Hey guys!
Today's post is something a little different. I frequently receive emails asking for advice on how to become a successful blogger. When I first starting getting these, I was a little confused - I guess because I had never considered myself "successful". But, I suppose my little blog has become rather successful in the almost 2 years that I've been blogging!
So today I'm going to be discussing tips and tricks for starting and growing your polish blog. Keep in mind, following these guidelines will not make you an overnight blogging sensation, but they will keep people coming back to your site.
Warning: This is going to be a very long and very wordy post! I put a lot of time into it though because I definitely think that some will find it useful.
Start for the Right Reason:
In my mind, this is the most important factor to consider before you start a blog. Ask yourself why you want to start it! As far as I'm concerned, there's only one reason that you should start a polish blog - because you love nail polish and you want to share that passion with others through photos and writing.
Readers are perceptive enough to realize when you're blogging for the right reason and if you're not, most of them simply won't visit your blog.
Create and Maintain a Blogging Schedule:
Another important question you must ask yourself is "Do I have enough spare time to dedicate to blogging?" Blogging is a commitment and if you want to be successful, you have to be willing and able to put in both the time and the effort.
Personally, I strive to post once a day, but not everyone can afford to dedicate that much time to blogging. Basically, just make sure to post frequently enough to keep people interested in your site. Infrequent posting and long hiatuses are sure to make people lose interest. A good way to avoid this is to create a schedule and stick to it. For example, I usually dedicate a couple of hours of my Sunday morning/afternoon to swatching. This gives me plenty of content for the week to come and then all I have to do is write up my post the night before I plan to post it.
Theme/Background:
When it comes to your blog's theme, there are a few things to keep in mind. If you're not very tech savvy (I'm not), there are many sites that offer pre-made templates that you can use (I used one myself until only recently). Blogger also offers a variety of templates that provide you with more versatility than a pre-made theme. If you so desire and you can afford to, you can also pay a graphic designer to create a custom theme for you.
With all of those options, I think the most important things are to showcase your own style and personality and to also keep it on the simple side. In other words, let your posts do the talking - blinding backgrounds and flashy gadgets are only going to distract from your content.
Post Titles:
This may not seem like an important factor when it comes to growing your blog, but I promise that it is! If you use abstract phrases/terms in your post titles, search engines can't find them as easily. However, if you use phrases that incorporate what your post is about, people are more easily able to find it through a search engine.
For example, let's say you're doing a review post of the China Glaze Electropop Collection. Your post title could be something along the lines of "Review & Swatches - China Glaze Electropop Collection". Then, when readers are searching for "china glaze electropop swatches", the search engine can easily find your blog because it's right there in the title! On the other hand, if you title your post "New CG Collex", for example, and readers are still searching for "china glaze electropop swatches", your post won't be as easily found.
Spelling and Grammar:
If you want people to return to your site, make sure to use proper spelling and grammar. If you're not comfortable with your spelling and grammar skills, I'm not suggesting that you go take a course before you start blogging or anything. Instead, just type your posts up in a word processor beforehand so that the built-in spelling and grammar check can help you out.
Now, don't get me wrong, we all make spelling and grammar mistakes from time to time, even if we use the proper tools and we're vigilant about it - that's ok (although some readers will still jump on the chance to point out the error). But if all of your posts have frequent spelling and grammar mistakes, it not only looks unprofessional, it's actually harder to read!
Photos:
A common blogging myth is that you must own a super expensive DSLR camera with many different lenses, but this is not true. Sure, it can't hurt to have a really good camera, but it's not necessary for taking good, colour accurate photos. The camera I use is a simple point and shoot that's roughly four years old. The difference is: I know how to use it! I read my manual and played with the settings until I found what works best.
Also, lighting is extremely important. It doesn't matter what camera you have, whether it's a $200 point and shoot or a $1200 DSLR, if you're photographing in bad lighting, you're going to end up with bad photos. Some people like to take their photos outside in the sunlight and if that works for you, that's great. But for people like me who live in foggy, rainy and often unpredictable climates, sunlight photography isn't very reliable. In these cases, you can try building an inexpensive light box if you haven't been able to find a reliable lighting source.
One last photography tip is to make sure your background is not distracting and that it's consistent throughout your photos. If you're using a light box, this won't be an issue. Otherwise, use a neutral coloured bed sheet or piece of matte poster board as your background.
For more photography tips, check out Sarah's (Chalkboard Nails)
tutorials page.
Swatches:
Once you've got your photography down, you need to make sure that your hands and nails are aesthetically pleasing. A big part of being a nail blogger is taking good care of your hands and nails! That doesn't mean that you must have perfect hands, nails and cuticles in order to become a nail blogger, but just keep in mind that you're going to be posting photos for anyone and everyone to view, so take pride in that and do what you can to maintain healthy nails and cuticles. My
Manicuring 101 Series will be helpful in that area.
Furthermore, when actually polishing your nails, be as careful as you can. Remember when you were a kid and you were always told to colour inside the lines? Well that still applies today! However, if you happen to flood your cuticles with a little polish or you happen to get some on your skin, simply take a small paintbrush or angled eyeliner brush, dip it in some acetone, and run it along the area that requires clean up. This makes your swatches look so much cleaner, more professional and easier to look at.
After clean up, be sure to moisturize your cuticles! This is super important because dry, flaky cuticle can distract from the polish or nail art that you're trying to showcase. I covered all the basics of cuticle care, including moisturizing in my
Cuticle Care post, so that might be worth checking out.
Link Dropping:
This is a general "don't" in the blogging community. Commenting on other's posts is great and I'm sure they appreciate it (I know I appreciate all the comments that you guys leave me), but when your comments are clearly selfishly motivated (i.e. "Cool post. Check out my blog!"), it's a pretty big turn off. In fact, a lot of the time it'll have the opposite effect that you want and it will just turn people away from your blog.
Instead, comment regularly on blogs that you like and read frequently. People will eventually start to notice you and they might even click on your name to see what you're all about. Sure, it's a lot easier to link drop, but I promise you that you'll be much more respected this way.
Social Media:
A good way to establish yourself in the community is through the utilization of social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest. Avoid link dropping, but post your photos on Tumblr and Pinterest and get to know others in the community through Facebook and Twitter.
Samples from Companies/PR Reps:
One of the perks of being a nail blogger is that sometimes companies will send you their products to review! This is an excellent way to try new products and to save money on products that you might have bought on your own. But as much as being sent free products is all kinds of awesome, it should not be your goal as a blogger. Instead, it should be a bonus.
Companies generally want to have their products advertised on bigger, more established blogs, so it's best to wait until you've established yourself in the community before trying to contact any companies.
On that note, I should mention that sometimes companies or their PR Reps will contact you (especially if there's something unique about your blog that interests them), but a lot of the time you'll have to take the initiative on your own. But, since getting free products shouldn't be your goal, don't feel too bummed out if companies say no to your requests or if they don't respond at all.
With all that said, the nail polish blogging community is very saturated right now, so it's a lot harder to build relationships with companies and their PR Reps than it once was. I've been blogging for almost 2 years and it's not often that I'm sent items for consideration, so you can imagine that it's even harder now.
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Of course, I myself was guilty of some of the "blogging don't" tips discussed above, so don't feel bad if you've also been guilty of them. Blogging is a learning process and we all improve as we continue to blog and I hope that these tips will help with that process!
Good luck and happy blogging!
