Blogging is addictive. It is also a full-time commitment. This post explores 5 different blogs, and is loaded with blogging tips any blogger would find useful. Read on for more details.
The Tezzy Files
I started blogging purely out of a love for writing. This week marks 4 months of The Tezzy Files, yet it feels like I’ve been here for ages! In this short timespan I have learnt so many things; I’ve met the most amazing people via the blogosphere, I’ve discovered hidden treasures in this magical city we call Dubai, and I love the challenge of constantly finding something new to blog about.
Blog link: http://www.thetezzyfiles.com (you are already here!)
What is this blog about?
The Tezzy Files is a blog on beauty, fashion and foodie finds within the UAE and beyond. The blog also features interesting personalities from all walks of life.
Blogging tips I have learnt so far:
- Write often. Aim to have atleast 2 meaningful posts up every week.
- Make your posts a pleasure to read. Invest time in writing good grammar, use appealing and easy-to-read fonts, include attractive imagery.
- Talking of images, work on your photography skills (this is one of the things I need to invest more time on as well!).
- Blogging is a social platform. Look up other bloggers and appreciate their work. They are bound to return the favor.
- Spend time on social media and SEO optimization. You might have the most brilliant posts, but they are pretty useless if they are not getting seen by the right audience.
- Study your statistics to understand what topics your readers tend to like most.
- Keep a journal. The best ideas come at the oddest of times. Scribble it down before its gone!
Carbon Octane
Car enthusiast Arnab Saha took his love for automotives online, and has never looked back. His blog, Carbon Octane, tops the list of Pan-Arab motorist websites, and has made him a celebrity in his own right.
Blog link:
- Be passionate about your blog and the topic you blog about, if you don’t have the passion then it woujld reflect on the writing and the work put on to it.
- Study similar blogs and see what you like and what you dont like and try and incorporate all the ideas into your blog that you would feel would be of interest. Show a beta version to your friends and ask them to comment before releasing it online.
- Make sure that you study SEO a bit and how it works, Google would be a great friend of yours and drive traffic to your site if you can follow their steps in making your article meet their specifications.
- Always be on the lookout for new ideas, new blogging techniques and new story angles, this will keep the site fresh and updated
- Be true to yourself and your topic, always see it from a 3rd part point of view, be true to your readers and always write without prejudice
- Don’t compete with other bloggers around you, give it your best no matter how small the topic or the article is. Success will find you.
Am2Co
You met Jason Dalmeida on The Tezzy Files way back in November. Jason left the corporate jungle to turn his passion for photography into a profession, and in the past few months, his photography blog is gaining a mass following across various social media platforms.
Blog link:
www.am2co.wordpress.com
What is your blog about?
Learning photography. Learning, Sharing, Inspiring and growing
What inspired you to start this?
I love teaching, and the Am2co began when I felt the need to help people learn from my mistakes.
Life is too short to learn from your own mistakes.
What do you love most about blogging?
It is wonderful way to express and share what you know.
The interesting things about blogging, is that what you write remains in this space forever, for people to come back and read whenever they want.
Please share some blogging tips for novice bloggers.
- Write as often as you can.
- Write consistently.
- Keep it to the point and include pictures.
- Make sense when you write.
- Write with flow which makes easy reading.
- Be different and unique. Include videos, pictures etc.
Do In Dubai
Monica Kapila has always been an encyclopedia of ideas on what to do around Dubai. After one too many requests on where to eat, or what to wear when, Monica decided to document it for all to see on ‘Do in Dubai’. Today, her blog is also her business platform!
Link to blog: www.doindubai.com
What is your blog about?
An honest guide to ‘Life in Dubai’. Eat, Travel, Live.
A blog detailing real, recent experiences connected to Eating, Travelling or Living in Dubai. Travelling includes short break destinations from Dubai that are within the UAE and further afield.
What inspired you to start this?
The blog was a natural progression from emailing friends details of all the requests for information I kept getting connected to where to dip gold in Dubai, the best recipe for a chicken curry or where to find the best dosas and tailors.
Furthermore my husband’s work meant we ended up taking people out to high end places quite often so it made sense to document the experiences in an honest way to share with others, as opposed to just rely on magazine or PR type reviews.
