BLOGGING: Where Do I Start?

Now that we’ve covered how bloggers make their money, let’s dive a little deeper into how you even get to that point in the first place. After this post about blogging, you guys sent so many great questions that made me eager to expand on the topic.

First thing’s first: if you want to start a blog but you’re letting fear hold you back, my biggest piece of advice is to just START. You don’t need to be an expert to start a blog. Literally anyone can do it. ANYONE.

The best place to begin is Google. This is going to be your biggest resource…forever. I Google everything I don’t know. I also watch YouTube tutorials and read online forums on the topics I’m curious about. I’d guess that 9.9/10 times the question you have is spelled out in detail on a website for you, you just have to be willing to dig.

I’m not going to go into the steps of starting a blog here, but I do have a post written on things I wish I knew in the beginning, here 😉

Before you commit, research which platform sounds the most user-friendly to you (WordPress, Blogger, SquareSpace etc), and determine if you’ll want to use a hosting site (Bluehost, GoDaddy etc). In my experience, WordPress.org has given me the most flexibility with my website. I host through Bluehost.com and personally have never had any issues. Also just to note: though I technically have a .org website address, it shows up like I have a .com URL, so don’t let that be a deterrence.

Once you decide which platform will be best for you, it’s time to think of a name. If you’re not hooked on anything specific, just go with your name! This gives you room to grow into your blog for years to come without being tied to something that no longer resonates with you down the road. I started my blog with the name Polka Dots & Sailor Stripes, and after I moved to LA that name just didn’t feel like me anymore. Blonde Collective felt like a more elevated, fun, inclusive blog name that I could grow with. Even still, if I were starting today I would probably just use my name. Don’t think too much about this one 🙂

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One of the biggest misconceptions about this industry is that it’s easy. I think people view this profession as all play and no work. That with something as simple as hitting “publish,” all the brands will start flocking to you, offering to pay for posts and shower you with free things.

Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Sure – there are success stories you hear sometimes where girls grew at lightning speed, but that’s what I like to call lucky, or they’re just buying their followers & likes. Which 100% of the time just screws you in the end. Don’t ever do it.

Either Instagram figures it out and Shadowbans your account (meaning your posts won’t reach anyone), or eventually you just can’t keep up with it and it’s obvious when your following halts and your engagement tanks.

That being said, you have to be mentally prepared to play the long game if you’re going to start a blog.

You need to have a passion that drives you to do it no matter what – no matter how long it takes to get paid, no matter how long it takes you to get your first brand gift, no matter how tired you are balancing a full time job to pay the bills, no matter how much you don’t want to take time to consistently post blogs / instagram content – no matter what. You have to be ready to work harder than you ever have, and push through the self-doubt and frustration.

It takes time to build a following, to settle on an aesthetic, to determine your online voice, to build trust with brands – it all takes so much more than anyone even realizes.

But the beauty is that if it truly is your passion, you will be SO proud of your journey no matter how long it takes you. You have to love this stuff enough to do it for free for as long as it takes – if you go into this industry just because of the money and free stuff, you won’t last. You’ll get fed up, burnt out, defeated, tired. It’ll be too much if you don’t love it for the sake of loving it all. The highs, the lows, the in-between.

Now that we’ve established that, let’s get more specific.

HOW TO REACH OUT TO BRANDS

This part is tricky – even now I struggle with connecting with brands that I’ve never worked with before. Sometimes they come to me, sometimes I feel like I’m DMing new brands all the time with nothing to show for it, sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in work, other times it’s the opposite. It’s honestly so up and down, which is why this topic is different for everyone.

I’ve been very fortunate in my career in that I’ve made some amazing brand relationships from them reaching out to me via email or IG. It’s not always the case, but it is wonderful when brands make the first move.

When it comes to making the first connection on your end, I think a DM to their account is appropriate so they can see your IG profile immediately. I do believe email is more professional, so typically I recommend to reach out via DM to request the appropriate email to use in order to discuss working together in some capacity.

It can be as simple as: “Hi there! Love your *product/brand* so much!  Would love to discuss working together. What’s the best email to reach out to?”

Once you get hold of the email, you can then create a formal pitch, send over your media kit complete with your current stats (make sure these are always up-to-date), and rates if they are open to working with you in a paid capacity.

HOW TO GET NOTICED BY BRANDS

When you’re first starting out, it is SO important that you tag everything you can. Even if it’s old, sold out, whatever – tag the brand. If the brand has a specific hashtag, include that in the caption (ex: #revolveme is a popular one for Revolve, #lovelulus is popular for @lululs, #UOonyou for Urban Outfitters) and chances are they’ll stumble on it and repost it if it goes with their IG aesthetic.

The same goes for IG stories. If you tag the brand over and over and over, it all gets funneled into the same DM, so they’ll start to see consistency. Typically brands take notice to this and begin to reach out to gift you more product so they can continue to be tagged in your content.

Another great tactic is to send the brand photos without them even asking. For example, if you went shopping at Urban Outfitters and you think the brand could use the image, send them a few different shots and just let them know they’re free to use them if they’d like to. This shows them that you’re already a customer and willing to work in a gifting capacity. It also shows that you’re focussed on adding value rather than just chasing the money and free clothing. After you build a relationship with them, eventually this could lead to bigger paid work.

