Starting out in blogging 101 - Top Tips

There is no guide to how to be successful in the blogging world, mainly because it's such a diverse world and there is so many different aspects that you can find your niche in. I've dabbled in and out of blogging & youtube for years, but for the first time I'm feeling like I'm just doing me and I'm L O V I N G it, so I thought I'd share some thoughts I have on starting out in the blogging buisness, like I said, I don't think there is anything that defines how to be successful but I do feel there is key factors that help to make your mark and stay on top of your game....

Photos by Lydia Collins


EQUIPMENT
- it's rare you'll see a blogger these day without an DSLR/PEN in hand, investing money in a camera is what I'd say is a number one priority when starting out, I'm always more drawn to read someones content if the pictures look of a good quality. Obviously spending money out on a good quality camera isn't something that's done at the drop of a hat, so saving is essential. Believe me, I know saving sucks, especially when you wanna drop money on the latest beauty release but just do it. You'll be thanking yourself for the perseverance later down the line when you're shooting bang up professional images.

tip - learning how to use your camera is just as important as owning one in the first place, don't get me wrong, I love the automatic setting on my PEN but when you start mixing the settings and switching up the shooting modes you'll get some great images, from better depth of field to those to die for action shots, know how to use your camera to it's full extent and it'll be of a way greater benefit to you. There's a tonne of cheat guides online to give you easy shooting guides for each setting so just have a browse around and get studying that camera.

STAYING SCHEDULED & ORGANISED

- having a back log of content and ideas was so, well actually is still so crucial for me. I always write ideas down as soon as they come in to my head, whether it's in a notebook or just on the notes section of my phone, I know that they're always there to go back to which is useful when you come to the unavoidable 'content block' situ. It also helps when it comes to scheduling content in, when you know what type of posts you're working toward, you can build on them over time rather than rushing a last minute post which inevitably leaves you feeling demotivated & half of the time you won't even end up writing it because you just don't have the time to compile a whole post in one go. 

DONT HOLD BACK

- I feel confidence is such a huge factor with blogging, stepping out in to the online blogospohere can be super intimidating, especially with such big names absolutely killing it, but you shouldn't be discouraged by that, remember the people at the top of the game have been doing this for Y E A RS. Be 100% yourself and authentic, post what you want to post, and if you have some crazy ass idea, follow through with it because doing what everyone else is doing, isn't going to get you noticed. Plus is you're posting content that you think others want to see opposed to what you want to genuinely want to write, you'll lose motivation quickly. Your content should speak volumes of YOU and what you're about, so don't hold back.

ENJOY IT
- this is probably the most important, if you're not enjoying it, if you're finding it a chore, something isn't right; I never feel like sitting down at my laptop to write a post is an inconvenience. If you're feeling this way, chances are that you're just not creating the content that you genuinely want to and so you're finding it a little bit of a drag, and you shouldn't feel bad that you don't know exactly what kind of content you want to create. I had no idea the type of things I wanted to write about when I first started, but after a while you start to recognise the types of things that you like writing, and reading. Reading others blogs will help you work out the type of things you enjoy more, if you like reading self help posts, then try writing something along those lines. Don't force yourself to write something that you're not 100% in to, when someones passionate about something they're writing about, it shines through, it's genuine, people appreciate that.

SHOP THE LOOK

(similar & originals)

Photos by Lydia Collins