What do you love most about blogging?
I love being my own boss and working for myself.
It’s great having flexibility with your work timings so you can really manage your time as it lends itself to fitting in all other commitments.
But the best part for me is the satisfaction I get from having created something from scratch that can incorporate my love of writing, graphics and design and being able to share that with many people.
And as time ticks by writing a blog is something you can keep going with whatever your age. Just increase the font size a bit! I have also learnt so much from writing a blog.
Please share blogging tips for novice bloggers.
- Really think carefully why you are starting your blog. It’s ok if you don’t know to begin with but try and keep your expectations clear. That way you can focus on achieving that goal.
- Decide very early on, is your blog primarily for you or for others! There is no point in writing a clever post title or article if your readers can’t relate to it. Or more importantly if it stops your post being found!
- It’s a good exercise to establish what your real strengths are, then you can easily identify gaps you need to fill. So you may be a fabulous photographer but quite weak at expressing yourself clearly and succinctly on paper, or vice versa.
- Don’t underestimate how much technical knowledge is required to set up and even maintain a blog. You don’t want to be in the position of having to pay a web designer for everything you need to do. So after you have chosen your preferred blogging platform, train yourself up as much as possible using videos, tutorials etc on how this platform works and it’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Learn how to easily add links, amend and add photos, add plug ins etc without requiring any one’s help.
- Organise, Organise, Organise ! Your computer/laptop/phone/ipad will very quickly become a jungle of photos, articles, lists etc. From the outset have separate folders for everything so you can find things easily when you need to. So in a main folder called ‘Do In Dubai’ I have 3 folders called ‘Articles;, ‘Pictures’ and ‘Technical’. Then within articles and pictures I have 3 folders each called ‘Eating’, ‘Travelling’ and ‘Living’. These correspond to the 3 categories of my blog. It’s not perfect but it’s at least it’s a logical system!
- Have a budget in mind of what you’d be happy to spend on your blog regardless of what money (if any) you might earn from the blog and think of this pot as fixed costs especially in the beginning. Moreover if you are farming out the design element of the blog, this can be very expensive indeed and maybe when you blogged for bit, you realize the design doesn’t suit what you’re doing, so was that a waste of money?
Fit Shortie Eats
Who says you need a website domain to be a blogger? Meet my high-school friend Justyna Stocklosa. Justyna has always been on a mission to stay fit and healthy, and combined with her sharp eye for photography, she took Instagram by storm with ‘Fit Shortie Eats’.
Instagram: fit_shortie_eats
What is your blog about?
Food journal, delicious fruits, nature pics.
3.5 years ago I downloaded Instagram as I heard it had great filters – to take great selfies of course.
I photographed my nightlife when I noticed that my food pics were rending much more likes than my own pics 
So naturally it evolved as a food journal. First I documented my ‘clean eating’ meals, and then my fruit meals when I went cold turkey fruitarian overnight over a year ago.
I have met the most interesting people through Instagram from the most distant of places all over the world, and their perspective on things really enriched my life.
Also, it was thro IG that I discovered how many ways to nourish yourself there are, fruitarianism included.
As a plus – when I feel down I can just scroll down my feed and appreciate what a beautiful life I have.
Please share some blogging tips for novice bloggers.
- Post regularly (I’m not good at this, I post whenever I feel like which may be thrice a day and then a month’s break. My bad!).
- Don’t procrastinate, don’t wait till you’re perfect or the lighting is perfect.
- Having said that – on IG specifically, better not post, than post an ugly picture.
- Be compassionate: unless you have something nice to say, don’t comment in a mean way on others people’s posts. They are human too.
- Sarcasm doesn’t work well in a written post. What you mean in a funny way can be interpreted totally differently by the reader.
- Interact with other bloggers – you don’t exist in an air bubble. Like, comment, subscribe, regram.
- Stick to your gut in terms of what you want your blog to look like. I was approached my numerous health supplement companies and declined to do any kind of product placement on my blog. Same goes for shout-outs, they’re a great way to enlarge your audience – but I’m just not feeling it.
The Tezzy Files 