Dear Pennies & Pens,
As you all hopefully know, I published a book called #MakeUrPenLoud: How To Be a Lifestyle Blogger last year. Since I love you, my dear Pennies & Pens so much, I am about to share some FREE lifestyle blogging advice with you.
Below, I have outlined the steps you should take to become a lifestyle blogger. If you have any additional questions or would like to schedule a custom consultation, email me at LoudPen8515@gmail.com.
1. Check out â#MakeUrPenLOUD: How To Be A Lifestyle Blogger: My book â#MakeUrPenLOUD: How To Be A Lifestyle Blogger gives you a definition of what a lifestyle blogger is and what we do. It also includes step by step directions on how to write about fashion, beauty, music, art, film, travel, and events (topics that most lifestyle blogs feature).
#MakeUrPenLOUD: How To Be A Lifestyle Blogger also features chapters on how to collaborate with fashion, beauty, and travel brands so that you can monetize your blog and receive complimentary products and services. With this book in your possession, youâll be armed with the knowledge you need to create original lifestyle content and work with major brands. Buy â#MakeUrPenLOUD: How To Be A Lifestyle Blogger on Createspace, Amazon, or Kindle.
2. Start your lifestyle blog: To be a lifestyle blogger, you must have a lifestyle blog. My book doesnât include advice on how to create a blog because Iâm not a techie and I didnât want to try and pretend like I am. That said, allow me to share some blog posts that include advice on the technical side of blogging aka buying a domain, theme, hosting, etc.
- How To Start a Successful Blog Today
- How To Start a Blog â Beginnerâs Guide for 2016
- How to Launch a Self-Hosted WordPress Blog in 20 Minutes or Less.
3. Create a blogging schedule: As a lifestyle blogger, youâll be blogging about multiple different topics simultaneously so itâs best to create a schedule so you can be organized. A schedule will help you figure out when you will write posts, shoot photos & videos, publish posts, etc.
I believe that a blogging schedule should include three things:
1) an editorial schedule — an outline of what topic you will write about on a particular day of the week
2) a content creation schedule — an outline of each blogging task you must do and the day you will do that task
3) a publishing schedule — an outline of what days of the week new posts will appear on your blog and when you will login to your blogging platform to schedule or publish posts.
Below, I have included screenshots of my editorial schedule for your viewing pleasure. When you look at it, you will see that I created a table for each day of the week. On the left is the post title and on the right is the post type. I created general titles for each post so that I donât always have to stress about the title of posts.
The content creation schedule is set up the same way with the task on the left and the work day on the right. There are 5 main tasks with blogging: research, writing, editing, shooting (photos & videos), and publishing. So all I did was decide which day of the week I will do those tasks.
Lastly, with the publishing schedule, I decided which days of the week I will publish new posts. I created my schedule after checking my stats on Google Analytics because Google Analytics will tell you what days of the week people visit your site the most. So of course to keep my traffic as high as possible, I want new posts going up on those days.
If youâre new to blogging, donât fret just create a publishing schedule that works for you personally. Also, you will see that I schedule posts on Thursdays, since I use WordPress, I can schedule posts so that they go live when I want them to. This way, I donât have to login and manually publish new posts.
4. Create an Editorial Calendar: An editorial calendar is another tool to help you stay organized. I use an editorial calendar to decide which post will go up on what day. In essence, I use my editorial schedule as a guide to help me decide what posts will actually go into the calendar. I use the âWordPress Editorial Calendarâ plugin to actually map out my editorial calendar.
5. Blog about Different Topics: Since you are a lifestyle blogger, you must blog about multiple topics at the same time. This is why a blogging schedule & editorial calendar are so crucial to success as a lifestyle blogger because it can get overwhelming if youâre not organized.
Blogging about different topics proves that you are a real lifestyle blogger. To keep things streamlined pick a few topics that youâre interested in and have knowledge of that you can blog about. Make sure these topics relate to one another in some way so that your site is still cohesive.
6. Blog with a Purpose: As a lifestyle blogger, your job is to provide value to your readers. You can do that by blogging with a purpose. That means your blog should be inspiring, entertaining, informative, or empowering. Donât blog for the sake of doing it, blog with a purpose because thatâs whatâs going to make people want to read and follow your blog.
7. Post about different topics on social media: Just like the tip from above, where I stated that you should blog about different topics, you need to do the same thing on social media. To keep things organized, you should post about the same topics that you blog about. However, to ensure that your social media content is original & worth following, post content in a different way on social media than you do on your blog.
8. Use relevant hashtags: This tip is specifically for Instagram because even though hashtags can be used on Twitter & Facebook, they donât really add any value to your content on those social networks. This is because of the character limit on Twitter (which limits how many hashtags you can use) and the fact that hashtags donât hyperlink on Facebook.
Hashtags on Instagram do work because most people use hashtags to find content posted by people they donât follow. In essence, using relevant hashtags gives you the chance to connect with new potential readers and followers. To give you some examples, use #lifestyleblogger or #lifestyleblog.
9. Connect with fellow lifestyle bloggers: Connect with fellow lifestyle bloggers online and offline so that you can share tips & tricks as well as get inspiration for content. You can also collaborate with these bloggers on projects. You can connect with fellow lifestyle bloggers online by following them on social media and you can connect offline by attending blogging events and conferences.
10. Collaborate with different brands: I made this my last and final tip because I think itâs something you should focus on after youâve been blogging for at least 2 years. Working with brands means monetizing your blog and receiving complimentary products and services and I donât feel like a blogger should be seeking out these types of projects until they have truly mastered their craft.
Collaborating with different brands gives you a diverse resume and it allows you to learn what works for different brands. You canât work with a fashion brand the same way you would a hotel brand. That said, you need to learn how to tailor your content based on the brand youâre writing about. Working with different brands will give you this experience and knowledge.
And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything. With us, keeping it real never goes wrong.
