Tag Archives: British Lifestyle Blogger

I Know an Instagram Influencer Using a Bot

August 25, 2017 By in Blogging Tips Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 44 Comments

I have not written an Instagram update post in a bit, and that was deliberate. I have decided to stop obsessing over the numbers and just engage like I would normally do on other platforms. Instagram is the most annoying social media platform ever. I find it super annoying and I would tell you why.

The algorithm has made it almost impossible to grow your Instagram page organically. Which has led to many buying likes and followers, hiring bots and other management companies to “manage” their Instagram page. Most of these bots and management companies use the follow/unfollow technique which is super annoying, but I guess it works for the accounts they build right?

 

Instagram update image

 

I had a popular Instagram Influencer follow me some days ago. We are quite cordial online and follow each other on Twitter, so I followed immediately and even liked/commented on a few photos, without thinking much about it. Only for me to notice this Instagram Influencer has unfollowed me the next day. I unfollowed back immediately and was pissed off for a few minutes, but then I realised it must have been a bot or managing company up to their dirty tricks. So I stopped being angry.

This Instagram Influencer is known for growing such a massive following in a short time, and is always writing about how to grow your Instagram following. However,one important point this person keeps forgetting to mention, was the bot/management company bit. I guess there are somethings better left unsaid right? Looking at it this way, if this person divulge all the secrets, they won’t be so massive anymore, and everyone would see through the fakery! Which is why the struggle to make money blogging is so real now. Too many frauds about.

 

 

 

Instagram Influencer image

 

I can understand why many are desperate to build their Instagram following. I was desperate myself some months ago, but not desperate enough grow my following with fake followers or likes. It is so easy for me to spot shady Instagram pages. So I know it would be easy for many others to spot it too. When an average photo with few hashtags is getting thousands of likes in less than 24 hours, I usually smell a rat. A few minutes of looking at the page a little further usually confirms my suspicion.

 

It is good that I am not one to dwell on other people’s actions. I am too busy doing to dwell. My Instagram following is growing steadily, and I am happy with the growth. My engagement is also growing as well, which is great. I am trying to spend more time on Instagram to grow my account properly. So I am liking and commenting on photos I really like, collaborating with other bloggers, and updating my Instagram page as often as I can.

 

 

Instagram Image

 

How are you growing your Instagram?

Blogger Thieves & How to Deal with Them

August 18, 2017 By in Blogging Tips Tags: , , , , , , , , 18 Comments

Theft in the blogging industry is a common occurrence. We bloggers always complain about our blog content being stolen. I have heard of bloggers complaining about other bloggers being a little bit inspired, and stealing their blog ideas. Having said that, we can argue about the fact that no idea is 100% original, but that would be a topic for other day. This blog post is all about blogger thieves & how to deal with them.

 

 

Blogger thieves & how to deal with them image

 

 

It is very hard to keep track of every blog post published or image shared. Once content is shared, there is always a possibility of it being republished on another blog/website with or without credit. This sucks but it is the reality. In the last couple of weeks, I have caught 2 bloggers with their pants down, stealing my blog content. These bloggers stole a couple of my blog posts word for word, and even with my images. One blogger thief linked back to Fashion and Style Police on the stolen posts, and the other didn’t bother.

 

The First Blogger Thief

How did I find out? The first blogger thief linked back to me so I got an email. I have emails set up whenever any blog or website links back to me. I went to have a look, and I was flabbergasted at the amount off blog posts copied word for word, and with my images. After I got over my shock, I became really angry. This was the blog section of a business website, and the fact that the owner felt it was OK to steal from me was super annoying.

I tried contacting the website owner but there was no contact details (surprise surprise), so I left a comment on 1 of the stolen post, expressing my disgust. A few hours later, I checked to see if my comment has been approved/replied to, and found out I couldn’t access the post anymore. It was asking for a password. So the website owner knew exactly what he was doing and couldn’t be bothered. I was so mad.

 

 

Bloggers Image

 

I went on a mission to find out who the website owner was. Going on WHOIS helped, I got the name of the host company. I had to fill out a take down form, and wait to have my content taken off.

 

The Second Blogger Thief

Now this blogger thief is the funniest thief I ever met. He thought it was ok to copy and paste my blog posts, and he did copy over 5 of them, word for word, image for image. I found out pretty much the same way I found the first blogger thief, I got an email notifying me of a link back. I should mention the fact that it was never the intention of this blogger to link back to Fashion and Style Police, the inbound link was in an existing post he copied, which led to the notification.

