Lifestyle Uncategorized

Happy Belated 1st Birthday UpYourVlog!

So I definitely missed my blog’s first birthday. I’ve actually had the blog for two years now but I consider this to be it’s first birthday only because since September last year, did I decide to dedicate A LOT more time into my blog. 

So to celebrate my blog’s birthday, I thought I would share some of the lessons learnt from my experience of blogging and the benefits of owning a blog.


Always check before posting

When I first started blogging, I was so keen to get blog posts up and thrust into the world wide web. I’d rush through them and not check them for mistakes. It wasn’t until a friend told me that although my blogs were good, there were some grammatical errors. It was then that I quickly changed my ways. Of course, even now I’ll probably make one or two mistakes but that’s only because I’m human. I have also noticed quite a few bloggers who have made one or two mistakes on theirs too, so I know I’m not alone on this! My advice is to check and re-check before posting. (It would be totally hilarious if I’d made a mistake in this… )

Don’t post to just compete with other bloggers

I started this blog for a number of reasons. My main one was that I’d been watching YouTubers for a while and noticed how much blogging was going on in the background. I had a serious FOMO moment (fear of missing out) and felt that I was at the right point in my life where I could benefit from having a blog. I was just finishing university and moving for the first time to a big city – London! My blog became an online diary for me to express my feelings, do some fantastic reviews and work with some incredible clients. It was also a way of keeping my mum appeased. My biggest regret has been having moments where I felt as if I needed to compete with other bloggers. It wasn’t until recently that I’ve moulded my blog into something that’s my own. I now only work with brands/clients that I think my readers would benefit from and I spend time brainstorming different ideas for blog posts that I’d like to do, on various themes and topics. That being said, there’s no harm in a bit of creative theft…is there?


Think outside the box


I constantly tell myself to think outside of the box and to not be afraid to post about topics that some readers may have different opinions to. After all, it’s your space on the internet so if there’s something you feel should be talked about, then talk about it! I also find that I’m constantly reading blogs and helpful guides on how to improve my blog. The more you absorb, the more you can reach a wider audience and generally make your blog the way you envision it to be.

Working with PR/Clients

I’m definitely still learning but I’ve found that working with PR companies and clients can sometimes be a big task depending on who they are and what they want from a blogger. The main challenge I’m currently finding difficult is how much I should be charging for sponsored blog posts because a whole lot of time and effort goes into each blog post that I do for a client. I’m now learning when to say no, even if it means that I’ll be turning down paid work. If it’s not genuinely beneficial for my readers or my blog then I won’t do it.

Social Media


I do find some of my days are consumed by spending so much time on various social media channels. Sometimes it’s great just to switch off but I cannot stress how beneficial it is to link in social media to your blog. I find Instagram is my favourite platform and it’s the one that’s been growing in followers in the past six months. I love my little scrolling bar along the top of my blog which features my Instagram posts. It enables my readers to explore other aspects of my life and to see what I get up to on a daily basis. I’m not a massive fan of changing my Instagram into the next clean cut, all roses and daffodils, my life is perfect, profile. Instead, I like to share more personal moments and show more of life as it is genuinely. 

As I celebrate posting over 400 blog posts since this blog was born, I’ve had so many incredible experiences and moments in my blog that I will be sure to sum up in another blog post fairly soon. Let me know in the comments below, what you like about blogging. Whether you’re a reader of one or a maker of one – or both!

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