HOW TO KNOW YOUR WORTH AND PRICE YOURSELF

This is something we all struggle with in any industry.

First and foremost, I urge you to equip yourself with the resources to practice mental strength. This industry is very mentally draining, and it’s very easy to be your own biggest critic and get in your own head. Especially when it comes to knowing (and owning) your worth.

I listen to podcasts and love a good self-help book here and there to keep me on track and positive.

After you get your mind right, then it’s time to play with numbers.

Things to consider are:

• Engagement rate: the stronger engagement you have, the more negotiating power you have. This is why measuring your analytics is vital – if you have high story views, high blog views, high website clicks, high likes – they’re all worth $$$.

• The ROI (Return On Investment): be real with yourself, or ask people you trust to critique you if you can’t be real with yourself, and analyze if your content is quality enough for brands to buy it and repurpose. Are your images in-line with their aesthetic? Will they be worth the brand’s investment? Are you staying true to yourself and your style? Will this partnership make sense and turn over sales for the brand? Will it make them happy enough to hire you again?

• Follower count: I don’t typically like to lead with this because it’s true that your following number isn’t the only reason brands should be hiring you, but it is a great baseline to determine actual cost per post. You can either think of it as 1 penny per follower, or $100 per every 10k. Again, this is just a very general, modest baseline. The items above help you determine and justify the rate you actually decide on, but if you have 50k followers, it’s easy to explain to brands why your price per post is $500. If you have great engagement, and amazing content, that’s when you should add a few hundred dollars depending on the scope of work and brand in question.

At the end of the day, you are going to do what’s right for your business and what you see trending in your emails. My favorite quote to keep top of mind is plain and simple: know your worth, then add tax.

OWN it. Back it up with numbers and solid examples of past results. If you know you’re worth it, brands will too.

DM US TO COLLABORATE: REAL OR SPAM?

Since this was a question I got in my DMs, I’m going to address it, but plain and simple: this is spam.

I HATE when random accounts flood my photos with their spammy comments with “let’s collaborate! Email us!” and when you go to their account they have 7 photos & 45 followers and are most likely selling sunglasses on Amazon.

I personally ignore these, and would advise you to do the same.

This also goes for ANY brand that reaches out and offers you product that you have to purchase.

At the very least, if they want content from you, they should be gifting you. Don’t fall into that trap.

In the beginning of my blogging career I would borrow clothes from small boutiques to shoot and then return afterwards; no pay, no gifting. This is fine when starting out and often helpful for content purposes, and it was still mutually beneficial because I wasn’t yet pulling in brand collaborations. Plus, partnering with local small businesses is always a good idea!

Hot tip for those just starting out. If you don’t have the funds to shop for outfits to shoot, go into your local boutiques and ask what their policy is on partnering with local bloggers who want to shoot content for them. Most of the time they simply take down your credit card number and let you borrow some outfits to shoot. As long as you return them undamaged in a timely manner, they don’t charge you anything for it. This way you both get content, and you don’t have to spend your money! Plus, you’re showing support to the locals and driving businesses in your community. Win-win!

HOW TO REALLY BE CONSISTENT

If I’m being honest, I always kind of hated whenever I heard someone say “be consistent” when asked for advice on social media growth. But I do admit, there’s absolutely logic behind consistency.

Instead of a typical, surface level statement “post consistently everyday,” what I’m going to give you instead is concrete advice when it comes to what consistency looks like to me on Instagram.

• Find out your peak engagement times using your backend analytics. You only have access to this if you are a business/creator IG account, so that is your first job.

• Get to know your audience – when are they most engaged? Is it before work? During their lunch break? After work or after dinner? You’ll notice there is a trend to your peak engagement times. STICK TO THEM. There’s a reason you see spikes in numbers during these peak hours. More users, more eyes, higher engagement.

• Don’t let your IG stories expire. When it comes to best practices for IG, making sure you ALWAYS have IG stories up is crucial. You want to be consistently showing up to your followers. Stay top of mind by staying on top of the IG story lineup. Another helpful way to boost engagement is to post your new in-feed image to your story. I used to think this was annoying / redundant, but at the end of the day, you gotta do what you gotta do if you want to make sure your followers are seeing your posts. It can’t hurt to get their eyes on as much of your content as possible.

• Utilize the native features on IG. Geotag your location when posting an image, create carousel posts, IGTVs and Reels. Use GIFs, question boxes, polls, music etc. Use as many features as you can when creating on IG (in an aesthetic way of course) so that Instagram sees you are using the tools it has created for you.

• Set aside time once a day to engage with your audience and people from the explore page. I typically recommend reserving the hour after you post to comment back immediately and engage with potential followers by linking and commenting on their photos to garner attention to your page. Try not to mindlessly scroll anymore – if you’re on socials, consider yourself working. Comment thoughtfully and interact as intentionally as possible.

After you apply my top 5 best practices in your own day-to-day strategy, I’d love to hear feedback from you! Have you noticed a change in your engagement? Maybe your growth has become more consistent? I want to hear from you!

And if you still haven’t, be sure to download my free guide: Top 5 Things Every Blogger Should Know.