She started a blog and you will never believe what happened! How to overcome sensationalism? Branislava Antović tried to answer this difficult question at the just concluded Blogomania, a graduate journalist, who at the age of 29 is the owner of one of the most successful blogs in Serbia, according to Dragan Varagić - Bran's Divine World.
Branislava describes herself as a full-time blogger. It all started six years ago - in 2010, when she graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, majoring in journalism. Her great desire was to do something creative, to write, to "exercise her fingers", as she likes to say. She was a bit of an idealist, full of enthusiasm, expecting to gain practice in some classical media. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, because no one ever responded to any of her job emails.
In October 2010, she decided to take matters into her own hands and start her own blog, primarily to gain some practice. And already in 2011, she got her first journalist engagements, which are a direct product of what she did on the blog. Her future editors saw her work on the blog and said, "This is great, why don't you come work for us?". She worked first as a volunteer, and later as a journalist, and in 2013 she reached the position of editor in a magazine. In that year 2013, her blog (then called Divine World of Fashions) developed interestingly, although it was started naively, innocently, without any plans for making money. However, that year the business became quite serious and she found herself at a turning point: she had to decide whether she would pursue journalism or blogging.
By the way, in that same period, at the end of 2013, Branislava decided to change the name of her blog, redesign it and change its concept. "Fashion" as a determinant in the name, was no longer "broad" enough for her, because she wanted to deal with many other, interesting topics, so the blog grew into a lifestyle blog. At the same time, he changes the name of the blog to Bran's Divine World, changes the domain of the site according to the new name, as well as the complete visual identity.
Still at a turning point, she had her first lecture at Blogomania in 2013, and right after that Blogomania she decided to become a full time blogger. The lecture at Blogomania solved all her dilemmas at the turning point and helped her make a final decision. After that Blogomania, her blog somehow became visible to other people, not only to the narrow internet community she was addressing. It was then that she realized for the first time that she could make a living from working on a blog. From 01.12.2013. she begins to support herself by working only on her blog.
At the beginning of 2014, Brana received a very important award for the development of the blog. It is an award from PC Press magazine for one of the 5 best blogs in Serbia and one of the 50 best websites (TOP 50). In the same year, she received another important recognition: the Grand aroma company included Branislava Antović on the list of A women, the list of the 10 most successful women in Serbia. Everything that was happening showed her that she was on the right path. From then until this year, Branislava collaborated with the most famous brands, the list of which is long: Coca Cola, Reabok, Canon, MTS... She appeared on the cover of Bazar, a cult magazine, which also awarded her the award for style personality for 2014 a year. She got the opportunity to talk about her blog at the Belgrade Design Week, to be a guest at the Youth to Business (AIESEC) forum, etc...
Branislava is sure that the main and basic reason for success was the content. Who didn't follow many blogger rules. Besides, she never used sensational headlines. Also, she often used poetic titles in relation to the subject she was writing about. She wrote much longer articles than many blogging experts said they should be. She had many more photos uploaded than one post should contain. And she dealt with topics that everyone told her no one would read. Even the editors in the media, where she used to work, said that what she does is not "clickable". That all people are interested in in Serbia are starlets, black chronicles and everything like that... That's how they helped her to decide to leave journalism and finally have freedom in her work!
She believed that some different content was needed - she wanted to read that kind of content. She started dealing with theater, books, movies, series, interior design, young artists, young business people, who decided to take matters into their own hands as well. And post by post, a pretty nice group of people, a pretty high-quality audience, has formed around her blog. She is sure that the content is the most important for earning, which comes at the end. And it is the most important for defeating sensationalism, which is constantly marketed as the only possible way to make some money in the world of media, in general.
"Quality content - it brought a quality audience!" An audience that is self-aware, that is financially independent - for Branislava, this is a very important moment in running a blog, for the sake of the final result - earnings. According to her, it is also very important for clients to have a quality audience that they can say thinks for themselves. "A public that will go and pay for something that you recommended."
In order for the audience to do something like that, trust must be created between them and the author of the blog. This step, again, has nothing to do with sensationalism. "Sensationalism will attract attention once, the second, the third time, the fourth time they will say: Hey, what are you talking about!" Why are you pushing us more..." For Branislava, trust is the most important prerequisite to create credibility! Trust is created by the topics you cover on your blog and the way you cover them, but also by very carefully choosing the clients (brands) you will promote.
"In the beginning, it's hard to say: no." In general, in our country, people are afraid to say: no. "What if word gets out that I'm picky?" Branislava thinks it's nonsense! In the beginning, maybe you can allow yourself some compromise, later, her recommendation is to say: no. She gave an imaginary example of a manufacturer, who would contact her to promote a product that she never eats and which she has repeatedly blogged not to eat, because she considers it unhealthy - and how she could "jump in her mouth" " and to write promotionally about that product, no matter how much the client pays for it?!
Every blogger should start with quality content, which must be: useful, informative and literate. Branislava thinks that all of this can be disregarded, but what will be the results of such a blog? It is very short-lived. Such a blogger, who in her opinion respects these rules, has credibility with his audience. What it means? That the audience appreciates you, returns to your blog, comes to learn something! She thinks that it is not important to be smarter than the audience, but the blogger, perhaps, has the opportunity to learn something before others and to convey it through his blog.
When such credibility is created - earnings come. It can come earlier and there are always "shorter" ways, which involve sensationalism and Branislava does not believe that this is a long-lasting effect. Credibility enables continuity - constant earnings. According to her, the biggest problem in the blogging world is periodic earnings. “You don't get paid on the 1st of every month, that doesn't exist.” But if you have credibility, there will always be new clients.
If the client sees that you are using sensationalist methods, and that it has no effect, they will not contact you the next time. Her opinion is that a blogger with his credibility - confirms his blogging "corner", with his visitors, but also with his clients - which are very important.
"If you want to make a living from a blog, there are standards you have to meet." When she talks about it, she doesn't just mean the blog, she also means social media. It's often forgotten that social media can also be a platform for great content. Branislava claims that everyone can create a small medium, such as a blog, with equally high-quality, informative content from their Instagram profile. The idea is to create an idea in people that if they don't know what's going on somewhere, they'll come to you and find out.
"The content is the most important. Numbers are constantly mentioned as the most important thing in a blogger's life. You can get to the numbers easily - legally or illegally, let's not lie..." Some respectable brands will demand exactly such content from bloggers. Here, again, we return to credibility...
And all that has no effect for Branislava, if no one answers when she writes something. And all the good successes, awards are nothing compared to when someone calls you and says: Hey, I read that book you recommended! I watched that show - it's great! For her, such communication with visitors is the point of success. Nothing else matters. Without those people - visitors - the blogger does not exist! You must always take the time to answer them, even if two weeks late... It is recommended not to neglect this, even if one becomes a successful blogger.
Branislava Antović did not make the biggest scandal on Blogomania! She showed everyone how it's done and that quality conquers everything.
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