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What do you want from a blog? [no names please]

onthemitch

Can I ask: I'd love to know what people *would* like to see from blogs they enjoy. I know there are blogs out there that we all read and like – and others that we kind of joyfully hate-read – but what is it that keeps you coming back?

For me, I'd prioritise good writing, a knowledge of the topic at hand, decent blog layout (can't stand centre alignment, for example!) and pics. And then you get into the nuances of personality: I've definitely been turned off people because I think they're full of themselves etc.

And in terms of sponsored posts, how would we like to see it done? Do we want each post that's paid for to say "sponsored post" in the headline, or is it enough to add a line at the end?

As a blogger myself (rosemarymaccabe.com – I tried changing my username on here to be transparent but it doesn't seem to be an option), I'd love to know what people really *do* want to see, rather than what they don't want.

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SarahJ

Great thread. Personally, I don't want to see people's children, messing with their makeup or using all the snapchat filters, bugs me so much! There's one particular blogger who will say I want to respect my partners privacy and my sons privacy, but then the next 20 snaps are her son, I don't understand that.
I also couldn't give a crap about what you are having for breakfast, that you are having a coffee and cake so you want to share a pic of it. It's not interesting content to people. I think the whole blogging thing is getting out of hand to be honest.
There's another blogger who announced they are pregnant recently and it's literally all she talks about. She has said she was going to do pregnancy posts and YouTube videos, so I had to unfollow. Don't get me wrong, great for her, I'm pregnant myself so nothing against that! It's just not the content I want to see

karensgal

SarahJ wrote: »

Great thread. Personally, I don't want to see people's children, messing with their makeup or using all the snapchat filters, bugs me so much! There's one particular blogger who will say I want to respect my partners privacy and my sons privacy, but then the next 20 snaps are her son, I don't understand that.
I also couldn't give a crap about what you are having for breakfast, that you are having a coffee and cake so you want to share a pic of it. It's not interesting content to people. I think the whole blogging thing is getting out of hand to be honest.
There's another blogger who announced they are pregnant recently and it's literally all she talks about. She has said she was going to do pregnancy posts and YouTube videos, so I had to unfollow. Don't get me wrong, great for her, I'm pregnant myself so nothing against that! It's just not the content I want to see

As ameliams said this is probably about targeting brands, they're now open to collaborating with different brands due to the pregnancy. In saying that some people might be interested, some girls might also be on their 1st pregnancy and don't have other friends/family in similar situations so they're interested in following someone else's.

I followed someone as they're noted as a makeup artist then find they just snap constantly about what they're making their boyfriend for dinner, going to their Mum's house for a cup of tea, buying meat from a butchers and other trivial nonsense. I'd no interest in this and there seemed to be more on this type of content than anything else so I simply unfollowed them.

I'm realising life is too short for this, the time spent watching someone who bores you or you've no interest in could be spent reading a gold blog or better yet a good book! Think I'll have to do a snapchat/instagram cull!!

SarahJ

karensgal wrote: »

As ameliams said this is probably about targeting brands, they're now open to collaborating with different brands due to the pregnancy. In saying that some people might be interested, some girls might also be on their 1st pregnancy and don't have other friends/family in similar situations so they're interested in following someone else's.

And that's fair enough, but the content has changed from what it was originally so I had to unfollow. I too did a big cull this morning, feels better!
My faves are still JamesKava and James Patrice, how could they not be!

dudara

karensgal wrote: »

I followed someone as they're noted as a makeup artist then find they just snap constantly about what they're making their boyfriend for dinner, going to their Mum's house for a cup of tea, buying meat from a butchers and other trivial nonsense. I'd no interest in this and there seemed to be more on this type of content than anything else so I simply unfollowed them.

This is a great example of how bloggers/snapchatters/instagrammers need to think about their "brand" and the messages that they want to share. It's probably better to set up separate accounts for blogging and personal.

scarbouro

I had to unfollow a load of them too over this because what they originally started out blogging about has now gone completely off topic. I Followed a few MUA that now think they're fitness, lifestyle bloggers ect. I don't mean that they can't expand in other areas but when you came to see posts about makeup, you're now left scrolling through a million mirror selfies, pics of their car, pets, gym workouts, food ect. It's boring and I switch off.

