I’ve been blogging professionally since September 2013 and blogging 5 years overall since July 11th 2010. By professionally, I mean that MANFACE is my main source of income. I have my own apartment, fridge full of food and TV License because of it and it’s the one thing I’m proud of.

There are so many amazing blogs out there, such as Kentucky Gent, British Beauty Blogger, London Beauty Queen and hundreds of others I subscribe to. But, a lot of frustration I see on social and read on blogs is people getting stuck, feeling that their blog has reached a plateau and so I wanted to offer my experience in how to take your blog to the next level.

What’s Unique To You?

Firstly, look inside yourself, look at your blog and think about your life. Are you creating something that’s unique to you or are you simply regurgitating the same content, photos and reviews as everyone else or even just doing it to get free products? If the answer is yes, then stop blogging immediately – stop wasting your time and everyone else’s.

What is special about you? Everyone has something unique about them, it’s what makes us human beings. Maybe you love running – blog about makeup and skincare that’s great for runners; what skin problems do runners face? What are your top tips for running? Do you eat special things? Are there any special apps you use to track your runs? Do you have any favourite brands, outfits or training shoes you love for running? Why? – This is just one example of how to tailor your content to you.

If you really don’t think there’s anything special or unique about you then firstly you’re wrong, there will be; but more importantly, before you put fingers to the keyboard, go and find out what makes you tick – maybe you’re a rampant S&M nymphomaniac with a foot fetish? People want to read about these things; plus, think about the potential advertising opportunities!

Don’t write your blog because it’s what you think people want; write it because it’s what you want to write about. BLOG literally means WEB LOG – it’s essentially a big, shiny diary for everyone else to read.

Planning & Consistency

I’m not going to wax lyrical about brightly labeled notice boards, excel sheets and blogging diaries. They may help you and I wouldn’t knock they’re usefulness but I’ve survived for 5 years without them. The only thing I would say and is to repeat advice I was given from Jane (British Beauty Blogger) which is to keep some level of consistency.

Now, you don’t have to blog every day; I mean you can if you want, but you won’t haemorrhage readers if you don’t. But, make sure you post something on a specific time. Following Jane’s advice, I post a meatier article on Mondays and then Something for The Weekend AKA The Friday Bullet on Friday. It gives your readers something to look forward to – “Oh it’s Monday, [Blogger name here] will have something new!”

Google Trends and Keyword Planning

Using tools like Google Trends and Google AdWords Keyword Planning Tool allow you to find out what people are searching for and boost your SEO (search engine optimisation). Look for opportunities people are missing and write about it with your own unique spin. I’m not going to go into depth on how to use/access these tools as there are loads of site on Google that will do a much better job.

I’m not going to delve too deep into the technical side of things as also part of what I do is managing and consulting on the technical side of blogging – but you could always hire me *big grin*.

Relationships

You need people skills and, which I have learnt, know when to keep your gob shut. I sit on a lot of secrets and gossip which can be your biggest strength, but easily your biggest weakness – keep things to yourself otherwise you’ll lose all trust. A lot of your success is dependant on other people, be it readers, other bloggers, marketing departments, brands or PR.

Don’t blog everything you hear straight away. I’m sat on product launches until the end of 2016 and I get these exclusives and launches because I’m known to be able to stick to an embargo without shooting my load at every given opportunity. Try and work with brands, not against them.

Don’t kid yourself, it really is London-centric

… unless your blog is locally based – so you blog about life in Manchester etc.

Every 4-6 weeks I take a trip to London for about 3/4 days (I’m actually sat on the train down now). I used to book hotels but I’m more than lucky enough to have 2 of my best friends live there, one in Stratford, the other jus south of The River. This is key. But, hotels outside central such as The Whitechapel Hotel in Whitechapel offer gorgeous rooms at a shade of the price you’d expect – at one point I was paying just short of £50 per night + £45 return train tickets if booked far enough in advance. That wasn’t a plug by the way, I just really love that hotel

Regional Press Tours

I live near Leeds the rest of the time, but getting face time with brands and PR is essential and many do regional press trips for a natter and a coffee somewhere relatively close to you (for me it’s either Manchester or Leeds). There are 1,000’s of blogs out there and this way you put a name to a face – it lets them know what you’re all about. Go for a coffee and chew the cud. If you don’t get told about these tours, just ask! Most people think I live in London anyway so I often have to.

