Since I started blogging, I always wondered what is it that I can do to make my blog better in order to satisfy my readers. When I finally started growing my blog things I never though of came with it, I started getting business offers and the rest you know. Since it became my job, I also started getting many questions from other bloggers on how to grow your blog to a level of becoming more successful and recognisable.
I am not an expert on the topic, but after more than 4 years of blogging I have a lot of experience and now know what it takes to make a blog interesting.
There are over 155 million blogs in the world, the number is so scary and seems that nowadays almost every modern world person writes a blog, so how can you make yours extra special, or apealing and make your readers want more? In all honesty, there isn’t a rule, but there are certainly few tricks and tips I can suggest in order to have a steady grow.
First thing is consistency. The importance of blogging regularly is just immense and its something I wish I knew from the beginning. Of course that you want to focus on quality rather than quantity, but make sure to have some sort of schedule, something that will make your followers know when to come back. For the first year of blogging I only blogged when I felt like it, twice a month, or every other day, anomy readers just couldnt be bothered to visit Glam&Glitter regularly as they didn’t know what to expect. From the moment I announced that there will be a post every other day I noticed an incredible growth. Now that I blog every day my readers visit Glam&Glitter even more frequently.
Social Media updates are also extremely important. I know this is nothing new, but ask yourself how did you find most of the blogs you follow? Was it instagram, bloglovin or something else? Then focus on building a community there. I get a lot of comments from my lovely followers saying that they found my outfits/blog on instagram and now follow it every day. I would never go through a day now without posting on instagram, because I know what an impact it has on my page views.
If you are only starting your blog, and yet need to build an audience, I suggest besides blogging regularly, to devote some time and make friends in this industry. Find your favourite blogs, and make sure to show interest. Most annoying thing for other bloggers is spamming their blogs, instagram accounts and Facebook pages with a link and words “Follow me”. We spend a lot of time creating content, and its pretty frustrating when someone sees that content only as advertorial place. Leave a meaningful comment, and then feel free to leave a link to your page, which not only will make the host more fond of you and reciprocate, but you will get more views from the other readers if your comment is interesting and clever.
There is a sea of bloggers posting their outfits, most of us own same pieces, so don’t be scared to be different. My big bonus is that my personal style is pretty girly, feminine and colourful, which is rare at this time. Most popular bloggers are pretty edgy and love monochrome dressing, but that never made me change my style or be scared of being myself.
I already mentioned quality, and yes I know it can be pretty hard if you are only starting your blog and have another job. But try to make a good schedule for yourself, so that your photography is pretty decent. Bright and sharp photos done with day light are really what people love, and brands too. If you are trying to show that sweater in a dark room, colours won’t portray properly and brands wouldn’t want to work with you. Its all about inspiring people and showing then what they could get, how to wear certain pieces and giving them a reason to come back.
Saying that, you might think that unlimited wardrobe or makeup collection is another thing you need to be a blogger, and that is very far from truth. I constantly give away my clothes to friends, cousins and charity, and even though I know I have a lot, it wasn’t like that since the beginning. If you see my first posts, I had two-three bags that I was wearing all the time, and knew how to combine stuff differently every time. Having basic pieces in your wardrobe also helps, but if everything fails you can also borrow pieces from your friends, siblings, parents. I personally never really liked the concept of borrowing anything that isn’t from my home, because I think the whole point is to show your readers how you wear what you already have.
With al of those tips, don’t forget to have a story line, a bit of personality, so that your readers know WHO they follow. My blog really started growing when I first talked about my studies abroad, about the career path, about challenges in changing a country at the age of 18 and so on. Make sure to have a personal touch to everything you do and you will never be lost in the sea of bloggers. This is a great industry, and as creative individuals we can make it even better by inspiring people around the world, making them want to be better and striving for the maximum. I hope this inspired you to work on your blog in 2015 and to show your potential, I just know one thing- hard work never goes unnoticed.
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Od kako sam pocela da blogujem uvek sam radila na sadrzaju i trudila se da vam pruzim najbolje kako bi moji citatelji bili zadovoljni. Kada je blog konacno krenuo da raste i da se razvija, sa njim su dosle i neke stvari o kojima nikada nisam ni sanjala, tada su pristigle poslovne ponude i sve ostalo znate i sami. Od kako je ovo postalo moje glavno zanimanje dobila sam mnoga pitanja i neki od vas su zamolili da napisem post u kom vam otkrivam sta ja mislim da je najbitnije da uradite kako bi vas blog postao uspesan i prepoznatljiv.
Moram da napomenem da nisam strucnjak, ali nakon 4 godine bavljenja ovim imam dovoljno iskustva i znam sta je potrebno za uspesan blog.
