Hey lovelies, if anything this is a bit of a passive aggressive post. Day to day, I see the same questions on my Twitter feed about blogging. I’ve witnessed multiple bloggers give other bloggers poor information on the things that you need to understand about blogging. I don’t mean trivial things but the legal things, giving advice on things they clearly do not properly understand. There seems to be the same questions popping up, so today I’ll be informing you of what you NEED to know as a blogger.
Disclaimer – I’ve mentioned my own products and affiliate links in this post.
I’ve tried to tailor this post to fit ALL bloggers.
You Need A Privacy Policy
The law probably requires that you publish a privacy policy on your website in the UK. EU and UK data protection law require that you provide information to individuals about how you use their data. The normal way of providing that information is via a privacy policy. This is something ALL bloggers need to do.
Owning Your Domain Is A Must
If you want to work with brands you need to own your domain. The quicker you get a domain of your own, the quicker you start building your domain authority.
If you are hobby blogger and just wish to have a space to write online then that is absolutely fine and you might not want one.
Ideally you want to be WordPress & host with someone that allows you to use plugins & social medias. I’ve heard genuine stories about people not being able use Google Analytics with the WordPress hosting & some who are unable to hook their blog to Pinterest with their hosting site. Do ALL the research before you pick a host. I went with Blue Host.
Do Follow Links Vs No Follow Links
You should have a mixture of both link types on your blog. But time and time again I see so much miss information on which type bloggers should be using.
A Do Follow Link – When Google crawl sites, a do follow link is one that Google pays attention to. Having more do follow links, improves your ranking visibility on Google, the more you have to your website the higher you’ll rank.
A No Follow Link – When Google Crawls sites, a no follow link is one that Google does not pay attention to.
What Links Should You Be Using For Sponsored Posts?
For paid content you should be using a NO FOLLOW link. If you are featuring a product that has been gifted or sent on a PR list is should be a NO FOLLOW link.
If you go out and buy a product and want to promote it, but have no relationship with the brand, then it can be marked as a DO FOLLOW link. There is no requirement for you to post and therefore you can mark it this way.
When working with brands, or blogging sites, many will ask for a DO FOLLOW link, this is because visibility on Google is more beneficial to them. Here’s the thing, you can be penalised by Google for doing this, you will lose your ranking ability & DA.
How you choose to go about your sponsored content and what you choose to accept is your business. But know the risks, and what the difference is. I know of bloggers who HAVE been penalised. It is not unheard of.
There are 49 other ways you can be penalised by Google – if you’re interesting in reading these. This is a helpful article 50 Reasons Your Website Deserves to Be Penalized By Google.
What Is SEO?
As defined by MOZ SEO is “SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results”
If you are looking to run a blog that receives a lot of organic traffic you should be implementing SEO Strategies. The perk of growing organically is that if you don’t have time for platforms such as Pinterest, you can still get thousands of views from Google or other search engines.
How Do I Craft An Invoice For A Brand
This is another question I’ve seen a lot on Twitter in the past week. When working for a brand 90% of the time an invoice will be via PayPal (or that is my personal experience). You can do this under the ‘invoicing’ section of Paypal.
If you are creating an invoice yourself, these are the KEY things you will need to include:
- your contact information
- the brand’s contact information
- the invoice number and date of issue
- the service description
- the subtotal
- any applicable taxes/ discounts
- the due total
- payment terms
- make checks payable to/your bank account information
My invoice template is made via Word so it was very easy to do. If you’d like me whip an invoice template as a future freebie for my mailing list/ Gumroad let me know in the comments. How to create an invoice is something you will need to know as a blogger.
Amazon Associates Is Hard To Grow If Your Audience Is Other Bloggers
Take the time to learn the affiliate platforms you are joining. If your blog isn’t niche specific, and the majority of people that read your blog are other bloggers, you probably won’t make the sales to qualify on Amazon Associates. This is because of the length of cookie data. I really recommending UNDERSTANDING the platform & how it works before you get disheartened by it.
To understand more about link cookie data for affiliate links read this article here. The 90 Day Amazon Affiliate Cookie – Frequently Asked Questions.
I’m not trying to be harsh here but if you are struggling to make the sales to qualify, you might not make many, if any sales once you qualify. There are better affiliate platforms out there for you to join regardless of if where you’re at in your blogging journey.
Declaring Your Blog Income
As a blogger you need to know how to declare you tax. Once you start earning on your blog, you must be declaring it. In the name of being honest I currently have an accountant who does the difficult bits for me. I did my taxes on my own for three years, and got an accountant last year.
Once you earn your first penny, or start receiving gifted items you need to sign up to be self employed here on the HMCR website.
Once you are a self-employed blogger or influencer you’ll need to follow the rules of HMRC self-assessment. You’ll need to submit a tax return online declaring your income and expenses once a year by 31 January, as well as paying tax twice a year by 31 January and 31 July
The process is genuinely quite easy to start but if you have any questions do pop them below as I’ll be crafting a large past on how I do my taxes soon. Honestly taxes are something you need to know as a blogger.
