my top 5 tips for how to start a blog

Today I am so excited to share with you My Top 5 tips for How To Start a Blog or Instagram account! This post is part of a new series that I have teamed up with some of my favorite other mamas for that we are calling The Mom Blog Collective. We each get asked a lot of questions about this gig of motherhood, blogging, Instagramming, influencing, etc. So we decided to band together to try to answer them! Every other week, our group of amazing and inspiring mamas will answer the same set of questions to do with blogging, Instagram, photography, collaborations, sponsored posts, balancing it all with motherhood, and more. We each have different perspectives and different opinions, so this should be a fun way to learn from one another. We hope you’ll join along! Check out the hashtag #themomblogcollective to see everyone on Instagram, and I will also link you to all of the amazing blog posts here at the bottom!

If you are loving what you read here and want to hear more about something [or about another topic] please let me know in the comments below on this post or over on Instagram.

So let’s dive right in!

1. If you decide to start a blog [or Instagram], make sure you do it for the right reasons.

i.e. because you enjoy writing, sharing your expertise, or have an interesting story to tell.

I started my blog  3 years ago, when we lived in California. I had just had my second baby, was working full time in the fashion industry, and honestly didn’t really have time to be working on a blog. I was also quite frankly feeling burnt out and uninspired at my job that I used to have so much passion for. But in my spare time, I found myself newly consumed with Instagram and finding beautiful, inspiring feeds to follow, unique handmade shops for my baby girl, and best of all, other new moms like me to connect with. I was also obsessed with my kiddos, as most new moms are, and loved dressing up my daughter in all my favorite small shop finds and sharing pics of her on Instagram. At some point I just thought, why not put all the things that inspire me together in one place? Friends were always asking me for mom advice or where I found my daughter’s clothes, so it just came easy for me to share that stuff. After becoming a mom, my passion had shifted from my job to my babies, and in that I found a new creative outlet. I actually had previously started a fashion blog with a friend a couple of years before that that just didn’t pan out. So I had an idea about where to start from the technical side. So in other words, for me blogging was a creative outlet for my newfound passions. With the idea that it could maybe one day, carry me into the next phase of life.

2. Come up with a name and check it on all your favorite platforms.

This was a little nugget I got early in my process and I thought it was great advice. Choosing a name can be hard, so take your time and really think about it! Re-branding is not impossible, but is also not easy. Once you have your name, check to see if the url is taken, as well as the Instagram handle and I would suggest Facebook at a minimum as well. In fact you can go and register your new name on all the social media sites, even if you don’t intend on using them at first (or ever). That way it is just always there in case you do decide to start incorporating one at some point. My advice is to use the exact same name/handle on all platforms. It can be really confusing and hard for people to find you if have a dot here an underscore there, or a different version of your name in each place. One of the things I personally regret about my name is that it is pretty long and it doesn’t fit on some social media sites. But the main three social media sites I use are Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, and I was able to get my name on all of those, as well as my URL, so that worked for me!

By the way, don’t feel pressure to be using all the different social media platforms from the outset! Start with what you are most familiar/comfortable with and focus on that. For me that was Instagram first, and then I started my blog. I later added Facebook and Pinterest. You can always go back to build any other social media platforms as you progress on your blogging journey!

3. Create your story + be consistent.

Now for the fun part! What do you want your blog or Instagram to be about? I recommend writing about what you are passionate about, because if you really get into it, you will be writing and sharing about it a lot. Of course most of us have lots of interests, so try to zero in on maybe one or just a few things that interest you. There are lots of lifestyle blogs out there, so if you decide to go that route, you need to think of what will make you stand out. What unique perspective can you bring to the table?

Again when I started, I wanted to create a place where I could share my motherhood experience and connect with other moms. With my background in fashion and design, I also wanted to incorporate that and at the time that mostly applied to my baby girl. Since then, my design interests have evolved, and I love to dress my boys too and also myself every now and then. 😉 I get a lot of questions about natural living and so I try to touch on that a bit. And with our new house in renovations, I get a lot of questions about that process and love to share my design finds there. All while still juggling this motherhood gig!

Once you zero in on your topics of interest, it helps to be consistent. This comes both in the form of your aesthetic and the frequency of your posting. People should be able to look at your pictures and know that it is YOU right away. [More on how to take better pictures coming in a future post!]  Also posting consistently gives your audience something to look forward to. You can decide how often you post and to what platforms, but no matter how often that is, consistency is key!

4. Find your tribe.

Once you know what part of your story you are going to share, go seek other like-minded people who are at the same place you are right now. You know that saying, “community over competition”? That’s what I’m talking about! When I was first starting out, I would search hashtags on Instagram that were related to motherhood, ask friends for their favorite bloggers to follow, and would check tags in Instagram photos, captions, and comments to discover new people to follow. [This was pre-explore page days, people!] Other than just following them and liking their pics, I would also comment on their pics, visit their blogs, and reach out to them personally with questions or to collaborate. [More on collaborations coming in a later post too!] Instagram is where I found pretty much all of my blogger online mama tribe, and some of them have even become my real-life friends. We talk tips, strategies, and struggles, kinda like this #momblogcollective series right here! And it is just been so nice to have these women who I know have my back and can relate to what I’m trying to do!

5. Stay true to you.

Comparison is the thief of joy. And we are all subject to it, me included! I know we’ve all heard it before, but especially in this modern world of social media where everyone is putting their best foot forward online, and ESPECIALLY if you are trying to do something in the online space, it can be easy to fall into the trap of constant comparison. There will always be someone with more followers than you, more blog traffic, higher engagement, a seemly perfect family, or what have you. But we all have struggles and not one of us is perfect. For me personally, I seek to inspire others to see the beauty in life. To stay positive even if things aren’t always sunshine and roses. My life is not perfect and I hope that no one ever thinks I am trying to pretend it is. I share my real and honest struggles from time to time. But mostly I just chose to see joy, and that is what I hope to convey through my online presence.

So whatever your story, whatever path you decide to take when starting your blog and or Instagram, just do you. If you are your authentic self, people will see that and that is what they will love about you and keep coming back for.

I hope these tips have helped if you are thinking about starting out on this journey! One of my real-life good friends who just so happens to also be a super successful blogger told me when I was first starting out, “There’s always room for another great blog out there. No matter when you start or what you want to do. There’s always room.” So now, I pass that advice on to you!

For more tips on How to Start a Blog or Instagram, check out my other sweet mama friends’ blog posts this week on #themomblogcollective:

occasionallyperfect.com | @occasionally_perfect

mrsseacannon.com | @mrsseacannon

britthavens.com | @britthavens

koleimpressions.com | @steph__pollock

cultivatemotherhood.com | @cultivatemotherhood

www.ashleynoel.life | @_ashley_noel_

hellobabybrown.com | @hellobabybrown

www.a-blessed-nest.com | @blessednestblog

on alessandra: bows | leotard dress | boots – coming soon!

on me: hat | tee | shorts | boots [similar] | bag

on adriano: tee | pants [similar] | shoes

on diego: romper | shoes

A special thanks to Christie Knight Photography for these cute pics of me and my babes. This was part of a photoshoot for the awesome bag I’m wearing, which is by Sage & Harper. This post contains some affiliate links. As always, all opinions expressed here are my own!

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