If you’re thinking about starting a wedding blog, either about your own wedding planning or just to showcase wedding ideas and photos from other people’s celebrations, here are ten tips to get you pointed in the right direction:
1. If you’re blogging about your own wedding planning, be sure that your fiancé is comfortable with you sharing information over the Internet. You’ll draw more readers if you provide photos and details about your personal life, but it won’t be worth it if your intended is uncomfortable with that kind of attention. Getting on the same page early on is important. You don’t need any more stress in your life when you’re planning a wedding!
2. If you’re blogging about weddings in general, be sure you understand copyright and the problems with copyright infringement. Get used to citing excerpts and adding copyrights to any photos that you yourself didn’t take. It’s easy to get caught up in just snatching pretty pictures or funny quips from all over the web, but you’ll be in a mess of trouble if you step on the wrong toes here. The theft of intellectual property over the Internet is a hot new field of law and you definitely don’t want to get caught up in its nasty side.
3. Post pictures. People like pictures. Most blog readers really only skim your entries, especially if they’re in a hurry or they’ve just arrived at your site for the first time. Adding bright, beautiful, pictures on a page that is otherwise fairly clean and blank will draw your readers in and keep their attention
4. Know how to write. It’s not enough to just post pretty pictures. You need to occasionally post at least a little text and it’s important to use the correct spelling and grammar here so you don’t lose the respect of your readers. If writing isn’t your thing, you can keep your comments brief and on point, but don’t think you can get away with never writing at all. In addition to making your blog feel impersonal, search engines will have a much harder time picking you up if you don’t include text.
5. Get used to using social media. If you want your blog to have many readers, you need to actively use other types of social media to draw them in. This includes Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, and other such sites. All are a good source for new blog traffic.
6. Don’t jump into advertising. It’s possible that you’re starting this blog to make money. While I don’t discourage that, I do warn against putting lots of ads on the site right away. A site that has little content and lots of ads seems spammy and commercial, which means people are less likely to enjoy visiting your blog. Keep ads to a minimum or abstain from posting them at all while you build your readership and a good relationship with the people in your new community.
7. Know how to track yourself. Use Google Analytics to track your site so you can see how many visitors you’re getting and where they’re coming from. These reports will also show you which blog posts are getting lots of traffic and what search words people used to land on your site. Knowing all of these things will help you learn to become a more efficient and effective blogger.
8. Make friends in the wedding community. There are lots of wedding blogs out there, both from planning brides and from people who just love wedding celebrations. Reading those blogs and building up relationships with those bloggers will keep you up on your wedding game and may open doors to opportunities that you couldn’t have otherwise enjoyed. Blogging is not a competition, so there’s no reason to feel jealous of another blog because it is more successful or popular. It is more beneficial to stay positive and support the community as a whole, which will pay off for you in the long run.
9. Do giveaways. Consider doing weekly giveaways to bring attention and traffic to your blog. If you’re just starting out, look for products on Etsy.com to give away. Many of those sellers are also just starting out, so they may be more open to trading goods for publicity in your blog. Just remember to always be polite and honest when inquiring about possible partnerships with Etsy sellers.
10. Keep blogging. The number one thing that kills new blogs is blogger apathy. If you get frustrated after a few weeks because you don’t feel like anyone is reading your blog, you might want to just give up. That’s the worst thing you can do! Keep blogging and building up a library of content. It might take a couple of months, but once the readers start coming in they’ll have plenty to catch up on and that makes you and your blog look better. So enjoy this time and really work on creating quality content. It will pay off in the end.
