The First Thought of 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! That's that bit out of the way, oh and also since I've not blogged in about 1 million years, MERRY CHIRSTMAS! I hope you have all had a fantastic one and you got suitably drunk last night and ended up tactical chundering on the pavement outside your house when you eventually got home after passing out at your friends Nan's house  *non of this happened to me at all, I don't know why you would think such a thing...*  So to start of the new year, I thought I would give you a lovely typical new year blog post highlighting the resolutions I would like to achieve within 2015 - hopefully actual achievable ones that I can stick to rather than give up on after one week. I mean lets face it, I can tell myself i'm going to stop drinking horrific amounts on weekends and eating my body weight in chocolate every time I come home from work but that is just not going to happen so here goes... 1. Complete my Apprenticeship.  Even though this seems like a totally obvious resolution for me to have this year. It's probably the most exciting and the most important. I am really looking forward to completing my apprenticeship and to move on to bigger and better things within my career.  2. Become more consistent with my blog I am excited for this one. I started this blog earlier in the year and granted I have been rubbish at it recently, I have made a promise to myself that I will become more consistent with it making sure I post at least once a week. I cannot wait to share all the happenings of 2015 with you all this year is going to be great, I can feel it in my bones! Be excited my dear readers, be very excited!  3. Spend more time with the people I love  Yes OK this sounds cheesy as hell but I have to put this on as this is the one massive lesson I took from 2014. I was so constantly caught up with work or being too tired to be with my friends or just spending evenings with my family. Well 2015 is the end to that trend, the lesson I learnt in 2014 was that when bad things happen to you, it's not going to be the people from the office, or the people I see everyday on my lunch break, its going to be my closest friends and family who are going to be there for me and this is what I need to be more thankful for. I am going to be spending more time with my family and my beautiful friends and less time worrying about things that can be sorted the next day. I would strongly recommend to any one who is reading this to do the same. Do not take for granted any of the people who love you the most, they are the most important and will ultimately be the ones there for you if any thing is to happen to you. And that concludes my resolutions for this year. Did you need a sick bag for the bit at the end there? I thought so, sorry about that one. It's new years after all, you've got to have some cheese in a typical new years resolution post right.. Right?! I wish you all the best for the coming year with all the love, happiness and good health that a year can possibly throw at you!  I will be seeing you very soon. 

Tips From A Beginner, To A Beginner!

Happy Wednesday lovelies. Today is a landmark day in the world of Trixybelle, a very tiny landmark, but a landmark all the same!    So this is my 10th post *little cheer* my first very small scale blogging achievement. And even though in the blogging world it is a small achievement, it's an achievement to me! 

So to celebrate my little achievement, I thought I would share some tips of what I have learnt so far being a beginner in the blogging world, to anyone out there who is just starting out as well!    1. Go For it!  When I first started out I wasn't really sure if blogging was the thing for me, I didn't really have a niche or a set topic so I thought I would just be trying to write about things but people wouldn't care and no one would read. However I was totally wrong. Although sometimes I do get worried that I am going slightly under the radar, it's all about getting yourself out there, social media will become your best friend! If I do get slightly down about not getting noticed, I remember how much I love blogging. I love being able to be me and people read about things I love and getting good feedback on a post you've written is a really encouraging feeling! If you're reading this thinking about blogging but are not sure it is something for you, just do it, go for it! It's the best thing I have ever done and when I look back to the beginning of my journey I really wouldn't change anything. Be who you are, blog about what you want and readers will enjoy anything. You will be surprised at what people actually want to read about on the internet! 

Or Guy...

2. Get Glipho

One of the best tips I have received so far is to join Glipho. It is a social site where you can promote your blog and get it noticed more. You can choose a category which best suits your blog post so it gets trending more on the site. All you have to do is import your posts on to the site. It's a really easy site to use and a great way to connect with other bloggers like you and also do some great self promoting! Also if you share your post on twitter through Glipho, the team are great at promoting your blog for you so they will retweet your tweet or do a tweet for you, promoting your new post. Really easy to use and it has kept me blogging, otherwise I really would feel like I was slipping under the radar. There are other sites like Glipho, for example Bloglovin' which I have signed up for but don't actually use as I feel it's slightly over complicated and Glipho is a lot easier to use in my opinion, but for more views I would recommend having both as the more sights you share your blog on, the more you'll get noticed. 

3. Don't be scared of being you.

Something which really shocked me being a blogger was how much people actually like to read something which seems more personal. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there, if you have an idea of a post which you think you would like to read - majority of the time, this means that someone else will want to read it too!  Obviously I'm not saying throw your whole life out there but I know that I love reading blog posts which are a little bit personal to someone, it's great feeling like you're getting to know the writer without even talking to them. So if you are thinking of doing a personal blog but you're worried that people wont want to read it, don't be, referring back to my first point - Go for it! 

4. Twitter

Twitter is really really useful for bloggers. The use of the # is really key for getting your blog noticed for example #fbloggers #bbloggers #lbloggers are the main tags to use for fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers, I know that I follow what goes on so other people definitely will be. It's great to get your blog out there. Also twitter communities are great, there are a couple of chats which you can follow through the week for example - #fblchat, #bloggerspace  are a couple of chats which go on during the week, you can follow these on twitter and get chatting. I've met loads of new people through the chats and again - a great way to get your blog out there and noticed. Also people on twitter are lovely so any questions which you have about the blogging world, I have always found the answer through asking these chats, everyone is always glad to help and you can learn loads of cool tips and tricks of the trade! Take a look, #fblchat every Tuesday night 8pm - 9pm. #bloggerspace every Thursday night 7pm - 8pm. 

Images Images Images! 

The best blogs to read in my opinion are the ones which have lots of images. They are a great way of breaking up text so that people don't get put of my large amounts of essay like text when they log onto your blog! And they can make your blog look great and also add a sense of humour, everybody loves a good meme right?! Google is your oyster, have a look at anything you like, I could spend hours looking at Google images collecting funny little images for my blog, it's great. Not just Google either, images can be used to make your blog seem more personal by adding a quick selfie or a picture of something you've recently done/somewhere you've been! 

I hope my tips have been helpful to you and if you are thinking of blogging but not sure, go for it, it's the best thing you'll ever do! 

I hope the next 10 posts of mine will keep me going strong as a blogger and I'm sure there will be many stories to come, you can follow my journey to becoming a successful blogger right here! See you soon!