Bloggie Wednesdays: Creating Quality Content for Beauty Bloggers

Bloggie Wednesdays: Creating Quality Content for Beauty Bloggers

You know how blogs about blogging always say that content is king? They tell you that you need to create quality content and that great content will draw readers to your blog.

Often when I see bloggers write that, I feel like screaming the question – what the heck is this content you keep telling us about? What do you mean by quality content? Isn’t it annoying when they don’t tell you what that content is?

Gah!

What does creating quality content mean for beauty bloggers? Beauty blogs are somewhat synonymous to product review websites; it seems that that is what the world thinks it’s all we do. We review beauty products (purchased by us or provided by brands for consideration) on our blogs. Is that it? Is that the only content we can create for our blogs?

Au contraire mon amie!

First of all, that’s not all there is to is to beauty blogs. In fact, I’ve said on more than one occasion that I find perpetual reviews dull and uninspiring. Even I find writing product reviews over and over boring, what more for my readers who have to read them?

Secondly, I’m all for mixing it up. Throw in something different once in a while. You don’t have to just do product reviews to be a good beauty blogger.

Here’s what you can do for your beauty blog other than product reviews:

  • Write about what you know. If I can stress just one point of this post, it would be this. It’s very important to write what you know and what you’re familiar with. For example, I’m hardly going to write about applying false eyelashes because I sure as heck don’t know how to (things might change though; perhaps one day I will master the darn thing). You can step out of the box and venture into unfamiliar territory, but be sure to do plenty of research and get your facts right.
  • Everyone loves a good DIY. Are you good at beauty DIY? Perhaps you know how to make your own facial masks, lip balms, etc. Share that with your readers.
  • Beauty tips. Some may already be general knowledge, but you’d be surprised that there are still a lot of things we do not know. What you know may not be what I know. Found a creative way in using cotton swabs/Q-tips? Share it with your readers.
  • Share something about you. We like to know more about the person behind the blog. Sure we know what your skin shade and type is, but what about what you like to do in your free time? Perhaps you enjoy reading or gardening. Let us know.
  • Shopping hauls. Now this might be a little sensitive to share, especially on a very regular basis because it can be misconstrued as “damn, this blogger has a lot of money; she’s always buying something new!“. I know of bloggers who have had bad experience with some readers who didn’t like seeing shopping hauls. I would say, try keeping it to maybe once or twice a month. We still like to see what new stuff you’ve bought, maybe not every other day.
  • What’s in your bag/makeup bag/travel bag/kitchen cabinets. I’ve Googled this topic (okay, maybe not for kitchen cabinets. Although I would still be interested to know what’s in yours ;)), searched for it on YouTube and Flickr, and hot damn, it’s a highly popular one. So many voyeurs out there (count me one of them) who wants to take a peek in your bag.
  • Memes. I know, this isn’t 2005, but what’s wrong with doing memes once in a while? They’re fun, and it’s a break out of the routine.
  • Lists. Lists of stuff you like, stuff you hate, what you’re currently doing, what you had for lunch, what you’re currently reading, etc. A lot of us are sucker for lists (okay, I am), and they’re easy to read too.
  • Makeup tutorials. If you’re good at applying makeup, show us how! I know that makeup tutorials aren’t easy to do. If you’re not comfortable doing a video about it, then it’s hard work taking step-by-step photos. That is why I highly commend bloggers who create such comprehensive makeup tutorials, written or via videos. So much effort goes into them.
  • Questions. Create a topic and ask your readers what their opinions are. This generates discussion amongst your readers. Sometimes you don’t even need to know about the topic at all to ask your readers. For example, you’re stumped on a subject you’re not familiar with. Perhaps you’re racking your brains to remember a certain makeup shade you saw but can’t recall. Ask your readers!
  • Surveys. This is a great way to get to know your reader demographic.
  • Personal style. This is new to me, but oh how I enjoy reading blogs that also show their personal style and fashion sense. Perhaps you purchased a new scarf and cute accessories. Show us!
  • Organisational skills. Like “what’s in your bag” posts, maybe your readers would like to see how your organise your makeup collection. Perhaps you found something (or better yet, made it yourself) that could organise your stuff very well. Share it with your readers.
  • News and promotions. It’s good to let your readers know of any good sales or interesting news but beware of regurgitating press releases. Give it your own spin.
  • Write about what you’re good at. If you’re great at photography, share some tips and tricks with how we can improve ours.
  • If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is 10? Sometimes you don’t need words to tell the story.

