Golden Blogging Advice

When I first wanted to start blogging, I reached out to my favorite blogger on Twitter for advice. Rebecca from The Clothes Horse gave me amazing tips. So if you're interested in starting this hobby, here are some things I've learned from the best, word-for-word in an E-mail she sent to me...

-Leave comments on blogs that you like--be a regular follower and leave works of encouragement on their posts. Linking to your blog is OK, but saying "check out my latest post" or "please follow my blog" is generally frowned upon. 

-If you post outfits then you should post your outfits on other community sites like Chictopia, Lookbook.nu, even Modcloth's style gallery. These sites will allow you to link back to your own blog and that is where other people are looking for new people to follow--there's a built-in audience on each site that you can communicate with. 

-Post regularly. I post twice a day, most personal style bloggers will post at least 4 outfits a week--when people know there is regular content to come back to then they'll come back often. 

-Consider pitching content to other websites (like Hello Giggles or Rookie mag). I haven't actually done this but that's b/c I mostly do outfit posts. Rookie Mag is a site for teenagers, so they'd probably like what you produce. Hello Giggles and XOVain look for tutorials like the ones you offer. You might not get accepted with your first pitch, but everything I've heard from writers is that you just keep doing it and keep pitching. 

-My final tip for traffic building: always seek to improve your content. I'm never fully satisfied with my photography and I'm constantly thinking of new ways to improve it. I want my content to get better and better and my photography to look more and more professional. I'll take photos and if the quality isn't good enough I'll re-shoot them, even if it means I wasted a whole day on the first set. People respond to good work but they also respond to passion--if they can tell this is a love project for you, something you really care about, then that will attract them.

Thank you Rebecca. Your advice has really inspired me more than you know. Thank you for taking your time to talk me through all of this. Thanks for reading, everybody!