The Blogging Tips You Need To Know
Oh, hey girl. I spent some time this past week going through your messages and there was an overwhelming amount of interest in knowing about my personal blogging journey and wanting me to share some blogging tips. As always, YOU ask and I ANSWER.
Let’s dive right in ….
What is TMM
If you are a new reader first of all, welcome to the ultimate band of babes! I’m humbled and excited to share all of life’s moments with you! Second of all you, you may be wondering what is the millennial miss? So, here’s the deal. The Millennial Miss is dedicated to you, the evolving woman. This inclusive community has a ‘come as you are’ kind of vibe. With each post we will break down all of life’s relationships and advice, not just relationship advice. As topics shift, the spotlight will remain on the relationship with yourself – the foundation of it all. Together, we will fearlessly navigate through the ups and downs of this crazy thing called life. TMM is a single source destination of inspirational yet relatable content.
Where It All Began
For as long as I can remember, I have poured my feelings and experience onto a piece of paper. I am completely infatuated by the trials and tribulations of life and how, at some point, we all experience them.
One morning I woke up and told myself that I had nothing to lose and I was going to go for it. Cue the birth of The Millennial Miss. Ok well actually, that made it sound a whole hell of a lot easier than it was. To be transparent with you, I had no idea what I was doing. Ok, maybe a very small idea but I was pretty much in the dark. At the time leading up to the launch of TMM, I was working a cubicle job that was sucking my soul as the minutes passed. I would knock out all of my “real” work and then secretly work on making TMM come to life. I had an email thread with two of my dear friends, Emily and Michelle, bombarding them with questions.
What template do you think is more pleasing to the eye?
Do you think the menu bar here or here is easier to navigate?
What are your thoughts on this logo compared to this one?
I was both relentless and insanely grateful for their feedback. I’m sharing that with you because I think it’s massively important to brainstorm with someone who you trust and who isn’t afraid to tell you that you need to go back to the drawing board.
I constantly babysat after my cubicle job to save money to EVENTUALLY hire a graphic design team. The bad ass, incredibly talented women of Vibe Tribe Creative became trusted members of my journey. We worked tirelessly on making The Millennial Miss site what it is today. After months of creating, building, praying, writing, late nights and self-pep talks I published TMM in December of 2014.
Honestly: I was terrified. My palms were sweaty as ever and when I hit “publish” I said out loud to myself, “HERE WE GO.”
&& here we are.
..... fast forward to today, I couldn’t imagine what life would be without this platform. If you have an internal creative voice that is screaming to be let out – LISTEN TO IT.
Let's Talk Money
Compensation. Some women in the blogging space are making 6 figures while others at making $6 a day. I can’t speak for everyone in this space BUT I will tell you that if you publish a platform expecting for pay checks to come piling in on the ASAP side of things – you are in a REALITY check.
“BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME.”
You are responsible for building a platform that targeted brands will have a connection with. The synergy must be mutually beneficial or else there is no foundation for a partnership. That takes time and that is OK. Taking the time to create a platform that is full of quality content will attract longer term partnerships and paid opportunities. Make sense?
For me personally, when I first started in the blogging space I thought it was the coolest thing in the entire world that the Fed Ex guy came to my door on a daily basis holding an absurd amount of packages full of FREE stuff.
Uh, every girl’s dream right? FREE PRODUCT. Well, yes and kind of weirdly no.
If your end goal is to create a BUSINESS out of your platform, then mail day starts to feel less exciting when there isn’t a paycheck in the pile of packages.
Do not bust your ass for ‘nothing’ in return. I am a firm believer that what you put out into the universe is exactly what you will receive in return. If your business brain is telling you to monetize on your platform and say no to partnerships opportunities that do not fit what your brand stands for or your rate sheet then say the powerful two lettered word: NO (ok well don’t just say no, respond to the opportunity in a grateful manner because burning bridges is not a good thing.)
Your Turn
Ok, now on to the important part: YOU. If you are an aspiring blogger or jumping to learn more about the content space here is my dose of advice …
Get ready to HUSTLE
You can’t half ass this – blogging and content creating requires your full ass.
Find YOUR voice
Before you do ANYTHING – ask yourself what is your voice? What will your platform stand for? What message(s) will you portray?
Know that CONSISTENCY is key
Posting once a month does not dub you a #blogger. If you are serious about creating a space, then consistency will make or break your vision.
Tattoo “QUALITY over quantity” on your brain
For the love of God, do not post just to post. You are not only wasting our time but also the time of your followers. If a picture, presentation or post is not up to your standards then DO NOT SHARE IT.
Be YOURSELF
If you’re looking for a job and or passion that you can fake it – I suggest you rethink jumping into the online world. Staying true to yourself is something that you should carry with you day in and day out of our life and the blogging space is no exception.
When TMM was a newborn she lived on the WordPress platform for about a year. When I worked with a new graphic designer for a blogging facelift we transferred over to SquareSpace. I recommend either platform - you can't go wrong! They are both incredibly easy to navigate around and learn how to use properly.
For more blogging tips read THIS article.
ANY questions? Write them below & you have my virtual pink promise I’ll get back to you!
