how to be a blogger: creating a media kit

It seems like years since I got my act together and wrote up a new post for my "how to be a blogger" series. Although I do still love this blog dearly, I've been spending most of my time attempting to build up my lifestyle blog (ever the fool that I am for creating two blogs). It has taken me a fair few years to get to the point that I've been to enough cool places to even consider myself as a proper ~travel blogger~ but finally the time was upon me to put together a media kit. 

What the bloody hell is a media kit I hear you cry. Up until recently I wasn't too sure either. In ultra basic terms, it's a PDF formatted space to sell yourself and your blog to PR people. You can be super serious with it, and include stats, analytics and cram it with information, or you can get creative and make it look visually exciting. With mine, I decided to keep it as simple looking as possible, whilst incorporating the same theme of colours and fonts that I use on both of my blogs. I really do believe that the foundation for having an impressive blog is continuity and having a recognisable style. I used Pages to create my media kit and then uploaded the PDF folder to Dropbox to make it super easy for people to have a quick look at, rather than having to spend half of their life waiting for it to download from an email. 

My top tips are to add in links within text, include screenshots rather than usernames for social media, keep it clear and to the point, name drop some brands that you've collaborated with and put in a few photos of yourself too. The media kit I created was extra content heavy as it's sole use will be to send out to travel related contacts and is therefore very specific, but when I create one for my beauty blog it will have just one page for examples of product reviews and sponsored content. If you're thinking of creating a media kit yourself, the easiest way to get started is to ask yourself what you want to gain. If that's sponsored posts, then you may want to include lots of stats, if it's product review opportunities, then you will most likely feature a lot of written content, or let's say you'd like to work with more clothing brands, then you'd add in lots of outfit photos.  

I'm so ridiculously far from an expert when it comes to these things, but I really hope this post has helped a few of you out and if you want to take a sneaky look at how mine looks then click here.

how to be a blogger | photo editing

I've been blogging for over four years now as a lot of you will know, yet I'm still constantly picking up new tips and tricks on how to run and design my blog. I was initially one of those people who fully believed that buying a fancy camera would instantly give me great product photos, oh how wrong I was. All of the gear with no idea. Whilst a top of the range Canon camera is pretty foolproof when it comes to taking outdoor shots, you really need to get to know all of it's settings and functions when it comes to product photography. I still haven't read a single manual or how-to guide, everything I've learnt to this point has been through brief googling and my own practising. Once you've cracked a good understanding of how your camera works, you have good lighting and have practised on photoshop then you are well set up for good photos as a result. If the thought of photoshop scares you, don't worry, just have a play around with it and discover what works for you. 

Pixelmator | If you have a Mac then just go through the app store to download this straight to your computer for £20.99. It's by far the best user friendly and easy to use photo editing software that I've ever found, I've also used it to create all of the graphics on my blog too. It's worth every penny and more.

Levels and Curves | I don't know the specifics of exactly what these are and what they do but I just have a play around with them both until my image has been brightened and looks more vibrant. You can see the different between the first and second image, it's subtle with this photo but with many of the examples included within this post having a play around with these is what has made the biggest difference. 

Luminance | If you are just a beginner and are wanting to use the most simple of editing functions, try out the luminance button. It instantly brightens up a dark image and is so quick and easy to do.

Edges and Sharpness | Images very rarely come out absolutely crisp and sharp which is where these two tools help out. Again, having a play around with them is the best way to see what works for you, though don't sharpen your images too much as it just ends up making them look unnatural. 

As you can see with all of the outcomes above, my personal preference is to end up with a bright and radiant image that sparkles with vibrance. It is impossible to get these kind of results purely based on them coming straight from your camera, trust me I have tried. Believe it or not all of the before images were taken against a white background, using studio lights and I had adjusted all of my camera settings for optimum results. I have a lack of natural daylight in my house as the windows are quite small and my photographing desk is never in direct sunlight but natural daylight is definitely your best friend when it comes to product photos if you are lucky enough to have it, otherwise you will have to just cheat it. Please do let me know if you have any tips and tricks and what kind of look you like product photos to have.

the eight sins of beauty blogging

ARM LIPSTICK SWATCHES: So you've written a review on a lipstick but thought we'd all like to see what it looks like on your arm or wrist? This is so 2011, please stick to lipstick swatches on the lips, not halfway up your arm.

