Beauty Blogging: Where to Start!

So, you're a beauty practitioner who has picked up some awesome tips and information along the way. You want to share your knowledge with all of the other beauty fanatics out there and you just don't know where to begin.

Throughout the past couple of years, I've been asked often how I got so many followers and what are some tips I can give to create a successful blog. So, I thought it was about time for a post! Keep reading for some tips and pointers to aid you in your beauty blogging endeavors!

1. YOUR NAME. More importantly, the name you'd like to be known as. Keep it simple. You want it to be something that is fairly easy to remember. If your username is "XoBeautyGirl674Xo", it's not going to be something that someone will remember and it's not going to be something easy to find on Google. Don't lose sleep over choosing a name, but make sure it's something you think you'd still like, even a few years down the line.

2. YOUR LAYOUT & BACKGROUND. Again, try keeping your layout fairly simple. Try not to pick designs that are too distracting or difficult to read. At one point, my blog had a black background with white and pink text, and it was a little difficult for some to read the letters. It's always fun to reflect your personality through layout decor, but let your personality shine through your writing more than anything.

Two of my favorite sites for blog backgrounds are http://shabbyblogs.com/ and http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/. (not affiliated)

3. MUSIC IS A NO-NO. Katy Perry E.T. may be your favorite song, and you listen to it at every chance you get, so you decide to add it to your blog. Well, it's not everyone's favorite song and probably 8 out of 10 times, a person will prefer no music. Several times, your readers may check your blog at work or in a setting where music can't, or shouldn't be played. If you insist on adding soundtracks to your page, don't set it to Auto-play - Leave it up to the viewer.

4. PHOTOS. We all love to see photos! If you are going to post photos, please do the following-

• Take your photos in a well lit area. The most accurate lighting is natural sunlight, but not everyone is able to take photos during the day. If you are taking photos at night and you will be using a flash, try out this awesome tip from Chloe of The Hollywood Heels. Place a tissue over the flash, to avoid over exposing your subject. (Click here to view the detailed post)
• Use the flower (Macro) setting for taking photos of products. This will keep your subject from photographing blurry.
• Crop and/or Re-size your photos (if necessary). If you don't have a program on your computer to do this, there are several free online photo editing sites you can use. A popular one is http://www.picnik.com/. You can find others by searching "Free Photo Editor". 

 FOR MORE TIPS, CLICK READ MORE!
5. BLOG ABOUT INTERESTING TOPICS. Basically, write about what people want to read about. Share any tips that you may think others would find helpful.

6. ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS. If you're doing a review, try organizing your thoughts so the review is easy to read and understand. Explain why you like or don't like a product. Give the pros & cons so we're not only reading that "I love this product" without backing it up with any reasoning. 

8. TAKE NOTES FROM OTHER BLOGGERS. Browse through your favorite blogs. What do you like and dislike about them? 

9. POST OFTEN! I know it's not practical in everyone's busy life to post daily, but posting daily will give your readers something to look forward to every day. The more often you post, the more likely you are to earn new subscribers every day.
 
7. JOIN MAKEUP COMMUNITY SITES & POST! Try creating accounts on websites like http://makeupalley.com and http://specktra.net and post in the forums. Be friendly! Daily users on those sites will start to recognize you, and you'll make friends in the makeup community! Specktra is pretty cool because you can add your photo and a signature to your forum. Many with blogs will put their link in their signature, so if they reply to a topic, others can see the photo and the link. Many times other people responding on the same threads will click on your link. If you're planning on doing FOTD'S, Specktra is a good place to post them to gain recognition. 

8. JOIN TWITTER! Twitter is an awesome tool to make friends. Start following all of your favorite bloggers and companies, comment on status updates and post your own status updates.

9. SUBSCRIBE TO OTHER BLOGS & COMMENT! Subscribe to blogs you like and comment on posts. You can even post your link under your name in comments, so others commenters will see, and click your link. Commenting will gain your name more recognition, and you will make friends! When you make friends that have blogs, they may add you to their Blogroll!

10. HAVE FUN! The focus of blogging is not only to share your opinions and tips, its to learn new things yourself, build relationships with others and ultimately, have fun! Writing about the things you like should be enjoyable, so don't stress when you feel like no one is subscribing. It takes patience and time.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER BLOGGERS TIPS!
What I've Learned Along the Way Tiffany, willworkformakeup.blogspot.com
If You're Planning to Start a Blog Karen, makeupandbeautyblog.com
How to Get Started in Blogging Sarah, http://www.iheartcosmetics.co.uk
How to Start a Beauty Blog! glitteronmyeyes.blogspot.com

READ THIS HILARIOUS (AND TRUE!) ARTICLE "YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'RE A BEAUTY BLOGGER IF.."
http://katiegene.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-know-youre-beauty-blogger-if.html

Hopefully this post was somewhat helpful to those of you who want to start a blog! I hope this will give some of you the motivation to begin! :)

Do you have tips of your own? Share in the comments!