Beaut Optician Turns 1! Truths And Tips For Bloggers

Happy Blogversary to Beaut Optician! I can’t believe a whole year has flown by.  I really can’t thank you enough for being a part of this journey with me and following along.  A blog is nothing without its followers’ support.

I told myself when I started this venture on August 20, 2017 that I would put in a solid effort for one year and then re-evaluate if I wanted to continue.  Just like opening a new business, growth is usually slow, yet hopefully steady and you cannot give up after one year.  I am most definitely going to keep the blog going. I finally feel like after a whole year I have finally found my groove and have accomplished certain things I never thought would happen within the first year.  There were definitely times this year when I felt like quitting and would ask myself “why am I doing this again?”  This is exactly why I wanted to write this post.

Whether you are interested in starting your own blog or business or just need some motivation read on for the key things I’ve learned from starting a blog from scratch.

Trust The Journey: Any new business/blog is a journey. You need to have patience. It is okay to not know exactly who you are, or what your “brand” is day one.  I remember when I first started I was strictly trying to focus on eyewear because of the name I gave the blog.  I felt like I couldn’t stray or post anything other than this because that is what I named the blog (Beaut Optician).  I quickly realized it was okay to branch out!  Eyewear to me is fashion as well!  I vividly remember having coffee with a dear friend and fellow blogger (@stylebyjamielea) and I said, “I just don’t know what to blog about or write about anymore.”  She literally replied, “write about anything!” I know it is easier said that done, but she was absolutely right.  Don’t get too caught up in “is this content okay?” Write what you want to write about.  You do you.

If it feels right, and if you legitimately want to share it, share it!  That is the beauty of having your own blog, you are in complete control!

Develop A Relationship With Your Audience: You will develop a relationship with your audience even without trying. As a blogger, your followers will fall in love with either you style, personality, way of life, charm etc.  Once they are hooked on you, the sky is the limit!  They will be interested in what you have to share. When I took a closer look at some of my favorite bloggers and what they did that clearly made them successful in their own way, I realized they had done just this.   You will find people will actually be interested in your life!  I never thought my life was really that ground-breaking, but as a blogger or business owner, people like to see the real side or the at home life.  This is where I love to utilize Instagram stories.  I will admit, I like my IG feed to be more of a highlight reel.  This is just my personal preference and how I am treating the brand “Beaut Optician” that I have created. Don’t forget to respond to your comments and direct messages as quickly as you can.  Remember, without your audience, what do you have to share?

 If you start engaging with another blogger and they engage back with you, keep that relationship going. I have a tribe of boss babes in which we do just this.  I guess we all know how much time and energy is spent and really want to support eachothers’ growth.

Don’t Criticize Yourself: When you put yourself out there with a blog or business, it can be so easy to compare yourself to others, especially others who have been doing it longer than you, or who have more followers or likes.  I’m not even going to say “more successful” because having a certain number of followers and likes on your photo does not define your success as a blogger. 

Trust me! You will still get collaborations and work with brands even at 1K followers! 

You can become overly critical about yourself in photos.  Please realize that you are your worst enemy and critic when it comes to that.  We all need to love ourselves more.

Play The Game: If you are feeling frustrated about growing on social media, don’t be. It is not easy and it takes years.  I’ve seen bloggers with killer content and not have the following they should and likes they deserve.  There is a game to play here.  Some tips that I can offer you are these, and I am definitely still learning.  Giveaways are absolutely fine to do! Whether you do them through a loop which is a bigger group of people that usually all contribute toward the product they are giving away, or even with a couple other bloggers don’t feel ashamed!  How does any business or brand grow?  They need to advertise, and giveaways are great for that.  If you do go with a loop giveaway which you can find on Instagram, make sure it is a trusted one.  Reach out to your blogger friends who may have done one to make sure you are in the right loop.  Also, why not treat your followers to the chance to win something great!  I will get off my soapbox about giveaways, but for real, this has helped me get my content seen and real people that will follow you.  Yes, there are people that “buy followers” guess what, they are usually robots and not real people.  It’s all advertising and playing the game.

Giveaways on Instagram have been my favorite way to grow and get seen. Don’t be afraid to join one. I look at it as advertising for your blog.

Practice Consistency: Be as consistent as you can. If you post a blog post once a week, or once a month, stick with it.  Pump out quality content, I prefer to only post one blog post a week in order to have people actually get a chance to read it.  You work so hard on that, so give your readers a couple days to be able to actually get on your blog and read.  I strive to post on Instagram once a day.

Keep the time of day you post on Instagram fairly consistent too. If you are an 8pm poster or a 12pm poster, stick with it! I definitely have tried different times of day out and some were great for me and some were not.  I quickly realized that 8am was absolutely insane for me because most of the time I was hurrying up to go to work and I was miserable trying to get my post out.  I have found either lunch hour or 8pm have been my personal best times with the most engagement.

Find Your Feel With Your photos:  If you like it light and bright, de-saturated, or maybe want some pink undertones.  Don’t be afraid to experiment with this.  I recently downloaded Adobe Lightroom and have never looked back.  It is very easy to use and understand and adds so much more to me than just using Instagram’s filters. (What I used to do.) It will up your blog photo game for sure.

Always remember to pounce on your comments! The first hour after you post your photo is so important for the Instagram algorithm, which is always changing and forever a mystery.

Pros To Having A Blog: 

You will meet friends, other bloggers, and business local and even over seas! There is a wonderful blogging community out there and bloggers who really do support other bloggers, its amazing to be a part of.

You will never feel isolated or alone as a blogger, you will be constantly connected to the world on social media.

You have freedom of expression and speech and can create a “character’ or portray yourself (your brand) however you want. You are your own boss.

You can blog on your own time. Have a job, kids, fur babies, husband, wife? Use this for a creative outlet whenever you want and where ever you are!

You can help others by the challenges you are going through.  Blogs are fantastic true life stories from real people.

Thank you so much for reading and following me this year. I couldn’t do it without you. I really enjoy what I do and love that you are along for each step.