Blogging Tips #BlogTalkBoylston

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! This weekend was so exciting for me as I hosted my first event with Anthony Mastracci of The Next Gentleman, Blog Talk Boylston. The event was such a huge success thanks Model Club Inc. for allowing us to host in their venue, to all of our sponsors,Stella&Dot Jewelry table – which all who attended can still shop using the following link until June 4th! –  http://www.stelladot.com/ts/bw2f6
Hint Water of Boston (Follow them on Instagram here ), to all of the companies who contributed to our Swag Bags,Au Naturale Cosmetics , Splurge Skin Care , Taza Chocolate , Harber Clothing , Leven Rose , Gaffer&Child , Wendell Fernandes Photography , Figaro’s Boston , Stella&Dot Mayra , and La Beautique Salon !and to all of the amazing and talented Boston Bloggers who came out to the event!!! (we are missing about 9 bloggers in this group photo! I wish we were able to get one of everyone!)    During the event, I shared some blogging tips with all of you who attended, and after the event I got a few requests to do a blog post with all of the tips that I shared at the event. So, I listened to the request and I will now share with you all my most important blogging tips. 

1. Hashtags are your best friends! They are super important to include! Make them relevant to your blog and the content you are posting & make sure you are imbedding (hiding within comment) them (makes you look more professional without all of those hashtags seen on your caption).
2. Connecting all social media account to post coherently on Instagram, blog, Pinterest (also make sure to pin your blog photos & re-pinning them after a few months go by, this will bring more traffic to your blog!), Facebook, Twitter, tumbler, etc.
3. Create your own style for your social media outlets, themes, filters , colors. This makes your content coherent, organized, pretty to look at, and unique. 
4. Responsiveness to your followers – comment back! Be active! 
5. Be yourself, be relatable, no-one is perfect! There is no need to be perfect to inspire others! We are all filled with our own ideas about our imperfections and flaws (sadly) but, take those ideas and embrace them, let people get inspired by how you deal with it all! 
6. Download the SEO (Search Engine Optimizer) plugin if you have WordPress onto your blog in order to have your blog posts show up on google searches! THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT!- do it now 🙂
7. Plan the timing of your posts, best time seems to be early morning (I mean, who doesn’t wake up and checks their phone before anything else?) as well as during lunch time between 12-1 or evening once everyone is back from work. Anything in between is an awkward time to post as no one is really checking up on their phones and it is likely you will get less readers/response to your posts.
8. Don’t be closed off to do Trade work/ free work. This helps both parties in the beginning stages of blogging and creates amazing potential for a long-term relationship which may ultimately result in paid work. It builds credibility, provides you practice, and networking. (Do not be afraid to ask to collaborate with brands! No matter what stage you are in blogging!)
9. Know your brand and what you stand for, what makes you unique/different? How will your content help others or change/influence others lives? What will your blog have that your readers will not be able to find in others’ blogs? Is it your style of writing? Is it your personality? Is it your cultural background? Is it what your blog is about? 
10. Get the Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, this is super important when trying to collaborate with companies as they will want to know all of the data that only google Analytics can provide you about your blog/website.
11. Know your products, do your research, and be approachable, and NETWORK! Go out of your comfort zone and go to these blogger events by yourself such as Blog Talk Boylston! (PS: We are already planning the next one so stay tuned!)
12. Have patience, be consistent and persistent. Find what you are passionate about , because when you love what you do or talk about, the positive energy can be felt even through a computer/ phone/ tablet or what not! Embrace your flaws and flaunt what you’ve got!

I truly hope these few blogging tips help some people out! Please, if you have any more tips or tricks comment below and share the knowledge 🙂

XOXO, L.V 

PS: how AMAZING was the cake?!  It was baked by Eneida Fernandes – Crafting Sweets 

Special thanks to Photographer Wendell Fernandes !