Trenutne statistike kazu da postoji preko 155 miliona blogova, broj je toliko zastrasujuci i cini mi se da u danasnje vreme svaka mlada osoba u modernom svetu ima blog. Kako uciniti vas posebnijim, privlacnijim i steci citatelje? Nema pravila, ali mislim da postoje odredjeni trikovi kojima mozete pospesiti uspeh vaseg bloga.
Najbitnija stvar je azurnost. Bitnost ove stavke je nemoguce docarati i to je nesto sto bih volela da sam znala od starta. Naravno da treba da se posvetite kvalitetu a ne kvantitetu, ali morate imati odredjeni raspored da bi citatelji znali kada da posecuju vas blog. Celu prvu godinu blogovanja pisala sam “kako kad”. Dva putamesecno ili dva puta nedeljno postovanje totalno je zbunilo moje citatelje, s toga nisu redovno posecivali blog i posete nisu rasle. Od trenutka kada samobjavila da cu izbacivati novi post svaki drugi dan primetila sam neverovatan rast. Sada kada blogujem svaki dan, moji citatelji posecuju Glam&Glitter i do nekoliko puta na dan.
Azurnost na drustvenim mrezama je takodje veoma bitna. Znam da ovo nije neka novost, ali ako se zapitate kako ste vi otkrili vecinu blogova otkricete kako i da reklamirate svoj. Meni moji dragi citatelji cesto pisu da su me pronasli na instagramu, tako da ne prodje nijedan dan da ja nesto tako ne postavim, podelim ili objavim, jer znam kakav to uticaj ima na posecenost i rast broja posetilaca na blogu.
Ukoliko tek zapocinjete svoj blog i radite na izgradnji publike, preporucujem vam da osim sto blogujete redovno posvetite malo vremena i sirenju svoje mreze u industriji. Pronadjite svoje omiljene blogove i pokazite interesovanje. Najgore od svega za blogere je kada im neko spamuje blog i drustvene mreze komentarom “pratite me”. Potrosimo mnogo vremena radeci na sadrzaju, kreirajuci interesantne teme za citatelje, te je s toga frustrirajuce kada neko na to posmatra kao na prostor za reklamiranje. Ostavite komentar koji ima smisao i svrhu,slobodno onda ostavite link ka svom blogu. Ovo ne samo da ce vas uciniti vecim u ocima tog blogera vec i ostalih citatelja te ce se pozitivnije odraziti na vase posete.
Postoji more blogera koji postavljaju svoje odevne kombinacije, vecina nas cak i poseduje iste stvari, zato se nemojte bojati da budete drugaciji. Moja prednost je sto negujem svoj zenstveni stil, koji je uz to prilicno saren sto je sada veoma retko. Najpopularniji blogeri furaju neki monohromatski fazon, ali to me nikada nije nateralo ni da pomislim da promenim svoj stil.
Vec sam spomenula kvalitet i da, znam da moze biti jako tesko napraviti dobar sadrzaj, pogotovo ako uz blog imate i posao. Ipak, napravite raspored, tako da vase fotografije ne pate zbog drugih obaveza. Svetle i ostre slike slikane na dnevnoj svetlosti su ono sto citatelji najvise vole, a brendovi takodje. Ako zelite da pokazete taj duks u mracnoj sobi, boje se nece dobro docarati, a to moze odbiti brendove da saradjuju sa vama. Cilj ovog posla je da inspirisete ljude i pokazete im sta sve mogu da kupe, iskombinuju i kako da nosite neke stvari, zato im dajte razlog da se vrate na vas blog.
Mozda mislite da vam je za ovaj posao neophodna beskonacna kolicina stvari, gomila sminke i vrhunska oprema, ali to je daleko od stvarnosti. Ja cesto delim odecu svojim prijateljima, rodbini, dobrotvornim svrhama, i iako znam da imam mnogo sada, tako nije bilo kada sam i zapocela. Ako pogledate moje prve postove videcete da su se dve-tri torbe stalno vrtele, znala sam uvek kako da ih kombinujem drugacije. Ukoliko imate neke osnovne stvari to ce biti sasvim dovoljno. Takodje ukoliko sve drugo propadne, mozete pozajmiti odecu od prijatelja i rodbine. Ja to ne volim i izbegavam jer nije u skladu sa mojim konceptom bloga. Na blogu vam pokazujem kako kombinujem stvari koje mogu naci iskljucivo pod mojim krovom.
Sa svim ovim savetima ne zaboravite i neku svoju pricu, umetnite svoju licnost u svoj blog, jer citatelji moraju znati koga to prate. Moj blog je poceo rasti kada sam prvi put pricala o studiranju napolju, o karijeri i izazovima na koje sam naletela u zivotu. Obavezno dajte neki licni pecat svemu sto uradite i na taj nacin nikada necete biti izgubljene u moru blogera. Ovo je sjajna industrija i kao kreativne individue imamo prednost da inspirisemo ljude sirom sveta da im pomognemo da budu bolji i da iz sebe izvuku maksimum.