I also don't get the need to snap silly, ridiculous things that no one has any interest of seeing. I always notice, people with a big following, snapping and getting only 30 or so likes on a photo a coffee... Like no one wants to see that sort of dribble.

retro:electro

I wish they'd cut snapping the insignificant crap like 100 second stories of their cat on the stairs. When I see someone's story is that long I just don't click on it because it's just a data waster. They must think we have an infinite amount of data to want to watch such waffle. One girl I used to follow used to have about a 200 second story by the time I'd get up in the morning, she must snap every single moment of her day.

ameliams

I particularly hate the pictures of desserts usually taken straight from Pinterest.
Or other weird things normally involving Nutella. That to me is utter laziness. It isn't offering a variety of content it's just silly.

Really irritates me when pictures are just accompanied by emojis as well. Contrary to popular belief a picture is not always worth a thousand words.

dudara

ameliams wrote: »

Really irritates me when pictures are just accompanied by emojis as well. Contrary to popular belief a picture is not always worth a thousand words.

Great point there - I was involved in a Twitter discussion over the weekend with some other food bloggers where emojis were mentioned. I suppose I'm old-fashioned in my style, but I prefer to write a solid post, rather than use emoji. To be honest, I loathe them.

Brandojan1

I love all the new Irish make up artists on snapchat who do little tutorials and tips ect I'm over people's cats dogs visits for cups of teas I also cannot understand all the boyfriends trying to become snapchat famous its embarrassing
like someone said earlier trying to keep their child and partners privacy and a million snaps of the child and the partner can't wait to get his face into a snap
I love the beautiful truth her honesty is amazing her husband has no interest in being a snapchat "celebrity"
She responds to all questions asked on Twitter Instagram and snapchat
She's pregnant now and stated she has no desire to change her blog she's a beauty blogger and that's how it will remain

ameliams

Brandojan1 wrote: »

I love all the new Irish make up artists on snapchat who do little tutorials and tips ect I'm over people's cats dogs visits for cups of teas I also cannot understand all the boyfriends trying to become snapchat famous its embarrassing
like someone said earlier trying to keep their child and partners privacy and a million snaps of the child and the partner can't wait to get his face into a snap
I love the beautiful truth her honesty is amazing her husband has no interest in being a snapchat "celebrity"
She responds to all questions asked on Twitter Instagram and snapchat
She's pregnant now and stated she has no desire to change her blog she's a beauty blogger and that's how it will remain

I love Sinead she's amazing. However as she always states she makes no money from her blog, she is a full time teacher and that is how she makes her money. So she doesn't have to in any way feel the pressure to have her pregnancy be part of her blog. Another recent blogger has announced her pregnancy and is being criticized for giving updates. But her wages come from being a blogger, so in reality her pregnancy is not something she can decide to keep private. In order to sustain popularity and grow her business further she will have to have that part of her life open to the public.

I think we as readers need to be mindful of the differences in circumstances. The beaut truth is probably the most popular blog on boards. And I agree she's fantastic, however she is still a different type of blogger from others whose blog is their livelihood.

frogstar

Brandojan1 wrote: »

I love all the new Irish make up artists on snapchat who do little tutorials and tips ect I'm over people's cats dogs visits for cups of teas I also cannot understand all the boyfriends trying to become snapchat famous its embarrassing
like someone said earlier trying to keep their child and partners privacy and a million snaps of the child and the partner can't wait to get his face into a snap
I love the beautiful truth her honesty is amazing her husband has no interest in being a snapchat "celebrity"
She responds to all questions asked on Twitter Instagram and snapchat
She's pregnant now and stated she has no desire to change her blog she's a beauty blogger and that's how it will remain

To be fair , the ones I follow that have boyfriends or husbands, they do not actually want to be in the snap. It's usually the blogger forcing it on them. Still boring though.

But is there not major difference between snapchat and the actual blogging?? As in snapchat offers snippets into the daily life, it should not replace an actual blog. For most blog posts, when they are written, they do not feature items as described above.

