A month of Instagram strategies

Oh, Instagram. Is there any social media platform that makes you feel more frustrated, and less accomplished, than Insta-bloody-gram? As soon as you gain a follower, you lose five, and it seems like no matter how much you work on it, no matter how much you love your photos, no matter what strategies you put in place, it just doesn't make a difference. Of course we can all sit here and say 'it's not about the followers' but let's face it, most bloggers want to gain an audience, and with Instagram becoming more and more important for securing opportunities, the majority of us would like a boost. As I was slowly crawling towards my next milestone of 4000 followers, I decided to set myself a challenge: Throughout June, I'd spend a week dedicated to one of four different growth strategies, and see if I could secure that number. 

How I increased my affiliate link clicks and transactions

I've been using affiliate links for a while now but never really had much success. That is, until I actually started putting some effort into them and I saw a huge improvement. In October, my clicks increased by 500%, my transactions increased by 375% and my commission jumped up by a huge 700%. Don't get me wrong- I'm hardly making a fortune but it's still amazing what a massive difference has been made just by putting the effort in.

What I learned when my tweet went viral

Viral might be the wrong word. My tweet- this tweet- has a grand total of 44 retweets. Yet somehow it's completely exploded. I've now been featured on Buzzfeed, The Daily Mail, The Sun, Metro and I've just found out it's on Cosmopolitan today too. I was even asked on This Morning, before they ignored my replies and just pretended they'd discovered it themselves. Not bitter... This bizarre turn of events has taught me a lot about what it's like to suddenly have the spotlight on your blog for a brief moment. 

What I learned when I stopped scheduling tweets

Scheduling is my life. Scheduled calendar. Scheduled posts. Scheduled tweets. Anything that I can line up in advance and make my life easier. Unfortunately, last month I had an uplanned break from my Bloglovin' promo scheduled tweets, thinking I wouldn't see much difference. Yep, I was wrong. So, so wrong.

Do bloggers need to be positive all the time?

Positive vibes only. Committed to spreading positivity. Just say yes. Everywhere you look as a blogger, you see the message pumped into the air- whatever you are, be positive. Of course, positivity is great. Being happy, helping other people, being kind to yourself- all of these are things that will enrich your life, but do we really need to put positivity above all else?

Why you should never censor yourself as a blogger

When I first started blogging, I was eager to be liked. I'm not a very confrontational person in the first place, so I just went along with what I thought was expected, too afraid to stick my neck out if I disagreed with the crowd. But somehow, and I'm not sure when or how it happened, I've realised that I no longer care. Of course I want to be liked, that's human nature, but I don't want that to be at the expense of sharing my opinions, even if they are unpopular. Yes, I'm sure there are people who don't like me because of it and I know I've lost followers after expressing certain opinions, but that's not important to me anymore. The benefits I've gained from being unashamedly me have been worth way more than followers or popularity.

What I've learned in 4 years of blogging

At the end of December, I hit my 4th blog birthday. Honestly, I never believed I'd keep up my little blog this long! Over the past four years, I've learned more than I could imagine and wanted to share some of these lessons with you.

7 ways to increase Twitter followers

My goal for the end of 2015 was to reach 10k Twitter followers and, in fact, it looks like I'm going to reach it by the end of September. If there's something I feel confident about, it's picking up Twitter followers. Of course it's not all about the numbers but, let's face it, we all get a little boost when somebody follows us. Besides, the more people follow us on Twitter, the more people check out our blogs and isn't what we all want, if we're really honest?

These seven pointers are what I've found to be the most effective way to increase followers. As always, it's worth experimenting with different strategies to see what works best for you.

How to create an invoice for your blog

I'd been blogging a good couple of years before I was asked for an invoice and, I'll be honest, it freaked me out! I didn't have the first clue about invoicing. Normally brands and PRs would either just pay by PayPal, or would forward me their own template invoice to fill in. Suddenly I needed to create one from scratch and had nowhere to turn. Thankfully, I managed to scramble something together that was acceptable and I've tweaked it here and there to create my own template, which I'll be sharing with you today. If I save one person from the panic I felt that day, I've done my job!

How to increase your Facebook referrals

In April, Facebook came 20th in my list of referring sites. Just a month later, it had shot up to 5th and my views from Facebook had increased by 1165%. Yep. One thousand, one hundred and sixty five percent in 30 days. So what changed? Well, I started using it properly for one thing.

For years, I believed that Facebook had no role to play in my blog. I stopped using my personal Facebook around 2012, and statistics seem to show that this is true for many people in my generation. Milennials have deserted Facebook in favour of Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram but I didn't stop to think about all the other age groups. My mum is regularly on Facebook. So are my teenage siblings. In fact, the number of active users is growing, so it's fairly clear that, even though I've long abandoned Facebook as a social media site, there are ample opportunities for blog use. 

These are the steps I've taken to use Facebook as a referring source.

Is replying to comments necessary?

