In the last few months I’ve been approached by a number of people seeking blogging, business and/or social media advice.
I’m always happy to offer guidance and thought it might be helpful if I collated some of the questions into a blog post for you.
So let’s get stuck into it.
14 questions about blogging answered
1. In your opinion what makes a successful blogger?
I have two quotes that underline pretty much everything I do in life:
- Kind Heart, Fierce Mind, Brave Spirit
- slow and steady wins the race
Now I know that might sound a bit woo woo for some, but I truly believe that if you’re a mix of kind, fierce and brave and tackle projects at an achieveable pace then success will follow.
From a blogging perspective, don’t worry about pesky things like numbers or what others are doing. Focus on being the real, authentic you.
Look after your community, solve problems together and teach each other new things.
That’s what I believe makes a successful blogger.
2. Do you have to have a niche to be successful?
Having a specific niche or topic that you write about definitely helps when it comes to building your community and working with brands.
That being said, for quite some time Kirsten and co. was a bit nicheless. I wrote about everything from chocolate cake to Real Housewives of Melbourne.
I was also working with brands and my audience was growing.
So I think as long as you stick to being you AND you’re blogging for your community, you’ll be ok.
3. As a Lifestyle blogger, do you just write about your life, experiences and what’s happening at the moment?
A lifestyle blogger can write about pretty much any aspect of their lifestyle. I call myself a life and style blogger – a subtle difference, which allows me to write about life (my battle with IIH and weight loss journey), style (fashion and beauty tips) with a few laughs thrown in for good measure.
Regardless of what you blog about, the true key to success is to be yourself. I write in the same way I talk – I love telling stories that make people laugh.
I was a teacher prior to becoming a blogger and founder of a skin care company. While I’m no longer teaching children how to read and write, blogging allows me to teach like-minded women – and a few men – everything from style to business tips.
4. How often do you post?
Up until a couple of years ago I was posting every day. I look back at that and honestly don’t know how I did it.
In 2016 I dropped back to three days a week and that was a lot more managable.
Writing a blog post that’s of value to your community takes a huge amount of time. Sometimes up to 3 hours, longer if it’s a sponsored post with lengthy client requirements.
It’s not so much the writing, more things such as
that requires so much of your time.
This year I’ve been posting once a month and after completing an online SEO course, I’ve learned that one post jam packed with helpful information is far more valuable than 20 random posts that don’t offer much to the reader.
5. I’d like to branch into style/fashion a bit more, but no idea how to get into it and I’m not a size 10.
I’m not a size 10 either. I’m a chunky size 12 and up until a couple of years ago I was several sizes bigger than that.
Read my weight loss story here
Please don’t let your size stop you from sharing style posts. We’re all different shapes and I’m fairly confident I speak on behalf of most women when I say that I would rather see relatable images of someone wearing an outfit than someone who I know I can never look like.
Now that we’ve got the pep talk out of the way, the easiest way to begin your fashion/style blogger journey is to share your outfits on instagram and/or facebook. Tag the brands your wearing and join in with relevant hashtags.
#sharedmystyle is the official Kirsten and co hashtag. If you’re looking for more hashtag inspo, this post – 10 fashion and interiors instagram hashtags you need to know – will help.
6. How do you make money from blogging?
There are a number of ways you can make money from blogging.
The most obvious or known ways are:
- Affiliate links – check out Commission Factory for this.
- Sponsored Blog/Instagram/Facebook Posts
Other ways could include things such as:
- Speaking at events
- writing and selling online courses
- writing and selling ebooks
- opening an online store
- collaborating with brands to create your own product/line
7. What type of camera do you recommend?
I use my iPhone and an Olympus PEN E-PL8
8. What form of social media do you find the best?
It’s a tie between Insta and Facebook.
Instagram is great because you can have a mix of professional/beautiful/helpful on your feed and then have a bit of fun with your insta stories. Team Meeting anyone?
Facebook is awesome for a chat and Facebook Lives – Friday Night Live kicks off at 6pm QLD time every Friday night – are one of my favourite things to do.
9. How do you drive social media to your website?
That is becoming increasingly difficult. People generally don’t want to leave where they are and both Insta and Facebook want everyone staying put too, thanks very much.
