Blogging Tips & Giveaway

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

Every day I receive lovely emails, from lovely girls, asking about lovely blogs. Often, they are from new bloggers, looking for tips and advice and because I am strapped for time, I thought I would write one big answer and we can all (hopefully) benefit from it.

Please don't take me wrong, I'm not acting the big 'I Am', I'm merely saying, 'Oh Hi, I've been doing this a while, and this is what has worked for me'.

I have also made a video on this with my chum Zoe last year, so hopefully that will give you some useful pointers as well and I shall pop it below.

Little Tips That Have Worked For Moi

♥ Make your photographs/images LARGE. I used to make my images quite small a) I was too lazy to change them and b) I didn't think about it too much, but really, it makes a difference. I much prefer looking at blogs with jumbo snaps....maybe my eyeballs are sizist?

♥ Read other blogs. I think it's pretty arrogant to expect folk to give up time in their day to read your blog, if you aren't prepared to do the same yourself. I'm not saying read every single blog going, just make a point of looking at a few each day. Not only is it supporting your peers, you'll more often than not learn something or feel inspired to do something on your own little slice of the net.

♥ Don't copy. If you are going to copy, credit, credit, credit. This means, if you saw VIPXO's designer inspired post and you want to do one yourself, say so. EG. "After seeing VIPXO's fabulous post, I decided to give it a try myself" and link her blog. This is the polite and proper thing to do. You'll also be doing your readers a good turn, because if they liked your post, they'll like the one you were inspired by and think, 'Oooh that was nice of thingymajig to lead me somewhere I enjoy'. Please don't think that people don't notice copying, I do.

♥ Be proud of what you write. Once you have written something, read it back to yourself. If you read that on another blog, would you enjoy it? If the answer is yes, hit that, 'Publish Post' button. If it's a no, tweak it slightly. There's no need to agonise over a blog post, but it's a good rule of thumb to read back and make a post the very best that you can.

♥ Provide links. If you are talking about a product, provide a link for it, because chances are, your readers may want to make a purchase or look into it a little more. Save them the trouble of search engines and provide a direct path to it. It's nice!

♥ Promote not spam! It's great to promote your blog and let others know about it, but there is a fine line between doing that and being spammy. I like to promote my blog on my twitter account, my facebook fanpage and my youtube account. If it is relevant, I might put my link somewhere else too. So for example, if I have just reviewed a Boots Own Moisturiser, I might say so on the Boots Facebook Fanpage. As a personal rule, I will tweet one blog post 1-3 times at different points in the day. I have seen bloggers tweet the same blog post over and over and over within a short space of time and find it a bit much. The point I'm making is, be proud, not desperados. 

♥ Be sociable. This is a fun one. Chat to people on twitter, retweet things of interest, reply to comments and feedback on facebook and youtube (if applicable) and all in all, get stuck in! You make great friends this way and it makes blogland are really fun place to be!

♥ Ignore haters. Haters come in all shapes and forms. Be it your real life friends that may be a little jealous of the time and effort you put into your blog, nasty girls leaving vile comments or people making things up on forums, IGNORE THEM. Their behaviour stems from jealousy, and if someone is jealous, it means you have a good thing, so hold on to it and smile to yourself. Well Done! 

♥ Be humble. Take a good hard look at yourself and assess something. Are you an expert in your field? If you are, go you! You have the right to say so. Personally, I don't think I am, so shy away from using certain words. I'm not a beauty expert, nor am I mum of the year, I'm merely a woman who has spent A LOT of time and money and research in the area of cosmetics and I like to talk about it and share my thoughts with other like-minded individuals. Also, I grew a baby, popped her out and look after her every day. That's about the sum of it. It's important to have faith and pride in yourself, but making out you are something you're not, will end it tears.

♥ Giveaways are great. Everyone loves a freebie and most people love to give, so it's win win. It's a terrific opportunity to give a little something back to all the kind human beings who have spent time reading your words and a positive way to grow your blog. A tip within a tip though- be careful what you give away. I once did one with lots of lovely things but they were VERY heavy. I picked the winner randomly and she was from America. Postage was pricey and I was left pretty out of pocket. Make sure you are prepared to pay postage charges if you are making your giveaway world wide. 

Soooo, in a smoooooth link from my last tip, I have a mini giveaway for you! Would you like to win this lovely fragrance set from 'So...?'*.

To enter, all you have to do is:

1. Follow this blog on GFC.

2. Tweet - "I just entered @Sprinkleofglitr 's 'BLOGGING TIPS AND TRICKS Giveaway'. Have you entered yet? http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk/ xxx"

Open Internationally. Closes 30th April. Winner Announced at the same time as my 7000 Follower Giveaway.

I do hope that some of those will be of some use to you, as they have been to me. I would love to hear any of your tips as I'm always open to new ideas and get you all have a few gems up your sleeves!

Toodlepip!

xx