Become a Blogger

[Jwatkins]

Wish - to work(blog) from home (as mobile as possible) reviewing / trialing craft patterns, books and products etc and blogging about it. Is there such a vocation? Can I be paid for it? Do manufacturers advertise for product testers?

Obstacle - not knowing how to begin. How do i get the manufacturers to send me there products to review / trial? Is there anyone else doing this?


Eeeeek so many questions.. Thank you in advance.

Julie

[emspace]

Hi Julie,

I’m not a blogger (yet), but I’m also trying to kickstart a regular blogging habit in travel writing.

Here’s what I know: whatever you want to blog about, get ready to have a long slog for the first year or so before you get any traction. You have to do it for free and work on getting eyeballs first. Only after you have a sizeable following can you expect to make deals with companies for free stuff or commissioned articles. Most places want to know how many unique visitors your blog is drawing before they give you the time of day. This includes your social media pages.

I would start with the advice I was given regarding the travel industry: follow the manufacturers’ Facebook and Twitter feeds (and any other social media sites they’re active on). Retweet, repost, like their posts, make useful comments, hashtag/refer back to them when you’re writing articles related to their products. Get them to notice you, get them to follow you. Keep it up with consistently useful info, tweets, links, and live chats. Make sure you’re involved with them and they will reach out to you eventually.

Yesterday, I started “stalking” a company I was hoping to get work with as a travel photographer, and on the first day of commenting, retweeting, tagging them, they started following me. They only follow 5% of those who follow them, but this is still an immense number. So even with them following me, I still have to tweet great/funny/eye-opening content back for them to really notice me out of the crowd of people they follow.

It’s a process and it’s not happening overnight. Still, it’s about baby steps. In the meantime, review things for free, work on getting more readers and followers on social media. Cross post as much as you can. Find other people in the community. Or outside the community where you might have some crossover interests.

Good luck! It’s where I’m at, too.

[yonuh]

Follow other bloggers who write about things that interest you; comment often on other blogs (make the comments substantial, not just me too, or I like this.). My experience is that when you comment on someone else's blog, they usually check yours out, and so do their followers. Push your blog to Twitter and Facebook; and be sure to use categories and tags that are as specific as possible. And good luck to both of you!

[Jwatkins]

Thank you both so much. I have much to go on with now and at the very least i have a starting point.

Good luck to you as well.

[pattyn]

Check out BlogHer.com for more info.

And to find your tribe, check out the blogs on these two lists:
http://www.babble.com/mom/top-50-craft-blogs-mom/craft-blogs-full-list/
http://www.thecountrychiccottage.net/2013/03/over-100-craft-and-diy-blogs-to-follow.html

Looks for reviews on their blogs for names of companies to contact, for approaches to reviewing and how many comments they get, and for names of fellow craft bloggers you will want to get to know.

[emspace]

There’s a 30-day blogging challenge happening right now over at the Suitcase Entrepreneur. Natalie Sisson coaches other people to turn their blogs into businesses that they can operate from anywhere in the world, so this challenge involved prompts everyday to write about becoming an entrepreneur blogger. I’m not sure about that part of it, but I’m giving it a shot anyway, if for nothing else to get into the habit of writing every day.

[DoYourDream]

check out: www.johnchow.com he's the biggest blogger in North America and shows people how to do it and make money; he's an immigrant who turned his life around from being poor to setting up a lifestyle that's magnificent.

[Eska_3]

Keep up good work! Congratulations!