10 SIMPLE WAYS TO UP YOUR BLOGGING GAME

By all means I am not one to be giving blogging advice as such. This post is more of a "note to self" get off your bum and make the improvements you've been meaning to you lazy mare. My blog is so far from "perfect" and needs so much work still so I figured why not share the ways I plan on improving my blog because maybe, just maybe this may help someone. But like I said my blog is a working progress and its kind of like a teen going through puberty, awkward and a little bit lost of the direction they are going in. That being said I can see a dramatic improvement from my first few posts, but here is my 10 simple steps to up my blogging game.

1) Consistency.
I think it is safe to say consistency is one of my biggest downfalls. I've gone from posting twice in a week to no blog post for a month. It's hard for me to guarantee 3 blog posts a week because I have a 3 month old colicky baby, which is not always an easy task and can take up a lot of my time. However I think I can try publish one blog post each week. That seems achievable, just remember if your setting yourself goals make them realistic and do-able. If you know it's something you can't keep up with don't even put the pressure on yourself.

2) Plan ahead.
This is one of the biggest blogging mistakes I've been making. I usually don't plan much in advance which worked okay for me before my daughter come along, but now every second I get needs to be cherished and I need to make an attempt to achieve as much as possible in the 5 minutes I get while Amelia naps. The best way to utilise my time is by planning ahead, plan when I'm going to take photos, when I'm going to do the write up and everything else. It makes it a lot easier than attempting everything in an hour and producing half assed work.

3) Preparation.
Prep is key. So prep and planning ahead is kind of the same thing, but when I say prep I mean remembering the silly things like making sure your camera and laptop are fully charged, making sure you have an idea of what your going to be shooting and have all your inspirations in one place. One of my biggest tips would be do a test shot with your camera, make sure the lighting and everything else looks good before taking 100 photos and realising the lighting was off. I've done this before and it is beyond annoying. By preparing everything before hand helps the blogging process run slightly smoother.

4) Quality over Quantity.
Okay so this is definitely something I am well and truly guilty of. Sometimes I put a post up because I want to try post something and for the most part I like it and think its okay, but I don't want to just like it I want to be happy and proud of every piece I write, I don't want to look back and think well that's just merely okay. I want to look back and feel inspired by my own work.

5) Venture out.
I've been a bit boring recently, my blog goes a little something like review, review and oh another review and while reviews are great my mind is filled with ideas and inspiration. I've just found it difficult to put my ideas into action, however I'm not going to settle now. I want to be able to create the posts in my visions and I want to venture out. I love reading fashion blogs and looking at look books and OOTD but I find it difficult to pluck up the courage and post more pictures of myself, especially after having my daughter but I refuse to let the idea of me looking like a potato in a dress put me off.

6) Interact.
I like to think I'm pretty good at interacting with my readers, I try to reply to every comment on my Blog, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, however of course the odd one does slip by but I would say 99% of the time I reply. When I say interact I mean more with other bloggers, take more time out to go comment on other peoples blogs. I think it is good to check other peoples blogs out, get inspiration and just appreciate someone else style of work. The blogging community is amazing, although I don't have a lot of people reading my posts, the ones that do take there time to. I really appreciate and think I could take a leaf out of their book. This is by far one of the things I need to be doing more often. Not only does it get your blog out there more there is also nothing more rewarding than when someone leaves a simple comment. I know its silly but it makes the all the hard work pay off when you realise someone is interested in what you have to write about. So if I could comment more on other peoples blogs, hopefully it will make them feel like all the hard work was worth it in the end.

7) Comparison. 
I'm guilty of this in every aspect of my life unfortunately, but it really is the biggest dream killer.
If your constantly comparing yourself or your blog to someone else, someone who has been doing it for years and who has a professional photographer then of course you are going to give up before you have even started properly. Healthy competition is fine but putting your own work down because it's not as good as someone elses, thats unhealthy. You need to believe in yourself and your work and if something isn't as perfect as so and so's then thats okay. You can aspire to be like them without putting your self down, just know that what your doing is a working progress and set yourself goals to get to the place you would like to be. Constantly comparing your blog or yourself with others will only make you dislike what your doing. Give yourself a break, it's okay to not be perfect.

8) Passion is more important than being unique.
While being able to create something different is admirable, don't worry if your post is similar to someone else or if everyone is talking about the same product. If your passionate about it, that will shine through and in my opinion passion is more important. So next time your put off because something is too similar to the idea you had, screw it! If your passionate about it do it regardless. If you have a great idea that is unique and your passionate about it, great! But don't beat yourself up if you can't come up with something completely unique, their are millions of bloggers out there of course, occasionally you are going to end up with a post thats similar to someone else, all that matters is the time and energy you put into it. Make sure people know what your striving towards. Also just as a little disclaimer when I say passion is more than uniqueness, I don't mean copy someones hard work word for word, I just mean it's okay to be inspired by someone else and create your own twist on something.

9) Personality.
I always find that the most talented writers are the ones that let there personality shine through, which isn't an easy task. I try to let my personality come through in my writing but occasionally I just get lost in the facts, but this is something I'm definitely working on, because well, I'm kind of hilarious, or atleast I think I am.


10) Be personal.
Again this kind of comes down to personality, but I want to try be abit more personal in my posts. I think the posts I enjoy reading the most are when people feel real, when they feel vulnerable and human. While I want my blog to look professional I still want to be honest and relatable, that to me is what is most important. I want to be able to tell a story sad, happy or funny and for someone to be able to be like, do you know what, I can relate to that.

Okay I'm done with the rambling, these are my tips and tricks to upping my blogging game and maybe one day, just maybe, my blogging game will be strong. Stronger than my eye brow game, although thats not setting the bar high.

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