What I Learned in Year One of Blogging

The fact that What Nicole Wore is {almost} a year old seriously blows my mind. Most days I still feel like I’m stumbling around blindly trying to figure out if I’m going in the right direction, but when I step back and think about the last year, I get SO excited to see what the next year holds for me and What Nicole Wore.

Another strange thing to me, is the number of emails I get from people interested in starting a blog but not knowing where to start {I’m hardly what I’d call an expert}, but I wanted to share some background on what spiked my interest in blogging, how the beginning went and some of the best things I’ve learned over the last twelve months. Warning you in advanced, this is going to be a longggggg {but hopefully helpful and informational} read.

I started a style Instagram back in October 2012; I had just moved back to Louisville from Northern Virginia and had posted a few outfits on my personal Instagram and enjoyed interacting with other style lovers and seeing what other people were wearing. My best friend at the time would always put me down and make fun of my constant ‘Gramming {#sorrynotsorry} which spurred me to launch a separate account and not tell any of my friends about it.

I named the account @sequinedpatterns {I have no idea why other than it sounded ~trendy} and went with things. I’d post sporadically, I’d not be in the mood and not post for months. This went on for about two years. At one point, I even started a blog before it fizzled out after a couple months. I had a lot going on in my personal life and my close girlfriends at the time constantly made fun of me for my love of clothes which eventually drove me back to my style Instagram.

So fast forward to October 2014 and I’ve started posting my outfit each day + any fun shopping finds I have. While, I’m at it, I go ahead and rename my account to the ever original @whatnicolewore.  Even bigger, I start liking and commenting other people’s photos — I remember the first time I hit 100 likes on a post and just thinking, “omg I’m hot ish,” it was an outlet from my day to day life where I could talk about something I loved and have other people “get it.”  It was fun, it was enjoyable and it was easy. I could quickly snap a photo from above, like the one above, or I could grab one in the full length mirror at work.

I ended up having a huge falling out with my close group of girlfriends and ended up throwing myself into instablogging, I got my first collaboration, I started making IG friends and I really was having a good time. I found myself contemplating the idea of starting a blog again but wondered if it was something I’d really stick to. One of my close friends from middle school, Emily, had been writing her blog for a few months and it made it seem more realistic that blogging was something I could do.  While we weren’t very close anymore, I liked that I could keep up with her life by reading her blog (I’m nosy and always want to know who’s pregnant). {Emily works full time, takes online classes, at the time had a husband in law school and travels pretty frequently — so knowing my daily routine is a lot less busy than hers eased a lot of my concerns.}

I continued to think about the idea and do some research on what I’d need to do, what it would cost, etc. and in March 2015, I bought my domain and launched a self hosted WordPress blog.  It was a little pricy {I self host with Bluehost}, but when I started reading about people’s having their blogs disappear when using free services, I decided to invest, pay for a year and see what happened.

The first posts were rough…I didn’t have a photographer, when I let my mom take my pictures I got frustrated when they didn’t come out the way I envisioned and I wondered if maybe I’d made a mistake.  It wasn’t until July {that’s four months!} that I started taking better quality pictures and really, truly blogging versus having constant Instagram roundups.  So let’s get to the good stuff — what are my top tricks and tips!

1. Don’t panic about not knowing it all.

With blogging there’s a lot to learn: what key words to use, how to get attention from companies, how to attract readers, format, blog design, etc. No one’s first few posts are beautiful or (usually) what their blog ends up becoming if they stick with it. Give yourself a pass and know that starting a blog can be mentally challenging enough without you beating yourself up about not even knowing what SEO stands for.

When I first started my blog, I wanted to a sponge and watch, read and intake all blogging advice I could. There’s so much out there that I quickly got burnt out on reading newsletters, columns and posts, but it’s nice to look at bloggers that you enjoy reading and seeing if they have a blogging advice post somewhere in their archives.

2.  Find a posting schedule and try to stick with it.

Posting every day may be #goals for many beginning bloggers but you quickly see the amount of work each post requires. I’ve found that three posts a week is a good workload for me. I try my best to post on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and use the days in between and my weekends to prep everything that needs to be prepped {shooting, editing photos, writing, linking, editing writing, proofreading, etc.}

Figure out what is attainable with your schedule and where blogging fits in and start there. I typically use blogging {aside from shooting pictures} as my “quiet time.” One of the questions I get a lot is, “how much time per week do you spend on your blog?” and I honestly always just spit out a random number that I hope is right. I typically will end my day by watching basketball on TV or League Pass {still my favorite purchase of 2015!} and have my laptop in my lap doing whatever blog type things I need to do: edit, write, proofread, respond to emails, share content on various platforms.

3. Find friends that are excited about your blogging endeavors as you are!

This may seem dumb to some, but having friends (and family members – y’all rock!) that ask and genuinely care what blog things are going on in my life has been a game changer for me. Like I said before, I kept my blogging as secretive as I could for awhile, I didn’t put my name on my Instagram account for the longest time because I was worried a friend would google me and find it. My friend Michelle was one of the first close friends that knew about my top secret blog life and while she does sometimes tease me about it, it’s always in a nice way.  She has listened to more blog talk than she probably cares to, but having her ask questions and get excited about things with me makes me really happy. {Michelle if you’re reading this, sorry for being sappy and using you as an example.}

I’m incredibly close to my parents and having them involved is exciting too. When we traveled to London last summer, I remember going to take a breakfast picture {#basic} and both of them immediately halted me so they could arrange things “better.” While it cracks me up when I’m trying to explain things like collaborations, sponsorships and Instagram to them, having them wanting to understand is huge for me.