Blog Events & Regional Blogger Events

I usually avoid these at all costs apart from certain brands and a few favourite stores I like to support (such as the team at LUSH Ltd Leeds). I cannot emphasise how relatively little weight many brands put into these events compared to a ‘proper’ launch in the capital. Regional events are essentially just exercises in free publicity which I know sounds pessimistic.

In fact, I attend few events full stop. The odd one might create some good social activity and I sometimes go to support the brand/PR team, but you’re often just there at the brand’s convenience. You’re surrounded by 20-50-100 other people who are all seeing, hearing and experiencing the same as you which gives you no real unique content. Try and arrange a coffee with a PR a couple of days later or even before; get some 1-2-1 face time to find out the key messages and see what else you can try and arrange.

I cannot emphasise how, at least every now and then, you need to try and make a trip to the capital – it might not be fair that this is a factor in taking yourself to the next level, but things in life are rarely fair.

Outreach

People won’t often come to you. It’s taken me almost 5 years for people to now come to me, but in the past, it involved asking for PR addresses via Twitter and sending emails just introducing myself and asking to be placed on PR lists.

Blogger Outreach

Outreach to other bloggers. This sounds cold and maybe mean, but check out their Google and Alexa Page Ranks / Domain Authority. If they have a good domain authority; ask them if you can write an article to feature on their site that would sit well with their readers. May will welcome this, particularly when they go on holiday, take some time off (I welcome it!) or if you have a skill/knowledge that they don’t. Get a backlink to your blog and make sure it’s rel=”follow” (Google it). This ‘juices’ your site with their domain authority (not costing/impacting them in the slightest) and will boost your own domain authority Page Rank.

For anyone now checking mine out, my page rank isn’t the best (but domain authority is) as I changed my domain from manface.CO.UK to manface.UK last year and it’s still not corrected/amended.

Shopping Lists

If you send PR’s shopping lists of all the things you want, don’t be surprised if they very politely and professionally tell you to f*ck off. I keep saying, building relationships is far more valuable than getting stuff. Remember this!

Go into stores and ask for free samples, tell them who you are and ask to take the photos on counter or in the shop. Say you’ll give the particular counter or store a shout out in the blog post – this builds local relationship and gives mutual benefit – brands and head offices love to hear that their local stores/counters are doing well and engaging with people.

Blogging Community

I tried going alone for the first couple of years. Not really developing any friendships and this was a big mistake. Yes, there are pitfalls of falling into a clique, but having a handful of close friends who you can get together with every so often is the most valuable thing in the world.

Every so often I have a coffee with Hayley from London Beauty Queen or a phone chat with Jane from British Beauty Blogger. This allows us to share ideas and more importantly, vent our anger and frustration over things that no one else understands.

Social Media

I hope Jane doesn’t mind me sharing a second piece of advice, but she probably won’t even remember she said this. 2 or so years ago we were talking about the plethora of social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Vine, YouTube, Periscope etc, etc, etc –  even doing this full time I find it too much so – pick 2 of your favourites and make them amazing rather than spreading yourself too thinly. I do the following:

Facebook

Everything from Instagram and MANFACE is automatically pushed to Facebook. It’s almost entirely automated. I have apps installed to the page that show my Instagram, Youtube and Twitter feeds. Every now and then I do a little Voting Poll or something a little more unique; but rarely. I still get good referral from Facebook regardless.

Twitter

This is one of my preferred channels. I LOVE twitter. I love being able to vent the irreverent nonsense that flows in and out of my brain holes. All my blog posts are automatically pushed to Twitter as well as a service that pushes out old posts with the prefix “You might have missed…”. Keep Twitter fairly lighthearted and you’re always going to offend someone but so as long as you’re not totally out there, say what you feel is appropriate; but remember brands are watching.

