So 3 years ago today, I set up Fashion and Style Police, check out my first post here and it has been a hell of ride. Although, I am still learning, I have learnt quite a lot already, and I thought I should share 3 tips I picked up along the way, just incase anyone finds them useful. So here they are:

 

Blog for your READERS

Now this rule only applies if you are a pro blogger or looking at going pro, and want to earn a living wage (if you a hobby blogger ignore this rule).Your readers are your ticket to pro blogging, your ticket to you earning some form of income from your blog, so whenever you write a post, you need to have your readers in mind. I use to believe all the ‘write for myself’ talk most bloggers write about, until I started looking at my blog as a business, and to succeed in this blogging business, your readers need to come first, don’t let anyone fool you, they come even before you.

Say for example you have to write a sponsored post for a clothing brand, make sure the post is going to either educate or entertain your readers, or better still, do both. This way you keep your readers clicking and you keep your bank balance happy. You need to think outside the box, on how you can put your spin on every post you write to make it an enjoyable read, be it product reviews, outfit post, fashion news, or whatever, make sure there is something in it for your readers.

 

Step outside your comfort zone

My comfort zone was to hide behind my laptop, and publish fashion and beauty posts everyday. Now I have stepped outside my comfort zone, and now write lifestyle topics as well, and I enjoy writing them. It keeps the blog content varied (variety is the spice of life), draws in more readers, and enables me work with various lifestyle brands.

I also attended my very first blogging event in real life yesterday and it was GREAT. I met a couple of bloggers in Manchester, had a lovely dinner in a great Italian restaurant and had real life conversations with some cool bloggers. This is way out of my comfort zone but I did it and I loved it. I have never attended any blogging related event because they are usually in London, and the distance is always a perfect excuse for me, but with this event in Manchester, and on a weekend, I had no excuse. I will be writing all about the event in the next coming weeks, so lookout for the post.

Stepping outside your comfort zone could open doors to various possibilities which could take your blog to another level. Scary but true, step outside your comfort zone today, do that thing that scares you the most. Maybe this time next year I will be telling you to set up a YouTube channel, God knows the whole vlogging thing scares the life out of me, but who knows right? Going forward, I will be stepping out of my comfort zone, one step at a time.

 

Get Free Photos

Pictures are very important, and sometimes I struggle to find appropriate pictures for some lifestyle posts. Well not anymore, I have recently discovered 5 cool photo sharing websites that need no link back or credit. The pictures on these sites are totally FREE for commercial and personal use, I got the above picture from one of them. All you need to do is to save the pictures you want and use as you please. Isn’t that fantastic? Here are the sites:

• Picjumbo
• Pixabay
• Unsplash
• Death to the stockphoto
• Stocksnap

With these 5 sites, you are sure to find the right pictures for your posts.

 

So there you have them, my 3 blogging tips, a gift from me to you. I hope to have 4 new tips to share with you this time next year, but before I end this, check out my current giveaway for a chance to win £50 Amazon voucher.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.