Tips, tricks and what I've learned in my short 9 months of lifestyle blogging

I don't do a whole lot of super written out posts here (mainly because I'm not that great of a writer), but this is a subject matter I felt would be beneficial to share. Bare in mind, I am still fairly new to blogging and all of the following is merely based on observation (and a little from a Design degree). So here it goes....

How to attract your audience and spread your creativity more efficiently in the LifeStyle blogging world...

Always be aware of what attracts new readers. Know your audience. Yes, you may have readers that come back everyday and will look at whatever you post regardless of what it is, but a good portion of people coming to your page are new viewers. What normally attracts you to a new blog? Become aware of what pages you linger on and which you immediately X out of. 

Dependent on the design, people are usually attracted to clean. If your blog has the appearance of order, structure, color coordination and an attractive banner, you will get a scroll down and maybe a new follower. Be sure to choose colors for your design that fit the overall tone of your blog. Choose complementary colors whenever possible. There's a reason they are called "complementary colors" and it's because our eye is drawn to those pairings. Our eyes unknowingly enjoy complementing colors. Be aware of this when you begin designing your blog layout. 

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A small peek into my ever growing camera collection

Scrutinize your content. People love to see daily life and your cell phone pics from time to time, but new readers will want more than this. I know that when I get on a blog for the first time and the first three posts are poor quality cell phone shots with a story about their day, I usually click off. Nothing personal at all, but I don't know them and I am looking for an interesting subject matter or post when I get on a new blog. Something that catches my eye! Once I'm an avid follower, I WANT to see those personal posts from time to time. Just try to keep a healthy balance between posts such as these. :)

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My tiny toy collection

Pictures really do matter. Even if you don't have a fancy-schmancy camera, you can still follow basic principles for attractive images. Having attractive high quality images is truly important to grabbing new readers attention. Want to learn a few basics about getting attractive images even with a cheaper camera? Stay tuned for next week as I go through some basic steps to improving your images! I can guarantee that new viewers will begin popping up more as your photographs of life, food, fashion, etc. begin to improve!

 
People don't like to read long masses of text in general. ESPECIALLY new readers. Just as in postings of your everyday life, take into consideration how often or when you are creating posts that include long and full text. If the headline is grabbing, you may receive a lot of reads, but in general, this will not catch the eye of new readers. Want to write to get people to read? Include a photograph that relates to the topic at hand. Or maybe several photographs. Make sure you break up your paragraphs with either pictures or big spaces in between. This gives people the illusion of reading less. It will also make people interested to see what is written about said photograph. Another little hint I learned in Typography class, italicized type is easier and more pleasing to read when set apart. 
People will be more likely to read it if it's in italics. 
Also, people will want to read smaller type when set apart because it makes you feel like you are reading less...

Original content. This is so key as the lifestyle-blogging world is ever growing! What are you going to do that stands out? What can you post that stands out? Though I love Inspiration posts, Wishlists Wednesdays or Things I Love Thursdays, etc. etc. etc., those posts in general display little to no original content. They are fun and I would strongly suggest some kind of themed post like this to draw people's attention to things you love or recognize from all over the interwebs, however, this info can be found on a dozen or more other blogs. If your blog is heavily focused on "your finds on pinterest" or "wishlists" with images that are not your own, people will get bored. They want to know that when they get on your blog, there will be info they won't see anywhere else. Images they won't see anywhere else. DIYs they won't see anywhere else, etc.

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My favorite shoes

Don't oversaturate your blog with other content (this being a very similar but different point from the last). I have found that so many blogs I have followed became over populated with "other people's" content. Whether it be guest posts, interviews, giveaways or flat out advertisement, at a point, it becomes a turn off to me. Now don't get me wrong, I love the occasional giveaway or guest post/interview (obviously), but it's so disappointing to see truly genuine, talented bloggers boggle down their own blogs with frequent unoriginal content and show less and less of themselves there. Your blog needs to have original content, your own words, and your own pictures. This is YOUR blog and they go to your page to see YOU and not everyone else. It's something I feel pretty strongly about and something I am noticing more and more of in the lifestyle blogging world. Limit yourself here. Instead of doing 3 sponsor interviews in a week, try 1. Instead of 2 giveaways back to back in a week, try doing it twice a month. Remember, this blog is a space for you! Share what you want, but remember that people come to the blog for you and no one else!

The most important thing I've noticed is to try not to compare your blog to everyone else's blogs. Make yourself constantly aware of what you love when you check out other blogs and then try to apply the same principle to your own. But if you start comparing actual content and simply follow the trends, then your blog will blend with the rest and be nothing significant to stand out.

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Self Portrait

So, in other words, I am still a baby blogger ( 9 months on Typepad now ), but I have noticed a lot in those 9 months. I hope that you don't take anything I say TOO seriously. I know there are always exceptions to all my points and if you want your blog to be something different than these points, AWESOME! In essence, the thing I've noticed the most is: Post what you love, make it look and sound appealing, always keep things exciting and don't just blend with the trends.

Hope some of this was helpful and if you have anything to insert or disagree with, just leave me a comment :) I'm all ears and still wanting desperately to learn more and more!

 

Comments

[Jean Loper]

Your blog continues in awesomeness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kelli]

This was such a helpful post, as a really really new blog, but long time reader- i took a lot from this!

[Anna Z]

Several good points for sure! I agree with them all. I think you already touched on it but I think it's really important to be able to connect with your readers and be original. No one wants to see the same topics over and over. Try not to mirror other bloggers.