Instagram

Another channel I like. I posts all sorts of photos from grooming to things from my life. It’s more of a personal channel for me and I love to look back on it as a diary. Remember to hashtag your photos for ultimate impact. A website Top Hashtags is worth a look for ideas.

Snapchat @MANFACEUK

I’ve only recently gotten into this. If there’s something going on in my life, I add it to the story. I keep it fun, lighthearted and try and be as amusing as possible. I would advise you turn off the ability for anyone to send you snaps as it can be a bit ‘willy central’ – I have some dirty followers!

Periscope @FaceCollective

I hate doing it and I don’t really get it. I think it fills a gap in the social media market that doesn’t really exist. I love watching my friends on there and people like Hayley (LBQ) and Jane (BBB) are excellent at doing it, but other than them, I couldn’t give two shits.

YouTube

I’m a newbie to the YouTube craze. I cannot stand the sight or sound of people like Zoella (I’m sorry, that’s not a name), Tanya Burr and Alfie Chapman (or whatever they’re called). This over produced arse water makes my penis invert. It’s cringe. However, I’ve recently started a channel where I record a simple video blog, a true to form Vlog. I post updates of things that are going on and keep them as natural and unedited as possible with next to no production value (the odd slideshow and bit of iMovie music is all). I wanted a way to connect more naturally.

Pinterest

Just seems like a large collection of photos of things people want to shove up their own arse to be honest. Awful Christmas decorations and crafts you’re never going to make.

Vine

It’s quite difficult to get a real message across in 6 secon…

Advertising & Sponsorship

I always say “a candle won’t pay my Vodafone bill”. Remember that. Don’t be overly cautious when asking brands for money. MANFACE has a larger readership and circulation than a few of the biggest men’s lifestyle magazines – why should they command advertising/sponsorship rates and me do it for free? I don’t think so. Know your worth.

If you’re new to sponsorship, give a brand your stats for both your blog and social then ask them what they’d be prepared to pay – this is only to start with and after a while will give you a rough idea of what you’re worth. I’d tend to only ask brands who you have a relatively good relationship with. Be prepared though, brands will always try and get the best deal.

Banner Advertising

Banner advertising is a pretty poor business these days although some still do quite well from it. Many internet users use AdBlock software (even I do) and so I find it best to use Affiliate advertising where you get money when someone clicks through and buys something. But I sell my sponsorship/advertising through sponsored posts and product placements.

Affiliation

Get yourself signed up to Linkshare and Affiliate Window (AWin). I find Linkshare is a crappy affiliate programme manager but I have it anyway – I rarely get any click throughs or revenue from the programmes I have there.

My money comes mainly from AWin but I guess it’s down to the brands you have signed up there . I used Reward Style for a while but suspiciously got no clicks or revenue even though I was still pulling in through AWin. I’m not saying there’s anything dodgy going on there, but it was a bit odd.

At the end of every article, add in affiliate links to where the reader can buy the product from. There’s no shame in doing this, it doesn’t cost them anything, and you can get a small amount of money from doing so. Plus, when you have around 1,000 product articles as on MANFACE; things can really start to add up.

Finally do use affiliate Ad Banners. Put them somewhere convenient to you (as they’re not paid for so don’t need to be above the fold) such as in the sidebar, but just don’t go mad with them.

Photography

Finally, people will look at a photo and use this to determine if they can be bothered to read what you’ve written. If your photos are crappy and you haven’t made any effort then why should a reader waste their time to look through what you’ve done. There are literally millions of websites and blogs devoted to teaching how to take good photos and with the revolution in great priced, cheap SLR cameras and superb Smartphone cameras – there’s no excuse.

I am a qualified photographer and used to do it freelance so can’t be too preachy here. I use the Olympus PEN E-PL7 and love it. It’s a great compact camera and produces some amazing results. Pretty much every photo on MANFACE since November 2014 has been taken using it. I also have Photoshop for editing which you can pay for monthly (£8.78). Again, just learn how to use these things, that’s all it takes.

However, if I see another white table, white wall, stack of VOGUE magazines, Jo Malone candle and fake vase of pale pink roses from Dunelm Mills, I will loose my shit. Try and keep it original and unique to you.