7 Ways To Up Your Blogging Game in 2018

I'm trying to shake up my blog a little this year and write about various different topics because I know I've been very beauty focused as of lately. I've recently seen some fellow bloggers struggling with reaching their blogging goals and saying that they've hit a blogging slump and I thought I'd do a post about upping your blogging game. Even though I'm no pro at this I thought I'd share with you some tips which I've found have really helped me and my blog over the past 12 months.

Photography Skills - 
I'm saying it now, you don't need a fancy camera to have a good blog and for brands to work with you. If you can afford to invest in a camera which produces high quality photos then yes, go for it but don't feel pressured to drop that kind of cash if you can't afford it and that you're a bad blogger because you use your phone camera instead. That's what happened to me last summer, I hit blogging slump and I just felt like my blog was just a bit well, shit. I felt like my writing was rubbish and my photos were poor because they were taken on my phone camera and I almost quit the whole thing. But after having a think about it I thought of some ways which could get me out of the slump and make me feel motivated again. I spend some time changing up my photos, buying new props and I also decided to get two soft box lights to improve my photos because my room doesn't get tons of light and hey, it worked and I've now gone self-employed through my blog, woo!

Invest -
I've already touched upon this above but investing in your blog definitely works no matter how big or little. Whether it's buying a domain name, going self hosted, buying some new blog props, a theme, logo, a camera etc etc. My recent investement that I put into my blog is my new theme from pigdig which I love sooo much. (It's called Firefly and is £39 for anyone wondering) and it definitely made me feel more motivated to produce new content and get back on track after Christmas.

Interact -
Interacting with your audience is a must. There's nothing more annoying than bloggers who don't interact with their readers because their following count has gone to their head. Plus I like chatting to my followers on twitter and talking about all different topics. I'll admit I do sometimes find social media overwhelming and draining when I'm feeling low so some days/weeks I might just have a string of promoted tweets but it's not me being ignorant at all. I'm either super busy or I'm just having a rubbish day/week basically. 

Promote Your Posts -
I know people feel awkward about sharing their blog posts throughout the day on Twitter but it really does work. If I don't share any posts or only share 2 or 3 in a day I see a huge decrease in blog views and comments. So I would definitely say promote your posts! I personally use Buffer because I find it easiest to use.

Reply To Comments -
I'll admit I'm hopeless at the this but I'm trying to be better at it. I'll get the notification that someone has commented on my blog and make a mental note to reply and then totally forget. But for 2018 I've made it a thing to sit down one or two evenings a week and reply to comments and check out peoples blogs too. Also another tip: commenting on blogs can help increase your DA score (well that's what I've read anyway).

Reach Out To Brands - 
I know reaching out to a brand may seem like a huge no-no and some people don't think you should do it but dropping an email to a brand whether they're a small biz or well-known brand and introducing yourself and your blog does no harm. The worst reply you can get is either nothing or just a simple no. I reach out to brands often and I've worked with some fab brands because I reached out first, I also receive emails from PRs/brands often too. Another tip is to put out a #prrequest often on Twitter just to say you're a beauty/lifestyle (whatever niche) blogger and that you're looking for brands to work with. 

Create a Media Kit -
Once your blog and social media following starts to grow a little I would highly recommend getting a media kit just in case any brands want to see one for a collab or to put your blog on file for possible future collabs. A basic media kit is a page or two about you and your blog, what it's niche, your overall following and views, brands you've worked with (if you have worked with any) and the age and gender of your audience. You can also add what you offer on your blog i.e reviews, your sponsored post rates and more. You can put together a media kit on Canva pretty easily but you can also get someone to make you a media kit like Beth, Laura and Lauren for example for an affordable price.

So there are my tips to up your blogging game! Also my review of the PIXI MatteLast Liquid Lipsticks* in the photo will be on my blog soon with swatches.

follow me: twitter / instagram

*PR sample, all opinions are my own