FLOWERS, FLOWERS EVERYWHERE: Ok, I like flowers as much as the next person, but I've got to ask why bloggers are introducing blurred bouquets to take over half of an image with a few lipsticks aside of the flower photobomb.

THE BAD MANICURE: Chipped nail polish, bitten down nails or nail polish not cleared off from the edge of the nail making them look like a 3 year old has painted them never make for a good blog post. Ain't nobody got time for that.

FACIAL HAIR: For those who have learnt to do lipstick swatches on the lips but are yet to discover the world of waxing.

STOCK PHOTOS: Unless you blog from a desert island and have no access to a camera there is no excuse for stock photos, they are the most uninspiring and bland kind of imagery for a post and can sometimes land you in trouble too. 

ANY OLD SPONSORED POST WILL DO: Writing about PayPal, an airline company or an insurance website on a beauty blog just because you can earn some dollar isn't cool, just say no!

BITCHY BLOGGERS: On the rare occasion I see new bloggers to the scene trying to gain some sort of popularity on Twitter by being bitchy about almost everything to almost anyone. If you can't say something nice, just shut up. 

GUCCI GUCCI, LOUIS LOUIS, FENDI FENDI, PRADA: People who only ever write about the most expensive products on the planet, we are in a recession don't you know, and don't all have a limitless budget to spend in Space NK.

Take this post with a pinch of salt, in reality I don't go round judging people on their blogs. Hope it cheered up your afternoon, let me know what your pet peeves in the beauty blogging world are.

how to be a blogger: photography tips for beauty bloggers

I'm far from a photography expert; I've been using my Canon 500d camera for just over two years now and for most of that time had been using auto settings until I recently bit the bullet and educated myself on the manual settings. Assuming that buying a fancy camera will instantly make your photos look of professional standard is a huge mistake - so many factors go into what makes a great photo, including lighting, backgrounds, getting to know your camera and also using editing software for the finished picture. I have become a complete perfectionist when it comes to taking photos of beauty products and bad lighting or unfocused images really bother me. I've made a little list of what to watch out when taking pictures, it's kind of like a little mental check list that I run through when shooting images.

AVOID CLUTTERED BACKGROUNDS - For most of my photos I use a white background which for close up shots is a piece of A4 paper laid on my window sill and for larger products is a white pillow case laid in front of a white wall. You can always have some products in the background of your image but be sure that you blur the background so that the focus is on the product that you are reviewing. Personally I much prefer the clean look of a plain white background and find it makes products stand out much more. If you have pretty bedsheets or fabrics those look great too and can give your pictures more of a unique twist.

 CLUTTERED BACKGROUND

PATTERNED BACKGROUND

PLAIN BACKGROUND

MAKE SURE THE LIGHTING IS JUST RIGHT - Natural lighting is always a must for my photos, I find that it always brings out the best colours and looks the prettiest. The windowsill is my favourite place for photographing as it's the place that is flooded with most light in the house. On days that the weather has been horrendous and cloudy outside it makes such an impact on the quality of my photos so it's always worth keeping in mind to take advantage of sunny days.

STEP AWAY FROM THE FLASH - Obviously it's completely up to you as to how you take your photos but I really dislike images of beauty products with the use of flash. If you take time to use natural lighting to your benefit you should pretty much never need to use the flash setting apart from on the rare occasion to show the glitter in a product etc. It rarely shows the true colours of a product too and often gives flash spots to packaging.

 BAD LIGHTING

WITH FLASH

WITHOUT FLASH AND GOOD LIGHTING

TAKE A LARGE BATCH OF PHOTOS - You can have everything set up perfectly but it certainly doesn't mean that you will get that perfect shot straight away. Try different angles and zooming in and out to get the best photo, I find this tip absolutely key when it comes to taking photos of nail polish swatches as tilting my hand ever so slightly can mean that glitter shows up so much better if it catches the light. I can take anywhere from 4-50 photos for just one post and from there choose the best ones from the bunch to make the cut.

