Friend Friday:Startin' blogs is hard to do

1. How has your blog changed over the months/years you've been blogging?
It's only been 6 months, so it's changed a lot in one sense, but in another way it hasn't had time to change much. I've spent a lot of time tweaking how it looked, trying different kinds of posts, eg outfit shots, charity shop hauls, summaries of new high street collections, and it helps to do that, I think. I always think that when you're being creative you have to be prepared to try things that don't work, to enable you to find your way! I'm still working on that.



I can never resist a chance to show off my bargains. Especially when they look like this one.


2. What was one thing you did wrong in the beginning and how have you changed that?
Well it's not that long ago, but one thing I have started doing is asking a question at the end of my posts. At first I was concerned with trying to give each post a punchy round-off, but I noticed an increase in comments when I actually solicited the opinion of my readers. It was a great tip!

3. When you visit a blog what's the greatest turn off? The thing that makes you close the tab?
No one thing: if I feel it's not my area of interest, if it's hard to navigate or subscribe to, or if it's just scan after scan from Vogue, which I've just read anyway; an odd one's fine, but you need to break it up a bit!

4. How did you find your voice?
I don't know if I have yet! I've found it difficult to decide how much of myself to 'put in'. At first I didn't feel comfortable putting pictures of myself on the blog either (partly because of self-consciousness, and partly because I wasn't sure I could do it convincingly), but I have to admit that I find blogs more engaging if you get a glimpse of someone's wardrobe or someone's lifestyle. I think blogging calls for a different style of writing, to be honest, and it's strange getting used to addressing someone and no-one at the same time. I always prefer the posts where I've gotten a little 'whimsical', though...

Outfit posts: I braved some eventually....

5. If you had three pieces of advice to give to a new blogger what would those be?
     1. 'Be yourself' is the classic one. But if you haven't found your angle, be prepared to try things out until you feel comfortable.
     2...would be a great one that I recently read on Grit and Glamour: don't feel you have to post every day. I know the content of mine suffered when I tried to write more frequently than I was comfortable with. Plus it then puts you under a certain amount of pressure - and this is supposed to be enjoyable.
     3. Set aside time to interact with other bloggers: engage with them through the posts of theirs you've enjoyed, giving helpful comments or ones that spark some kind of discussion. It does increase your traffic, of course, but it's rewarding in a more social sense - I've 'met' some fabulous fun people via blogs, and ones who I respect and inspire me. Two of the many such ones would be Veshoevius of Taxonomy of My Wardrobe, and Penny Dreadful Vintage - their blogs are engaging, interesting and really well written. Shout out to you two!

How about you? How did you find your voice? And what are your turn-offs?

(see what I did there with the closing questions?!)