(Photograph by Mario Testino) Kate Moss and her own personal army of fashion bloggers - laptops at the ready!
Yesterday evening, a small group of newbie bloggers gathered in the Go Blog! Lounge at the Westfield Big Wardrobe for the first ever FEAL tutorial.
I was joined by Victoria Lan, Tayo Bello, Natasha Woodward, Anyi Hobson, Kat Nowakowski, and Debz Eastlake for an hours discussion on all things blog-related, including setting up a site from scratch, common obstacles that all bloggers encounter, and the benefits that a great blog can bring.
It all got very excitable, as you can imagine with a group of seven girlies all full of ideas! I thought I'd share some of our hottest topics with any other fledgling bloggers out there.
- Starting Out!
We agreed that it is crucial to decide on your 'modus operandi' before you start out; to work out the identity of your site so that you can create a consistent voice. The look of each blog is also crucial; don't feel that you have to follow the same mould as every other blogger with exactly the same template.
- The Techy Stuff
There is a definite divide between the Wordpressers and the Bloggers of this world! For those that are more clued up with HTML coding, it seems Wordpress offers more flexibility with site design - but it's best to find which one you find easier to use. Key words are also the bloggers best friend, along with linking your blog to sites like Bloglovin, to make it more 'searchable'.
I'm currently writing this on a neon 'Vaio' laptop in the Go Blog lounge - vibrant!
Just like the layout, it's key to find your own niche; there is no point trying to emulate bloggers that are already successful because they will have cornered their own little part of the market. Whether your blog is image or word based, find what you are passionate about and post about it - and although frequent updates are crucial to achieve a good group of followers, on the flip side there is no point posting 'for post's sake'. Quality not quantity, and all that.
If you are starting a blog, your laptop/Blackberry/iPhone/iPad will become your closest friend...
- What's The Point?
With any blog, it's helpful to work out what you want to achieve from it. In our tutorial group, we had a mixture of writers, stylists and entrepreneurs who all wanted to start blogs for different reasons, and that goes for everyone. Whether it's to hone your writing skills, create a visual portfolio or promote your new business, blogging is the perfect platform to get your work out there. You can also choose to go on the 'blogging as a career' route; it will take a whole lot of hard work, but you with blogging, you really do get out what you put in.
That's just a taster of what went down during our discussion yesterday, so I'm looking forward to what's going to come out of the second session in a few hours. If anyone else has great advice or tips for newbie bloggers, please post a comment!
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