A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being able to ask the lovely Lynsey Macdonald from Allsorts and Anecdotes and ask her all about starting a blog! Lynsey is a fellow Scottish Blogger and trained makeup artist who blogs about not just beauty, but lifestyle too. She's a charming and witty individual who juggles being back at university, blogging and life in general! If you haven't checked her out before, I definitely recommend doing so!
Without further ado; Lets get into the interview!
- Let's start with the obvious one: Why did you want to start a blog in the first place?
When
I was at university I sort of stumbled across the beauty blogging and
YouTube scene by accident, and fell in love with it straight away.
For a while I really just watched from the outside – I found
reading blog posts and watching YouTube videos a great way to unwind
when I wasn’t studying. As time went on though I really wanted to
be a part of it, and I’ve always loved writing, so it seemed like a
good fit for me. I started posting occasionally on my blog and then
at the beginning of 2012 I decided to make a proper go of it! I’m
so glad that I did – I love having my own little corner of the
internet to ramble away on!
- Have there been any unexpected obstacles you've encountered while having a blog?
Time
management is really the biggest obstacle I’ve found. Right now
I’m back at uni studying my post-grad, and finding the time to post
regularly can be really difficult. What I’ve found though is that
it’s better to take a little break if you need to than to force
yourself to post for the sake of it – there’s a great quote doing
the rounds on Pinterest that says ‘‘Blog what you live, don’t
live to blog’’, which is so true! There’s no point in forcing
yourself put a post together when you’re stressed or uninspired,
because it’ll show. I got to a point where I worked out a schedule
and said I’d post twice a week – that helped me feel more
organised.
- How has your blog changed/enhanced your life so far? Did you expect it to take off?
I
really didn’t expect it to take off! It sounds so cheesy and
predictable but I can honestly say the friends I’ve made through
blogging have been the best thing to come out of it. I was away for
the weekend last month with six of the girls I met through blogging
and they are some of the loveliest people I know. Going along to
blogging events also really helped boost my confidence – it’s
quite daunting walking in to your first event not knowing anyone, but
it’s so worth it!
I’m
also just proud of my blog in general! It takes dedication to get a
blog going, and getting into the swing of things definitely doesn’t
happen overnight! Twitter is brilliant for this – the number of
bloggers I’ve met through the Sunday night lifestyle bloggers
(#lbloggers) and beauty bloggers (#bbloggers) chats is crazy. It
also helps to get your blog out there, which can be so tricky at
first!
Thirdly,
blogging really helped me figure out what I want to do career wise,
which is an amazing thing to be able to say. It introduced me to a
whole new world of social media and marketing and gave me the drive
to go after something I’d love to do!
- The main focus of your blog has changed since it first started. What made you want to widen the content of your blog?
I
think over time it just happened without me even thinking too much
about it! I did start off focusing on beauty, and I look at the
amazing beauty bloggers out there and cannot praise them enough for
posting amazing regular content. I’m quite careful with my
spending though, and there’s really only so many times you can post
about the same nail polish! I loved reading lifestyle blogs, which
combine so many different aspects of the blogger’s life, and I
realised that’s what I had started doing. It meant I could do
things like blog about my trip to Australia when I went travelling,
write film or music reviews and talk about my uni experiences without
it seeming out of place in a beauty blog!
- And lastly, any advice to anyone wanting to start a blog?
My
three main pieces of advice would be persevere, write content you
would love to read and make use of twitter!
For
some people it can feel like an eternity to get your first followers
– I remember sitting at four followers on GFC for literally months
and thinking that number would never change! It’s so important not
to focus on that though and just focus on posting. Readers will come
in time, and the engagement you get from chatting to people in the
comments and on twitter is much more important than that figure! So
keep going!
In
terms of the content, trust me, I know the temptation is there to
jump on the bandwagon of a popular type of post because other people
are doing it – it’s so much more important to write posts you
love though! If you want to write about a product you’ve loved that
everyone else seems to have hated, go for it! If you don’t love
what you’re writing about, it will show, so be brave and stick to
what you like.
And
finally, in terms of twitter, it really can be your best friend when
it comes to getting started in the blogging world. The Sunday night
chats are amazing because you end up connecting with people all over
the world who have similar interests, and it gives you a great
opportunity to make friends with other bloggers and give your blog a
well-deserved little plug!
I hope this was as useful to beginning bloggers as it was to me! And to anyone starting out like me who wants new readers send me a link on twitter @moondroptitle. I'd love to read blogs from people in the same boat!
And once again - visit Lynsey at Allsorts and Anecdotes
Stay tuned next week for some lovely product reviews!
x
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