Since I started blogging regularly in September 2016, I have experienced how it can be awesome yet quite lonely at times. If you don’t have a team or an office, you mainly hang out in your “office” (see living room) wearing your pj. From the beginning of this path, I have always coveted meeting others like me — creative minds struggling with the same issues or enjoying the first results of their blogging activity, as to exchange tips, hacks and whatnot.

So when I read about the Career Girl Academy in London I literally jumped on my phone, asked for holidays and booked my flights to London. And you know what? It was one of the greatest experiences as blogger that I have had so far.

In one single day, I had the opportunity to ask all the “uncomfy” questions I always wanted to ask and heard inspiring speakers and social marketing gurus give us solid pieces of advice. With an introductory talk from co-founders Celina Fairbairn, Lois Milan and managing editor Beth Macdonald, the day was filled with formidable inspirations, tips and Q&A’s with industry leaders such as Chloe Watts, the founder of tech and strategy support agency for style publishers, Chloe Digital. So today, I’ll be less artsy and more pragmatic, for all of you out there that are still trying to fine-tune their blogging skills.

Here you will find the most important takeaways from the Career Girl Academy (CGA).

I wish someone told me sooner!

 

CONTENT IS KING!

Although this might seem the least surprising item on the list, this is also what many bloggers neglect. In our society of the spectacle, we are way too often concerned about the look of things, rather than their message.

All our speakers made this point – unanimously. But for you guys out there, I’d like to suggest a video by iconic YouTuber Casey Neistat that really helped me realise that. If my content rocks, it does not matter if that day I look crap while shooting my Art vLog or if my pictures do not look like shot by Garance Doré.

If I am doing my job as blogger right and delivering my readers the best possible content, my added value will still be recognised.

That is the reason why I post only once a week: each and every post requires research, accuracy of information, writing, proofreading, social media strategy and the whole editorial part of the process. I do not post if all my boxes are not checked. Simply I will not put something out there that does not comply with my standard because whatever you post on the World Wide Web is never really lost and perhaps one day it will bite you in the ass.

If I am not happy, I will not post and for now, I know that in order to check all my boxes I need no less than a week. That’s why Tuesday is post-day!

 

 

HAVE A STRATEGY

After the CGA last Saturday, this sentence has sort of become my mantra: “A goal without a plan, is just a wish”. AKA: a passion without a strategy is simply a dream.

You have a passion – and that’s great! However, if you wish to stop dreaming and start achieving something, here’s is what you need to do, according to Charlotte and Dani of Born Social:

 

This 6-steps approach should be ideally revisited every 3 months.

 

BE HONEST & AUTHENTIC    

Be honest — you owe it your readers. Being human in a society of Instagram clones in the land of ducky faced bimbos is the most important added value you could deliver to your audience. It is not a mere coincidence that many viral posts were “confessional posts” – about very personal issues. Depression, anxiety, eating problems, failure. As bloggers, we should not be afraid of getting personal and of experimenting with new topics. Disclosing a bit of the person behind the scenes will give the reader the opportunity to know you better and appreciate you for who you are. Just make sure you don’t over-do it.

Perhaps it’s because of this that I love so much the confessional art of Tracey Emin: she told the world with an installation how it looks from the inside being depressed and wrecked. Winning strategy! Thanks to this work, the English artist was shortlisted for the 1999 Turner Prize. Epic!

Be authentic — one of the most important things in the blogging universe. Be true to yourself. Value your unique style, find your own voice, and be committed to what you do. Eventually, it is your individuality that will make you stand out of the crowd.

 

ANALYSIS & MEASUREMENT

If your followers’ number is growing, this is awesome. However, us bloggers need also to measure our stats, KPIs and more in order to understand where our business is going. Instruments like Google Analytics might be daunting, but we need to know how to tackle them.

In order to be successful, you also need to know what’s trending and what’s going to be popular out there. Google Trends comes in very handy in this case.

But most importantly, bloggers can directly ask and engage with their readers: what they like, dislike or would like to read more about. We only need to ask 🙂

 

 

SHARE & COLLABORATE

Make your content shareable on all platforms. If you are writing about enriching topics, practical hacks, beauty tricks, spread the love on other platforms. I love bloggers who are divulging a positive message by all means and genres: body awareness and positivity, DIY tricks for the less manual peeps (like me!) or design galore for the perfect Pinterestable flat on a budget.

And you know what? Collaborating with fellow bloggers will not only increase your traffic but will make you run the risk of making seriously good friends. Blogging can be a very lonely job (unless you are Chiara Ferragni and you have a team of 30!). Having someone with whom to share the journey and making yourself accountable to is truly priceless!

 

And remember: be patient! Success doesn’t come overnight.

 

Did you find this useful? Let me know what you think in the comments below ❤

 

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