4. Don’t compare yourself to everyone else.

I feel like this one is good advice for life in general, but it’s very easy to look at other bloggers and think “why can’t I be like them/have what they have/take pictures as great as they do, etc.”  Blogging is without a doubt an ever improving self art; looking at my first posts is pretty cringe inducing, but I also was doing the best I could at that time. Over the past year, my quality, consistency, writing and photography has all improved, something I think is worth noting for someone just starting out with their blog.

5. Find a niche and know that you may not be for everyone — that’s ok!

I was going to title this section “stay in your lane” {also great general life advice}, but decided to be a little more descriptive. I really wanted to start a blog because I felt like there were so few women who looked like me in style blogging. I’ve followed Clare‘s blog for a few years now, but thinking about all the style bloggers that I follow and having her be the only woman of color in the bunch is kind of shocking.  I’e recently gotten more into beauty products and finding YouTubers with my coloring has been HARD.

The desire for diversity went beyond just skin tone too; many of the bloggers I follow have similar body shapes and so what will work on a straight or hourglass figure, won’t work on my pear shaped body. I would overall say that I try to make What Nicole Wore a blog that would be applicable to any woman, but I definitely focus on budget friendly items, remixing closet staples and colorful clothing. As I’ve switched jobs, my looks have varied from business casual to more weekend wear.

While I love following some bloggers that are able to splurge more on their wardrobes, I typically find that they blogs I enjoy reading this most are people who shop sales and wear items more than once; they’re just more applicable to where I’m at in my life right now.

6. Social media is your friend.

There are so many different social media outlets that you can use to drive traffic, network and connect with other bloggers, readers and brands. Find one or two that you feel very comfortable using.  I have been horrible about keeping up with them lately, but I love Twitter chats; there are a ton geared for bloggers that allow you to discuss various issues, share advice and learn tips and tricks from more seasoned bloggers.

Example: I just don’t get Periscope. One day I will take the time to learn it and see if there’s a way to make it applicable and useful for What Nicole Wore but that day is not today.  I also just cannot get used to using Snapchat regularly from a blogging perspective. I know this one could be huge, but I haven’t taken advantage of it.

I have taken complete advantage of Instagram; without a doubt it is my go to social media network. Learning to really “master” it has all been trial and error for me and there have been rough patches. My number one thing right now is using Iconosquare to track my analytics on Instagram.  You do have to pay to get all of the information, but you can try a seven day free trial to see what it’s like before committing. I look at the Optimization tab all the time, because it lets me see what time’s are best to post with my audience. Engagement lets you see what media has done well with likes versus comments; I also like to look at the Rolling Month Analysis tab to see what’s been popular with my followers for the month.

The service also lets you see who recently followed {and unfollowed} you. I honestly try to not even look at these stats unless I need to for a giveaway purpose because I know it will drive me crazy. {General rule of thumb: I try not to get worked up about being unfollowed because I know I’ve unfollowed accounts for various reasons — not being updated for long periods of time, too many loop giveaways, no longer being interested in their content, etc.}

7. Be professional.

I received a pitch last week that I turned down because the contact addressed me by the wrong name. {My name is in both my blog name and email so….} This is, unfortunately, a very easy mistake to make on either side of things and rarely goes over well with the recipient.  I use my phone to read emails all the time, but try to stick to responding from my MacBook because I am less likely to make typos, have a much larger screen to see everything and have my email signature set up on my laptop. {Yes, I could stop being lazy and set it up on my phone too, but I’m not there yet.} It’s also a lot easier to format an email from my computer if I need to attach documents or send links.

Be sure to make sure you are checking your blog email regularly, especially your junk mail inbox! Most of the emails I get come through, but once in a while I’ll find something sitting in my junk that’s not junk. Take care to respond to emails in a timely manner. Life happens, but I try not to let emails requiring a response exceed 48 hours.  Showing brands that you do things in a timely manner is going to make them understand you take blogging seriously and want to work with them.

After working with a company or store for a collaboration, I always try to mail a thank you note. I can’t tell you how many times this has led to the company reaching back out to me and sometimes even fostering a relationship with me. Anything you can do to positively stand out is a good thing!

7. Have fun!

Some people think that blogging is taking pictures and being into yourself. {I was one of these people.} The truth is that it’s really not that glamorous. For example, at one point I was super busy between work and volunteering commitments so I went and shot about six outfits at an abandoned building. Changing in your car and then waiting for your camera battery to recharge is very far from glamorous.  I’ve had times when I’ve been sweating in extreme heat and times where I’ve been freezing in the snow just to get a set of pictures.

At this point, I’ve learned that sometimes things just aren’t going to happen according to plan, but a big part of being able to still be blogging has been figuring out better ways to manage my blog time. Main example: not waiting until Tuesday to start thinking about a post for Wednesday. While I’m by no means at the point of having 1. an editorial calendar or 2. content planned out (and completed) weeks in advanced, I do try to have most of the work done prior to the day before.  I usually will insert links and proofread the day before, but try to have everything else done so that if something does come up {whether it be an emergency or just a friend wanting to go out for dinner and drinks}, I’m not running around in a panic the morning the post is supposed to go live.  Life is more fun when you’re not panicked.

Those are my biggest tips towards starting a blog. If you have any other questions or want to discuss any of these things in more detail, feel free to email me. I may try to put together a top Instagram tricks post in the future, if that’s something that some of you would be interested in reading.  Thank you so much for reading and following along over the past year!