read | beginner blogger tips

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Before I get started, I just wanted to make it clear that I am in no way claiming to be a blog-savant, or to have completely mastered the art of blogging itself (I’ll leave that to the professionals like Aimee Song & Nicole Warne), but surprisingly, I have received quite a few emails from people who want to start a blog but have no clue where to start, so I thought that I should do a post on it and impart most of my knowledge and the things that i’ve learnt in one go! Feel free to add on in the comments below on anything you think I’ve missed – these are just my observations and things I wish I knew before I started.

(Side note: If you really want to hear from the professionals, I recommend that you attend Talya Goldberg & Amy Scheepers’ BBlog Class. They said they’d do a whole lot more this year across SA, so they’re definitely something to look forward to!)

Plan

If you want to start a blog and be serious about blogging, you should probably have a blog/business plan before you get started. When I started blogging, I really didn’t think that big, so I wasted a lot of time rebranding and changing a lot of things as I went, which in hindsight, didn’t seem too… professional. Take the time and write out what you actually want to achieve with your blog, in terms of layout, colour scheme, content, and what you want out of it, etc.

Have A Vision

Carrying on from planning, you have to make sure that you have a strong vision. Think of a name, and see how it rolls off your tongue and correlates (or doesn’t correlate) with the things you intend to post. Sometimes ambiguous names are the best because they aren’t constricting in terms of what you want to post. Next up, find a blog home for yourself. I started out on Blogger in about 2009, so when I started DearSolo in 2012, I went back to Blogger because it was something I knew and was comfortable with. It’s really nice for beginners, as is WordPress.com, but like Talya Goldberg always says, for serious/aspiring-serious bloggers, a self-hosted WordPress is the way to go (read her tips here). You can buy/find more themes and templates and it just feels more professional (to me). But a self-hosted WordPress can become quite pricey – so things like cost should definitely play a part in your planning.

Pick A Template

Picking a template is probably one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do in your life, right up there next to choosing a name for your first child, or, like, deciding whether or not to begin a nuclear war. I find it to be so difficult because if you’re not sure exactly what you want, you’ll be trolling the internet for hours, but if you do know exactly what you want, you’ll find yourself doing the exact same thing. A template is incredibly important, though – it’s basically how you present yourself on the internet, so you have to get yourself a really nice and responsive (adapts to mobile viewing) theme. If you’re serious about blogging, it becomes quite an investment, so you might find yourself having to pay for a template that has exactly what you want or maybe even a web designer. There are some really nice themes you can get for free and adapt to what you want if you’re adept at learning code and CSS (I did that for two years), but life is generally easier if you can find and buy the right one. But, as you can tell by now, between web hosting and buying a theme, things can add up, so it’s okay to start without your own domain but with a great theme. Blogger and WordPress have their own theme gardens, but Google will always be your friend when it comes to the hunt.

Content

Content is obviously the most important part, though (duh). You have to have a clear vision as to what you want to blog about, why you want to blog and why people should read your blog; that is, what is your blog bringing to the table? Is it a new fresh take on something or is it the same old OOTD shpeel with no writing or anything else on it/fashion week runway round ups? I find genuine bloggers the best – share what you love, create what you love, and try your best to be consistent. I struggle with these things myself, but if you make a conscious effort to work at it, you’ll be great at it. Writing should be an important factor (check out Fashion Breed’s post on words in blogs here), but like many things, it gets better with practice. If you want to start a blog series on something, make a plan for it – like, if you want to post about art, books, restaurants and fashion, plan the type of content you may post for each. Have an idea of what you want to post before you start. This brings me to…

Invest In Your Photography

If your blog contains personal style photos (or any photos, for that matter), make sure you either: 1) have a good camera, 2) know how to use the camera you already have or 3) have a photographer or a friend who can use a camera. Visuals are an important part of any blog, so try your best to make the best of what you have and focus on improving yourself. When it comes to cameras, a point-and-shoot camera can do you very well if you know how to utilise it, but investing in a good DSLR camera would definitely help the quality of your pictures (I’m a sucker for Canon, and their entry level cameras – 500D-700D/1100D – are really great. A big pricey, but most of them are decreasing in price as you go on, yay!) If you’re on your own, you can get away with using a tripod, but if you want location photos, find a friend or a photographer (it gets real awkward without them). Some may ask to be paid, so unless you want to use those photos as your professional/cover pictures, avoid paying for photography (at least, until you can avoid it). Also: always stay in the lane of self-betterment. I’m trying to learn how to use Photoshop so that I can get myself some That Guy With Glasses/Amy Scheepers-type photos! Good quality pictures can make up for a lot.

Social Media

Make sure to utilise social media! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr are your BFFs. Look around the interweb and network with other bloggers, try and build a presence on Instagram and Facebook, read blog networking sites such as IFB and Lucky Magazine’s community, and do my personal favourite: comment on other people’s blogs while making sure to leave your link at the end of the post. Not only do bloggers appreciate comments and responses on their blogs, people like me like to stalk the people who interact, so it’s a great way to get your name out there. As a blogger, social media is your secret weapon – use it! Try and also forge connections with your readers. You’re not too cool to reply on Instagram! Make them care about what you have to say and who you are as a person, that way, they’ll stick by and support you.

