both photo & video. Lenses are also really important as they can totally change the feel of a shot. I switch between a 18-135mm, a 50mm, a 40mm & a 24mm depending on what kind of picture I'm taking. A lot of people don't seem to realise that it's totally acceptable to use your iPhone camera for blog photos. The newest iPhones have such fantastic cameras that you don't even really need to get a DSLR anymore. I currently take all my photos in natural lighting but it can be a struggle at this time of year. I've got some soft boxes but I'm planning on getting a ring light as they tend to be easier to move around. In terms of software, Photoshop & Lightroom are the best for editing photos. If you're just getting into video editing, iMovie is more than enough but if you want something really professional then Final Cut Pro is the way to go.

Reach Out To Brands
Back when I started blogging, brand collaborations mainly involved being sent samples for review purposes. I'm still more than happy to produce content in exchange for products but nowadays sponsored posts are the norm. If you have yet to land your first paid brand collaboration, then now would be the perfect time to start chasing. It can take a long time to actually get paid by a brand for endorsing their product so the sooner you can start the process, the better. Even if you start by buying one of their products yourself & doing an honest review about it, this is an excellent start. As long as you tag the brand, they should notice you & you might gain a PR contact in the process. Keep up this consistent work & you will land that dream collaboration in no time.

Improve Your Writing Skills
It's true that not all bloggers have a background in writing, in fact many just start up their blog because they have a passion for a niche topic. The way in which you write your blog posts is what will make them stand out from the rest. Think about tone of voice. Do you want your blog to impartially review or inform your readers about products? Or do you want your blog to be informal, friendly & personal? Either way, learning how to become a more professional & polished writer will start to bring you more success. In order to become a better writer you just need to practice, practice, practice. Write all of your initial thoughts down on the page, then learn how to refine & edit them into something entertaining & flowing. Always perform a spell check before publishing your posts. It's so easy to make simple mistakes when you're busy typing away but being pedantic about grammar & spelling can make all the difference in terms of professionalism. Take an online course if you really want to become a super serious writer!

Your Website Platform Is Important
When someone clicks onto your website, they are going to make a million first impressions from the way it looks & navigates. There are so many awesome platforms out there for you to choose from, whether it's Blogger, WordPress or Wix. It's always worth paying to upgrade your platform so that you can make full use of the customisable options. If you struggle with customisation, Etsy is full of amazing blog templates that will take your site to the next level. I still use Blogger as I'm more than happy with the way it operates but I would recommend buying your own domain name. This gives you your own personal space on the Internet & increases your chances of landing brand collabs. The more unique your website can be, the more seriously people are going to take you. Make sure that your blog is optimised to work on all devices. If you spend some time checking that your website is slick & sophisticated, you will have peace of mind that your followers are in for a great experience.

Create Aesthetically Pleasing Social Media
Although this is not the be all & end all of being a successful blogger, it really does help to have aesthetically pleasing social media. Your Instagram grid should be consistent & pleasing to look at, so that your audience can determine exactly what you're all about right away. I still struggle with this & definitely don't post on Instagram as much as I should do but I think people mainly watch Instagram Stories now rather than scrolling endlessly through their feed anymore. I still believe that blog posts have much more permanence than Instagram pictures. Blogs are easier to search through, they're more informative & you retain full ownership of the content. A lot of bloggers that I've followed for years have abandoned their sites in favour of Instagram as there's more money being pumped into the opportunities there. It's such a shame as there are so many flaws to Instagram & even the best content can be completely lost to the algorithm. Organic reach has become more difficult & things like the swipe up ability being locked behind a 10k follower wall makes it harder for the vast majority of people. I think it's important to make your Instagram look good but don't forget that long form content should be your priority.

So try out some of these ideas & see how your blog could be turned into something much more professional. With a business address, all the high tech equipment you need & a wonderful website, you will be setting yourself up for long term success. All of these updates & improvements won't happen overnight but if you put in the hard work you will start to see results sooner than you might think!

twitter / tumblr / youtube / instagram / bloglovin'

New Camera & Blog Photography

You may have already heard me harping on about it but I have a new camera! I have just upgraded from a Canon 400D to a Canon 650D. I've had my 400D for over six years now so it was definitely time for a new one. I've been saving up since rumours about the new camera started floating around the internet in January and its finally mine! I bought my camera with the 18-135mm STM kit lens. The 650D is the latest addition to Canon's entry level range of digital SLR cameras. It has several upgrades over the 600D that was released last year. It has the same 18MP resolution as the 600D but with a Digic 5 processor, full HD video but with auto-focus and the vari-angle LCD screen has also been upgraded and now features touch screen. It was quite strange going from fiddling about with dials for exposure & aperture to using the camera like an iPhone. The vari-angle screen is brilliant because you can see exactly whats going on in the frame. Its really helpful when using the self-timer for outfit photos because I can make sure the part I want to focus on is actually on screen. The HD video looks excellent. It also has some creative modes so you can add things like fisheye effects to your photos. Its such great quality and I'm so happy with my purchase.