I think people are getting fed-up with the constant snapchatting about everything and anything but this is not the actual blog post. They are related and as someone said previously, the content on snapchat should reflect the brand of the blogger to keep consistent but not all do this

ChloeElla

I have to say, I feel really uncomfortable when bloggers/digital influencers talk about how their friend/boyfriend/mother doesn't want to be on snapchat then they spend the next couple of snaps trying to force them into it or trying to catch them unaware. I'd be so annoyed if my friend did this to me and I'd resent them.

The biggest thing I want from a blog is decent writing. I can forgive the odd spelling or grammar mistake, but if someone can't get the basics right, I leave their blog. Also I want actual blog posts, not just constantly posting on Facebook or Instagram and maybe updating their blog once every few months.

on_my_oe

I think some of the post lengths need to looked at - I wonder if they find it so easy to instagram / snapchat / pin it, that writing an actual post has become too much effort. Some of the UK bloggers have been writing about a Lancome gloss - one or two wrote less than 100 words, others wrote a decent sized 300 words. If I was a PR, I'd be a bit peeved. I know its not quality over quantity but what they wrote wasn't quality!

I wouldn't be pleased to be included on a blog unless I had agreed to - I'm protective of my privacy, not because I'm up to mischief but because I don't want every man on the street to know what I am doing. Those bloggers forcing 'internet fame' on their loved ones should rethink their behaviour.

Bloggers struggling with spelling and grammar (if any are still reading this thread), write your post in Word which will show you the errors; correct it then copy and paste it across to your blog.

Sinead must be the most popular teacher in school, with her colleagues, students and mothers of students

I don't mind if a blogger makes an income from blogging (I'm delighted for them actually!), I just want transparency.

Noahboah2014

So I got back to them saying exactly what I'd do, in a very clear list: I think it was something like two Instagram posts, five tweets, a mention in one blog post and two mentions on Snapchat. In that case, I was happy to guarantee because I'd seen the product, knew it was gorgeous and I wanted to support an Irish brand, too. (In case you're about to say the raincoat itself was payment, it wasn't; if I were to do that amount of work for a brand, and charge them for it, it would be cost them about 10 of those coats.)

Sorry I have to return to this above comment made by rosemary,
I went onto your Instagram page as I was very curious about this raincoat, and noticed it was priced at 129. In my line of work this is the equivalent of 13 hours work. For you to claim that posting 2 Instagram posts, 5 tweets, a mention on a blog & two snap chat mentions was actually worth 10 of these 129 coats makes me wonder what sort of person you really are? I'm so shocked by this statement. Yes I no posting snaps etc take time, but let's be honest here, by no means did it possibly take more then a hour tops? And for you to think that hour of "work" is valued at the price of 10 of these coats is just totally insane.

SB_Part2

Noahboah2014 wrote: »

Sorry I have to return to this above comment made by rosemary,
I went onto your Instagram page as I was very curious about this raincoat, and noticed it was priced at 129. In my line of work this is the equivalent of 13 hours work. For you to claim that posting 2 Instagram posts, 5 tweets, a mention on a blog & two snap chat mentions was actually worth 10 of these 129 coats makes me wonder what sort of person you really are? I'm so shocked by this statement. Yes I no posting snaps etc take time, but let's be honest here, by no means did it possibly take more then a hour tops? And for you to think that hour of "work" is valued at the price of 10 of these coats is just totally insane.

That's really not relevant. Just because it would take you 13 hours to earn 129e doesn't mean anything.

Different jobs pay different salaries and if the company were ok with Rosemary's rates then that's no real business of yours.

meeeeh

In my line of work 129 would equal maximum 3 hours and I would dearly like to increase the rate. What employee gets is totally different to the cost for company or of contractor work. Frankly I can't imagine anyone but apprentice being paid 10 Euro or less in any job that requires some skills.

Noahboah2014

I've no issue with different jobs paying different rates. But find it quite arrogant to claim posting a few pictures on social media is worth 1290 euro. And that she was doing the business the favour by only taking the raincoat worth 129euro in exchange. Please. Come back to the real world.

SB_Part2

Noahboah2014 wrote: »

I've no issue with different jobs paying different rates. But find it quite arrogant to claim posting a few pictures on social media is worth 1290 euro. And that she was doing the business the favour by only taking the raincoat worth 129euro in exchange. Please. Come back to the real world.

