Jul 8 2016

How to undermine your blogging credibility in 5 easy steps

Posted on July 8, 2016 by admin

I read a lot of blogs. Some I read with a sense of brooding envy, others turn me off quicker than Marco Pierre White Jr’s leopard print trousers. My own blog is by no means perfect, but I try to keep in mind all the dross I’ve read in the past so it’s an attractive welcoming space for brands who want to collaborate, and for family and fellow bloggers to see what we’ve been up to.

A great blog will straddle a fine line between diversity and focus; that’s to say it’s easy for those looking in to see what you’re interested in, but there’s been real care taken to present these themes creatively. I can’t say I’ve ever hit this model of perfection, yet I do try to swerve some of the bigger blogging pitfalls that crop up all too regularly on other blogs.

The fact is, it’s very easy to undermine your blogging credibility, and some people do a truly excellent job of it on a regular basis. It’s almost as though they want to get called out publicly by Twitter’s grammar police and spend an eternity languishing at the bottom of their own mother’s to-read list. If this is you, then do I have a treat for you? Read on to discover 5 easy steps to royally f&*k up your blog:

DO tell yourself that a B in GCSE English means you can swerve spellcheck

I can forgive the odd error here and there, but when someone writes about ‘there holiday’ to Skegness I want to strip them of their internet connection & send them back there for a few years. Even spellcheck counts this as an abuse of the English language and proffers a green squiggly underline to alert you to your idiocy. Do you notice? Of course not, as you don’t even bother to drop your content into Word.

DO tell the world what a twat your ex is

I almost don’t want to include this one. When someone gets laid more than Scotty T and wants to tell me about it, I’m usually the first to subscribe to their blog. The same goes for a blogger who is going through a particularly tumultuous divorce and allows herself to get a little too candid with the details. We all love a popcorn moment to break away from the monotony of nipple cream reviews.

Yet failing to ask yourself how appropriate you’re being can result in you becoming the subject of gossip. Other mums will gossip about you in hushed tones at the school gates. Other bloggers will DM one another with links to your content and a wide-eyed emoji. Brands you have collaborated with will send emails to their PR houses asking them to take you off outreach mailers.

Remember that your mum, your neighbour, your daughter’s teacher, your ex and Aaron from Sony might be reading it; not only will word eventually get back to that person you’re defaming (landing you in a whole heap of shit - especially if you’ve been casual with the truth), Aaron isn’t likely to offer you that 4KTV in exchange for your thoughts either.

DO throw a diva strop in response to outreach

Work for free? Do you realise how long it takes to write a post?

… all responses I’ve seen banded around in Facebook groups in response to a PR who has cheekily tried to get you to write about their client’s latest press release without a budget.

Remember that Anna from Social Piglet might be a 16-year-old work experience placement let loose with a keyboard & email account. The truth is that all brands will ask their PR houses to mail their marketing contacts with their latest 2 for 1 promotion. Blogger outreach is most probably the furthest thing from their minds - rather they’re after a 240mm by 240mm ad placement in the Tameside Tribune.

Instead just be courteous. You don’t know what opportunities there might be for a more mutually beneficial collaboration in the future. Acting shirty and throwing your rate card around like you’ve forgotten who you are, won’t score you any points in the PR world and you’ll get yourself blacklisted. Anna might then have the last laugh when her agency signs Hyundai and is looking for family bloggers to work with.

Remember that you are merely one blogger sharing space with an ever-growing tribe of other bloggers. Even when your DA pushes dangerously close to 40, and you can afford to tell your boss to shove his job, you’re still competing with Sharon from Bognor.

DO accept a guest post on holidays for the over 50s if you’re 30

When your name makes it on to a few SEO databases, Fabio from Payday Loans for Morons will soon hit you up fishing for a link or two for $45. It can be very tempting to take on the odd bad assignment - I know I have. Just try and bury these deep into archived content so they don’t appear on your homepage.

As much as you tell yourself you’ve managed to craftily squeeze in a link about commercial underfloor heating in an otherwise natural post about renovating your home on a budget, you haven’t. I’d never begrudge anyone a quick £ or two, but try not to dilute your brand identity so readily.

DO use thinly disguised statuses on Facebook to beg for PR contacts

We’ve all seen these right? Be it querying the features of the latest iCandy pram with Toni on Twitter, and @ing the brand to hint that you’re desperate to review it, or asking all your mates on Facebook for the PR contact for Kiddicare to resolve a customer service issue, it looks a little lazy.

