How I became a lifestyle blogger
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‘How did you start blogging?’ or similar, is a question I’ve been asked a few times.
My answer is, by accident!
Read on to learn the story of how I became a lifestyle blogger (accidentally).
When I first set up my small business website (www.lyliarose.com) selling fashion accessories and costume jewellery, I naively thought people would just stumble across me somehow and I’d have loads of sales. Well, that didn’t happen. I quickly learnt I’d need to promote my website if I wanted people to find it among the other one billion or so websites online!
There was a blog section on my website which I hadn’t even thought of using. After researching ways to improve my websites visibility for free, the same advice kept popping up. Start a blog. Blog. Blog. Blog.
At first I ignored this fantastic advice as it was not something I’d ever considered doing, but after a while it started to sink in. Everywhere I looked said original and regular content was key to driving more traffic to a website. Blogging it was!
At first I posted a few posts about my business, but quickly realised there was only so much I could say. At the time I worked evenings in Boots and had started noticing beauty bloggers and fashion bloggers on Twitter. Ah ha. I’ll do that I thought! It seemed like a logical next step as I sold fashion items to make people feel more beautiful, so these themes went hand in hand. Working at Boots meant I got to try samples, receive a great discount and had access to so many beauty products every day. I began to blog outfit posts and make up posts, mixed in with whatever chocolate or sweet treats I liked at that time.
Although I began to enjoy blogging I didn’t really enjoy what I was blogging about. I didn’t feel passionate about it. I was just making up blog posts for the sake of it. At the time I also started to cut parabens and SLS from my beauty products (the very beginning of my journey to natural make up and skin care), and this soon ruled out most of Boots products.
So one day, after much thought, I decided to start writing about my life and things I actually cared about. Foods I was eating, along with the nutrition within them. Natural beauty products. Small businesses. My children and our new home.
Do you know what? I suddenly enjoyed blogging a whole lot more. I was writing about things that were real to me, I had a passion for and great discoveries I wanted to share or document. I went back through all my old posts and had a big blog clear out. I deleted around 150 blog posts!
This was around one and a half years or so into blogging and I had changed greatly in this time. I’d changed to a natural skin care regime, started eating mainly organic plant based foods and stopped spending so much on clothes as we had bought our first home. Most of my old posts were really irrelevant and didn’t represent me or what I cared about anymore. They also seemed so immaturely written too!
So, I basically became a blogger by accident. My original business blog was meant to drive traffic to my website for my shop. I actually enjoyed blogging and over time it evolved into a blog in its own right (and a very enjoyable extra hobby to me). It’s now a fully-fledged lifestyle blog and long may I continue to write it!
Update: It then became more than a hobby and my full-time living! For more information check out these blog posts:
The full story of Lylia Rose and where the name came from
