12 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging

Let's virtually travel back in time and reminisce the golden olden days for a moment. Three years ago Zoey Olivia was born. I've had countless blogs before this one, I was an avid Tumblrer, I had previous Blogspot accounts and a Live Journal account which I can't for the life of me remember what my name was on there (oh boy... that's really going back, does anyone actually remember Live Journal?). I even had a Piczo account (If anyone remember's Piczo, yay!) Back then, no-body had even heard of what a flat-lay was, didn't think twice about tags and didn't carefully plan a monthly blog schedule.
In the olden days, blogging was used as a platform where you spilled things over to the digital world as if you were writing a diary entry, you wrote about your latest beauty purchase, what you're currently loving, your latest outfit splurges, or you'd write something super juicy and spill the beans on that boy who broke your heart. Not much thought went into it.
Oh how times have changed! Sometimes I reminisce about the old days and how everything was a lot simpler and a bit more raw. Although saying that, I do love that blogs have evolved and become more visually pleasing whilst still writing relatable content.

My blog has always been a hobby, I have a full-time job working as a Digital Designer and I create posts during evenings and at weekends. Blogging takes a lot of hard work, time and determination, you are your own photographer, editor, content creator, marketeer and social media manager. A girl boss. I think it's incredible that so many amazing content creators have made a living out of their hobby.

Over the past few months I have been taking my blog a little more seriously and making a few tweaks here and there to improve my content, do a bit more digital marketing and make my blog more user friendly with an awesome new design. So without further a do, here are twelve blogging tips that I wish I knew when I first started out and will help you too.

1. Choose a user-friendly blogging platform. When I started Zoey Olivia, I used Blogger.com (Formally known as Blogspot). More recently I changed to WordPress after a friend recommended it.


2. Make blogging buddies! Follow other bloggers on the blogging platform you choose as well as on other social media platforms. My personal favourite place to find cool new bloggers is on Bloglovin.


3. A way of getting your blog recognised is to comment on other people's blog posts and not in a spammy way (everyone hates a bit of spam). This way you get conversations going and other readers will visit your blog to see and read what you’re about.


4. Create kick ass flat lays and up your photography game. I honestly wish I did this sooner as my following has shot up in the past month or so.
   I love photography anyway, so spending a bit more time carefully creating the perfect backdrop and learning how to use my camera settings properly has been really beneficial.


5. To engage more people through Bloglovin' or Pinterest, create visually pleasing bright photo's that are vertical and stick to it.


6. Plan. Write down what days and topics you want to discuss each month. Have some form of a routine which your readers will get accustomed to. It can be writing twice or five times a week, whatever you decide do it religiously.


7. Write catchy titles. This is a bit of a new one for me, however it has been a game changer. You want to keep your readers coming back for more, writing eye-catching titles like 'The most Instagrammable places in London', 'The MAC Lipstick everyone is buying', or '10 Things to do on a Sunday' will help to increase blog traffic.


8. Use tags on your blogs! Nine times out of ten your readers have been searching for a specific tag which lead them to your blog. They may have searched generic titles like 'Beauty', 'Food'. 'Lifestyle' or they may searched for something a little more specific like 'Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Lipstick Swatch and Review'. Just make sure your tags are relevant to your post.


9. Don’t play the 'follow, unfollow' tactic to gain more followers. I've seen a lot of bloggers do this on Instagram, Bloglovin and Youtube and it honestly grinds my gears. You loose your credibility as a blogger, it shows your true motives and its anything but authentic. Let your blog grow organically and follow people you're genuinely interested in.


10. Schedule your posts for first thing in the morning, at lunch-time or after work when the commuters need something to read. These are the times when your blog will get the most traffic. I usually schedule mine around 7-8am.


11. Self promotion. Utilise your social media platforms when a blog post goes live (this is definitely something I need to do more of). Schedule tweets and 'grams on Hootsuite or Mosaico. Also, sign up to Bloglovin, your content will go up automatically when you post.
    Pinterest is another great platform for self promotion, although I haven't quite got the hang of mastering it yet.


12. If you want to step your blog up a notch, buy a beautiful blog design. There are tons of pre-made blogger templates to spice up your blog. I use a pipdig template and I bloody love it. Previously I have used Envye.

Let's get social. Follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog to see what I get up to daily. You can also reach me on twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Or, if you like Bloglovin', I'm kind of new to it but follow me on there.