Blogalicious Lesson #9: Afrobella's Beauty Tips + Using Your Blog to Work With Brands + What kind of Blogger Are you?

There is a video above, click here if you can not see it. In this video, one of my favorite Beauty Bloggers Afrobella, teamed up with Kenmore to show us how we can make our own Natural Beauty Products using stuff in our kitchens. Definitely watch the video above and after reading this post go to my youtube channel to subscribe and watch all my videos.

In addition to getting some very useful information about natural beauty care for sistas like myself I also learned a few things about blogging, brands, and marketing. Afrobella.com has been online for many years now. I’ve watched her share her personal likes and dislikes about natural beauty. I’ve had the pleasure of getting one of my baby beauty posts plugged on her website! I’ve seen her following of Afrobella fans really grow. I’ve cheered her on (from my computer screen) when she was featured in Glam, Black Voices, and so many other media outlets online. And I have to say I finally had the pleasure of meeting her in person at Blogalicious!

I say this all to say, by finding an area that she loved and using her blog to share her message with the world, she was able to transform from Patrice Yursik the person into Afrobella the brand. Using her blog alone, she’s been able to establish herself as a credible Beauty Blogger for Women of Color. In doing so her following has grown and with that following she has been able to successfully partner with some of the most well known black media outlets and beauty brands today.

I see a lot of folks who want to blog and be more business savvy like myself or Afrobella. I see the passion in their eyes when they talk about what they love and THEN I see that passion turn into confusion because they understand that blogging is important they JUST DON’T GET how to go from a regular person to a blogging brand. If you follow me or look at a fellow blogger like Afrobella you can see there are really a few NON-Technical but very important things you need to focus on. Be yourself, Be honest, Be Real, Be Kind, Be Consistent, Be Aware, and Be Ready for the buzz be it good or bad.

You have to keep in mind that before Afrobella had thousands of followers it was just her. Then once her following grew (because she was herself, consistent, and wrote GOOD CONTENT) brands, advertisers, and other bloggers wanted to establish partnerships with her. There is no chicken before the egg here folks, you really have to focus on building a good blog first before you can get good and steady traffic.

That being said, if you really want to know how to create good content, what to write and how to build your blog buzz, my first question to you is “What kind of Blogger Are you?” Are you starting a blog just for pleasure or do you want to make money blogging? Don’t try to be cute and say, “Oh I just love to write” when you really are hoping to become the next BIG THING generating BIG Bucks! Again, be honest with yourself. Having a clear understanding of what your blogging agenda is will definitely help you figure out what to write and focus on who you think should listening.

Two things:

1. I am doing a LIVE Video Session on ‘How to Be a Better Blogger’ Next Week (details here)
2. Are you a Woman of Color With a Blog? Click here to share your blog on my BBWO Network.

For all 30 Blogalicious lessons learned, read my series of Blogalicious 2010 Adventures.