I could go on and on, but see how much you can do on your beauty blog other than product reviews? Quality content does not necessarily just mean write good product reviews. There’s so much more you can do.

You can also check Google AdWords for keywords to know what people are looking for when they land on your blog. This is an interesting subject, which I will leave for another post.

So now you know what creating content means for beauty bloggers when you read about it on blogs about blogging. There are so many ways to go about it. Beauty blogging does not just mean writing product reviews. Inject your personality into your words and pictures in whatever topic you wish to write.

Now that, my friends, is quality content. 🙂

Bloggie Wednesdays is a series of articles just on blogging. They contain tips, how-tos, discussions about anything and everything you need to know about blogging and how we can be better bloggers. If you have any suggestions, tips and tricks about blogging you would like to share with us, or if you have any questions you would like me to address, please let us know in the comments.

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26 comments… add one
  1. Norlin

    Yep so true! Beauty blogs isn’t just about reviewing the products we’ve tried and tested or swatches of colours from the different make-up. I do love reading and looking at the tutorials, DIY stuff and yes, mix it up. Great tips there Tine!
    Norlin recently posted..Tan In Winter? Yes You Can!My Profile

    1. Tine

      Norlin: Me too! I’m so into DIY blogs these days, especially DIY fashion. So much fun! 🙂

  2. Paris B

    Great ideas for posts, Tine! I think there is this perception that beauty blogs have to be all or mostly about product reviews. Personally I like mixing things up a little, with a bit of this and that thrown into the mix. Some people have indicated they don’t like that, preferring to read straight beauty only posts but I think most people will agree that sometimes, a bit of a shake up keeps things fresh and different. Personally, when I see just straight beauty posts, I get a bit bored. Same goes with writing them 🙂
    Paris B recently posted..Simply Perfection: The Shiseido Perfect Foundation Brush makes applying foundation a dreamMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Paris B: Exactly. With the perception of beauty blogs = product reviews, also comes the part where people start demanding for freebies, just so they can “blog about it”. Ugh.
      I love beauty blogs that mix it up. Like yours, you throw in some food, bags (oh lord, the bags!), interesting Instagram pics, etc, and that’s just fun to read 🙂

      1. Paris B

        Thanks for the affirmation, Tine. There is a perception out there that “beauty blogs” must be all/mostly about products and product reviews or just talk about beauty tips and beauty this and that. So I don’t deny the occasional random postings on my blog have drawn some flack but for the most part, I remind myself that hey! I enjoy that too and I’m sure someone out there does 😛
        Paris B recently posted..Bag lust: The Dior Diorissimo day bag almost makes me want to break my banMy Profile

  3. Nikki

    I totally agree , mix and match is the best way to make a blog more interesting! I myself like to mix it up a bit with different topics and questions and ideas as it covers more scope to what people would like to know! 🙂

    I’m sure not everyone is interested with Nail Art so I try to slim it down to once a week or once every 2 weeks!

    1. Tine

      Nikki: Once a week of nail art is more than fine. I love seeing your nail art! 😀

  4. Madam M

    Some great idea’s there love. Like any good relationship its fun to mix things up a bit. Variety is the spice of life as they say. I guess its good to offer different things to different readers. Some may only like reviews, yep you have that, some may like DIY posts, yep you have that covered and some may only like reading haul posts, yep done. That way your are not pigeon holed into a set group/type/niche i guess.
    I myself have seriously learnt so much from you’re bloggie wednesdays. I love wednesdays.
    Madam M recently posted..SEPHORA – OH MY CHERIE CAKE GOURMAND SWEET CAKE HOLIDAY SETMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Madam M: Aww thanks sweets 🙂 It’s words of encouragement like yours that keep me going on for Bloggie Wednesdays. So glad I started the series 🙂

  5. Kimberley

    This post is super helpful, as always. I will definitely be using some of these ideas – thankyou!

    1. Tine

      Kimberley: My pleasure Kimberley. Do let me know if you have any questions you’d like me to answer on Bloggie Wednesdays 🙂

  6. Kaye

    Thank you for all the great ideas! The point about hauls is an interesting one, I never thought of it that way. And you know the funny thing, I don’t actually like the word “haul” lol. Ive always hated it. It makes it sound… I don’t know? Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this way 🙂 I will use the word “haul” because it’s the standard, but only for that reason. Thanks always for the food for thought, you are awesome!
    Kaye recently posted..Possibly The Cutest Lip Glosses, Ever?My Profile

    1. Tine

      Kaye: My pleasure Kaye. Hahahaha I know what you mean! I remembered when I first read about it on other blogs when mine was still very young, and I never understood why they were called “hauls”. Doesn’t hauling something mean bringing something along on the back? So how does shopping come into the picture? Hee hee!

