THELONDONMOTHER.

NET + TLM SOCIAL

HOW TO START A BLOG

The words ‘How to start a Blog’ are searched for
more than 10,000 times a month in the UK alone
and influencers, bloggers and vloggers and
enjoying the kinds of careers and lifestyle that
used to be the preserve of TV stars and
celebrities.
Having a blog is a brilliant way to flex your
creative muscles and can be the start of a new
and exciting career, whatever your age.
 
Everything in this book is based on what we’ve
learned over the years and things we’d do
differently if we were starting a blog now.  
 
The tips relate mainly to those who want to
know how to start a blog in the ‘lifestyle’ genre
(think fashion, beauty, homes, style, flowers,
food etc) but with a simple few tweaks, it’s
relevant to those who want to start a blog
about cars or sheep or light fittings.
 
The team at TLM Social has writing online for
close to ten years and it has opened the door to
great brand collaborations, paid writing gigs, TV
work and consulting with companies on their
social media strategy.
 
Blogging is fun but hard work and, used as a
vehicle, can open the door to a new and
exciting career. This book will take all the
“guess work” out of trying to launch a
successful blog.

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1. Get your own domain/host

Why does this matter?

 
Google doesn’t like it (and all blogs are slaves
to Google) and brands – who you need to
finance your new blogging career – are
unlikely to work with you if you don’t have
your own domain.

Wordpress is the most common platform and

very SEO friendly. You don’t have full control,
ownership or branding options unless you pay
for a host and a domain.

We prefer the slick look and backend of

Squarespace which is what THE LONDON
MOTHER is built on.

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2. Don’t focus too much on social media.

While numbers matter, particularly to brands,

your social media accounts are ‘rented media’
meaning, in reality, Facebook owns your
Facebook followers, Instagram owns your
Instagram followers and so on.
 
That’s why your own domain and host are
essential – that’s ‘owned media’’ which no one
can take away from you.

Remember Vine? Well, Twitter owned that and

when Twitter decided to close Vine, lots of
people with millions of followers suddenly had
no platform and no audience.

Any blogger worth their salt also has their own

website along with their YouTube, Instagram
and Facebook account so if the ‘rented media’
ever closes, they still have their ‘owned media’
platform in their website.
 
Forbes recently wrote about the rise and rise
of the 'micro influencer' where brands will
prefer to work with those with smaller yet
more engaged audiences.

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3. Build an email list

If you’re serious about building a career as a

blogger, you probably have an end goal in
mind and building a relationship with your
audience is key and easily done through good
old fashioned email.

As you slowly progress as a blogger, keep

your audience up to date with your journey
and when you eventually launch your
book/fashion line/consulting service; you
have a ready made customer base in your
email list.

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4. Think beyond your blog.

Your blog is your CV – use it to demonstrate

your other skills.

Have an end goal in mind (fashion

line/book/consulting). Don't limit your blog to
a simple online diary, you want it to eventually
lead somewhere. Have that goal in mind and
continually work toward it.

If you want to be taken seriously, take your

blog seriously. Think of it as a job, always be
professional and do everything in your power
to make everything you produce as visually
pleasing as possible.
 
When I worked in corporate PR, before we
created a new piece of marketing material we
ordered in all our competitors’ marketing
materials and critiqued them. We noted what
they did well, what was awful and how they
could improve. We used that list to create our
marketing material.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, look at

what other bloggers are doing, have done or
said they’re going to do and try and make it
better or add your unique spin.

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5. Be patient

Very few blogs have become successful

overnight, it just seems that way!

The bloggers with millions of followers and

fans were the early adopters, the ones who
started blogging before blogging was a thing
and they’ve organically grown slowly and
surely over the years.

If you are just starting now, don’t expect their

level of success straight away. Zoella has
been on YouTube since 2009 and has worked
long and hard for her success.

Are you willing to put in the same amount of

work and dedication?

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6. Are you blogging for fun or to start a career?

If it’s to start a career (as a writer, stylist,

designer, editor etc) you need to think of your
blog as a business and be prepared to spend
some money on it.

That might mean paying for your domain and

host if you aren’t good at design and learning
or paying someone (on Fiverr or Upwork) to
create your blog for you.
 
If you want a small fast forward in terms of an
audience, spend some money on launching
your blog. Despite Apple being the biggest
brand in the world, do they just release an
iPhone and hope people will buy it? No, they
spend millions launching the product, creating
buzz and hype and everyone is talking about
the latest iPhone before it’s even out.

If Apple needs to launch something as

ubiquitous as an iPhone, you should think
about spending some cash to launch your
blog. Consider Facebook Ads (you can spend
as little as £5 a day for as many days as you
can afford) or guest posting on blogs bigger
than yours to get your name – and backlinks –
out there.

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7. Don’t do it for the freebies.

Once your blog is up and running and you’ve

got something of a social media following,
brands will start offering you products for
review but it’s not worth your time (or sanity) to
set up a blog purely for a free lipstick or child’s
toy.

Once you’ve factored in the costs associated

with setting up a blog and the time involved in
using the product, writing an honest review
taking 100 pictures in the hope of finding a
single usable one, the payoff is not worth it.

If you want an item to review, go out and buy

it, tag the brand (to get on their radar) and
review it that way.

Once your audience and influence have had a

chance to grow, the brands will come a
‘knocking.

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8. Spend money on things that count.

Are you a photographer? Do you have the time

and money to learn?

If you don’t know your way around a camera,

don’t waste time and money on a fancy DSLR,
your smartphone takes good enough pictures
and video for those just starting out.

Until brands start paying you for

collaborations, keep costs down by using the
equipment you already have.

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9. Market your blog posts.

Don’t just write a post and hope people will

come and find it. They won’t.

This isn’t a case of – if you build it, they will

come. There are hundreds of millions of blogs
out there and it’s hard to be heard amongst all
the noise.

If you have social media accounts, use them to

let your followers know about your posts but
don’t just do it once.

Schedule your Facebook posts and Tweets to

let your followers know (using different ‘copy’
to lure them to your blog) about old posts,
especially ones that have garnered you lots of
views.

Spend 20% of your time writing articles and

80% of your time marketing them.

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10. Learn about the business of blogging.

If you’re serious about building a career from

your blog, you need to continually learn about
blogging and movements in the industry.

Learn everything you can about SEO (search

engine optimisation), use the free tools from
Google (Analytics, Search Console and
Webmaster Tools) and follow leaders in the
industry like Blog Tyrant, Neil Patel and Brian
Dean.
 
Keep up to date with Google News – did you
know that they are directing more traffic to
sites that have AMP (accelerated mobile
pages) and are mobile/tablet friendly? Is your
website mobile friendly?

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Conclusion

It takes a certain type of individual with a

specific mindset to be self-employed and an
entrepreneur and if you’re serious about being
a full time blogger this is what you’ll become.

You may need an accountant (always keep

your taxes up to date) a decent place to work
(the kitchen table will do if you don’t have a
spare room or office yet) and the grit to keep
going when it feels like it’s only your mum and
your friend that are actually reading your blog.

That mindset is what separates you from 90%

of the other bloggers out there, so many
people start a blog, realise success takes a
long time – years in most cases – and so they
quit.

Carrying on (even if that means

rebranding/renaming your blog) is what will
take you from amateur to amazing.

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Want More?

Now you how to get your blog started, it's time

to find out how you can monetise it!

Why not take our ⚡free⚡ three-part course on

how to turn your blog into a business, how to
come up with new business ideas, discover
their profit potential and build your brand and
audience.

HOW TO FIND YOUR

PASSION + BUILD
A BRAND + AUDIENCE

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