Congrats on your success Violet! Exciting.

[Allison]

I completely agree with all of this. I am still new to the whole blogging world but these tips do make a difference. I am still struggling to find my voice. I am excited for your photo tips. I took one photo class in school but still have a TON to learn to help make my photos better and more interesting for my blog and in general.

[Alice]

Great post, I really enjoyed it! Although I'm not new to blogging, my current blog is completely different to my old one, and these tips were really useful.

It's interesting that your typography class taught you that small fonts and italics as positive things - in my creative writing classes, I was taught to avoid italicising for the sake of it as it's irritating for the reader, and I've always agreed. I can't bear small fonts as they're harder to read - especially on a computer screen - and italics should be reserved for emphasis only. There's a trend for bloggers to italicise bracketed words for the sake of it and I just hate it! Anyway. Enough of me being a negative nancy :)

[Heather]

Lovely post. As a new blogger (Started in January!) I'm really trying to "find" my style of blogging. It's tough to know what people are actually interested in. I enjoy setting up the posts that I do, but at the same time, I feel they're very generic. It's hard to know how much of yourself readers actually want to hear! I'm slowly integrating in more and more about myself into my blog, but its a trial and error type of learning experience!

http://ahopelessnotebook.blogspot.com/

[Steven Andrew]

I definitely agree with all of this. When I first view a blog, the design and cleanliness is what really keeps me on your page. I'm such a OCD freak when it comes to being in order and clean.
I definitely want to share this with others!

[Şenay]

Your blog is so very lovely and so are you^^ Oh and those shoes are adorable!<3 I agree with these, the design and especially using photos do matter. I personally find it hard to read blogs with dark, gloomy atmospheres and no photos on top of it.

[Şenay Selin]

Your blog is so very lovely and so are you^^ Oh and those shoes are adorable!<3 I agree with these, the design and especially using photos do matter. I personally find it hard to read blogs with dark, gloomy atmospheres and no photos on top of it.

[arielle]

I agree on you with all of these points. I've only been blogging for 4 months but I've noticed these things. I hate blogs that lose their individuality because they go overkill with giveaways and advertisements. Glad you posted this! :)

[Emily Baker]

Violet,

Well freakin' done with this post. You put so much work into and displayed it so well. I couldn't have said it any better. Seriously.

[thursday]

I thought this post was really well thought out and it will definitely be helpful to those who are new to blogging and feeling a bit lost. On the topic of not over-saturating your blog with 'other' content I would take it a step further and even say don't over-saturate in general. If you create a post that you really love (a diy, something really heart felt, something with beautiful photos, etc) why not give your readers a chance to enjoy it before burying it with a bunch more posts in the same day? I like to remind people that not everything is meant to be a blog post. Give yourself some breathing room and live by quality over quantity.

[BlythePonytailParades]

Thank you :)

[BlythePonytailParades]

I'm really glad to hear that :)

[BlythePonytailParades]

Yep, agreed!

[BlythePonytailParades]

I'm looking forward to posting that one! It's gonna be fun :D

[BlythePonytailParades]

Haha well, when set apart, italics is easier to read for most people (not for whole paragraphs or anything like that), but because it is slanted, our eyes skim it quicker. Smaller fonts are harder to read in some cases, but just like with italics, when set apart, people want to read it (like my notes below each of my images). It's something different and it looks like a quick read because of it's small size! Thanks for the input though! Maybe I should have worded that section better :)

[BlythePonytailParades]

I understand and it is definitely still trial and error for me! I am always trying to keep my mind open and think through my posts ahead of time.

[BlythePonytailParades]

Yep, if it's not orderly, I won't even bother :P

[BlythePonytailParades]

Thank you so much :)

[BlythePonytailParades]

Thanks!!!!!

[BlythePonytailParades]

You're awesome! I really appreciate the encouragement. I debated this post for weeks...I was kind of scared to post it, but I'm glad it seems to be well received :)

[BlythePonytailParades]

I couldn't agree more and this is something I struggled with when I first started out too (kind of before I started planning out my posts) and I would just post anything and everything. Partially because I was new and I wanted to juice up my blog, but partially because I didn't truly understand viewership and what people were looking for. It definitely is a matter of quality over quantity in every situation!

[Madeline Quaint]

What you write is absolutely wonderful and totally useful! I agree with basically everything you say.

Clean design - yes! Good photography - yes! (I can't wait for your tips!) Not too many phone pictures of people's breakfast - yes! :)
Not too many giveaways - yes! (I got turned away from many well-established blogs because of too much advertisement and too blatant brand-associations.)

I wish I could stop comparing my blog to others'! I always think - why don't I have more followers? I know it's so juvenile... By the way, you'd really deserve more followers too! :)

[BlythePonytailParades]

Thank you Madeline! :)

[Hope in high heels]

This is a really fantastic post, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on this.

Your very last point around writing what you love especially resonates. Sometimes it's hard not to compare yourselves with others and wonder what you're doing wrong... but when I do, I think about how my blog is my passion project, my creative outlet and I'm doing it for me. Followers are a lovely bonus but are not why I do this...

[BlythePonytailParades]

Exactly! It feels nice to know someone is reading and to have followers, don't get me wrong. I love interacting with new people and getting to know other bloggers, but I'm writing for myself, for what I love and what I want to share. Not what I think everyone wants to see.

[Anna]

I loved this. So basic, but so accurate. I always have trouble drawing the line with what's TOO personal and what's "just right."

:)

[BlythePonytailParades]

Glad it was helpful :)