Do Gifted Items Need To Be Declared?
Unfortunately yes, if you are sent a product or series of products from a brand then the value of the item or items needs to be declared. It is the intent that by sending you the products or product that the brand is ‘paying’ you for the work. So you gotta declare it.
This is why I rarely work on a gifted basis unless I love a brand.
Stock Images Are Not Always Beneficial
As a blogger stock images can be your best friend. If you don’t have the equipment for photography, the time or means to produce high quality and edited images.
But free stock images are actually not a good thing if you’re using Pinterest, and will make it harder for you to gain clicks. I explained more about this in my FREE Pinterest Ebook. If you are looking to grow on Pinterest I would recommend investing in one good paid stock membership. It honestly makes the world of difference.
It’s Best To Start Growing Your Mailing List From Day One
As a blogger one thing you need to know is how to grow a mailing list. The quicker you get started the better. Mailing lists are so important for a number of reasons, you can bring traffic back to your blog, use it to heavily monetise your blog and grow an engaged audience.
I wrote an entire post on this, How To Start A Mailing List As A Blogger.
You Aren’t Going To Make 5 Figures Your First Year Blogging
Now call me old & bitter but I’ve started to see a lot of accounts popping up on Twitter suggesting they will make 20K, 30K, 40K or even 50K in their first year blogging. It won’t happen. That is a fact.
If you’re tweeting on minute about not knowing what a media kit is, or how to grow a platform. It’s wildly unlikely you’ll be profiting big time on those same platforms. Creating a large wealth from your blog is a process, one that arguably requires you to be having hundreds of thousands of blog views per year or a highly engaged audience. Neither happens without time.
It is possible to make a profit your first year blogging, but with no domain score, no long term social presence or a solid foundation of writing will you be making those high numbers.
As the post is now over 1800 words, I think I’ll conclude here, and split this post of the things you need to know as blogger into two parts! I hope this is helpful, and as always if there is a particular post you’d like to see in my blogging series, let me know or search my ‘blogging’ category!
If you enjoyed this post and you’re looking for some advice to help you grow your blog check out my 35 Useful Resources For Bloggers
Another great, helpful post from you. I swear, you have more hours in the day than Beyonce to put this stuff together! I love that this is a real post, it’s not promising the high life of blogging without the reality and repercussions if you don’t follow the rules!
Rosie
https://www.loverosiee.co.uk
This was so helpful and interesting. I had a look at the post about Google penalization and was amazed by the amount of things they can penalise you for! Thanks for sharing all that goes behind having a blog. These posts are very useful!
Such a helpful post. It has certainly increased my to do list! I am pretty sure that is not a good thing but I know it’ll be worth while!
Thank you for the advice x
These are great tips for any first time blogger Kayleigh, I’m hopefully going to go self hosted this year! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
This is such an informative post! Thanks for clarifying these blogging questions. While this is only a hobby for me, I still want to grow my blog as much as possible.
This is absolutely amazing Kayleigh! I’ve had a read through each section but I think I’ll need to go back through to make some notes as it’s really helpful. I’m really trying to focus on growing my blog this year so looking for all the tips and advice I can get. x
This is a very helpful post. I think anytime an experienced blogger is open and honest about what blogging is really like and what to expect, it really helps others out. Thanks!
Wow! Such valuable information. I am entering my second year of blogging and I did not know a lot of these things. 2021, I am looking to be more consistent and grow in my blog following so I cannot thank you enough for these tips! It truly helps.
Great insight here! I definitely think there’s a lot of misinformation out there about blogging – and there’s also a lack of information about things that are necessary vs unnecessary. I learned way more about the unnecessary bits in the first few years, and not enough about the essentials, and it made rebranding SO challenging. I’m determined to only benefit my own business with my learning in the following years.
You are seriously a wealth of knowledge when it comes to blogging. I have lost track of the number of things I have learned from you and it has done wonders for my blog, I’m still learning to this day and I’m grateful for it. All that information about claiming blog income was really helpful.
Brilliant post! This is extremely helpful for all bloggers, whether new or not. I never knew you had to pay taxes for blogging. Do you have to tax it only in the UK? And, do you have to tax it if you don’t have your own domain/wordpress website? Thanks for sharing all these tips, this post is certainly bookmarked!
This is a very lovely compilation of knowledge. If you know 50% of what is here as a blogger, you will be successful in your blogging career. Thanks for the tips.
One day… One day I’m going to get a mailing list sorted. So I keep saying. This is such a useful post – there’s great information across everything here, even as a hobby blogger. It’s also so clear to read, which given the complicated nature of some of these things, is a god-send. Thank you so much!
I neeeed neeeeed neeeeed to sort out my domain!
I loved this! So helpful and beneficial to me and loads of new bloggers out there, thanks for sharing all your tips xx
This was such a useful post and one I really needed to read as I’m looking to start taking on a few sponsored ops this year. Thank you for sharing.
