Happy FRIDAY my loves!!! Really excited because today I’m off to Atlanta for Create + Cultivate! So honored to be a part of the “Renaissance Women” panel and will be speaking about what being a modern millennial woman means to me! Jaclyn Johnson, the founder of C+C will be moderating, and we’ll be talking lots about how to get started in this industry, how to grow your blog and expand into new business ventures (design, creative direction, etc.) and more! Will any of you be there? If so, please do come say hi, would love to meet you! If you can’t make it to my panel, please come by bebe’s booth after for a meet and greet! I’ll be there at 5pm! Will also be hosting mentor sessions from 1:15-2:30!

I wanted to leave you guys with a few tips I always try to keep in mind while growing my blog and career. These are the elements I think are most important to follow as a new blogger if you’re looking for a bit of direction and a basic place to start! Hope they’re helpful! Would love to hear what tips you have for me too! Happy weekend!

1. Be consistent!

Post three to five times a day on your social channels and make each post as personal as possible. Focus on driving traffic back to the blog by incentivizing your followers with great outfit or product posts that they’ll want more details on. In the beginning, I did a lot of giveaways and contests to drive traffic to my site, which helped a lot.

Once you start seeing engagement, you will soon find your niche and following. It’s important to stay true to yourself as a blogger and your passion. I always focused on combing my music career with fashion and beauty. As time went on I incorporated a bit more lifestyle elements into my blog such as food and fitness, but I never lost sight of why I started my blog in the first place.

 

2. Quality

I spend a lot of time making sure my content is always high quality, the coloring of each photo is consistent and on brand, and I’m serving my audience with the information they are asking for. One of the biggest challenges for bloggers is to create content that is consistent and unique. I focus on creating high-quality content that is unique, interesting and inspiring to my readers and keeps them coming back to my blog. The apps I use to curate my Instagram feed are VSCO, Snapseed, and Facetune. VSCO features all my favorite filters such as S2, A6 and F2. I use Snapseed to brighten up most of my photos and remove any unwanted shadows. I also like using the saturation feature on Snapseed to emphasize the color of certain objects, scenery, clothing or food. I use Facetune to bring out any details in my clothing or accessories that tend to be a bit blurred out. And lastly, who can live without the smoothing app? My go-to for selfies! Just make sure you don’t over smooth your skin.

Something exciting I’ve been working on is remodeling my blog! I’ve spent a lot of time deciding what to change and how to improve the blog as my aesthetic evolves and my following continues to grow. I have always kept my blog easy-to-navigate for my readers and designed it in a way that is true to my aesthetic and brand. However, it is time for an update and I’m excited to share the new blog with you guys very soon!

 

3. Teamwork really does make the dream work!

Find a great photographer to partner with that can share your vision, or team up with other influencers and take each other’s photos. You will feed off of each other’s creativity. The blogging industry has become very saturated and it’s important to use your blogger friends as inspiration and collaborate with them on projects that can benefit everyone. My blog is a constant work in progress and I’m always looking for ideas to improve and grow my vision. It’s important to find a team that can share your aesthetic and vision.

 

4. Get organized.

Once jobs start rolling in, keeping deadlines and post dates in order can be daunting. Make sure you’ve got a system in place from the beginning so you don’t become overwhelmed. When my blog really started to pick up, I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. Keeping my calendar organized is something I rely on daily to schedule my posts, events, shoots, and arrange my content. I also use Planoly to organize my Instagram feed. When I post content for the brands I work with, they have to be scheduled on time and posted during high traffic hours. Apps such as Iconosquare can help you track your followers and analyze ideal posting-times for your photos.

For the past few months, I’ve been working on a really exciting project for Naked Cashmere. It has been a challenging process coordinating 10 influencers and bloggers for a shoot as well as being in charge of the advertising, styling and overall look of the campaign. GoogleDocs has been one of my go-to platforms for projects like this because my team and I can collaborate ideas, information, and resources in a convenient matter. When I travel for work, I am still able to put forth a collaborate effort with my team, so we can all be on the same page.

 

5. Vision

Be clear with yourself about the intentions of your blog so that other people can be, too. It’s important to never lose sight of your core inspiration, if you try to post about too many different topics, your blog’s overall theme might get lost. The better intent you have for your blog and readers, the better your blog will be in the long term. Stay true to your vision including everything from the branding, logo, website to the content of your blog. Soon after I established my vision for the blog, I set goals and objectives for myself. Seeing the results and being recognized for my creativity didn’t come immediately. When I finally started seeing results is when I knew my hard work and drive led me to something amazing. Blogging has opened up many opportunities for me and as lucky as I am to be able to do what I love everyday, I commit everything to executing my vision on a daily basis.