I’m not suggesting you should pander along and wait for brands to come to you. Hell no. If you’re hankering after a new docking station for your iPad, although you should never expect anything for free, tweet a few brands on Twitter and ask for their PR contact. In most cases, it isn’t the brands job to screen requests so they’ll be only too happy to defer you to their PR house. If you’re prepared for a few disappointments along the way, there is a chance your hard work might pay off.

Don’t be tempted to give fellow bloggers email addresses for PRs without seeking their permission either. Some brands will have very specific criteria for blogger collaborations (some of which might seem completely pernickety to you) and they won’t thank you for it. For example, Skoda might be looking for a single mum in Berkshire between 35-40 years-old, with children aged under 5 years, who blogs about feeding her family on a budget, and the steps she is taking to reduce her personal debt. I know. I’ve been that person in an agency searching for this mythical blogger.

So there you have it. 5 easy ways in which to destroy your credibility. This isn’t a definitive list so do feel free to chuck a few more at me. As always, I can take it as well as I dish it out, so feel free to call me out.

Jun 26 2016

BLOGGING 101: How to Gain more Twitter Followers

Posted on June 26, 2016 by admin

So you’ve hit your stride with your blog, and you’ve finally managed to get your social media buttons to display correctly in your sidebar. You’re promoting your posts on Twitter and yet your follower count is mostly stagnant. Why is this happening? And what is so great about Twitter anyway? More importantly how can you do gain more Twitter followers organically, rather than buying them from an gmail account in India?

It might be a minefield for the uninitiated, but Twitter is pretty awesome for building your personal brand, and is possibly the least invasive way of building connections with PRs, fellow bloggers and brands alike. It’s taken 5 long years, but I’m pretty sure I’ve finally tamed the beast, so here are my top tips to get the very best out of Twitter:

Step 1 - Pretty up that profile

It can be tricky trying to stand out with a limited number of characters, but it’s so very important. Who are you? What are you trying to achieve? What are your interests? If you’re parent blogger, how old are your children? Try to imagine the things a brand / others might want to know about you, and make sure you hit those key points. Don’t shy away from showing a sense of humour too - you’re competing in an oversubscribed market so do what you can to make others sit up and notice.

I can’t stress how important is it that you include your location too. This is something so often overlooked but essential for anyone who might want to work with you. Handily you don’t need to waste valuable bio space for this, as Twitter allows you to input this elsewhere in your profile.

Avatars and images should also be selected carefully. For added personalisation and continuity across your social media channels, consider using one avatar across all platforms, as with your header image.

Step 2: Follow likeminded people

Whatever your niche, you’ll find a whole host of people who share your passion. Finding them is stupendously simple on Twitter. Not only does Twitter handily point out people for you to follow, searching other people’s follower lists will also reveal a goldmine of new accounts.

Step 3: Incentivise them to follow you back using Twitter Lists

And now for the clever bit… when following accounts, manage them by dropping them into Twitter lists. As a blogger, I have dozens of lists; PR contacts, fellow bloggers, news breakers, baby & toddler brands… Getting this right early, will make it far easier in the long-term to manage your account.

Name lists clearly, keep them public, and don’t overlook the power of a description. For example, if you have a list for local restaurants you would love to review, state whereabouts you are and that you intend to check them out. This enables them to quickly identify that you are their target audience, and is more likely to earn you a follow back.

Not only does this make the viewing experience easier (providing you with a shortcut to see the sort of tweets you want to see) as mentioned above, it also incentivises people to follow you back. It shows that person that you’ve invested time in reading their tweets, and that you share a common interest.

One hour spent following approximately 100 accounts, tends to result in 40% of those people following you back within 24 hours.

Step 4: ENGAGE: Join Twitter Chats, both formal & informal

You’ll find dozens of structured Twitter chats taking place at set times throughout the week. Many of these will have a dedicated hashtag that participants are encouraged to use (check out #PBloggers #BloggerationChat #LBloggers). Getting involved in these group chats will enable likeminded people to find you and vice versa. Even if you miss a chat, trawling through commonly used chat hashtags will yield plenty more people for you to follow.