Maintaining Momentum

The tough part is keeping it up. It’s all nice and great to start a blog and think of all the fun you’re going to have and people you’ll meet and events you’ll go to (those things do happen – don’t get me wrong), but before that even starts to happen, you have to put in work. So I urge you, please blog because you love it, not because of free things (even though we alllllll know free things are great), because there may not always be free things, and if thats why you blog, you can become very despondent at times and posting becomes really difficult. Like I said before, you need to assess what you want from your blog. If you want to create a brand and be an online voice and influencer, that’s great, but if you only want free things, maybe reassess why you want to start a blog. If you blog because you love it and appreciate the response from readers, then creating content and maintaining momentum will be relatively easy.  If you’re in school, or even at a 9-5, it becomes difficult to make time to blog, but always try your best to budget time, or if you find yourself having lots of time, prepare a few posts and then post them over a week or two to keep your blog ‘alive’. You don’t have to post every single day, but try be consistent. (I’m working on this, myself!)

So, In Conclusion…

I am still, and will probably always be, working on some of these things, but these are definitely the things I would focus on if I were starting a new blog. It would be a great start to hit the ground running with a blog that already has a great aesthetic and direction! A blog is a lot of investment (time and money-wise), and you can either do it bit by bit like I did, or you can try your best to get it all started from the get-go. But please, don’t kill yourself trying to get a wardrobe and website like Chiara Ferragni. Make the best with what you have! You’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish for free.

Summary

So, instead of reading those 1,6k words, you can get away with reading this:
  • Think of a name that you can see your (personal) brand with.
  • Choose your blog host, whether it’s self hosted or through WordPress.com or Blogger.
  • Find yourself a great and responsive theme. Look around (you can honestly be looking for days) for a good free one, or invest now and pay for one.
  • Find the basis of your content and make a plan for it to ensure your blog’s going concern.
  • Invest in your photography/camera! It makes a huge difference in the reception and professionalism of your blog.
  • Social media! Social media! Social media!
  • Make time for your blog, despite life getting in the way!
  • Blog for the love of it – brands come and go, but investing in your readers and your content goes a long way.

Thanks for reading this very wordy post, and if you’ve been thinking about blogging, I hope this helps you. If you have any tips of your own or think I missed anything, please comment it below and let me know what you think of my own tips! 🙂

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17 Comments

  1. January 20, 2015 / 11:10 am

    Great post, your blog is looking’ oh so good!

    • Foyin Og
      Author
      January 20, 2015 / 10:27 pm

      Ah thank you Talya! That means a lot 🙂

  2. January 20, 2015 / 12:51 pm

    Great tips! I am always on the search for similar blogs, and blog from where I can get useful infos! And, commenting comes naturally! I hate comments just for the sake of posting something 🙂

    http://everydayfacts.wordpress.com

    • Foyin Og
      Author
      January 20, 2015 / 10:28 pm

      Thank you! It’s always the best when you can relate to a blogger 🙂

    • Foyin Og
      Author
      January 20, 2015 / 10:28 pm

      Thanks, Moyin!

  3. January 20, 2015 / 6:09 pm

    Wish I had read this post a couple of months ago lol! Another great tip I wish I would have heard: quality over quantity! Had to learn that one fast!

    • Foyin Og
      Author
      January 20, 2015 / 10:29 pm

      Well it’s always here if you need it 😉 Definitely – quality over quantity any day! Be it in shopping or posting – I often find myself deleting & refining my entire life, lol!

  4. January 21, 2015 / 7:53 pm

    These are really great tips and I can totally relate to some of the things you mentioned, especially the whole style/look of your blog. I started out using blogger and designed my own template which was just downright ghastly when I think back but at the time, I thought I was a super-html wizz kid. A year on I’ve moved to squarespace and find the whole designing process much easier and have stuck to neutral colors (white, grey, black) to make the blog easier on the eye. Best thing I did was get a better template and convince my photographer bf to help me take photos. Great tips x
    Kate
    http://www.thebeautopiablog.squarespace.com

    • Foyin Og
      Author
      January 21, 2015 / 9:48 pm

      Thank you! I know the feeling – and I’ve definitely learnt that it’s okay to ask for help and not do everything yourself, and it’s worked out for the better! 🙂

  5. January 26, 2015 / 5:30 am

    great tips! web presentation is definitely everything!

  6. February 19, 2015 / 5:01 pm

    Really great tips, thank you! We are still learning everyday and your advice helps a lot 🙂

    • Foyin Og
      Author
      February 19, 2015 / 5:25 pm

      Thank you! We do the best we can to be better every day 🙂

  7. February 19, 2015 / 5:13 pm

    I have watched Sandy rise in my eye and have all ways asked him to help me blog or even feature in his blog, well I did once and he was still underground. The love for writing I think is the most important aspect of blogging. I started taking it seriously and from the first sort of professional blog post I did last year in October and I never looked back. I was even surprised to how people responded and one of my proudest moments was doing a piece with Iziqaza and learned a lot from that experience, most importantly containing the exitment that might make you do silly mistakes. Keep on doing the good work!!!!

    • Foyin Og
      Author
      February 19, 2015 / 5:26 pm

      You are so right – you have to love writing if you want to do this thing seriously! Great to hear your input and thank you for the compliment! 🙂

  8. Micaela
    February 11, 2016 / 9:27 pm

    This is definitely a great help. Thanks♡

    • Foyin Og
      Author
      February 11, 2016 / 9:36 pm

      I’m glad it helped! 🙂