5 TIPS THAT WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER BLOGGER

. THE BLOGGING WORLD HAS GROWN FROM A PERSONAL DIGITAL DIARIES, TO A CONTENT & COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY. BUT STAYING REAL IS THE KEY TO TRUE SUCCESS .

When I started my blog it was simply a little online hub where I would share my sartorial musings, download my guilt for spending too much money on clothes, and in turn showcase my new purchases in hope that someone may be interested! Turns out I wasn’t the only one with that idea, and it seems people were interested, not just people, brands too! As I always ramble on about, the blogging industry has grown (due to the sheer popularity of this type of content & conversation) and changed irrevocably in the last few years, and that is incredibly exciting and we should all be proud to have been part of the journey no matter how big or small our blogs are.

But as the industry has grown from a small community of online bloggers, to a worldwide commercial, content & influencer based industry, naturally with that rapid growth, comes the rapid growth of some potentially less positive things like competition, the pressure, the expectation & the required (and desired) quality of content. Whilst these things can have negative impact, they also have positives … they encourage us as bloggers to do more bigger and better things to continue to grow with the industry.

But sometimes the negatives that come with such rapid growth can stop you from remembering why you started in the first place, what the point of your blog was & what made blogging so popular & engaging! Sometimes we need to take a step back, and remember the things that made blogging wonderful, exciting & so popular in the first place, to be able us to continue to grow & become better bloggers.

Today I thought I‘d share 5 super simple tips that will help you become a better blogger … simply by taking a step back and remembering WHY the blogging industry became so popular in the first place!

5 TIPS THAT WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER BLOGGER

#1 DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF

We all know in this day n’ age that comparing yourself to others isn’t really the most productive, helpful or useful thing to do. And when it comes to blogging, this point is even more pertinent in my opinion. I even wrote an entire post on the point! The reason blogging became so popular, so engaging & has achieved such influence is because it’s so personal, so full of integrity and it’s so unique. Bloggers that do well, do well because they have total integrity, their blogs & social brands are so easily identified, they do their own thing & they never try to copy or recreate anything other than something that’s unique and right for them! Blogging was the breath of fresh air the content industry needed … realness. So knowing why blogging became so popular, reiterates the importance of NOT comparing yourself to others. Your blog should be true to you. And so comparing yourself to anyone else is totally irrelevant.

“The reason why we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.”

#2 CREATIVITY IS KING

One of my favourite things about the blogging industry is how it’s created this whole generation of creatives and content producers. Content production is no longer only about high end ad agencies, top publisher journalists, or mainstream TV studios … the most real, impactful & genuine content comes from individuals simply sharing their point of views online! This is the content that’s driving the industry.

Blogging as a profession or hobby is all about creativity, thinking up content ideas for features, creatively directing the imagery & styling of the story, shooting the photos for your features (and in turn becoming the director, the makeup artist, the stylist & the photographer) & not least managing the social conversations & engagement around it. And what makes a blog stand out, an instagram gain followers or an influencer get traction is this unique sense of identity & creativity. Continually pushing your creativity, your unique ideas & your own content style is what will make you a better blogger & make your blog and social channels better in turn.

#3 SOCIAL SAVVY

Blogging now a days is not just about the single blog feature.. hell no! Blogging these days is all encompassing, from your brand identity to your social presence, becoming a ‘blogger’ requires having your fingers in all the pies. And probably the most important and influential pie right now, has to be the social media space, from instagram & snapchat, to Facebook and twitter, having a presence, sharing content and most importantly engaging is absolutely critical to becoming  a successful blogger. The reason blogging is so successful is because of how personal it is, and so maintaining that level of personal-ness is critical …. engage with your readers, have conversations, welcome their opinion, debate, discuss, just chat. Either way, being socially savvy is key in becoming a better blogger!

#4 BRAND INTEGRITY

Much like the first two points around being unique and true to you, and pushing your own creative agenda, having integrity throughout is so important to being a good blogger. I don’t need to say again how important personality & integrity is to blogging generally, the level of integrity blogging encourages is the reason it’s become what it is today, but it’s important to always stay true to this if you truly want to be a better blogger. Staying true to your integrity, your brand identity and your uniqueness, passion & creative style is essential.

#5 JOIN THE COMMUNITY

Along with being socially savvy and managing your own social channels well, actually just supporting, engaging with & encouraging the broader community of bloggers is a great way of not only growing your own blog & brand, but also to grow others and the industry all together. Creativity is not a competition, and neither is blogging. The great thing about the industry is that there truly is room for everyone and everything, and so supporting the community, your fellow bloggers and influencers and really helping drive the industry agenda will not only be a positive action in the short term but it’ll also make you a better blogger in the long term too!

“You can tell who the strong women are, they’re the ones building other women up instead of tearing them down.”

“It doesn’t matter what others are doing, it matters what you are doing!”

The key to being a better blogger is staying true to yourself, having integrity in how you behave and the content you create, embracing your own creative sty;e and identity, engaging with your readers and the community and of course …. having fun & being true to why you started your blog in the first place!

I’d love to know if you’ve found these tips helpful, and what you think is key to becoming a better blogger?