      I’ve resigned to the fact that there will ALWAYS be some words and acronyms that just don’t make much sense when it comes to beauty blogging, but will always be accepted 😛

  7. Bun Bun Makeup Tips

    Yay! I can proudly say I have great variety in my blog posts coz I made a tick against every one of your suggestion and got all of them but one – News and promotions. HAHAHA! I could never keep up! I think we discussed this between us before, you know, about MAC and it’s never-ending collections.

    Thanks for the list, I’ll look back whenever to remind myself to keep content fresh and interesting! 😀
    Bun Bun Makeup Tips recently posted..Makeup Geek Eyeshadows Review: Because We All Need Good Quality And Affordable EyeshadowsMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Bun Bun: Hehehehe and that’s why I like your blog! 😀

  8. Rin

    Very good points! Often I’ll throw out a product review if I have nothing else to write about, but generally I think my posts are quite personal & varied 🙂 Maybe too personal, sometimes. And this is going to sound so stupid and make you rofl, but what is a meme? I’ve looked it up but still don’t grasp the concept 0_o
    Rin recently posted..If I Owned These Things I’d Be Happy, But Only For 5 Minutes…My Profile

    1. Tine

      Rin: Ahhhh meme! Anything share-worthy can be a meme. You know those tag posts, e.g. I write about my favourite lippies and I tag blogger A, B, C and D to also name their favourite lippies? Or you share about ten things people may not know about you, and then you tag a few people to do it as well. Or those computer-generated customisable images e.g. best hot blogger award, etc. All these are memes. Used to be very popular when a few years ago, but apparently someone deemed it not content-worthy (I honestly don’t know who), and then suddenly people are slamming it for lack-of-substance. I don’t think it’s good to do meme after meme after meme, but once in while? Come on, it’s fun! 😛

  9. Swati

    so true that blogs get boring when they are overtly doing the product reviews and then, you find all kinds of blushes and lipstick swatches on the blog and nothing else!!! even I like to mix and match…btw what’s memes???
    Swati recently posted..My current scent {DIY}My Profile

    1. Tine

      Swati: Hahahaha, damn, a lot of people don’t know what memes are. And that’s because they used to be so popular back then, but because there are people who deemed them entirely lack of substance so they are in the “not-quality-content” category.

      Anything share-worthy can be a meme. You know those tag posts, e.g. I write about my favourite lippies and I tag blogger A, B, C and D to also name their favourite lippies? Or you share about ten things people may not know about you, and then you tag a few people to do it as well. Or those computer-generated customisable images e.g. best hot blogger award, etc. All these are memes.

      1. Swati

        oh those are meme’s 🙂 yeah, we do have a lot of such posts without knowing what they categorise under 🙂 but, you know there is a huge problem with them too…sometimes people just tend to overdo it and its like literally everyday you are given an award which becomes boring 🙁 but, yes, they are fun to do once in a while!!!
        Swati recently posted..Lemon for acne scars {Reader’s Tips}My Profile

  10. Savvynista

    Great post and helpful tips! Don’t be afraid to “test” a blog topic. See if it draws appeal. If not, then you know your readers aren’t interested in that subject. This way you don’t waste time blogging about things that won’t be read. If you know your demo/audience, then you’ll know what they want to read about. Don’t know who your readers are exactly? Check your Google analytics, FB insights and YouTube audience for a barometer.
    Savvynista recently posted..Style Savvy :: Nude and Black Comfy Chic FlatsMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Savvynista: I agree on the “testing a blog topic” thing. You just never know what your readers like. You might like a topic, they don’t. They might like a topic, and you’re just meh about it. I like a good balance between the two 🙂

  11. Tara

    Tine I cannot tell you how much I love your bloggie Wednesdays posts. They are so informative and I think this one is my favorite of all time!

    1. Tine

      Tara: Thanks for the kind words of encouragement, Tara. Means a lot to me, and keeps me wanting to write more 🙂 xx

  12. Avelima

    THANK YOU SOO MUCH! THIS WAS AMAZING! Im a blogger newbie, so I definately need some tips!

    1. Tine

      My pleasure Avelima. Hope the tips help 🙂 xx

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