This year as my eldest child begins her final year at primary school it reminded me that I actually launched my blog when she first started school, 7 years ago! My main aim was to record all these memories and milestones. Back then in 2015 blogs were huge. Everyone was writing them and everyone was reading them!
When I started by blog in 2015 I just loved writing. I wrote about everything. Days out, milestones, holidays etc. As the months passed the more I wrote the more view my blog was getting. Which of course was a great confidence boost and encouraged me to write more. Content is key with a blog. The more good content that you write the more visitors you will get to your blog. Thus resulting in Google recognising your blog which is great for SEO resulting in your blog getting noticed more.
A year later later I set up some social media accounts, I was very reluctant to do this however I knew to be successful and get my blog seen more by brands then I would need to build my social network up. As well as writing on my blog I slowly tried to build a following mainly on Instagram.
I took about 16 months after starting my blog when a brand approached me to review a product. Since then I have steadily had many blog opportunities including sponsored posts, guest posts and product reviews.
Roll on to 2021 and Blogging and Influence marketing has exploded. More and more brands are appreciating that influence marking is really effective. It is a great and cost effective way to raise your brand awareness. It’s not just young trendy people who can be influencers or bloggers it can be anyone. Whatever your passion is be it food, travel, interiors, then you can become a specialist in this area. I am a Mum with 3 children, I follow similar people to me on social media and I am forever getting ideas from other parents. The same goes for shopping. I want to see real people my age when I am looking for outfit inspiration, not young super models who have completely different body shapes (and budgets!) to me. Before influence marketing people would shop for clothes via magazines and catalogues, now it is via Instagram.
The last couple of years I have personally seen lots of Instagram opportunities arise. Whilst my numbers are still very low compared to others (I currently have 6300 followers) many brands are happy to work with accounts that have over 3,000 followers with good engagement. Whilst I still see my blog as very much a hobby I know a lot of bloggers and influencers in a similar niche with a similar following who make a great and regular income from it. It simply comes down to you get out what you put in. Like any business the more time you commit to growing your blog and social media following the more opportunities will arise. It is also a great way to build a community of like minded people.
I love blogging, now all my children are in full time education I hope that I can dedicate more time and hopefully turn it more into a full time job. Watch this space!
This is a sponsored post