10 Ways To Be A Serious Blogger

I've made some big changes on my blog these past few months with a view to growing and developing my blog and a big part of that is I stepped into the wild woods that is sponsorships, reviews, giveaways and advertising. It has added a lot of interest and excitement to my blog space which I am really enjoying and I hope my readers are too!

I figured that if I started to take my blog seriously, this in turn will show businesses and brands that I'm serious about the Jarrah Jungle name and if they want to work with me they will get a professional service.

So now I want to take a step back and show you how I got here and while I'm definitely not a blogging expert I do want to share what I can if I think it will help fellow bloggers who want to get more involved and take your blog seriously but have no idea where to start.

I learnt a lot from the Blogging Your Way ecourse I did back in May 2013 and since then I've been determined to think like a blog boss and look at my blog as a potential business.

I researched other Aussie star media bloggers like Fat Mum Slim and Danimezza to see how their websites were set up in relation to the sponsorship side of things, and I also found Desire Empires post about things she'd wished she'd done when she first set up her blog really useful (don't forget to backup your blog people)!

These clever ladies have given me a really good idea of the content needed to make sure my butt is covered for any legal mumbo jumbo stuff and also so it's still pretty and appealing to readers. So while I'm definitely not an expert or website guru I have spent the time getting my blog ready for opportunities that may come my way.

Now I want to share with you 10 things you can do if you want to take your blog seriously, work with businesses and brands, and get yourself noticed:

1. Create a Disclaimer, Sponsorship and Privacy page - While there is a big variety of how much detail you put into this, mine contains these important sections: 

• Disclaimer Statement saying that I am the author of the blog and the content and photos belong to me (so no stealy!)
• Sponsorship Information stating exactly what kind of sponsors, reviews, giveaways or advertising I am interested in - I figured it was easier to put it out there and state exactly what you want.
• Conflict of Interest must be specified that this may be present to be eligible for sponsorships.
• Privacy Policy stating that websites can save their preferences to assist with searching etc. There are lots of policy's already written that you can use, I found mine on Jensense.

2. Create an About Me page - This is such an important thing to have as it tells readers exactly who you are. It is also great for companies to see if you are the right person for their product. Mine has photos and a bit about who I am, what I blog about, who my blog is about and where the name came from. My About Me page also has my contact details and links to pages or posts that I think my readers might like.

3. Join Google Analytics - Or one of the many statistic sites to get the proper statistics of your blog. I was relying on Blogger for this up until last year and in comparison Google gives much more accurate and detailed information. You need all this for your Media Kit and to work with PR Companies detailed below.

4. Create a Media Kit - I had a lot of fun researching this and eventually created my own 3 page Word Document and converted it to PDF so it is ready to email out to company's that request it. It has my profile photo and a bit about who I am and what my blog is about; Demographics, statistics and what sets me apart from others; and ways to work with me ie: Sponsored Posts, Reviews, Giveaways and Advertising and price lists and packages.

5. Sign up with PR Companies - It is pretty rare that companies will knock on your door uninvited, so it helps to leave a breadcrumb trail to lead them there. I joined some companies who help bloggers and brands work together:

* Social Callout is really great they send out weekly newsletters of offers and you can respond to any that appeal. I have done sponsorships, reviews and giveaways through them. Best of all they are free!

* Blogs and PR connect bloggers with PR and brands, I haven't used them for sponsorships as yet but I have joined their Blog Directory and paid a $20 membership fee for 1 year so will see what comes of that.

6. Join review websites of topics you blog about - Depending on what your blog content is about, sign up with the websites that review or discuss the topics you blog about. For me, as I do regular book reviews I signed up with Random House Books Australia and Good Reads and from those memberships I have had opportunities to be sent books to read and review and blog about. I figure if I'm posting content on my blog, why not share it on these review sites as well. If you are a travel or food blogger, find some review websites and start sharing your reviews, you never know what can come of it.

7. Register your domain name - I didn't really take registering JarrahJungle.com as a domain name too seriously until I imagined what I would do if the name was taken after the years of work I'd put into it, or if I wanted to start a business under that name but it was no longer available - I'd be devastated to say the least! So I signed up at Net Registry as I felt comfortable with it being an Australia based site and secured my domain name for 3 years for $60.

8. Register your business name and ABN - Along with protecting my blog's domain name I decided just recently to also register Jarrah Jungle as a business with ASIC. This only took about 15 minutes to do online and you can get an ABN number (free) and also register your blog name as a business - the cost for 3 years was $76. I wish I had done it sooner and think it shows businesses that Jarrah Jungle is not just a hobby but a business.

9. Be a Social Butterfly - There are so many social media outlets around now so get your name out there and mingle! I have created a Facebook page which I was really quite hesitant to do as I didn't want to mix my personal Facebook with my blog but creating this page has kept it quite separate and is a great way for me to share snippets without needing to do a full blog post. I'm also on Twitter and while I don't twitter every day I find it's a good way to share blog posts.  I'm also on Pinterest which is a constant source of inspiration and Bloglovin a place to read all my favourite blogs now that Google Friend Connect has closed down.

10. Make it easy to find you and your blog - Putting all your social media buttons at the top of your blog and using the space on the very bottom of your blog so that people can go find your Facebook page or follow you on Bloglovin etc. Linking your own name with your blog name wherever you can is also a good idea so people can see the connection and recognise you. I find on Facebook I can't always comment as Jarrah Jungle so on my personal Facebook page I state that I'm the author of Jarrah Jungle so that people can make the connection.

So these are some of the things I've done recently with a view to taking my blog seriously and building up the Jarrah Jungle name.

Do you take your blog seriously?
You should, I'm sure it's amazing!

[All images via Pinterest 1 ]