Tops tips for making your lifestyle blog a success

It’s something we’ve all been wondering isn’t it? In today’s blog, we’ll be speaking about how to make your lifestyle blog a huge success.

There are already many about, but knowing how to get it right is something very few can do. One of my personal favourites is Lauren Evarts ‘Skinny and confidential’. If you’re looking for travel, fashion, beauty, wellness or even food; this is your go to blog – not only because you’ll be absolutely glued to her page, but you’ll be checking back every day to see what she’s up to, slipping her little tips into your daily routine. Check it out here: http://www.theskinnyconfidential.com/.

If it’s for your new smoothie start-up company, for your own personal use, or like me you’re setting up a blog for an international lingerie and sports apparel company, these top tips are guaranteed to make your lifestyle blog a success.

  1. Decide on a theme (The Wonderforest, 2015) – choosing a theme is extremely important, it has to be something that the community is interested in, something that’s going to rake in the views. It has to be something that you’re passionate in, something that keeps the spark alive so readers can re-engage every day. (In the case of VS, their blog theme will be health and fitness).

nike pro #fitspo:

 

  1. Shutterbug – post photos!! Lots of photos! People like to envision about what they are reading and images will really help this. If your blog is a corporate one and you’re writing about your products, product images in an everyday setting will really sell. Show people into your world and they’ll come back for more. A way to enhance your brands persona is to share lifestyle shots, what better way to sell a product than by sharing it in a real life environment on your lifestyle blog? (Research has even proved it (Goor, 2012)).

How to take stunning images for your blog. photography tips for {not only} beauty bloggers #photography #tips:

  1. Community (The Londoner, 2013) – Blogging is about building a community, sharing your stories (Jackson, Yates & Orlikowski, 2007), however big or little they may be with likeminded people. If you enjoy someone else’s blog, TELL THEM! Like or comment and let them know that you appreciate their writing and I’m sure they’ll precipitate it. A blog gives you the biggest resource to real in and engage with your readers/customers. In the case of a corporate blog, it fuels in social interactions, it starts conversations about your brand and can become a social hub for your customers, which then direct them to your website to purchase the items you could be blogging about (i-scoop, 2016).

How to earn your audience: the actions that REALLY make you noticeable + irresistible as a small business and brand online. Get 13 beginner community-building tips + 4 advanced strategies with examples and questions to help you improve.:

 

  1. Social Media (Career Girl Daily, 2015) – Social media is a great way to get views on your blog. Make sure you keep an eye out for hashtags and trending topics that can relate to your blog, for example searching #fitblogger, fitness blogger and joining those communities to build up one of your own. If you’re blogging for a company (LIKE ME) you could even start your own hashtag on twitter to build engagement around the brand and the blog (shooting two birds with one stone ;)).

Building a persona for your brand if corporate blogging is something that you have to think about very carefully, is it the right type of brand for a blog? Will it get engagement? well one things for sure… Marketers have shown that blogging regularly DOES increase inbound ROI. But like every blog, it shows that you have to keep at it. The more you blog and the more engaging content you post, the more you’ll get out of it.

IMAGE VIA (i-scoop).

Consistent blogging boosts inbound ROI - The State Of Inbound Marketing 2013 by HubSpot - click to open PDF

Although blogging sounds like fun and trust me, it is! From a corporate perspective, it is important that you have a developed strategy for blogging (Cox, Martinez & Quinlan, 2008). This means identifying set goals that the blog aims to accomplish for your company. Various different corporations throughout the world have adopted blogs as a communication tool and they’re on the rise! (Cho & Ha, 2010). Just like Victoria’ secret, organisations are setting blogs up with the aim to create a community, making their customers feel like a family… and more importantly for VS, to make them feel like an Angel.   So why not, like me… JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON and use these top tips to make your lifestyle blog a huge success, whether it’s for personal OR corporate use.

PS. If you’re still stuck… here’s is a list of the top lifestyle blogs in the UK (According to bloglovin):

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PS.S. IF YOU’RE STILL NOT SURE… head on over to the wonderforest Youtube page, where she shares blogging tips and tutorials https://www.youtube.com/user/theblogbeautician. 

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Until next time,

CIAO FOR NOW,

Emily.

 

 

References:

  • Fox, D. 2015. How to start a lifestyle blog – A complete beginners guide. 11 February. The Wonderforest. [online]. [Accessed: 10 April 2016]. Available from: http://www.thewonderforest.com/2015/02/how-to-start-lifestyle-blog-complete.html
  • 2015. The basics of running a successful blog. 2 July. Career Girl Daily. [Online]. [Accessed: 10 April 2016]. Available at: http://www.careergirldaily.com/the-basics-of-running-a-successful-blog/
  • The Londoner. 2013. Lifestyle blogging 101. 30 January. The Londoner. [Online]. [Accessed: 10 April 2016]. Available at: http://www.thelondoner.me/2013/01/lifestyle-blogging-101.html
  • Goor, M.A. (2012). “Instamarketing”: a content analysis into marketing on Instagram. Universite Van Amesterdam. Retrieved October 16, 2014, fromhttp://dare.uva.nl/cgi/arno/show.cgi?fid=449011
  • I-Scoop. 2016. Dozens of reasons why corporate blogs matter. I-Scoop. [Online]. [Accessed: 10 April 2016]. Available from: http://www.i-scoop.eu/corporate-blogging-business-blogging/dozens-reasons-corporate-blogs-matter/
  • Cox, J.L., Martinez, E.R. and Quinlan, K.B., 2008. Blogs and the corporation: managing the risk, reaping the benefits. Journal of Business Strategy, 29(3), pp.4-12.
  • Jackson, A., Yates, J. and Orlikowski, W., 2007, January. Corporate Blogging: Building community through persistent digital talk. In System Sciences, 2007. HICSS 2007. 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on(pp. 80-80). IEEE.
  • Beard, M. 2013. To curtsey or not to curtsey? 8 June. A Don’s Life. [Online]. [Accessed 10 June 2013]. Available from: http://timesonline.typepad.com/

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