5 Essential Tips to Grow Your Blog

I have been compensated by QVC & HSN for this ‘How to Grow Your Blog‘ post. All opinions are my own.

I measure success not by where you are today, but based on the journey that needed to be taken to get to where you are standing today.  My blogging journey has been really up and down. It really began with me talking myself out of starting for months.  Honestly I wanted to start blogging long before I had actually started.  The problem was fear was getting in the way of that.  I was afraid to start and afraid of failing.  The problem with fear is it can be crippling and make you stagnant and stop you from really achieving anything.  

I finally had to ask myself what do I have to lose? I actually have more to lose if I never start and don’t reach any of my goals. I then told fear to take the back seat and I decided to start up my fashion blog.  When I started it was just Rick and I shooting pictures in our apartment courtyard.  No rhyme or reason.  Photo quality wasn’t great but what was important is I was starting. 

Over the first 6 months of my blog I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing.  I would just throw on a dress and heels and snap pictures.  While I love a good dress and heels, that really isn’t my daily.  Being a busy mom I am lucky if I get out once a month with heels and dress.  With that, it started to feel not authentic to share that daily. I didn’t want women to feel like they   had to be dressed up daily.  While being conflicted with this I also was actively trying to obtain brand deals and works with brands.  I was getting told NO left and right.  That was difficult to keep encouraged.  Looking back I understand why I wasn’t working with many brands.  My photo quality truly wasn’t up to par and there really wasn’t any story behind the image 

After being uninspired and really discouraged I decided to take some time off from blogging.  I also was pregnant with Cyrus at the time and had a tough pregnancy. With all of that it was just best to take a step back and regroup. 

A year later I still have the thoughts about blogging.  I wanted to blog but I wanted to really share myself authentically.  There was nothing wrong with putting on a dress but I wanted to share the other aspects of my life as well.  While I didn’t feel like that put me in a particular blogging category I still wanted to do it.  For me, I wanted to connect with my community behind just sharing a picture. So I started sharing it all. From life, home, fashion, kids, and everything in between. 

It’s crazy because once I started being myself that is when I was able to connect with my community the most.  I then started working with brands because they were able to truly able to see who I was as a brand. When I came back, I also grew this hobby to also monetize it, which is an added bonus.

Today I am not where I want to be in my blog, but I am a heck of a lot further from where I started.  This has been a journey that is all over the place but I would trade it for the world.  I pour my heart into my blog, and I just love that I can connect with my community. I am grateful that once I started just being myself I was able to grow my blog to generate more income than more corporate job. 

How to Grow Your Blog

Here are some of the steps I did to start my blog to where it is:

Established my brand – As I said when I first started blogging I was predominantly sharing style. However, I didn’t  feel like it was truly representing who I was. After my blog/maternity break I came back with clarity of how I wanted my brand to look. Motherhood, Style, and Home. Those are the major anchors of my influencer brand. Those 3 facets steer what brands I work with, my audience I target, and the aesthetic I create on social media.  Figure out who you are in your brand, and what you want your brand to represent. 

It’s never too late to reinvent yourself in order to improve and grow your brand! 

Improved content – Often I wanted to work with brands.  Sometimes I would even get bummed when I would not hear back from a brand.  However, I really had to be honest with myself.  My content wasn’t up to par to really have a brand invest dollars in me.  That is a hard but honest truth.  I had to work on improving the content I shared.  I started shooting with a photographer.  This is not required to have a blog, but for me it was a necessary step. I improved my blog site, I hired a web designer to create my new site.  All of these things really helped me get noticed by my community and brands. 

Be Consistent – Taking the first step is a big one but the next big step is to actually share to your community consistently.  Many times we will get the courage to start but won’t follow through with the process and keep consistent.  The was me. I would post content and then you would hear from me.  The problem with this is how will you grow your community if they are rarely hearing from you.  How will brands take me serious.  To get consistent I had to start creating a content calendar, to allow me to stay organized but also help me get in front of my community regularly.

Stayed true to myself – In the blogging industry it can get easy to compare yourself and try to be what you see on Instagram.  At that time I really didn’t see a lot of family bloggers sharing content the way I did.  Although I didn’t see regular examples of this I still wanted to do it.  Sometimes you have to be yourself and create your own lane. 

Didn’t get discouraged – Being an entrepreneur you will have a lot of doors close. That is ok.  Sometimes I think about what if I would have stopped during that time I was getting a string of NO’s. I am glad I kept pushing forward.  You have to push through the NO’s to get to the Yes’s. 

Below is an image that shows the progress I have made.  Early on my photo quality was not up to par.  Images were blurry, and we had to work to improve my content.

This is a bit about my journey, and every entrepreneur will have their own.  I was excited with QVC reach out to work together for me to highlight their contest the Big Find.  This gives entrepreneur the opportunity to have their products highlighted in order to get discovered and start being sold on QVC/HSN. The contest just kicked off and runs through August.  As I said earlier if you are in a spot where fear has you stagnant, don’t be afraid to just START!  For some, your start may be by submitting your application for the Big Find – below is all the information you need to submit your application and product!

• 07/8-08/19 product submissions – this is the timing where there is an ask out for marketing support 
  • Applicants would need to submit their form as well as a video telling us about their story, the product, and why do they believe it is right for the QVC & HSN customer 
  • Buyers will review submissions and decide who will move on to the next round. 
  • 9/15 – 9/25 – The next round will include an invite to attend a virtual pitch session, ie zoom meeting 
  • All entries must at least have a prototype to present to the panel. Ideally two additional samples to be sent one each to QVC and HSN
  • Any brands / product that are picked to move to the next round will be matched with a mentor to help them prep for selling on QVC & HSN 
  • 09/15-09/25 auditions 
  • 10/25 final decisions communicated to new brands  

If you are in a spot today that you feel fear or even lost.  Don’t be afraid to just take that first step towards your goals.  You have more to lost by not take any step to level up your future. 

Do you have any other questions or tips on how to grow your blog?  Let me know in a comment below!