It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out or have cultivated a mass following as a professional in your chosen field, everyone needs to promote themselves and as such everyone needs a way to do it. The best way to get noticed as a creative, be you young or old, rookie or veteran, is to start a blog.
Honestly, it might seem at a glance like a young person’s game, something those starting out do to get noticed in the ocean of talent that already predates their contribution to the world of music, art, literature, fashion etc but the truth is, it’s a tool most professionals, whatever their background and level of experience should have in their arsenal if they ever need a little boost.
The best thing about a blog is that it’s the structure one uses to demonstrate their own work. This means it can literally be anything you want it to be. Having total control means whoever you want it to reach, it will. Do make sure the text, images, framing etc is all consistent with your work. A professional looking blog can be equally as important as the work it seeks to present. Prospective employers will be convinced by a commitment to the presentation.
If you think of the internet as a series of interconnected webs you can perhaps understand the gravity of being a social user. Making your blog the best it can be is all well and good but when it actually comes down to the wire, you need readers. The best way to get readers is to be a guest writer or contributor on someone else’s blog. You need to make yourself a stalwart of blog culture, being a regular feature in a network of other, interrelated blogs.
This will help you gain a following as people who already visit those blogs will see your contribution and logic will dictate them to check yours out. Now that said, the best bet is to get yourself on the radar of someone with around 100,000 followers minimum, as these sites get a lot of traffic and naturally some of that will inevitably flow your way. I’m all for beginner bloggers helping one another out but the real fast track to blog-stardom is to get on one of the big boy’s sites.
Of course, the other main thing you must do to drive traffic to your blog is to advertise that blog on your social media accounts. Even if you aren’t that up on social media, getting some accounts, adding people that you know and then simply using it as an advertisement tool can really help you.
This isn’t the way to directly attract employers but it will simply add to your base as your friends, colleagues, family etc will all be more than happy to give your blog the once over (you’d hope anyway).
Something that is also a good investment for your blog would be its own domain name. As useful as host sites are, seeing that in the URL rectangle doesn’t exactly spell -professional. Forking out ten or fifteen pounds to buy your own domain name and paying a monthly fee of a similar price may not be in everyone’s price range but it really does help suggest to potential employers that you are serious about your blog and what you exhibit on it.
No Comments