But there are a couple of things you can do to encourage your social media followers to your website:
- If you have over 10,000 followers on Insta you can add links to your stories.
- Include your website in your insta profile – although it does need to be set up as a business account for this to work. You can do that easily enough via your Insta settings.
- Create awesome headlines that make people want to leave Facebook to read your blog post. Think helpful, relevant and/or informative. Not click bait.
- Create a weekly or fortnightly newsletter and include the highlight reel of your blog posts for readers to click through to. I use mailchimp for this.
10. How often do you post on social media? Is there an optimal time to post a blog post? Instagram? Facebook? Pinterest?
Once a day on Insta. Various times throughout the day on Insta Stories. Once or twice a day on Facebook.
If you have your insta account set up as a business account you can access insights. This will give you information regarding the best time to post for your audience.
You can also check your insights on Facebook to see when your audience is most active. That’s usually the best time to post a link to your blog post.
I’m not very active on Pinterest anymore, but when I was I would add photos to the relevant boards as soon as my blog post was published.
11. I noticed that you use stories on Instagram, do you post more personal stuff rather than creating a pic for the feed?
On my Kirsten and co. insta stories I definitely post more personal things. I love it because you can chat with your community and unlike your feed, it doesn’t have to be so ‘perfect’. Real is so much more relatable and definitely what I love.
I also have highlights set up on my profile. That way if a brand has sent me an item, I can insta story it, add it to my highlight and then post a beautiful image on my feed within 7 days of the item arriving.
On Skin Boss insta stories we keep things product or behind the scenes related.
12. Is building an email list important?
Yes, yes and yes again.
Building an email list is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do for your blog and business.
Why? Because imagine if every other digital platform – think Insta, Facebook, even your blog – disappeared tomorrow. You would be left with nothing. All of that hard work would be gone and you would have no way of contacting your gorgeous community to let them know what’s happened.
By having an email list, you can get in touch with your community whenever you like.
You can send them blog post updates, event information, product information, special offers – you name it, you can email it!
There are several different options for building your email list, but Mailchimp really is the easiest to begin with.
13. How do you get people to engage, answer your questions or leave a comment?
Engagement can be really hard to get. A lot of people – sometimes myself included sometimes – prefer to just scroll and roll.
My advice here is to have a play around with different things and see what works best for your audience.
This could include:
- memes
- outfit photos
- food photos
- simple questions
- interior photos
- behind the scenes info or images
Remember that your socials need to be about your community, not yourself. If you’re posting a food photo, share the recipe on insta stories. If it’s an outfit photo, offer some style advice. Have a look at other accounts with great engagement – what are they doing differently to you? Could there be some inspo there for you?
When it comes to blog posts, always finish with a call to action. This means asking your readers a question that relates to the blog post. It helps to get the conversation started.
Finally, try and reply to comments wherever you can. Not only does this help your enagagement but it’s also polite. If someone takes the time to leave a comment, thank them and chat with with them. Give it time and you’ll have a thriving community who you love to hang out with on a daily basis.
14. How long do you have to blogging for before you start to gain traction, followers, readers, subscribers?
Like anything good in life, it takes time.
I know we live in a world where we all want things to happen yesterday, but I feel like if you shoot to the top quickly there’s really only one place to go from there.
I’ve been blogging for seven years. I secured my first sponsored post one year in and have worked with some amazing brands since.
To be honest, I don’t really focus on the numbers. I mean I know what they are but they’re not my driving force. I’m here for the readers and because I adore writing.
It’s a creative outlet I never knew I had within me until I began blogging. I mean I knew I could tell a story, but I never knew I could actually write one.
So I think as long as you’re blogging because you enjoy it, your readers will pick up on that and the traction will follow.
Or as my fabulous blogging friend Miss Chardy always says, “Build it and they will come.”
And there we have it. 14 of your most popular blogging questions answered.
Huge thanks to Elise from Luv Lissee and Kirsty from Love Your Inner Mumma for asking most of the questions in this blog post.
They’re both relatively new to the blogging scene and I’m sure they’d love it if we all showed them a bit of social media love.
You can find their Instagram accounts here:
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