How I revived my blog in 2017

It is not easy to keep a blog, especially if you don’t particularly like talking about yourself. And, we, artists and crafters, are all guilty. We prefer to get on with our work and not ramble about our lives. Who would be interested? What would I write about? How will I come up with new ideas? What else should I write about apart from my art/craft? These are just a few questions that the majority of us don’t have answers to so we either don’t start a blog at all or if we do start one, we shortly abandon it for lack of ideas. I know, I have been there too.

I started my blog in 2012 enthusiastically writing about my new adventure of giving up my day job and starting my artistic career. It went well for a while as I wrote from my experience about everything I went through – struggles and successes - hoping that other people can relate and/or be inspired. In 2015 and 2016 I only posted once a year about how I learnt to take my own photos. And that was it as if I haven’t done anything else for a couple of years.

Well, I did do, quite a lot: I have been featured as a Folksy seller; I went to my dream holiday in Bruges where I saw works by Dali and Picasso; I took part in a few local exhibitions; I added new products to my shop; I have been featured on one of the most influential interior design blogs in Romania; I took part in a couple of art swaps with artists from Romania and Greece; I visited galleries and craft fairs; I painted furniture and I re-vamped an ordinary wardrobe with wallpaper and I bought a lot of handmade goodies from Folksy. These all could have been subjects to write about on my blog so in 2017 I decided to put an end to my silence, especially as I enjoy writing. It is October now and I have over 30 new posts and another five scheduled to be posted in the coming weeks.

Here is what I have learnt from my experience that can help you get started with your blog.

Make a list

This should be easier than you think. Simply make a list of things that you did in the last months: visited new places, cooked new dishes, learnt a new craft, discovered a new musician, watched a new series on Netflix, read some books, started a new diet, helped the local community. This list could be a trigger for ideas to write about. Make sure you note strengths and weaknesses as people want to know the person behind your business. My list included: took part in the #5DaysChallenge with People Tree; learnt to make low-calorie cakes; created some new pendants and I had step-by-step photos (perfect for a ‘How to’ post); discovered new crafty books; done a few DIY projects.

Labelling your posts

My posts were labelled randomly so when I thought about some common themes for most of them, I came up with 15 labels (I was hoping for less) so I started to re-label each post accordingly. When I checked how many posts I had for each label (e.g. Art – from hobby to business – 15 posts; Yummy & healthy – 1 post; Books – 4 posts; Inspiration – 4 posts) I realised where I am lacking so for the next posts I have concentrated on the low number themes. The next scheduled posts are: 1 - book review; 2 - inspiration; 2 - healthy and low-calorie desserts. This is a great way to come up with ideas to write about besides your art/craft. I am also hoping that I will have more guest blogs in the future. Interested? Feel free to contact me. 

Scheduling your posts

If you have a new idea, you don’t have to post it straight away but schedule it instead. Leave a few days or weeks between posts so you have a chance to promote them and people have a chance to read/see them. Scheduling your posts has two advantages in my experience: one – you see them there so you are motivated to keep going, even though some of them are just titles and two – you have the chance to re-read them and add new photos and/or new paragraphs or even correct your spelling and grammar that you might have not noticed when you first wrote them.

Make it visual

People read diagonally so if your posts contain mainly writings the chances are people won’t read them. I know this could be disheartening, but coming up with photos for your posts shouldn’t be daunting. Depending on your photography skills, you can take them yourself (or ask a family member) – work in progress, exhibitions and craft fairs, your studio and working area, your tools, your activities – but you can find free photos on the Internet to sum up what your post is about.

Personally, I am taking my own photos so my blog feels authentic. Also, as I started to have a big album with random photos of flowers and other things that inspired me, I started a Tuesday Colour Inspiration series when I post a collage with colour combinations found in nature and then in my studio, my artworks and my outfits. 

The conclusion today is that I am loving updating my blog and I haven't run out of ideas so far so I am hoping to keep posting and keep networking so more people will visit. Hoping that you have found this useful, feel free to share more tips in the comment box. 

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