Yet don’t simply rely on chats to get your voice out there. Try to click on your home feed at least 4 times a day and get involved in the conversation. Don’t be afraid to butt into exchanges, favourite & retweet other people’s content, and reply to comments or questions others have asked (even if they don’t currently follow you). If you spot someone asking for recommendations on baby monitors, maybe link through to one you have reviewed. The key to being successful on Twitter is engagement, so engage, engage, engage.

Step 5: Use (but don’t abuse) Hashtags

When promoting a post, keep hashtags succinct and relevant with a catchy title. 2-3 hashtags is more than enough to hit your target audience without appearing spam-like, whilst still leaving enough characters to make your title engaging and add an image.

It’s also worth keeping an eye on what is trending. You may have some content that lends itself to the theme, or simply have something to say. Getting involved in topical discussion allows you to reach even more people and amplify your voice. If your engagement stats are lagging, this is an ideal time to bump them up.

Naturally, post promotion is essential, but it’s worth being aware of tweet etiquette too. Hashtags such as #BloggersWanted or #PRRequest are being increasingly used for self-promotion, drowning out relevant content and making it less discoverable for others - this won’t win you any admirers so be selective.

Step 6: Pinned Tweets

Simply clicking on the ellipsis icon at the base of your tweet, allows you to pin it to the top of your feed. This is useful for promoting a specific post, competition or your blog in general. The best pinned posts will sum up what your account is all about: perhaps a link through to your ‘About Me’ page with a call-to-action for those interested in working with you.

Step 7: Use images in your tweets

This is such a quick and simple way to make your posts more engaging, and your feed more aesthetically appealing to readers. Not only are these more likely to be clicked upon, they are also more likely to be RTed by others - exposing your content to a wider audience (whilst indirectly encouraging more followers).

Twitter is a multimedia platform. The best accounts will have a healthy mix of images, video and text. Think about the things you are posting on other platforms (be that Instagram, or Facebook), if it’ll translate through to Twitter, it should be on there. That said, try to avoid auto-tweeting by linking accounts to one another - you’ll often find these are formatted strangely and not very reader-friendly.

Step 8: To schedule or not to schedule?

Although scheduling tweets to promote archived posts seems like an easy win, it is regarded by some as bad practice. If you decide to go down this route, ensure your promoted posts are still relevant and interesting to readers. There’s nothing worse than promoting a Christmas post in June.

Yet schedulers are an incredibly useful and under-utilised resource. Applications such as Buffer allow people to schedule a few tweets at night or first thing in the morning, leaving you with the rest of the day to simply respond to mentions and engage in conversations. Buffer also has an optimal timing tool that shows you which times of the day are best for posting engagement-wise. These don’t have to be promoted posts either. Perhaps you have a burning question to ask, or you want to cross-promote content on another social media platform.

Step 9: Host a competition

Comps are an easy way to build your following. It’s always a good idea to regularly work with PRs and reward readers with competitions on your blog. Don’t wait for a PR to suggest a giveaway, explain to them the benefits of hosting one with you alongside a review. This will naturally increase engagement with both your review, and the brand themselves. Use applications such as Gleam or Rafflecopter to encourage entrants to follow you on Twitter, and tweet that they have entered.

If it’s an increased following on Twitter you’re after, it’s also worth considering a flash competition on Twitter. This is as simple as asking people to RT a pinned image and follow you. Just remember to promote your competition on sites such as Prizefinder to maximise engagement.

Twitter competitions can see you gaining anywhere between 100-1000 new followers depending on the desirability of the prize.

Step 10: Regularly clean your account with Crowdfire

I love Crowdfire for its one-click deleting of inactive & spam accounts. It’s also incredibly useful for identifying accounts that aren’t following you back. Don’t be tempted to simply unfollow those that haven’t returned the favour. Twitter is a fluid space so they might have simply not noticed you. Rather attempt to convert these into followers by making an effort to engage with them.

Of course you are not required to tacitly follow back every account that follows you, but Crowdfire will also enable you to find those accounts quickly and easily. Simply click on these profiles to see if they interest you, then make your decision from there.

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There you have it. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments, or hunt me down on Twitter.

Jan 29 2016

Pregnant? Lighten the load with these freebies!

