This post is sponsored by PurpleTrail. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view.
Fashion
Motherhood
Beauty
Fitness
Travel
Home
If you can name it, you can find a blog for it. Everywhere you look there is a blog. I bet you can name at least three people you know that write a blog. One could say it is the trendy thing to do now, but for me, it is so much more than that.
Queen of the Beehive (which was formerly known as Queen Barnes, which was also formerly known as The Beekeeper’s Tales) has come a long way. It started in 2017 as a motherhood blog. I frequently posted about life as a stay at home mom of two under two, how to manage a household while mom’ing, and how I tried not to lose my sanity along the way. As my life has evolved out of two under two so has the blog. Now I speak on sibling rivalry, traveling with your toddlers, finding the right preschool, etc. All of the things that I am now going through as my phase in life has changed.
Two years later the blog is still going strong and there are a few secrets as to why/how. For starters, I haven’t changed the name in a whole year which is huge (joking). I’ve been wanting to take some time to jot down answer the questions I receive about blogging.
What kind of blogger do you want to be?
For me it was obvious – motherhood. I was in the thick of mothering two toddlers under two years old and was handling it to the best of my ability. Using my day to day life I found the material for my blog. Recipes, cleaning schedule, self care, date nights, etc. I looked around at my life and decided what I thought was worth sharing. Now that the kids are in preschool/summer camp I have more time to myself and have nurtured hobbies to blog about. Home decor for instance. Decorating our home has always been one of my favorite things to do, now I turn it into blog content. This is what we’d call a lifestyle blogger.
Figure out what YOU want to write about. Make sure it is something you are passionate about and can create content for. If you don’t pin down the type you’d like to be then you run the risk of being a little all over the place with your topics OR even worse, the inability to come up with anything. Whether you want to write about affordable fashion, natural beauty products, easy meal ideas – whatever it is – make sure YOU love it.
How often should you post a new blog?
When I’m on top of my game I will have blogs drafted and waiting to be posted weeks ahead of time. New blog posts will go live either Mon, Wed, and Fri during a week OR Tues and Thurs. If I have a post ready to go on Monday morning, I will continue the week with Wednesday and Friday. If I didn’t have something ready on Monday, but had it done for Tuesday, I will then continue the week with Thursday. This may not make sense to some, but it is how I keep myself on a schedule of some sort. I don’t like to post back to back days because the day after a post, I continue to promote from the day before. Posting back to back might cause of the posts to get lost in the excitement.
Figure out what schedule works best for you. One day a week to five days a week. You are the keeper of your own clock in this. Stay consistent and your readers will know when to expect new content from you.
How do you decide what is deserving of a full blog post?
Blogging is therapeutic for me. I like to write. I like knowing that others are reading my work. I enjoy expressing my creative side in a useful, hopefully helpful way. That being said, sometimes a partnership with a brand cannot be translated into a blog post for me. If you provide me with a pack of gum, I cannot provide you with an in depth blog post about it. I need to be able to see a product in multiple ways to be able to write a full post. The way it looks, the process of ordering it, the functionality, how much it has changed our lives – all ways to talk about it in a post. A pack of gum does not fit into all of those categories. Sometimes I have something I want to write about, BUT it’s a short winded topic, then I figure out how to fit into a list, a round up, or a collection of things instead (like this one for instance).
Only you can decide how many words you can put into a blog post about any given idea. If you are very passionate about a topic and could go on about it, then go for it! If you think you could only come up with a few sentences, try to create a round up of similar ideas to go along with it.
How do you keep yourself on track?
This has been the hardest part of all for me. Being self employed, being my own boss, being in charge of what I do and don’t do are easily the most difficult aspects of this job for me. I have to keep track of who I’m working with, what pictures I am planning to post, when my posts are due, where I am going to post them, why do I want to post this, how am I going to remember how it did? So many questions to ask yourself at all times. Luckily I was gifted a content planner from PurpleTrail to help me in all of these scenarios. With this planner I can keep track of how many followers I have on any given platform, which posts I’m putting up on what days, what my goals are for the month, and so much more. It has been such a helper in allowing me to stay organized while not letting anything slip through the cracks. I’m a list maker, to-do list checker offer. This planner has given me so much more than just keeping my blog + social media straight, but I can remind myself photograph products or whose email I need to respond to.
Get a planner. Whether it is a content planner like I have or an everyday planner that keeps track of appointments and the weekly dinner menu – you will be so thankful to have given yourself the ability to see it all in front of you. There is nothing better than looking at your fully filled out planner on a Sunday night and seeing the entire week before your eyes. Invest in a planner that is fit for your lifestyle. PurpleTrail has MULTIPLE different types, I guarantee you will find the right one for you.
Use code ‘QUEEN’ for 15% off your order!
Happy blogging friends!
