Behind the Scenes: Common Blogging Questions Answered Part 2

July 21, 2017

Behind the Scenes: Common Blogging Questions Answered Part 2

Blogging is so interesting. Whether you’re someone who wants to start a blog, whether you already have one, or whether you’re just a reader it is always interesting to learn more about it. Bloggers don’t typically talk about what goes on behind the pretty layout and the perfected content. That’s probably because it’s too much work and very difficult to explain. Last month, I took you behind the scenes and answered some of the most common blogging questions. There’s so much to talk about that I decided to include a part 2 to that post again this month. So here’s 10 new questions answered for you about all the dirty work a blogger really does.

1.) Are you an organized or messy blogger?

Definitely organized. Everything in my life (for the most part) is organized. I can’t really think straight when things are messy because the only thing on my mind is how it needs to be organized. I mentioned in the last Behind the Scenes post how I keep three different planners...just for blogging.

2.) What is your biggest blogging pet peeve?

Not responding to comments. Whether it’s me or a fellow blogger, it drives me up the wall. Comments are something that, in my mind, should always be replied to. Blogging is so that other people can read it and when a reader comments and tries to interact, not responding is so disrespectful. If there’s ever a time where I don’t reply to a comment, it’s because I didn’t see it. Usually I’m pretty good about checking twice, but there are a few that get by on accident.

3.) When and why did you start a blog?

I started my blog in October of 2015, which means it will be two years old in just a few months! The reason I started was because I had such a passion for makeup and wanted to share it with the world, but absolutely refused to allow myself to get on Youtube. People are so rude there and I couldn’t set myself up for that. My fiancé and I were talking about another blog that I read pretty frequently in the checkout at Walmart one night (of all places) and then he asked me why I’ve never done it. The answer was because I didn’t know where to start, but with him being the computer technician genius that he is, it was nothing to him. We went home that night and set it all up right away.

4.) How did you decide what to blog about?

Makeup was really the number one reason I started my blog. If I wasn’t so passionate and obsessed with makeup, then the blog probably wouldn’t even be a thing. But when I did start it, I made sure that I set it up in a way that I could talk about more of my passions without limiting it to one topic and shift it as my life changes. I started it with my most favorite things: beauty, lifestyle, home, and food.

5.) How do you manage your time with work, family, and blogging?

Family always comes first, of course. But I have a schedule planned out every day with guidelines that I try to meet with blog duties in order to stay on track. Blogging is my work, so that’s one less thing that I have to juggle. Don’t get me wrong, though. Blogging is a full time job, especially if you’re gonna take it seriously. That’s probably one of the biggest misconceptions about blogging that there is, is that it’s easy and not very time consuming. Wrong! Way, way wrong. Since all of my work is from home and it’s a one woman show here, there’s basically no excuse to not be working all the time.

6.) What are some of your favorite brands you’ve worked with?

Influenster is definitely one of the top few. Although they’re not technically a specific brand themselves, I love receiving packages from them because you’re not required to do much and they truly allow you to speak your mind. Whether you love or hate a product isn’t going to influence future packages. Another one would be Nip & Fab. They’ve always been very easy to work with and allow a lot of freedom with what you do with the products.

7.) Which social media platform is your favorite?

I love pictures, so I’m always spending the most time on Instagram. It is a lot of fun and although it took me quite a while to figure it out, I do really enjoy it. If I could change a few things about it, I wish people would stop trying to play mind games with the whole follow/unfollow/never like a pic thing and I sooo wish they would bring back the chronological order.

8.) Which social media platform is your least favorite?

Usually I would say Twitter, but lately I’m not really feelin Facebook either. I’ve never really been good at Twitter just because I’m not someone who has to share my every thought. And then when I do think of something to post, I typically second guess myself and change my mind. I still like Facebook for personal use, but when it comes to my blog’s page I just don’t know what to do. It’s changed so much over the years and I can’t really figure it out.

9.) How did you come up with the name for your blog?

I knew I wanted to include my name somehow, but wanted more than just that. I wanted it to reflect the content without having anything tying it down to a particular topic. I didn’t want to include any beauty, makeup, cosmetic words because then it wouldn’t align with any lifestyle, home, or food content. My fiancé helped me a lot with it and he really likes the whole alliteration concept. I think he came up with “corner” because it’s my little corner of the internet and I came up with “chic” because it refers to elegance and style.

10.) What advice do you have for others wanting to start a blog?

Go for it, but do your research first. Plan ahead and try to hype it up if you can. When I finally did decide to start a blog, it came out of nowhere. I didn’t do any research on what it takes, I just dove right in. I think if I would have looked into it more, I would’ve had a better understanding of what I was getting myself into and been prepared for it. I didn’t plan anything and I wanted it to be a surprise to my friends and family, so I told them on the second week after I actually had some content up that they could see. Looking back, I think that was the wrong approach. It kinda came out of left field and took a while to catch on. If I would’ve talked about it more before officially linking to it, I think I would’ve had a better release.

Whether you’re thinking about starting a blog or if you’re just curious about what happens behind the scenes in the blogging world, I hope you found this useful and entertaining. On the forefront, it looks polished and pretty. But the work that’s put in to make it that way is nothing easy. You really have to love what you do because if you don’t, it will definitely show through.

If you have any other questions about the blogging world, please feel free to leave them for me in the comments below. I’d be happy to do a part 3 to this if needed. Are you a blogger? Can you relate to any of these struggles?