OUT OF FOCUS

 PERFECT FOCUS

I'm still finding my way when it comes to photography for my blog, I pick up new tips all of the time and find out new tricks through trial and error, so please leave some of your tips in the comments.

how to be a blogger: advertising and sponsored posts

The second post in my 'how to be a blogger' series is dedicated on how to monetize your site successfully (for tips on how to get started as a blogger, click here). I'm more than aware that this can be a tricky subject amongst many bloggers and the opinions vary hugely from some believing that there is no harm in earning some dosh from your blog and others being almost outraged at anyone earning money from their hobby. Personally, I believe that anyone out there that finds ways to successfully earn a small income from advertisements or sponsored posts on their site that are carefully chosen to fit their audience should be applauded and never shot down. Also to any new bloggers, please don't see this post as a reason to start blogging, starting a blog should be for fun and if your eyes are full of pound signs then you are doing it for all the wrong reasons and ironically your blog probably won't become successful. This post is aimed at anyone out there that has been running their blog for a while now and is interested in making a little bit of money on the side.

When I first started blogging (three years ago!) it was all a very different world and hadn't been properly recognised by the beauty industry as much as it is today, now pretty much anyone and everyone can work towards a successful blog with time and dedication. That being said I was certainly under no impression that I'd ever earn cold hard cash from my blog, I thought perhaps I'd receive a product here or there to review and that would be pretty much it in terms of what I'd gain in monetary terms.

However, after around a year or so that my blog was first set up I began to receive emails including offers of sponsored posts and enquires regarding advertising. This all seemed very well and good but I set my mind to never write a post that I thought wouldn't fit with the theme of my blog (yes Paypal I'm looking at you). This isn't by any means an excuse to write off these offers straight away, I always find it's worth investing a little time into seeing if you can work together with the company on a post that would be more fitting to your site, and if not it's always worth offering advertising space. And of course even if the style of the post fits with your site the price isn't always going to be right. In the last two years I have had offers of sponsored fees of a certain amount on the lower end of the scale all the way up to something worth twenty times that amount, it completely depends on the company and their budget.

Sponsored post tips -

• Be sure to check with the company if there is a word count required for the post, in my experience some companies are happy with a short informative post whereas others like up to 400 words, the price which you agree upon should reflect the work you put into the post too.
• Attempt to negotiate the price in which a company is offering for a post, in the past this has mean that I have doubled and at times almost tripled the price they are willing to pay, put your wheeler dealer caps on!
• Try to get started working on the post as soon as possible, this is appealing to companies and means they are more likely to work with you in the future.
• Get creative - if a company is working on sponsored posts with a handful of bloggers then your readers will be finding trawling through all of the posts rather tedious, so make sure that yours is the most innovative of the bunch.

Advertising tips -

• Set a price in your mind that you are happy to offer a little space on your site for a company to advertise in, don't sell yourself out for rubbish looking or unsuitable ads just for a quick earner.
• If you haven't much space for ads in your sidebar then let your price structure reflect that, it makes more sense to have one or two high quality ads than tons of small earners that clog up your site.
• Offer companies a discounted rate the longer they'd like the ad up for, I tend to offer ads for a course of 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.
• If a company emails you enquiring about ad space, firstly offer text link ads as these take up the least amount of space on your site and look the neatest, and most of the time this will suit them just fine, banner ads and image ads aren't always necessary.
• Include an 'advertise here' banner on your site linking to a page of information on your blog's stats and your contact information. Of course you don't have to display your stats and you can always disclose them privately if you'd rather.

I hope that all didn't seem a bit too much like I'd turned into Alan Sugar for you all, I simply love the idea of everyone being able to make the most of their blog and being open to working with great companies, and want to support you all in doing so.

I've also just set up a Formspring account for any bloggers that would like to disclose the amount they charge for ads and sponsored posts if any of you would like to join in http://www.formspring.me/bloggersdollars

Do you have any hints and tips to add to this post? Leave them in the comments below!

how to be a blogger: getting started

For some time now I've had it in the back of my mind to share some blogging tips and tricks with you all. I've been blogging for two and a half years now so feel now is as best time as any to start with these types of posts. I intend to go to the depths that no blogger has ventured before in terms of the detail I'm going to include in the posts, the posts will all have a clear theme and some that are also coming up will be: photography tips for beauty blogging, information on 'sponsored posts', how to get invited to events as a blogger, designing a header and index page etc.

I'm going to kick the series off with a post on how to get started as a blogger.

Buy a domain

- Once you have come up with a name for your blog (try to make sure that it's unique and doesn't include many numbers or x's) find 'settings' from the Blogger dashboard. From here, click the 'basic' section and find the 'publishing' heading, you should then see a section that says 'need a domain? buy one here' and it's fairly straightforward from then on. If you decide to purchase a domain after already trying your hand at blogging, don't fear as your readers will all be redirected automatically. Having a custom domain means that there will be no '.blogspot.co.uk/com' at the end of your URL, and overall looks much more professional.

