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The Blogger's Guide To Hustling: Networking, Promoting & Getting Your Blog OUT THERE! (Part Two!) ♥
July 17, 2010

Thank-you to everyone who commented, read and shared their wonderful links in part one of this series! (And a gigantic thank-you to Gala Darling for featuring the post in her weekly Carousel!) They're all SUPERB and I'm making my way through all of the blogs and adding them to my bookmarks folder/Google Reader now, so thanks again!

But for now, let's open the door and welcome in today's guest: part two of this series!

How To Build An Audience, No, We've-Established-That-My-Name-Isn't-Perez-,But-Hey,-I've-Still-Learned-Stuff Style! (Continued From Part One!) 

Written About A Product/Restaurant/Cafe`/Clothing Brand? TELL Them!

Confession: I can't take 100% credit for this idea! While studying Media & Communications last year, my Marketing teacher asked if he could take a peek at my website, and after reading this post, his immediate response was (well, after pointing out a grammatical error - honestly, how very teacher like, huh?! - hopefully it's all fixed up correctly now!) is ''have you contacted any of these companies to tell them about what you've written?'' My reply was eloquent and intelligent: ''Um, uh.. wha - no?'' ''But WHY?'' He asked. ''If somebody wrote about you or your website, wouldn't you want to know? You should definitely contact them, they'd be thrilled to see that you're talking about their products, and it will help to get the word out there about your blog!'' Well thank-you, Mr. Mera. While for some reason I didn't end up contacting the companies behind the products featured in that particular post, I did while writing about this product, and the outcome proved that he had definitely known what he was talking about: after e-mailing Trilogy, a woman contacted me from their head office saying how DELIGHTED she was to see what I had written, and that she had promptly e-mailed everybody in her office a link to the post to show them and that also, if I ever needed any products from them or anything, would I please let her know? (Now how sweet is that?!) EXCELLENT. The bottom line? Typed up a piece about a great mascara? Eaten a delicious meal somewhere? Get in touch with the company, and let them know. Who knows where it could take you?! (A potential advertising campaign? A lifetime discount at their stores?!)

Sch-Sch-Sch-mooze!

If there's one thing that I've learned recently about blogging, it's that you can't really be all shy and reclusive about what you're doing, yet secretly hopeful that your website's traffic is going to explode and your name's going to start popping up left, right and centre everywhere: you have to get out there!  Search for social opportunities in your city by typing ''____ (for example, Sydney) blogger meet-ups'' or ''Sydney networking events'', and attend them! ''But I'm shy!'' You might say. Well hey, guess what? At some stage we ALL are, and that's okay! Unless your blog is titled 'I Never Get Shy' or 'Confidence Is My Middle Name After Anne', don't fret: a slight case of butterflies-in-the-stomach is to be expected, and there's nothing wrong with that. If I'm invited to attend something or meet someone and find myself feeling stupendously nervous about it, I just remind myself that a) my website isn't called Perfect & Roll, and that convincing myself that I have to be flawless appearance and conservation wise is not only ridiculous, but impossible (after all, we're all just everyday, normal people; even Lady Gaga is at the end of the night!); b) turning up somewhere and trying to have as much fun as I can and even making a joke about my nerves is endearing, not a social faux-pas; and c) that one day, I am going to be old. In my eighties, using-a-walking-frame kind of old. Which memory would make me prouder: knowing that I had gone out, met people and made myself open and receptive to every opportunity possible?; or c) that I had sat at home, tapping away, wondering about what could have been because I had been too afraid to find out myself? It's definitely not the latter!

Create A Twitter Account, & USE IT

(And while you're there, add me!) 

I feel like I could devote an entire post to the magnificence that is Twitter alone, because honestly, it has helped me ENORMOUSLY. When I was given two months' notice to find compulsory work experience last year as a part of passing my studies, where did I turn to? Twitter! Who did I end up interning for? A woman - Sassi Sam - that I had met on, yes, you guessed it: Twitter! In addition to this, I've heard about a stack of interesting events (such as skin care brand Dermalogica recently inviting bloggers to attend a special event; unfortunately I couldn't actually be there, but still!) through there, had amazing ''conversations'' with other bloggers on there (which has enabled me to discover their blogs, and vice versa), and it's allowed me to connect with other people and companies that I otherwise might not have been able to: the spectrum of people that are on Twitter is truly incredible!

What's that? You're ALREADY using Twitter, but feel as though no extraordinary occurrences have transpired for you? Try a different approach to your interactions! Seek out the people, brands or companies that you admire or would like to be involved with and aim to communicate with them regularly, whether that's by simply replying to something that they've written, sending them a link to something that you think that they could be interested in, or re-tweeting their ''tweets'' (140 character or less statements).

♥

Part three is on its way, but for now, ponder this! How much bustle have you put into your hustle recently?

xoxo

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