Thinking Of Starting A Blog?

Hey everyone! 

Recently a very sweet girl I've been following on social media for some time sent me a message; she was asking for help and advice on starting her own blog, for which I gave hints and tips on things that I've found work and those that don't work etc and it got me thinking. I mean I don't exactly have the most followed blog compared to some, I don't get offered Voltaire Saddles sponsorship and spots on television shows but I do have quite a few very sweet loyal followers who like to keep up with what Georgie and I get up to and enjoy doing so. For that I appreciate them immensely and they drive us both to achieve more and try harder. So with that in mind I thought i'd write down a few musings on what I feel helped me when I first started blogging

Firstly, good spelling and punctuation are key! Don't get me wrong I most definitely miss out commas and spell things wrong or just frankly write sentences that just don't make sense. But saying that it is pretty important to add punctuation, especially commas, as I was always taught that they act as a pause in a sentence and stop long sentences from becoming one giant line of words going on and on! I recently tried to read a ladies blog and the sentences were so long and had no punctuation that by the time I'd got to the end I'd lost track of the start of her sentence! It's definitely something to bear that in mind! If you want to incorporate colons or semi colons to improve your paragraphs then the links attached are how to guides! Hope that helps!

(Note- This is probably an ironic paragraph which probably is full of mistakes that will completely undermine myself.)

Secondly, it's always a good idea to add a bit of humour into your posts and show you're not taking yourself too seriously. Don't get me wrong, I take myself a bit too seriously sometimes but I do like to make the posts I write a little bit fun and jovial. I do that because they're much easier to read and more fun for the reader to get through and more engaging to the reader. 

Thirdly, be honest! If you have a bad lesson or fall off or your horse was a bit of a plonker, don't be afraid to write about that. Seriously, by your readers being able to relate to you and your horse and your journey together that will more likely to keep reading and following your future posts. We all like writing about how fantastic our horses are but we also have to honest when they're not so fantastic too.

Something else to think about is to write regularly, even if you're not doing much with your horses. I am definitely guilty of this as I live quite a busy lifestyle that's not always involving horses so I do get slack but if you're around quite a lot people are more likely to want to keep up with you and you're in their mind when on social media.

Be yourself! I see quite a lot of the same types of countryside and fashion blogs who all write about the same brands, seem to all wear the same style of clothes and that's absolutely fine but personally I like to have my own style and be practical. I see so many girlie countryside blogs of them photographed in white jeans with spanish tall boot styles and perfectly painted nails and I always think that's so samey! Fine, if people like that then that's ok but I like to be a little different so if you want to as well then go ahead! Be your own self! 

Someone I personally love to follow on instagram is @styledequestrian as she shows actual practical equestrian clothing that is both on trend but you can see she actually wears out riding! I love that combination to she's well worth a follow.

These are just a few ideas and something I personally try to apply. I am very much an amateur blogger who does this in my spare time, I work full time, pay a mortgage by myself, groom for my sister and give a lot of my time for the Retraining of Racehorses charity so I don't have the time or money to blog full time like a lot of bloggers do so these are things I've learned while I've blogged for the last few years! 

Every once in a while you may get the very exciting offer of becoming a brand ambassador or a sponsored rider for a company but something that I have certainly noticed and been aware of is that sometimes competing you have to be careful that these things do not interfer with your competing. For example some showing series can exclude you from competing if you are a sponsored rider. The ROR Amateur Show Series clearly states if you cannot take part if you've received remuneration for riding, including sponsorship. Now you may be a very clear amateur that has a lot of social media presence and therefore been offered a sponsorship in exchange for some money towards lessons and given products but would clearly rule you out in this instance. Be careful when signing up for competitions that you don't break or flout these rules!

Got any tips you'd like to share? I'd love to hear them. Sharing is caring after all! 

Sophie x