If the business didn't think it was valuable to them they wouldn't have agreed to it.

Noahboah2014

meeeeh wrote: »

In my line of work 129 would equal maximum 3 hours and I would dearly like to increase the rate. What employee gets is totally different to the cost for company or of contractor work. Frankly I can't imagine anyone but apprentice being paid 10 Euro or less in any job that requires some skills.

Add your reply here.
I am actually a 3rd year nursing student, have not qualified yet, but work as a care giver. Which also needs a recognised certificate. Saying those in lower paid jobs don't involve "skills" is slightly rude really.

on_my_oe

Noahboah2014 wrote: »

Sorry I have to return to this above comment made by rosemary,
I went onto your Instagram page as I was very curious about this raincoat, and noticed it was priced at 129. In my line of work this is the equivalent of 13 hours work. For you to claim that posting 2 Instagram posts, 5 tweets, a mention on a blog & two snap chat mentions was actually worth 10 of these 129 coats makes me wonder what sort of person you really are? I'm so shocked by this statement. Yes I no posting snaps etc take time, but let's be honest here, by no means did it possibly take more then a hour tops? And for you to think that hour of "work" is valued at the price of 10 of these coats is just totally insane.

If 2 Instagram posts, 5 tweets, a mention on a blog & two snap chat mentions does equal €1,290, that is frankly insane but if she has customers (media buyers, PRs etc) at that price, I'm also happy for her. I doubt Rosemary is pricing herself out of the market, and an agency will only pay it if she can deliver on reach etc. I havent seen any specific figures from Irish bloggers and I've seen some rumoured figures for 'popular youtube celebrity bloggers' (I'm sure you can guess, but I'm trying to avoid an infraction for naming names). I did randomly find a Singapore blogger who is err known for being feisty. She states on her blog that she charges;
Blog advertorial: $3,500 and up / €2,300
Sidebar banner: $500 a month / €330
Youtube $4,000 per video / €2,620
Facebook or Twitter post $300 / €200
Instagram $500 / €330
(conversions are my own)
So if you have built the audience, there is money to be earned, but again, I don't have an issue with this.

My bug bear will always be disclosure - if a blogger puts #ad, #sp etc, I have no issues with them earning money.

Noahboah2014

SB_Part2 wrote: »

Noahboah2014 wrote: »

I've no issue with different jobs paying different rates. But find it quite arrogant to claim posting a few pictures on social media is worth 1290 euro. And that she was doing the business the favour by only taking the raincoat worth 129euro in exchange. Please. Come back to the real world.

If the business didn't think it was valuable to them they wouldn't have agreed to it.

Add your reply here.
Your missing my point really, the company agreed to this, yes. At the cost of a raincoat which was 129euro. It's Rosemary's comment of her postings being worth 10 of these said 129euro raincoats that bothered me.

SB_Part2

Noahboah2014 wrote: »

Add your reply here.
Your missing my point really, the company agreed to this, yes. At the cost of a raincoat which was 129euro. It's Rosemary's comment of her postings being worth 10 of these said 129euro raincoats that bothered me.

Do you realise how much other bloggers get paid to do similar posts?

Noahboah2014

I no there is a massive market for blogging/bloggers now, I understand that. But Rosemary & the company both clearly agreed that her postings were worth the price of the raincoat. Why then come on this thread and then say her postings were actually worth 10 times the agreement.
I just can't understand that.

Gordon

Cost price versus sale price. Pizzas cost nothing to make, but extortionate to buy. Good actors get paid lots for small amount of time working. Etc

meeeeh

Noahboah2014 wrote: »

Add your reply here.
I am actually a 3rd year nursing student, have not qualified yet, but work as a care giver. Which also needs a recognised certificate. Saying those in lower paid jobs don't involve "skills" is slightly rude really.