Like the previous blogger thief, there was no way to contact this one either (it must be a strategy). So I left a comment asking for my blog posts to be taken down immediately. He ignored and went on to copy and paste another blog post I published after leaving that comment. I reported the blog to WordPress and got my content taken off within 24 hours, which was amazing. I was impressed with how quickly WordPress acted on this case.

The blogger thief later left a comment on my blog expressing his annoyance of me reporting him to WordPress and getting my content taken off his horrible blog. His comment  made me laugh so hard, because he called me greedy and a fool, for reporting him, which I found more funny than annoying. I hope he learnt a thing or 2 from this experience, and would hopefully stop stealing people’s work. I guess he has because he hasn’t posted a new post since then. Maybe he is too scared to steal now, which is good for other bloggers. His blog is filled up with various blog posts from  different bloggers, and I find it very sad. Blogging is clearly not for everyone.

 

 

Blogger Thief Picture

 

 

Going Forward with Blogger Thieves

Blogger thieves will always be around and there is nothing we can do about that. What we can do is to make it very hard for these thieves to steal our work. I have installed a plugin – WordPress Content Copy Protection. This plugin stops anyone from copying and pasting my blog content. The plugin has pros and cons like any other plugin, but the pros outweighs the cons massively.

I have also added a contact form on my contact page, so people can reach me easier. A Brand Rep informed of how frustrating it can be to grab my email off the blog because they can’t just copy and paste.

 

Have you ever had to deal with a blogger thief? Please share your experience in the comment section.

 

How to be a Social Butterfly on Social Media

June 20, 2017 By in Blogging Tips Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 59 Comments

I am a Social Butterfly online but as boring as hell in real life!! My real life is made up of routines, sometimes very strict, to keep me sane and productive. But for me to make a name for myself and Fashion and Style Police, I needed to be very social online.

Social media is the shortest route to your target audience as almost everyone has a phone and most times they’re on social media.

 

Fashion UK Blog

 

It’s one thing to be on social media, it’s another to use it effectively. Although social media brings people together, it’ll take some skill to form a close connection, because you don’t have the opportunity to speak to your audience face-to-face. Consequently, people find it easier to consume content instead of engaging.

For freelancers, this may pose as a problem. If you don’t engage with your audience, then no one will know about you. Engagement is where there results are.

The good news is that you can learn how to be more social on social media. It all starts with challenging yourself to take deliberate guided steps to being more social. Here are 4 challenges to help you get started today.

Challenge #1 – Be genuinely interested in individuals

This is the foundation of being social on social media because it creates a bond that will grow into a relationship.

Genuine interest sparks conversation which is continuous, fun and engaging. It inspires questions to ask and it will help you get to know the person you’re speaking with.

Action Step: When you login to any social media platform, be genuinely interested in your target audience. You can ask them how they’re doing and what they’ve been up to and build the conversation from there.

Challenge #2 – Comment more

Tapping on the little heart icon on Instagram or the thumbs up icon on Facebook is so much easier than thinking of something witty or interesting to say about the post. For those who comment, they could just drop one-word comments like “Yes”, “Good” or “Truth”. That’s not socializing, that is spamming!

Socializing requires you to create conversation. Type out what you like about the post. Get the conversation going with a question that will get a response and tell you more about the post.

Action Step: Every time you hit the like button, make the next action you take be a comment. With continuous practice commenting will be like second nature to you.

 

Beauty Blogger UK Image

 

Challenge #3 – Send a message

We get carried away with acquiring friends, followers and fans that we forget to speak to them.  How many friends/followers do you have? Compared to the number of people you speak to daily, I can guarantee that it’s nowhere near half the number of friends/followers you have.

Action Step: Send a private message to at least 3 people a day. Check on them and catch up on their lives.

Challenge #4 – Join discussions

Another way to get social, is to hop into conversations on social media like the ones on discussion threads. It makes your job easier as all you have to do is to participate in the conversation giving your contribution. Twitter is a great social media platform to practice this through Twitter chats. Facebook groups are also excellent.

Action Steps: Scout around for conversations on social media you can join in and make positive contribution to keep the conversation going.

 

Are you a social butterfly? Do you have any tips to share?

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