I figured this would be a good time to address some of the questions that I get asked about blog photography. I'm not a professional photographer or anything but I do have a keen interest in the subject. I don't think my photos are particularly good but other people seem to, so heres my photography kit in full & details of how I prep photos for blog posts.



So the old camera body I had was this 400D. Before I had this one I also had a 300D so I've been using Canon DSLRs for the best part of a decade. I originally bought my 400D when I was about to start my art foundation course. If you're doing a design related course or degree, its a good idea to buy a proper camera. You need good quality pictures especially when it comes to putting your portfolio together. I used mine constantly throughout my foundation course & graphic design degree for research and photographing my work. I've never had experience of another make but I've always been more than happy with Canon. They do a vast range of compact & bridge cameras so if you can't afford an entry level DSLR like mine or their professional level ones you can still get a great camera. You don't need an expensive camera to blog with. You can get away with just using an iPhone if you know how to edit your photos properly. If you want a camera just for blogging, you're probably better off with a regular camera unless you're super rich or want to start blogging professionally.



I only have three lenses because they can get really really expensive. I have the bog standard 18-55mm EFS lens. I got this in a kit with my 300D so its very old. It doesn't even have image stablisation like most Canon lenses do these days. However this is probably my most used lens because its a good size with a basic focal range. Pretty much all of my blog photos up to this point were taken with this lens. I also have a 50mm f/1.8 II lens for macro shots. It has a wide aperture which produces a shorter depth of field. A lot of professional photographers use this type of lens to get that nice blurry background in their photos. And of course, I have the 18-135mm STM lens that came in the kit with my new camera. This new lens is so amazing. It costs a lot more than the other kit lens but its definitely worth it in my opinion. The focal range is brilliant for the price so its great for things like landscape shots as well as everyday photography. The STM lens means that it has silent auto-focus making it perfect for filming videos. Hopefully I'll be making my YouTube debut soon now that I have this new camera setup!



I don't have any special lighting at home, mainly because it costs a lot and I don't have room for it. I just have a cheap flash gun that I bought off eBay. This is essential for Winter when the lighting is pretty much terrible 24/7. I never use the flash that is built into the camera body because I hate how it makes photos look. A flash gun lets you bounce or diffuse the flash so that you get better lighting without that horrible flash effect. I don't use any lens hoods or filters mainly because I don't know what they do haha. Told you I wasn't an expert! I did buy some cheap lens filters off eBay but they didn't do much so I don't bother with them.

Another very important piece of kit is a tripod. If you're planning on doing outfit posts and you don't have anyone who is willing to take your photos for you then a tripod is a godsend. I bought my one off eBay. I used to have a different one that was a lot smaller. When I first started blogging we lived in a tiny apartment and I had to put my tripod on the bed in order to make it tall enough. Then when we moved house there was room to put it on the floor and I had to keep bending into weird positions to fit into the frame. It was really annoying so definitely check the height of the tripod you're purchasing. One that extends to a similar height to your own is preferable. That might be difficult if you're 6ft or something but at 5'4" a 67" tripod is ideal for me. If its too short you could probably just put piles of books underneath the legs. In conjunction with my tripod I use a Canon RC-6 remote control. This means I can use the self-timer when taking outfit photos without constantly moving back and forth to press the shutter. It also makes it easier to auto-focus as you'll be in the correct spot for your photos.

For product shots I place the items on my pillows. The lighting in my house is pretty shoddy so by using pillows I can move them to wherever a good light source is located. Since a lot of people ask, my covers are from Matalan but I don't think they sell them anymore. I like the patterned background for product photos as they add an extra something and help make your posts a bit more recognisable. Plain white backgrounds or dressing table shots also look great, its just down to personal preference really.



I edit my photos using the Camera RAW plug-in from Adobe Bridge CS5. Here I adjust the white balance, brighten & de-saturate certain colours and increase contrast. I then move into Adobe Photoshop CS5 to crop, re-size, collage and fiddle about with Curves. If you don't understand Curves you can just download tons of free ones from DeviantArt. I always save my images using File > Save For Web & Devices. This makes sure that the colours in your photos display correctly on different monitors. It also makes the file size smaller so the images load up quicker. When I'm scrolling through Google Reader nothing makes me ignore a post faster than one where the images take 10 minutes to load up. Its a shame, especially when you know a blogger takes nice photos but they take forever to display. Just make sure you don't compress your images so much that they become pixellated! If you don't have Photoshop then Pixlr is a brilliant online photo editor.

So I hope that was helpful for some people! Like I say I'm not an expert so I've probably missed out loads of necessary info haha. Just leave a comment, tweet me or email me if theres anything else you want to know.