Look it was not my intention to insult anyone's level of skill but I know the rates that we have to pay and Solass rate for third or fourth year apprentice is higher. My point is that business cost is way higher than rate of pay for employees. You are not paying just for time spent doing promotion, you are paying also for time blogger invests into building a brand, creating following etc. I have no idea if that rate is expensive or not, I am guessing it is more often than not heavily discounted. I would also suspect someone like Pippa would be much more expensive for the same because of the following she has.

on_my_oe

Noahboah2014 wrote: »

I am actually a 3rd year nursing student, have not qualified yet, but work as a care giver. Which also needs a recognised certificate. Saying those in lower paid jobs don't involve "skills" is slightly rude really.

I agree that the wording could have been better, but I am sure that wasn't the intention of meeeeh.

Unfortunately some careers do pay better that others. I have friends who are trainee nurses and/or home help caregivers, and their wages are unfairly sh*t, especially if you are visiting clients as you don't get travel time. I personally have a Masters and am a part qualified accountant. I've got 8 years of experience as a C suite level EA. Today I got messaged on LinkedIn about a role as a EA in a government agency demanding 5yrs plus experience - they wanted to pay a salary equal to minimum wage yet the role states frequent overtime will be required. It would be great if our skills and experience was reflected in our salaries but that doesn't always happen. I don't begrudge Rosemary or meeeeh if their pay cheque does.

onthemitch

Noahboah2014 wrote: »

I no there is a massive market for blogging/bloggers now, I understand that. But Rosemary & the company both clearly agreed that her postings were worth the price of the raincoat. Why then come on this thread and then say her postings were actually worth 10 times the agreement.
I just can't understand that.

At this stage, I'm really tired of talking about this raincoat – I was under no obligation to be so effing transparent, and I've got pretty much nothing but grief for it (and we want bloggers to be honest – why?).

But to answer your question: I was making the point that I did not, in fact, get paid for the raincoat, and that the coat itself was not equal to payment. I offered to post about the raincoat on various forms of social media – for which I would need the raincoat itself. If I had been charging for the amount of coverage they got in exchange, I *could* have charged 10 times the amount.

I'm not for a second suggesting that the time it took me to post about said coat was worth €1,290 – but the time it took me to build up the social media following I have might be. As has already been said, that's up to the brand in question.

But really, isn't it a moot point? No money changed hands. Your issue is that you think I'm being arrogant – and you want, what, for people to agree with you? I'm sure loads of them do.

For what it's worth, I don't think my time is more valuable than anyone else's – but that's not how the world works. If it was, Beyoncé would get paid less to sing (a talent she was born with) than a doctor would get to work in a hospital (a skill she / he acquired, through years of training). And before you get your pants in a twist, I'm not comparing myself to Beyoncé *or* a doctor – but asking, "do you think your time is more valuable than mine?" is, frankly, childish. Capitalism doesn't operate on the basis of whose time or skill is worth what.

Sunny Dayz

I'm not a blogger so I'm guessing there are others here who could probably add to my post. But from a business POV there are many expenses involved:
Equipment used, up to date phone, tablet, pc, camera, software. Programs which require paid subscriptions. Internet and phone bills. Business cards. Travel (petrol, tolls, parking). stationery. Website and email hosting. Light & heat, even if it's a room in their house being used as an office, it is costly to have your light and heat in the whole house on the go each day (although only the portion relating to the office would be tax deductible). Taxes, Accountant.

Time involved. I know it doesn't take long to put up a tweet or an instagram post but how many times is it typed and retyped, how many shots are retaken, how long does it take to style the photo? Bloggers need to be up to date on Social Media, think how much time you spend browsing social media, liking and commenting on posts. Any good blogger needs to be bang up to date on what is happening so needs to have one eye on their new feed. They can't just clock off at 5, evening time is when their followers would be most active.

meeeeh

Don't bring my paycheck into it I am severely underpaid in my opinion.

But I know at what rate per hour we are starting to make money after all the fixed cost.

Edit: this is joke reply to something about six posts ago.

on_my_oe

Meanwhile I found a disclaimer that is clear and easy to understand, and makes me laugh. It states her policy on everything (links, adverts, advertorials etc).

http://cosmetic-candy.com/disclaimer/

I've spot checked a few of her posts which are products that other blogs are promoting at the moment, and she seems true to her word identifying PR samples etc. That ticks my honesty box.

The writing's ok, so I've added her to my blog list.

(apologies if I've breached the rules, please delete and tell me off)