Tash – A Girl with a View
Love this posy Kayleigh! I definitely need to start an email list!
I love everything about this post, especially the fact that building a blog and making an income is a process. I have seen far too many people complaining about not being able to see success as quickly as they believe that they should be. It’s not an overnight ‘get rich quick’ solution. It’s a business and like any other business, it takes time, effort and investments.
These are such helpful tips! Definitely did not know about the follow versus so follow links. Thanks so much for all the help!
Wow, this is a really comprehensive article that all bloggers should read not just new bloggers. It is a shame I didn’t have this post around over 3 years ago when I started blogging. Focusing on SEO from the start was something I didn’t do, so I have long and painful task of going back through old blog posts, however it is interesting as I can definitely see an improvement in my writing. A better designed invoice is something I would like to create in the near future also. Thank you for sharing all this useful information, I am sure new bloggers will find this post extremely helpful.
Lauren http://www.bournemouthgirl.com
I absolutely loved this post. It was incredibly honest but filled with resources. I’m still working on my SEO but definitely improving.
This is so helpful! I’ve been so focused on the technical aspects of blogging all this month. I’m pinning this to work on tomorrow and the rest of the week. Thanks so much for sharing Kayleigh! x
http://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
Very helpful information! I was just asked to do an unpaid (!!!) collaboration with 2x do-follow links. I declined and reading your post makes me feel better about standing my ground.
This is such a helpful post Kayleigh! Loved reading this and it’s inspired me to push myself that bit more with my blog. Wishing you every success!
Claire.X
http://www.clairemac.co.uk
Thanks for sharing all of this – SEO is something I seem to struggle with a lot, so it would be great to improve in this area
Thank you so much for writing and sharing this helpful information, Kayleigh! There are many things to learn from blogging and thanks to you that I learn more today. I’ve bookmarked this x
Wow! This is such an amazing resource of information, thanks so much for sharing!
Katie | katieemmabeauty.com
What a helpful post! There is always so much to learn about blogging. I find that No Follow links are so important to know because it’s easy for a brand to take advantage if you don’t know what it is xx
Hannah | https://luxuryblush.co.uk/
This is so so helpful, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! <3 xx I will definitely be doing some of these once I get a spare second x
Caroline | https://envirolineblog.com/
I agree, some people spread false or weak information. I like you talked almost all the points and necessary things.
Super informative, really helpful
YES to the legal side of blogging! Years ago, I was unaware of the legalities of blogging, but I’m glad more people are talking about it and spreading the word about the requirements blogs need and things like how to declare tax as a blogger. I love that you also touched on the no follow and do follow links for sponsored contents as there are brands out there that try to get you to use a do follow link for sponsored posts. Love all the valuable info you share here, Kayleigh 🙂
This is such a helpful post, Kayleigh! I’ve been blogging for about four years but this year I’m deciding to go full-time which means improving a lot of skills I’ve been slacking on. SEO and growing my email list for starters!
This is a great post with a lot of good tips. Thanks for sharing.
This is such a helpful post. There is so much more to blogging than just writing posts and taking photos. The admin work can be quite overwhelming.
Antonia || Sweet Passions
This is such a helpful post! Thank you for writing this 💕
There are so many of these things that I didn’t know when I started and it’s such a journey. This post would’ve helped me out so much when I started, especially what you said about Amazon Associates!
Very informative post you really unveiled a lot of things that I wasn’t aware about in my months of blogging. I really need to sort out my private policy and learn more about SEO. Still a long way to go thank you so much for sharing this information.
Great post. Very insightful
Thank you for this very helpful post.
Very Helpful post for all bloggers, I am glad I landed on this post and learnt so many new things.
Thank for sharing this! Great post – very helpful and will signup for your newsletter.
This is so helpful and informative , Thank you for the amazing tips, definitely should save the post ❤
Really helpful and informative as always, Kayleigh. I’m rather ashamed to admit I wasn’t aware gifted items needed to be declared but of course, it’s gifting in lieu of payment, doh, so thank you for that tip. And with regard to do follow links and no follow links, am I right in thinking that declaring links as sponsored is OK for Google? Thank you for this post! xx
This was so helpful! As a hobby blogger I’m not overly concerned with growing a professional blog but it might be something I’d consider in future! There’s so much advice floating around socials on blogging, it was nice to see a to the point and concise post about it!
Thank you for this helpful post. This year I want to start making my blog earn, so all these tips will come in very useful 💜
Hi Kayleigh. Thanks for sharing this information. It can be difficult finding your way as a new blogger so its always useful to read feedback from a more experienced blogger.
Whoa. I’m a fairly new blogger, and while I know a lot of this, some of this I don’t. I will re-read and thank yo u for the advice; we can always all grow and learn.
You make some excellent points here. I love the advice about how much money newbies should expect to make; we lay a foundation for a thriving blogging career well before the money rolls in.
Ryan