My First Blogger Q&A

Hello my lovelies! Sorry for the brief hiatus on the blog, my life has become so incredibly busy it’s unreal and I kinda feel like I’m drowning but hey ho, we push on! The only saving grace I suppose is that overhauling my morning routine is working and allowing me extra time in my day.

A while back I posted on my Twitter that I was going to do my first ever Q&A and got some fantastic questions! Super thrilled, so a huge thank you for those who slid into my DM’s 😉

What’s one thing you’ve learnt from blogging?

My god, I wish there was only one thing. I think for me the main thing I’ve learnt from blogging is that you need to write for you. Write honestly and from the heart. If you blog about products and you love a product when you come to review it, let us know you love it, likewise if you don’t like it, don’t completely bash it of course, but be honest and explain why it doesn’t work for you. It may still work for someone else after all!

I’ve been told that my blog reads very honestly which is the best kind of feedback for me. I pride myself on being honest in all my blogs as I think people prefer it that way (correct me if I’m wrong), but you still find so many bloggers that aren’t honest when they write. Definitely gives the rest of us a bad name.

Thanks to Jess for this question! x Check out her blog here.

How do you gain more followers on your blog and social media?

I get asked this question probably the most. It really comes down to the quality of the content you produce, this could be photographs or blog posts, being consistent every single day and being patient is the key. It’s really not about the number of followers you have. It’s about the engagement you have with your audience and what you do every day to give them value that makes them want to follow you. For me, “success” has taken many months of constantly hustling while giving it my all and in most cases, it can take years. And we need to be alright with that.

It can be a real struggle for many because who doesn’t want to see their hard work paying off right away?! Well, truth is, you must be patient and always optimistic. Most bloggers give up so early because they don’t build up hundreds or thousands of followers on Instagram in a month and don’t get over 1000 views to their blog in the first week. It took me about 6 solid months after working crazy hours every single day after getting home from my full-time job before I began to see a return on my time and investment. There’s so much hard work, sacrifice, late nights, all nights, rejections, and challenges that are all a part of the journey. You need to love the journey! If you love it, your audience will see that and will love you for it.

How do you gain more traffic to your blog?

I really need to do a full blog post about this as this should be a post of its own. There are so many things you can do to increase your traffic, but to sum things up here are my recommendations.

• Website quality – Please please please make sure you have a quick loading and mobile responsive website. If you don’t, Google won’t rank you highly, and it will help you to have a smaller bounce rate.
• Produce great engaging content – At the end of the day, you own your blog. Take full advantage of the space and create it to be your little oasis. Write about the things that make you, you. Write about things that you love and are passionate about! If you have a great friendly little spot on the internet, people will enjoy visiting.
• Post consistently – To get traffic coming in consistently, you need to post constantly. I know I’ve been slack recently and we’re all human so don’t hate on yourself if you drop off every so often. But if you have a schedule, make sure you post on these days every week. That way your readers know when to come back and visit 🙂
• Engage with other bloggers – Commenting on and sharing other blog posts is a must. When you post a comment on someone’s blog, be genuine with your comment, make sure you actually read the post (sounds like a no-brainer but you’d be surprised!) and leave your own blog link there too. Engaging with your audience and other bloggers is just as good for your blog as it is for Instagram.
• Market every post – Again, it may seem obvious but you have to push your own blog out there. Use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, StumbleUpon and whatever platforms you are on. Trust me it helps!

I love your photos! What camera do you use?

So I was using my iPhone 6 Plus for quite some time when I realised that actually, people engage more with photographs taken with a camera. I scoured the internet for what seemed like forever and decided that I couldn’t justify spending the money you need to to get a DSLR camera! Instead, I did some research and decided to go with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 with Lumix 14-45mm OIS Lens. It’s not the same as a DSLR but really does have the quality and capability of one, without the cost. I do need to invest in more lenses but for this camera, they aren’t too expensive.

When do you find the time to blog?

God never. Haha only joking! But honestly, it’s tough! Sometimes I feel like I need a personal assistant. I have an editorial calendar which I continually change and update but do my best to try and spread my time evenly. Currently, I’m juggling a full-time job, my blog, writing my first book and doing coursework for a degree I’ve decided to do, so I’m pretty swamped. You just have to teach yourself to be strict with the time you do have.

Make lists or keep a notepad with you at all times so you can prioritise your workload. Trust me when I say, lists keep me going!

How do you keep yourself motivated when it comes to blogging when your everyday schedule is just so busy!?

Good question! Sometimes, my motivation really is lacking. It’s tough to keep yourself motivated when you have so much going on. I absolutely love blogging and writing so my passion for this keeps me going. When I need to give myself an extra boost I spend time reading other peoples blogs and that tends to spur me on. Like the above answer, make sure you allow yourself time to blog and set a good amount of time aside each week to smash out some content.

I find if you keep to some kind of schedule and don’t sporadically blog, it becomes easier to fit writing into your everyday life.

Thanks for your question Laurie! Visit her blog here x

Huge thank you to everyone who sent in their questions! Sorry I haven’t been able to answer them all but I’ll be sure to do a second Q&A at some point 🙂 If you have any other questions be sure to leave them in the comments lovelies!

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