As per the votes on a post I did about a month ago, here goes. Over the past few months I have been receiving countless amounts of DM’s asking for advice on how to start blogging. So! I finally decided to share some advice on how to get that 10k. Levi and life has kept me pretty busy the last few weeks and I am finally getting a chance to sit down and start this Blogging Series. I thought that I could cover everything in one post, but there’s so much that I want to cover. Each part of this series will cover some aspects that I feel is important and key. I have been blogging for over two years now, and along the way have learnt quite a lot, the good, the bad and so much ugliness. So let’s start with the following questions first. Get a pen out and jot down your answers.
Why ?
You have to establish this reason first. Behind your thought process needs to be a reason as to why you want to start blogging. Here are a couple of reasons:
I want to have an extra income.
I want to review products.
I want to receive free things.
I am a creative and need an outlet to write.
I want to share my journey with others.
When writing down your list, make sure that you are very honest with yourself. If one of your reasons happen to be “I want to receive free things” then you have a different perception about what Blogging is. Nothing in life is free, not even blogging.
How?
Another frequent question I get asked is, “I want to start blogging, but I do not know how”. First of all you have to find your niche. What is it that you want to blog about? What are your interests? I started off focussing on local clothing brands for boys. For any kind of business you have to invest in it. I bought a variety of clothing from different brands; put Hudson in them and took photos and wrote a review. I started getting to know the industry and the faces behind the brands. While I loved exploring this category, I realised pretty soon, that it is not what I want the focus of my blog to be. Also it became a bit expensive buying clothes all the time, just to take a new photo on the feed. Now if your answer was “I want to make money” then you have to invest in your brand. To get money out, you need to put some money in. Last year I attended a few workshops on social media and growing your brand. I also invested some money into having a new website and I can not be happier.
If you want to start a blog and have your own website, the best person that I can recommend and personally use is Liz from Absolute Designs Knowing that your website is in good hands when it comes to maintenance is key. A lot of the PR work that I receive, I get through my website. It is a space where PR Companies can see and read my work and also get a feel of who I am and what I project.
Blogging is not about getting free things and just showing it off, there is some writing involved as well. You do not have to be an excellent writer, but your work has to make sense to your readers, and not just come off as a conversation that you are having with yourself. So, yes! You have to put some work into it and see it as a business that you want to grow. Another frequent question I also get asked is, “Should I attend a workshop on Blogging?” I would say if it is a workshop on the technicalities of blogging, like how to improve your rankings and SEO then yes.
Recently Nadia from The Non Adventures of a Stay at home Mom and Jeanne-Riëtte from Mama Chef Jozi started a new Social media Agency called Context . They have decided to take their love for writing and creating content and to offer their service to both businesses and helping fellow bloggers turn their hobby into a business. Why do I recommend them? Between the two of them they have 7 years of writing experience, creating content for well known brands, 3 South African Blogging Awards and magazine features. Both these phenomenal women started out the same as you, but they have mastered the art of blogging and are there to assist! They know what they are preaching. They offer the following services; Advertising; Social Media Management; Content Creation, Design, Blog kits. How can they help you? As a Blogger you will need the following: A media kit (This gives potential clients / brands an idea of who you are and what your blog is about); rate card (the rates that you charge to create content) ; proposal template (pitching your idea to the brand). You can contact them here:
Nadia@context.net.za

Jeanne@context.net.za

Part 2 will be up soon and its all about that flat lay and creating content for brands, and yes! to get noticed.
