At the end of May my little beauty blog was a year old.To me this is a huge milestone and I feel quite proud of my blog. I'm proud that I have got to a point where I am pleased with the layout and general look of my blog. I love the fact that I have reached over 100 GFC subscribers, which is a feat I thought I would never achieve when I first started this blog. I love that people take time to posts comments, tweet me and from time to time I even get emails from people saying they like my blog, to me all of this is amazing!
When I first started blogging I felt a little bit like an imposter, like I was trying to infiltrate an already crowded and well established field.I don't feel like that anymore but in the beginning I sometimes found the blogging experience a little disheartening and felt I would never reach a point I was happy with. Therefore, I have decided to write the post I wish I could have read a year ago. This is the post I wish I could have read to give myself a little confidence boost and some self belief.
1) Don't compare yourself to other bloggers
When I first started blogging I wanted to be like the well established blogs I admired overnight and when this didn't happen I felt like I had failed in some way. Although I'm still a new beauty blog I feel happy with the progress I've made because I have stopped comparing myself to blogs that have been around a lot longer than mine!
2) Set your own targets
Again this is about how you measure your success. I have three jobs, a flat, a family and a blog so I only manage to post a few times a week. Some bloggers are a lot younger than me and are at university or school (this makes me feel super old!) Its unrealistic to compare yourself to someone else, set your own goals around you and your life and commitmenst. If I manage to post three times a week then I'm pretty happy!
3) Don't obsess over pagaviews or followers
Its far too easy to do this when you're just starting out. Its easy to feel frustrated that you are putting time and effort into posts that noone is reading. Of course there are plenty of things that you can do to increase page views (social networking, SEO etc but I don't want to go into that just now) but if you keep posting people will read your blog, it really is a matter of time. This is the same with GFC followers, I do get super excited when someone subscribes to my blog but these aren't my only readers. Loads of GFC followers doesn't neccessarily equal a blog with masssive page views.
4) The idea that beauty bloggers get loads if freebies is a bit of a myth
I was recently contacted by a company about doing a review of their product but I had to turn them down as it wasn't appropriate for my blog.I have been invited to some blogging events and revieved some products in goody bags but until you're blog reaches a certain level, one that isn't guarenteed, I have to break it to you that you won't get many freebeies. I'm sorry but all these bloggers who claim they don't like free things are lying, I'd love a few products to be sent to me to review!
5) Be true to yourself and be careful about advice you chose to listen to
I usually take part in the #bbloggers chats and just recently I've been enjoying them but there were a few weeks when I felt that some of the advice being offered wasn't coming from the best place. Be careful what you listen to and don't be pulled down by the negativity of others!
6) Don't worry that you aren't good enough
I nearly turned down going to a beauty bloggers event because I was worried I'd be like the poor relation at the family party. This wasn't the case, all the blogger I've met have been super lovely and I love going to blogging events, even though they are few and far between up north!!
This is the information I wish I'd had a year ago. For new bloggers out there, keep going and get your blog to a point you're happy with. If you're happy with it then other people will be too!
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