Hands up: I rarely reply to comments. I know some people think this is hideously rude and ungrateful, but I still don't do it and I resent people making fellow bloggers feel guilty about it. I promise I'm not rude or ungrateful- I've just found that replying to comments doesn't work for me. Let me explain.

When I started blogging, I replied to every. single. comment. At first, it wasn't a problem but I soon realised that people rarely come back to check and typing "thanks", "thank you", "thank you so much" repeatedly felt insincere and hollow, which is exactly the opposite of what replies should be. I wouldn't want my favourite bloggers to reply to my comments just because they feel obliged to. 

11 productive things to do when you have bloggers' block

You know those days when you just can't be bothered to write? You pretend you have bloggers' block but really you just don't feel like it. Don't worry, I understand. There's no judgement here. However, there are still loads of super-easy, productive things you can do for your blog without taking photos and writing posts all the time. Think of it as productive procrastination!

A beginner's guide to affiliate schemes

If you're looking to make money out of your blog, affiliate schemes are probably not the way to go about it. The amount you may earn is very small, although it can help bring in some pocket money and takes very little effort. I've been using affiliate links for a few months now, but really focusing on them over the past few weeks, and have used what I've learned to write this post:

AFFILIATES FOR DUMMIES

How to make a button for your blog

Back in the summer of 2012, I was fiddling with my layout and wanted to make custom social media buttons for my blog. I Googled it, found a few different tutorials and eventually bumbled my way through it. Afterwards, I was so proud of myself that I wrote my own tutorial for creating buttons and icons that, more than 3 years on, is still relevant and helpful but very, very embarrassing. It's got to the point where I'm a little reluctant to give out the link, so I figure it's high time I gave it a revamp!

In this tutorial, we are looking at creating anything that is based around an image taking you to a link when clicked. This might be social media icons, blog buttons, sidebar ads and so on. The process is the same for all of them.

Do bloggers need a niche?

Contrary to general blogger opinion, I am a big fan of the blogging tips type post. In fact, I have a whole Pinterest board full of 'em! The problem for me, however, is that when I read these posts, a lot of them, and I mean a huge overwhelming amount, harp on and on and on about how you need a niche. 

According to these posts and articles, a niche blog makes sure you stay focused on consistency, gain loyal readers and can monetise your blog. I see this so often that I started thinking:

DO I NEED A NICHE BLOG?

What to look for when sponsoring blogs

A long time ago now, I was having a conversation with someone on Twitter about sponsoring blogs. "I don't see the point", she said, "I sponsored a big blog and all they did was put my ad in their sidebar. They didn't even follow me on Twitter". I asked her if they'd stated that they were going to follow her on Twitter, or if they'd offered anything other than an ad placement. They hadn't.

Now this post isn't to mock the girl I was talking to, don't get me wrong. It's a mistake that I think many bloggers make. I know I did! It's easy to think that the blogs with the most followers are the best ones to invest your money in, but, actually, that can be far from the case. 

Blogging for the wrong reasons

I'm sorry, guys. I've been blogging on Becky Bedbug for over 3 years now and it's time to make a confession: I am blogging for the wrong reasons.

I know, I know. You're all disappointed and horrified because, after all, we all know that there is one reason and one reason only why anyone should blog:

THE PASSION

That's right, boys and girls. If you blog, you must only do it because you have a burning passion inside your gut and you need to get it out in front of the world. Anything that comes afterwards is a bonus but you must never, ever plan for it.

THE WRONG REASONS

What follows is a list of some, but not all, of the wrong reasons, taken from Twitter, Land of Blogging Laws:

• To gain followers
• To get page views
• To become popular
• To work with brands (especially if this involves "freebies")
• To get paid
• To make a career
• To become famous

ACTUALLY, NO

I hope you're all sitting down because I am going to knock your socks off with this revelation: There are no wrong reasons.

In blogging, like in any industry, there are only reasons. No right or wrong about it. Perhaps you started because of The Passion and decided to leave it at that. Fine. Maybe that's why you started but eventually it grew into something else. Fine. Maybe, shock horror, you started a blog purely to carve a career and make money. You know what? Fine.

Here's the deal, guys. Blogging is a legitimate career. There are people out there who make money working full time on their blogs. To put this in the simplest terms: People write for their career. You know who else got paid to write? Shakespeare. Oscar Wilde. J K Rowling. The guy who first transcribed the Bible. Were they all doing it for the wrong reasons? Were they somehow less of a writer because they got paid for their work? Or is this because it's online writing. Is that why it's wrong to get paid? Cool. I'll just ring up Buzzfeed and tell them that, from now on, their staff cannot earn money from writing. Instead, they'll get paid in the joy of writing. 

For some reason, there are a lot of people who think it's ok to get paid to blog, and ok to work with brands, as long as you do not set out with this goal in mind. That's funny because, as we've already established, blogging is a legitimate career. Like nursing. Or teaching. Or retail. Why do we not tell the sales assistants in Primark that they're doing the wrong thing? Should they only go into retail if they have a burning passion for scanning barcodes? Should they start their careers without the intention to get paid? Of course not. 

