What is Blogging?

hi everyone welcome back to my channel I hope you're all doing really really well as always let me know how you've been doing in the comments below and if indeed you are new here and you've never watched a of my videos before welcome to you I'm Meg it's nice to meet you and I will leave a subscribe button here for you because it's free to subscribe and I would love to see you around these parts more often today we're going to be talking about blogging and I've been wanting to film this video for ages because probably not a day goes past where I don't get asked how to start a blog in some way like I always get Instagram DMS emails tweets everything saying I want to start a blog how did you do it or I want to start a blog where do I begin I will leave my blog URL on the screen for you right now if you want to pause this video and go and check my blog out and I'm also going to go through this video once I filmed it and take notes so if you're one of those people who would rather read this information there will be a blog post on my blog as well but for now let's just get on with it it was Steph Mitch like who introduced this crate to me and I think it's a really good idea just to question your motives and your reasons for doing something before you start doing it and for me it was like a natural need to write and I just wanted to share things with the world and I think that should be the main reason why you start a blog like a lot of people do it because they want the free stuff or I've had people say I'm going to start a blog because I want to earn enough to live in central London within 3 months and it just doesn't work like that trust me and so why not do it because you love it I think a good rule to go by is if you wouldn't do it anyway it's maybe not for you and if you wouldn't be prepared to do it for free forever it might not be the e so just bear that in mind now we've got that ethical thing out we're going to move on to the fun stuff and the first thing is choosing a name and first you need to decide what your blog is going to be about and then tie in your name from there you want to choose something that reflects your content so people know what your blog is going to be about when they click on it say for example if you know you're going to be talking about knitting and only knitting if you want to share your name you can call it something like Katy knits or if you want to remain anonymous you can use a pun like pearls of wisdom or something like that just something that reflects your content or if you know you're going to have a lifestyle blog and be talking about lots of different topics choose something that doesn't put your content in a box because if you call it Katy knits and then you talk about fashion and baking and cooking and traveling it doesn't really fit in with the theme so you're better to call it something like Katy's world or Katie's life or Daley Katie choose something that suits your personality and also something that's going to stand the test of time because if you choose something that's kind of like a fad or to do with your age or the year or anything like that it's going to change in the future and then you'll be stuck with a name that's no longer relevant a lot of people sell title their blog which is a really quick and easy option to go for or you could go for something simple like see if your name fits into a pun or a phrase or I think there's even online generators that make a blog lame for you out of your hobbies and stuff but I think just be a little bit more original and think of it yourself just jot down some ideas and also make sure no one's got it first that's really important again like your blog lane the platform that you host your blog on is completely down to personal preference but if you're a complete beginner I'd really recommend blogger because it's just kind of foolproof I've been using it for years I've never had any issues and it's just very easy and straightforward to use I also used to use WordPress when I worked as a social media manager I did find that a bit trickier to navigate and I had a few more issues with it but if you're good at HTML and you're Wiz at coding and stuff that is probably the one for you both blogger and WordPress are completely free and then another question I get asked all the time is do I need to buy a domain name and no you don't in my opinion you definitely don't need a domain name in the beginning stages if you become a bit more serious about your blog it definitely does make your site look more professional but in the beginning it's better to work on your content in my opinion and your money if you're going to spend any is way better spent on step 4 so roll on step 4 with a blog design I feel like you're laying the bricks and mortar for your blog so think really carefully about how you want your site to lit and how much you're willing to spend and to give you an idea of what my blog used to look like for the first year and a half of its life and as any two years old now so the changes I've made to my blog in November have been fairly recent and I'll put a picture here of what my header looked like so basically I didn't want to spend any money because I didn't really have any money I knew I wanted something very clean and pretty and simple and just kind of straightforward so I found this one just by typing in something like free blogger templates onto Google it definitely wasn't the most complex of interfaces but I didn't necessarily need it to be I just wanted somewhere to put my writing so like I said it was free and easy to download I just got on my computer I overlaid the text using PicMonkey com I put it on my blog and I went from there for a year and a half and as I mentioned I've only just in the last sort of couple of months redesigned it so I think it just goes to show you don't need to spend money but if you do have a bit of spare dollar and you don't mind spending in your blog there are lots of professional website designers they'll offer everything from custom blog designs to pre-made templates which are a little bit cheaper so I will leave a few of my favorites linked down below and just have a look until you find something that's right for you and suits your style okay now I feel like I've said this before in my 10 things I've learned about YouTube video but I really believe in it and it's that enthusiasm is way more important than equipment because you can spend hundreds even thousands on cameras and lighting etc but if you don't feel enthusiastic about what you're doing and you don't have a drive to create in the first place all that fancy equipment doesn't mean anything back in 2014 when I started my blog up again I didn't have a camera and I couldn't afford a camera so I just used to take all my photos and on iphone 4 which was really difficult and to me they looked kind of rubbish but people would still ask me what camera I used so you don't necessarily need to spend lots of money that you don't have on a camera if you have a thing that takes HD photos just use that and just get started because practice makes perfect then if you blog for a while and you think oh my gosh I love it so so much I want to invest in my blog and make my quality better I would recommend investing in a camera and I just take a look at what some of your favorite bloggers use for example I use a canon 600d and that's what I'm filming on right now and I also take all of my blog photos on this so it's a really good all-rounder but if it doesn't fit your budget you can always buy second-hand or you could search for a cheaper camera altogether it's totally up to you and then another thing that's totally up to you is investing in extras so things like tripods lighting Photoshop etc they're all things you can buy but at the end of the day all you basically need to start a blog is a computer and something that takes photos trust me I know exactly how daunting is to start posting on your blog especially if you've told your family and your friends and your co-workers that you are starting a blog I'm not everyone does that but I did at the second time around I did find it a little bit more daunting cause obviously I knew people I knew in real life we're going to read it but trust me it gets so much easier once you establish your tone so I'd really recommend doing an introduction post introducing yourself and your hobbies and just saying hello to your potential readers when it comes to putting together blog post do whatever feels right for you I think that's the beauty of blogging is that one person will do a very photo heavy post with barely any writing and someone like me who kind of types how they speak and is really into writing will write more paragraphs with less photos and just basically put it together how you would like it in your head and a good rule of thumb is to put together posts you like reading yourself and just make sure you like your content posting regularly and consistency is a great way to build your audience up but again do whatever's right for you some people have a schedule so their audience know when to expect new content and some people just upload whenever they can so it's just whatever fits you and your lifestyle it's also really handy to have like an about page and a contact page so readers and brands can get in touch easily if they'd like to come to think of it I don't actually know anyone who has a blog and isn't also on social media so get yourself set up with some accounts there's tons out there but I would definitely recommend Twitter and Instagram as the two initial ones you should get started with first I decided that I wanted to create separate accounts from my personal ones and I actually really enjoyed having it that way because it's almost like having a work phone and a home phone on my blog Twitter and Instagram accounts I can promote my new content and keep up with all my favorite bloggers and then on my personal accounts I can still see everything my friends are doing and then people who used to go to school with don't have to see me constantly posting about my new YouTube video if they didn't want to I would really recommend doing the same thing after putting so much of your hard work and time into a pastry obviously going to want people to read it so don't be afraid to share on social media and invite people to come and have a little browse social media also allows you to contact brands directly so if you've done a post about their product or their service it's fine to politely at them in a tweet or tag them in a photo because there's a chance they might see it and it's really never too early to start building connections a really great way of building your audience and making friends is to get involved with the community so things like Twitter chats there's Twitter chats every single week and I will leave a calendar for all of them linked down below in the description box if you want to go and have a look and then one evening why need to make a big cup of tea and set aside an hour to join in there's always an interesting discussion going on and there's also always an opportunity to share your links at the end so you're showcasing your blog to lots of potential readers and you're also having a lovely little chat in the process as you might know if you've ever commented on any of my stuff before I think it's really big yes a big old double thumbs up to reply to your readers because if you think about it how many blogs are there out there a heck of a lot and they've taken the time out of their day to read yours so take the time out of your day just to be nice and reply say someone asks where your jumpers from on Twitter tweet them back and let them know because in the early stages especially it doesn't take much effort to reply to everyone who leaves a comment and your stuff and I just feel like it makes your audience feel more appreciated and it shows that you see as a two-way relationship between you and then once you've been blogging for a little while you might want to sit down and have a little think about how it's progressing and whether it's something you want to continue as a hobby or something you might actually want to turn into your job if it's the former I'd say carry on going your own pace feel free to upload however often you'd like to and just enjoy having a corner of the web that's all yours if it's the latter let's be real you're going to have to work super super hard vlogging in general can be tricky so to go full-time is a lot harder than it looks but don't let that realisation put you off it really is a fantastic career path because you get so many exciting opportunities and you get to meet the most amazing people but either way whether you're doing is a job or a hobby make sure you roll on number 10 I wanted to put this last because this is what I always say to people who ask me for advice on blogging it is a saturated market these days and it's easy to have feelings of self-doubt when you measure big blogs against your own but just relax a little and remember that they might be six years in they've probably been blogging for years and years and you've only just started so relax take it easy and just enjoy the ride create stuff be proud of it and have fun because there's only one of you in the world your life is unlike anyone elses and blogging is a really beautiful way of sharing that with the world so there we have it those are my top ten tips on how to start a blog if you're a beginner and I really really hope this was helpful for you like I said at the beginning I can do follow-up videos or blog posts on other aspects of blogging if you would like me to I know I'm not an expert but and I've been doing a quite a long time and I feel like I've got a good idea of sort of tips and advice to give you guys so if you have any questions leave them in the comment section below and I'll do my best to answer them as best I can and I love you all lots happy blogging if you start a blog do let me know and I will see you in my next video thank you so much for watching I love you lots bye