I’ve been thinking about creating a series on Glam Latte that is a resource for those of you aspiring to be a blogger for quite sometime. It’s been one of those things I have discussed with my team countess times, mulled over and thought long and hard about. I never could quite put my finger on how to start (there is SO much info!) Fast forward several months and I still hadn’t done it and then I just decided, what the heck, let’s just throw caution to the wind and start typing and see where it takes us!

So here are my initial thoughts: This little corner of the blog will be a place to give you tips and tricks that I have picked up during the course of my 6 years of blogging meant for those of you who are trying to create a business. If you are blogging as a hobby then you really don’t need my tips, just do your thing! But if you are trying to create a blog make money, then I am going to answer questions on anything (and everything) you want to know, give advice, my two cents and maybe even some tough love.

This business is hard and you’re going to need a thick skin if you plan to venture from hobby to career. So buckle up because ish is gonna get real around here!

So to kick things off I figured I would start from the beginning:

So you wanna start a blog huh?

First let me preface by saying, you need to decide why you want to be a blogger. Is it for free stuff? Is it fame and fortune? Is it a creative outlet? Let me tell you what each of those scenerios looks like.

1. I want to blog for free stuff:  I don’t blame you. I mean, who doesn’t want free stuff? But here’s reality check (that tough love stuff I was talking about) You can’t just start a blog, and ask people to give you free stuff. It doesn’t work that way.

Also it’s important to understand that ‘free’ stuff isn’t really free. When a brand sends you something there is an exchange happening. You will blog about the product and give them exposure.

That being said, you need to have a solid foundation and lots of (engaged) followers, great photography and a serious knowledge of the business for a brand to even consider this worth their while.

So basically it’s gonna take awhile to get that free stuff. Also, if you start a blogand start asking for free stuff with no followers, or page views, brands are going to perceive you as just wanting a hand out.

2. I want fame and fortune: Let me save you a whole lot of blood sweat and tears. The blog market is so over saturated that fame and fortune while not impossible, is not likely. And even in the off chance it happens, it will take a VERY long time and a TON of work.

It’s like saying you want to land the lead role in the next Mission Impossible movie (see what I did there?!) It could happen, but you have a LONG road ahead before hand. Let’s put it this way, I work 16 hours a day 7 days a week and I’ve been blogging for 6 years (I still can’t believe it!) I’m always on the clock to the point where I have no personal life.

If you are not prepared to dedicate everything you have, then it’s better to go into this as a hobby and see what happens.

3. I need a creative outlet: This, in my humble opinion, is the only reason one should start a blog. If you have a passion for something and want to be creative, you will get so much joy out of doing it.

If you love it, it will show in your work and people will follow you. You can not be concerned with how many followers you have. It takes a long time to build a following and the best way to do it is to create awesome content for one person – yourself. (If you build it, they will come!)

So now we have established why you want to be a blogger, let me tell you what it means to be a blogger. Remember, this is for those of you wanting to do this for a career.

What is a blogger?

1. A source of inspiration: This is obvious right? You are starting a blog to create inspiring content. Whatever it is, fashion, beauty, home decor, travel, food, fitness, or a little of everything, you want to be a place people go to get ideas.

2. A Content Marketer (aka A Digital influencer): This is the point a lot of people miss. Blogging isn’t just standing in front of a camera and taking pictures or simply creating pretty content. It is marketing a brand to your readers in a creative and innovative way.

You are in a sense creating a digital commercial providing consumers a product that you have become a spokesperson for. It’s a fancy way of saying, you are trying to sell stuff. You do this by your ability to influence people, and if you do it right, when you say “XYZ Brand lipgloss is awesome!” your loyal followers are probably going to buy it. (*In order to gain that level of influence you have to be transparent and 100% honest with your readers. I will get more into detail about that in future posts. You also need a solid relationship with them -see more about that in number 8. )

3. A Webmaster: Here is another thing a lot of people miss. You have to create the blog.

I mean if you have the money to pay someone you certainly can, otherwise you better roll up your sleeves and get to know things like html, SEO, key words, embedding, tags, widgets, plugins, photoshop…and oh so much more. If you are not computer savy, you are going to need to use google A LOT.

When I started I knew nothing about any of those things. Fast forward to what you see now and I do it ALL. There is no great and powerful OZ behind a curtain pulling the strings. It is all me.

If you loathe the idea of any of those things, blogging probably isn’t for you. You can not have a blog, without being able to create one and keep it current (or paying someone else to do it)

4. A social media manager: There are countless social media platforms which are necessary to promote your content. In many cases they are more important than your blog, so being consistent at updating them each and everyday, multiple times a day is CRUCIAL. You would not believe how unbelievable time consuming this is.

5. A CEO and CFO: The buck stops with you. If you are not someone who can remain extremly organized and structure your work day without reporting to an office then blogging probably isn’t for you. I wake up every morning at 6:30am (7am the latest!) and start going through emails.

7. A Publicist and Administrative Assistant: You are making sure your brand gets out there, you are nurturing brand relationships, researching contacts, creating pitches, drafting media kits, and all the other administrative stuff that comes with running a business.

I can’t stress this enough, a blog is not just a creative platform. There is an entire ‘backend’ of the business that demands attention and sometimes you will spend more time doing that than actually being creative.

8. A Friend: In order to cultivate a loyal following you have to invest time and energy into those investing theirs in you. This means opening yourself up to allow your readers to get to know YOU.

This can be scary, because let’s face it, you are putting yourself out there on the internet. But the truth is, if you don’t then people won’t feel that connection, and then they can’t relate to you. Why are they going to trust you and any recommendations you make? (see number 2)

Are you still in?

Awesome! Well now that we got through the what and why, I can’t wait to share with you everything I know! Stay tuned for my next installment where I get into more details on how to start a blog. If there are any questions you have leave them in the comments and I will get to them in the next post!

XO,