"Well, Becky, that's because nursing, teaching and retail aren't creative careers. That's the difference! Creative industries shouldn't be entered into just for the money". Oh, ok. I'll just let Tracey Emin and Marc Jacobs know that they shouldn't have planned to make money from their talent.

WHY I'M BLOGGING FOR THE WRONG REASONS

Well, here's the dealio. As I've mentioned before, I want to make money from this blog. I want it to make up part of my career. My full time career? Probably not, but that's only because the financial instability would worry me. If I made as much as Zoella, then hell yeah I would! Admittedly, I didn't start out with this aim in mind because, naively, I didn't know there was money to be made in it. So... I was blogging for the right reasons but now I'm not? Or I'm ok because I didn't plan to make money to begin with? Who knows?

Let's go back to those reasons I mentioned at the beginning and dissect them, one by one, using myself as an example.

To gain followers
Well, obviously I want followers. If I didn't want anyone reading, I'd just stick to the private diaries I've been writing for 16 years. There's an ego inside me that wants feeding and it's bloody flattering when people actually take time out to read, follow and comment. So, yes, I do want followers and, let's be honest here, we all do. If you didn't, you wouldn't have a public blog, would you?

To get page views
The more page views I get, the more appealing my blog is to PRs and brands and, as I said above, I want to make money. So, again, yes. I do want to increase my page views. (If you want to help me out, click this link!)*

To become popular
Similarly to gaining followers, there are very few people who wouldn't want to become popular or get noticed. It feels good and, of course, if I wasn't going to get noticed, I'd have no chance to make this a career.

To work with brands and get freebies
First of all, they're not free. Products and samples are payment in lieu. I spend a couple of hours taking photos, editing photos, trying out the product (longer if it's something like skincare), writing content and promoting the post and, in exchange, I get a £15 lipstick or something. The equivalent of £7.50 an hour sounds like a pretty normal rate, if you ask me, so it's hardly free. Anyway, working with brands is a great way to get started communicating with PRs and building up relationships so, for someone who plans to carve a career blogging, it's a very positive step.

To get paid
Yes, I do want to get paid for my work. Shocking, I know.

To make a career
As I have already explained, at length, blogging is an acceptable career and there is absolutely no reason why you should not aim to make a living from it. 

To become famous
Say you what you want about that John Lennon, but I'm pretty sure he only wrote those songs to get famous. I mean, if he hadn't wanted to get famous, he would have retreated to the Yorkshire countryside and lived as a hermit as soon as his name got known, right? God dammit, John Lennon, you did it wrong! I'll admit- becoming famous isn't exactly high on my agenda. It seems like a lot of faff, to be honest, but do I sometimes imagine what it would be like to have people in the street ask me for a photo or be asked to appear on TV? Hell yeah! As long as people have been famous, there have been people who want to be famous and I, for one, see nothing wrong with that. (As long as they're not becoming famous by killing people, of course!) 

THE BOTTOM LINE

Everybody has different motivations to blog. That's life. You have your own aims and your own priorities and nobody else has the right to tell you they're wrong. Blogging didn't come with a set of rules to say exactly why we need to do it, so why some people are positioning themselves as the Blogger Police is beyond me. You do you, I'll do me and we'll all get along swimmingly. Deal?

*Yeah, that link didn't actually go anywhere important. I was just curious to see if people would click on it, to be honest.

Reaching out to brands as a blogger

Blogging is competitive. We all know that. I for one know how it feels to see another blogger working with an awesome brand and feel a pang of jealousy. It's particularly difficult if you aim to make a career of it because, after all, brand partnerships are a huge part of that. However, you can help things along a little by simply reaching out to brands yourself. A lot of bloggers are afraid of this, and I understand why, but this post will help make it seem a little less daunting.

CONTACTING BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

I will state now: This is my own experience. Everything I write here is how I approach brands, which has worked well for me. By no means am I pretending to know everything or telling you that this is the only way to approach matters.

How to create an effective media kit for your blog

CREATING A MEDIA KIT FOR YOUR BLOG

WHAT IS A MEDIA KIT?

For bloggers, a media kit- also known as a media pack- is a document that explains exactly what your blog is about and what you can offer brands or advertisers who choose to work with you. It includes all the information they need to know, such as statistics, the content you post and the types of advertising you offer. Think of your media kit as a brochure for your blog. 

Why it's ok to unfollow

SHOULD I UNFOLLOW?

More and more on social media, I'm seeing people complain about others unfollowing them. This may take the form of whinging about people following and then unfollowing straight away, people unfollowing for "no reason", people repeatedly unfollowing and so on and so forth. Yes, this does all seem terribly petty and 2005 MySpace, so I am here to tell you it is ok to unfollow people. I know, revolutionary stuff, eh?

Here's the deal: I follow people, whether that's their blogs, Twitter profiles or YouTube accounts, because I get something out of it. Does that sound selfish? Let me explain: