Why blogging works for me…

Following on from a poll I did over on Instagram stories this week I wanted to share my blogging journey with you as it’s something I’ve never fully explained before and could be helpful if you fancy using your time in lockdown to start a blog.

I first started blogging when I set up my online store way back in 2014, originally it was a way to try and promote the products I was selling as I had zero budget for marketing. I was firing out posts based on how the items I was selling were made, seasonal shopping guides and gift guides…looking back it was very bland and unsurprisingly didn’t bring any business/very little traffic to the Little Mill House website. It wasn’t really until I was on maternity leave in 2016 that I really got the bug for blogging, it helped me rediscover a love for writing that I had left behind in my teens. I started writing about trends, ideas for sustainable living, interviewing inspiring upcyclers and posting ‘How to’ recycling projects. My content was becoming way more interesting and gained a lot of readers in a short period of time.

After around 6 months of blogging twice weekly and promoting blog posts through social media (mainly twitter as readers seemed to click through and read more from there) I decided to up my game. I read up on as many SEO blog posts and You Tube videos as I could manage and started to implement what I was learning into my blog posts, keeping a track of what worked and what didn’t. I shared posts featuring brands with the relevant contact within the companies in the hope that they would share with their followers. I also started to regularly share a round up of new posts with my newsletter subscribers so that my writing was being seen by as many people as possible. It was time consuming and there were a lot of late nights but it was 100% worth it!

I began earning from my blog as a separate income stream to my interior design work and the online store in 2017/2018. I was approached by brands who wanted to work with me, this gave me the confidence in my work to pitch collaborations to brands myself and create a media kit. I work with brands that I’d buy anyway and turn down lots of ideas weekly that I don’t feel fit the brand. I learnt early on in my brand collaboration journey that the fee paid isn’t worth the amount of readers lost by choosing one wrong collab! I signed up to a couple of affiliate marketing programmes with brands that I was regularly working with and added sidebar adds, this gives me a small commission whenever someone clicks through from my blog and purchases. It’s not a lot but adds up and gives an income top up for minimal effort.

I think the main thing I love that my blog has given me is the ability to write for other publications, I’ve been paid to write for numerous interiors publications both in print and online. Including a very exciting new column in one of my favourite magazines that I can’t wait to tell you about soon.

Next moves for me are to continue growing the blog and look at ways to incorporate the blog with my interior design website in a more streamlined way (without it taking me a gazillion hours). I’d love to get back to blogging twice a week (as I have this week funnily enough) but that’s not a realistic goal for now, maybe when little LMH starts school full time. If you’d like to read more about me and my business click here.

Feel free to email or DM me if you’d like to chat more about starting or growing your blog, I’d love to help if I can.

Keep Safe

N x

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