What do craft bloggers do anyway? (Behind the Scenes)

February 20, 2015 · by · in Crafty Life

Write a post, snap some pics, and hit publish. Bam! Done! Right?

Or not. Blogging is rarely so simple. Craft blogging has its own little quirks, too. I thought I’d share a behind-the-scenes peek of what it takes to go from concept to published post.

If you’re a blogger I’d love to hear your process, too!

The Idea

Even the simplest tutorial or roundup has to be planned.

I use notebooks to sketch and plan DIYs. Before buying anything I sketch out the proportions, materials, and the gist of how to construct it.

Most ideas sit on the backburner for a while. I won’t commit to a DIY post unless it’s:

Useful and/or practical. A cushion you can’t wash isn’t worth the time or materials!
Something I’ll love. One of the joys of a personal blog is making what you want.
Something new. If the idea’s overdone, I’ll share my favourite tuts instead.

For roundups and other posts I ask: is it inspiring? Is it helpful?

Once I’m happy with a DIY design, it’s time to make it and take pics!

The Photography

Step-by-step my approach to blog photography usually looks like this:

Plan & take step-by-step photos
Style the project with some pretty props and snap (Repeat 50x)
Edit the photos to correct any lighting/colour/etc problems
Choose a header image + add text with my chosen blog fonts
Save as optimised JPEGs for the web with descriptive file names
Upload to the blog!

A lot of my photos are taken in the kitchen. Wherever there’s sunlight!

I take photos for posts before writing. Tutorial photos are half the story, and it’s so much easier to describe the steps after you’ve taken the photos. In winter I usually have to take the step-by-step photos and the styled shot on different days.

Some of the tricks I use to get photos done:

I use a tote to carry everything to whichever room has the best light or setting for the post.
In winter, I’ll set up the shoot the night before so it’s ready to snap.
For tutorials I keep a checklist of all the photos I want to take. It’s hard to go back later!

The Post

The hard work has been done: the DIY is complete and the photography finished. Writing is the easy part! When I’m making a project and editing photos I’m already drafting the post in my head.

(I often mutter to myself when editing pics. This is called ‘writing’.)

I start putting the post together by popping in the photos and, if it’s a tutorial, the materials list. All the photo descriptions get optimised for Pinterest.

When I write the post I keep a few things in mind:

Is it easy to scan the post to get an idea of the project?
Are the steps written as clearly and in as few words as possible?
Are the links, names, and pics correct and all in the right places?
Will new readers know how to find other relevant posts?

Spreading the word

After I hit publish I use Twitter, Pinterest, Ravelry, and CraftGawker to share projects.

Sometimes a post I’ve spent hours on will flop. Going through old posts to see what works and what doesn’t (and updating pics & old links) is a new routine of mine. Sometimes all it takes is a different photo. You never know which page a reader sees first!