As my blog grows and becomes more "professional", I've been thinking a lot about the steps full time or well known bloggers seem to have taken. I've been reading a lot of articles advertising tips and tricks "every blogger has to know", and have taken them with a grain of salt.
So here's Angelina Is, version 1.5, as well as some easy steps to make your blog even better!
I hesitate to call this 2.0 because that warrants a huge change, and drastic improvement. At this point, I don't have the time, nor resources to really amp up production, but I do want to make my space on the Internet somewhat more personal and professional.
I keep throwing out the word "professional", not because I'm going into blogging with an expectation to make money, or have anything life altering opportunities, but because of lack of a better adjective to describe where I want to go.
You can see a little bit of my brainstorming up above, though that is the sanitized and "prettified" version. My actual thoughts would likely involve quite a bit more swearing and scribbles.
But as you can see, I'm trying to think of some categories I can really commit to, and dedicate numerous posts to. When I started this blog, it was a lifestyle blog, due to the fact that I don't have enough original outfits to be devoted purely to fashion, and don't know anything about makeup to save my life. To this day, I still can't figure out eyeliner.
I was happy with my self categorization of lifestyle blog up until a few weeks ago, when I was reading a post on the Nectar Collective a while ago, that basically said if you narrow your scope, you'll actually receive more numbers (subscribers, readers, commentors, etc.), than if you have a wide range of subjects.
The more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. If I'm interested in fashion, and a certain blog has a little bit of fashion, but also a little bit of vegan food recipes, knitting tips, and plant care, I won't visit it as much.
However, I still have no idea what category I fall into. And so, I made a little graphic organizer of what my readers most likely look like to help me figure things out.
So there we are. After writing it, I realized I basically described myself, so I'm not too sure how helpful it was in my case, but maybe for you, it will be!
When creating this organizer, I thought, "What kind of person would read my blog?", which would lead me to the question, "What sort of posts would this person like to read?"
These are mostly the topics I already enjoy writing about, simply put in a more visual form. If you're a new visitor and are looking for an idea of what you'd be seeing here, this is it!
Of course, if you don't fall into any of these categories, that doesn't mean you're not allowed in this exclusive club of Angelina Is readers (although if a club did exist, it would be full of the coolest and kindest people ever, so you would all be in it). Feel free to read away!
A wise person I know (thanks Ira!) wrote a post about the Pareto principle which claims that 80% of your outcome comes from 20% of your input. Meaning to succeed, your content should be 20%, and promotion should be 80%.
While I'm not too sold on the numbers, I do think I need a bit more promotion. Currently, I'm probably at about 70% content, 30% promotion, with my main form of promotion being commenting on other blogs (I do read everything, because I'd like to respect the work put into every post. Also bloggers can tell!)
With school starting up again, this has been dramatically reduced, and as a result, so have my views and interaction with readers. So I've been thinking I need a better, less time consuming way!
My main thing is that I'm thinking of creating a dedicated blog Instagram. I already have a personal as well as a photography, so I'm still a little hesitant to create a 3rd account I have to manage and build, but it seems like the best way to build readership.
I'm also hoping to do a giveaway
Domain name is still up in the air - based on preliminary research, it doesn't seem to be too pricey, but it seems so permanent and official. I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to that, but it's such a tempting idea!
With this very long and verbose post, I have a few questions I would be so appreciative of if you could give your thoughts on:
*What type of posts do you guys like/dislike to read? It can be from my blog or in general.
*What's one thing that completely turns you off a blog/post?
*Do you follow bloggers on Instagram? If so, what makes you want to follow them, and what will make you unfollow?
*What sort of giveaway would you be interested in?
*How much promoting of your blog do you do, and have you found it beneficial?
*Lastly, is anyone interested in doing some guest posts for each other?
Thank you all so much for reading and visiting. It truly means the world to me, and I'm always open to hearing feedback, both positive and critical.
xx
Angelina
p.s. my social media links have been added in the top menu (the ones I have anyways)!
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(edit: some clarification - I'm not going into blogging full time right now, nor do I expect financial gains. this is more my way to consolidate and strengthen my blog with the hope that it'll open doors in the field I'm interested in (fashion), as well as allow me to meet new people)
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