FIVE PIECES OF BLOGGING ADVICE TO BOOKMARK

I decided for this weeks Five Past Friday I'd collate five of the best pieces of blogging advice on the interpipe from some of my all-time favourite bloggers, looking at organisation, tips, tricks and motivation. I don't know about you but I love blog posts like this, so without further ado, get ready to be inspired.

How to find your blogging direction, written by the effortless Hanhabelle - Despite Hanh being a relative newbie to blogging, she has definitely found her blogging niche and is fast becoming one of my go-to sites for inspiration and advice. It's the young teaching the old here. Plus she creates amazing photography, cohesive throughout her blog and this post highlights some simple points which you might have forgotten about when starting out.

Juggling work and blogging from MediaMarmalade - Super helpful for those bloggers like me, and probably everyone reading this who still have to work whilst running a full-time blog. I especially like the point about blocking dedicated time out, this is something I definitely need to do on a weekend so I don't spend both days doing little bits here and there and realise then, I've not have much time to just relax.

Tips for laying out blog posts written by the team over at A Beautiful Mess - this is great if you want to shake things up on your blog but don't know where to start. A Beautiful Mess always have great blogging and photography tips so definitely book mark this site if you want to be inspired.

How to make a good first impression by the gorgeous Temporary Secretary - making a good first impression really is key to getting readers to stay on your blog. If I discover a blog with easy navigation, easy to read and nice photography, then I'm probably going to stick around to read more. If I find a black background with white text, for example, I'm out of there pretty sharpish. Here are 10 ways to make a really great first impression.

Working with brands from one of my new favourite bloggers, The Lovecats Inc - the age old question of how do you get to work with your favourite brand is captured in this piece of essential advice from blogger Helen. I especially like the opening paragraph, No-one Owes You Anything. I see time and time again, bloggers acting like the should be sent samples and how dare a brand only give them £30 to spend on clothes?! An attitude like that certainly won't make a brand want to deal with you, now or ever again, and just because you have given yourself the title of blogger, doesn't mean you should necessarily be given masses of freebies. Blog because you love it, not for any other reason.