Posted on January 29, 2016 by admin

It’s obvious to anyone who reads this blog that I’m often provided with products to keep in exchange for my views. Sounds like a tidy gig right? Well no. It’s tough maintaining a successful blog. In fact, each product I receive actually costs 5hrs of my time sat at a laptop and 2hrs taking pictures of it in action (usually, with a baby who is not at all happy you’re looming over them with your DSLR).

Yet brands aren’t only interested in us bloggers. They’re interested in anyone sporting a bump and rocking maternity jeans. The reason? They’re hoping to become top-of your-list when you’re buying baby wipes, baby shampoo or nappies. Yep freebies for pregnant women are common and brands are only too happy to shower you with samples, vouchers and bump mail to wedge themselves in that hormone-ravaged brain of yours.

So it’s good news for everyone! Let’s face it everyone loves a freebie. Especially when you’ve maxed out your credit on nursery furniture (next time look on eBay!), travel systems and car seats.

Yet you’re no seasoned freeloader, right? No worries, I’ll give you a hand. Read on and discover the hottest freebies on the web for baby & you.

There’s a ton of them out there, all are free and all promise goodies and coupons. All you need do is register and enter yours (and your babies) details. Yes, your inbox will hate you for it, but you’ll get tons of treats through your door.

My top 3 picks

COW & GATE PREGNANCY CLUB: With a handy diary and a free cuddly cow – C&G baby club makes the perfect companion in your amazing journey from bump to baby. In my opinion these guys have the best bump mails with lots of detail about how your little miracle is evolving week by week - Click here to sign up

EMMA’S DIARY: Enjoy three FREE gift packs at key stages of your pregnancy and as a new mum when you sign up as a member of Emma’s Diary. You’ll want to check out their free-to-download apps which are PACKED with useful tools and calculators.

YOUR BABY CLUB: The new kid on the block, these guys cut through the niceties and take you straight to the deals. They scours the internet on a daily basis looking for the best selection of Mother and Baby freebies, promotions, offers and competitions so you don’t have to!

No I’m not suggesting you trawl through comping sites daily, this is completely soul-destroying and the odds of a win are stacked against you.

Instead, head to Facebook and check out some of the bigger brand’s /retailer’s pages:

@MothercareUK / @BabyBjörnUK / @AnnabelKarmelUK / @Direct2Mum / @lovedByParents / @YourBabyClubUK / @BabaMe / @TheGoodBabyGuide / @BritaxUK / @BrotherMax

(… you get the point)

Check these out daily for competitions. They’re easy enough to enter - you’ll be asked to like their page, perhaps like the post and/ or leave a comment. The average number of entrants for the bigger brands is around 1000, but smaller independent stores have far less (thereby increasing your odds of winning). Prizes range from £500 travel systems, to designer change bags, to travel cots - so well worth the 30 seconds it takes to enter.

Facebook is fairly clever too. Once it sees you’ve entered a few, more will start to pop up in your feed. Get smart and google local pram sellers. Do they have a Facebook page? Do they have competitions?

It gets addictive pretty quickly and if you’re patient and keep on entering it does pay off. Once you’ve caught the bug, I recommend reading this short article by comping queen Jenna from ChicGeekDiary for how to step up your comping game. And before you ask, yes I’ve won. Several times.

These are hard to come by, but signing up to consumer panels can result in you being sent many of those expensive items on your new baby list. Spaces are limited so you have to be patient, but I’ve been sent dozens of bits including sterilizers, breast pumps and more. 99.9% of the time these will be yours to keep.

Boots Review Panel / ASDA Pulse / My Mothercare / Super Savvy Me / Pushchair Expert

At the end of a product trial, you’ll usually have to fill out a questionnaire, leave your comments in forums or provide detailed feedback in an email. Make sure you do this thoroughly so you are more likely to be invited to participate again.

If there’s a particular brand you want to work with follow them on social media, comment on their posts, ask them questions about their products - in short, make yourself known. Be aware that a brand (or the digital agency managing their social media) might take a shine to you and check out your profiles - keep them clean, conversational and post frequently. If you’ve found a product (in any niche) that has impressed you, share it with your friends.

Not big online? No problem. Find out their customer care address and send them a letter. If you’ve been particularly impressed by a product, tell them. If one has let you down, tell them. You’d be surprised how much they value your feedback and it’s not uncommon for them to send you vouchers or samples by way of thanks.

So there you have it. Good luck and have fun, but most importantly, remember the biggest gift you’ll receive is your baby - everything else is just stuff.