Have a clean looking and easy to navigate template

- Make sure that you use 'labels' in your posts so that people can easily find what they are looking for on your blog. For example if you do a couple of posts on different nail polishes and label the posts with 'nail polishes' your readers can see all nail polish related posts in one place. To do this: click 'labels' on the sidebar to the right-hand side of where you edit/create a post.

- Create an index page or use a label cloud in your blog's sidebar. This relates to the point above and is a place where all the labels that you have tagged your post with can be clicked. To do this: click 'layout' from the blogger dashboard and then click 'add a gadget' and finally click 'labels'. 

- Have an archive, visitor count and 'popular posts' displayed clearly in your sidebar. Google translate can also be a handy addition for any foreign visitors to your site. To do this: add these as gadgets to your sidebar in the same way as above.

- Adding pages to your site is a good way for your readers to check out information on things that they are particularly interested in. This can be anything from an 'about me page' down to a 'PR and advertising page' for companies to head over to. To do this: find the 'pages section' from your Blogger dashboard and create the different pages that you want. After you've created your pages, add them to your layout as a 'gadget' in the space that you want the list to appear. You can either place it beneath your header (like mine) or as a column list in your sidebar.

Be honest, engaging and use spell check in your blog posts

- The first big 'turn off' to readers is bloggers that are easily swayed to give a glowing review of a crappy product. I'm not saying you have to be brutally negative about everything either, that is just as much of a turn off. Put products through a thorough test as best you can and just share your thoughts and feelings of how you got on with them, it's as simple as that. Be sure to be aware of the amount you waffle on about a product too, you wouldn't want to have a massively in-depth review of a nail polish and a rushed review of an expensive moisturiser for example.

Contact PR companies

- One of the questions that I get asked most is how to approach PR companies in terms of getting sent press samples for reviewing purposes. I've even had a few people tell me that they feel 'rude' contacting PR companies about this as a blogger. To be completely blunt: if you don't ask, you don't get. Now I don't mean send an email to every company out there in a 'give me freebies' tone. It takes time to build up an established blog and also a fair amount of reputation with PR companies to get to a level where you are being sent out samples regularly. It personally took me around a year of blogging before I started to work with PR companies and once I did I made sure that I completed my reviews in good time. It's good practice to send them over an email once you've received the products in the post and then another with the link to your review once it's up. Also don't feel like you are being done a huge favour, your honest opinion on the product and views from your readership on the review is just as much of a good deal for them as it is for you. To do this: Have a search on Google for Beauty PR companies or have a look on twitter to which companies other bloggers work with.

Set up a Twitter and Facebook page to connect with your readers

- In my opinion, I find Twitter crucial for helping my blog to grow and develop. If you have done any reviews featuring a certain brand then make sure you send a tweet out to your readers including the link to you new post and @ mention the brand in question at the end of the tweet. You can also see what is the current obsession in the beauty world by following other beauty bloggers and see tips and tricks on blogging by following #bbloggers. And Facebook is also a great way to get your blog known about, set up a page and get all of your friends to 'like' and 'share' it. You can also update your blog's Facebook page with your new posts and statuses about beauty offers and deals, or even set up little giveaways.

Gaining a readership

- Nothing is more disheartening than putting time and effort into a blog that you think no one reads. We've all been there, even the most established bloggers out there all started off with '0 followers' on their Google Friend Connect. Leaving comments on other blogs, hosting small giveaways and tweeting to your favourite bloggers can all help with this but the most important thing to remember is that getting your blog well established takes a lot of time and effort.

- Also make sure that people can follow your blog via Blog Lovin', Hello Cotton, Google Friend Connect and even add an email subscription option to your blog's sidebar.

Track your stats

- Using Google Analytics is pretty much essential in running a professional blog so make sure to keep an eye on your stats. Once you get the hang of using it properly it's really easy to check every now and then which are your most popular posts, where your traffic is coming from, what keywords people search in google to find your blog, the total amount of visitors to your site and which countries they are coming from, pretty amazing right?

I hope that this post was helpful to some of you wanting to start up a blog or even those of you that are no stranger to blogging!