Student talk in LIT Limerick 11th March 2015
1/ Write about what you love and not what you think others will love
A big mistake a lot of new bloggers make is, they look at a popular blog, and they think they can just re-create this and bam! You have a popular blog too!!! Wrong, this will create boring content that you have not really created, you have not put your heart into and you will probably get bored with long before your readers do, 1,000’s of people create blogs but very few actually stick at it, posting once a month about nothing does not make for a great blog and this is what happens when you try to just re-create and not be you and write about your loves , you get bored with bothering and readers find you by shear accident and not actively seeking your blog.
If you love a subject, then you can be sure that 1,000’s of others do to, I write about food , I cover other area’s but there is a big focus on food, if you love to read about planes then maybe write about them, car’s , life as a student, charity’s you assist, whatever you love , you create a blog on.
2/ Be Different
Now I have listed this but it is not the typical advise, we can have 100’s of people writing on the same topic, that is ok, the typical advise here would be to find something different to write about but really what I would say here, is write what you like about what you love and don’t get bogged down with trying to be different. You are you and that is what makes your content different to the next person’s.
3/ Write like you talk
Sounds a little odd but this is where your personality can shine. I often get told by friends, that when they read an email from me, they can almost hear me speaking it while they read it, sounds mad but this is so important, don’t stress over how is ‘should’ be written, write how you would say it.
4/ Good Content is Key
If you are going to the trouble of creating a blog and writing content, then make it content that is worth reading, create content that people will go out of their way to read, sometimes 100 words gets the message across and sometime you will need pages, I see a lot of blogs where the writer tries to have all posts similar in size, this is nuts! Sometimes pages describing the colour of a lipstick is just too much but equally make sure you get the message you are trying to say across, it is like watching a movie that ends way before you were ready for it too or a 30 min tv show being dragged out to 60 minutes , the content was really only made for 30 minutes and dragging it out to 60 minutes just bores you, a blog post has a similar issues if you try to drag it out
5/ Look at your Photography skills
This is not an area you initially need to invest money in but you do need to invest time, time to learn to take the best possible picture on the device you currently have, people love images and they are super to make your blog look great even is you have a very basic layout and style, for example my blog is food based, it is the pictures that makes some read on and it is the pictures that makes them click from twitter, face book etc. Take good clear crisp pictures, may well written blogs have rubbish pictures and suffer with readers numbers because of it.
6/ Look at your Formatting
I like my posts aligned to the left with pictures in the centre, whatever format you like keep this for all posts, if readers like your lay out, they will get confused if you change this, Also use headings and put real thought into these, it is what will make someone click to read, they are also great for breaking up a long post and to separate key information, for example my food posts begin with time/numbers they serve etc, onto ingredient, then directions , without heading this could look a mess and very hard to read.
7/ Research
If you want your blog to grow, you will need a blog you love and the more your research other blogs, the more you will see things you can adopt and from seeing other idea’s your idea’s will grow and a great blog will develop. They may have a layout that you like or widgets that would work for you, this is not about copying however, it is about expanding your idea’s on blogs and what makes a good blog great.
8/ Fake it until you make it
What do I mean here? I mean put your best foot forward, and be so confidant about your blog and what you do, your blog maybe tiny so make it look as big as the best. Initially you might begin with a free template and work towards a paid for one, put time into content, pictures, research and your free template will be great.
Also if your goal is to sell space to advertisers then begin with placing free ad’s , advertise your family business, a local charity, local community radio, advertisers like to see others already advertising and your free ad’s will make your blog look very popular, do not offer free ad’s to large companies, they will never pay of people begin placing ad’s for free.
9/ Do Good
Promote what you love instead of bashing what you dislike. Blogging is a fantastic platform so use it for good.
I am a big believer in goodness brings goodness, be it luck, karma, blessings, I am a super positive person and I believe this is why good things happen for me, I think they can so they do!
Also Engage with your readers, if someone read’s your post and then takes the time to get in touch with you, be nice to them, be complementary, be humble, these people will be your walking talking marketers as they will share your blog and speak about your blog to their friends and family.
10/ Connect with Blogging Groups
There are 1,000’s of groups you can connect with, be it Blog Network IRL on Facebook of Twitter, myself Clare with the Hair . com on FB, Twitter or my blog, I will post a list of groups and events locally in the next few days as well as all today’s tips if anyone would like them.
I find blogging a very social thing to do, I make many on line connections but I have made many real life one’s too from the blog meet up’s, and what is great about theses is that even though we are all different ages, backgrounds, we blog on many different subjects, we all have that common love of blogging and we all share the things that work and don’t work for us, blog events are a great space to meet lots of super creative people, it gets you out of the house for a real life chat , a few drinks, a coffer, a natter, a lot of people think bloggers live behind a screen and never have real life conversations, but this is not the case, I meet with more people today than I ever have through my life of blog.
Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people
❤ Clare with the Hair ❤
ClareWithTheHair.Com 
Defo gonna take all of this on board!! Thank you Claire 🙂
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I will write the next steps in the puzzle as and when I can 🙂 it is not 1 thing that makes a blog great, it is many and of coarse time, you have to give it time to develop, too many people give up too easy
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