Hi Lauren! What’s the name of your blog.
Where are you from?
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Tell us a little bit more about you and your blog, Wellesley & King.
I’m Lauren, a millennial mom with a love for modern minimalism. On Wellesley & King, you’ll find inspiration for simple living in style. From your home, to your kitchen, to your wardrobe, W&K is all about a minimal life made beautiful.
Give us your best tip to staying on top of the blog/work/life balance?
Batching tasks is a huge time-saver when it comes to working smarter, not harder.
What are three things you wish you knew about blogging before you started?
I wish I knew more about SEO best practices before starting. It’s so much more tedious to go back and update old posts than to optimize them from the start.
What’s your favorite WordPress plugin and how has it helped your business?
The Yoast SEO plugin has been really helpful for breaking down SEO.
What skills and qualities do you think are necessary for a successful and professional blogger?
Creativity is huge. Bloggers who are one step ahead in terms of content creation, and not following the crowd, are the ones I consider the most successful.
What has blogging taught you/given you that no other career or job has before?
Blogging has given my the ability to wear all the hats when running a business. From accounting, to marketing, to content creation, you’re doing and learning it all.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out in the blog world?
Focus on quality over quantity. Your followers will appreciate you if you’re offering them quality content that can solve a problem or help them in some way.
What topic do you most enjoy writing about?
I love writing about organization and organizing spaces in general. Is there anything more satisfying than a perfectly organized drawer?
What does a typical work day for you look like? Whether you’re a full time blogger or not, we’d love to learn what your schedule looks like and how you manage it all.
My blogging occurs mostly in the evening after my toddler has gone to bed. Between her and a day job, there’s not much time in the day to accomplish blog-related tasks.
What would your dream partnership look like? From the brand, the content, all of it! Dream up your perfect collaboration.
A dream collaboration would most definitely be with West Elm. I’m about to design a shared bedroom for my daughter and a second baby on the way, so a sophisticated girls’ room featuring a West Elm rug and pillows would be a dream!
What’s your most recent WIN with your blog?
The TBS SEO course was a huge help in providing concrete tools for optimizing blog posts. Going back through old posts with a clear direction on how to improve them has been a huge help.
What is one thing in the blogging industry that frustrates you that you wish you could change?
I miss the days of people coming to and reading blogs on a regular basis. Now, so much focus is on social media that it detracts from the longer-form content on blogs. After a while, all of those Instagram accounts just look the same and it can become really monotonous to scroll through the feed.
How has your content changed since you first started blogging?
When I first started my blog in 2014, I was basically journaling through my days and the things I would do in the city. Now, the content is much more value-driven, and providing useful posts to my readers is much more important than the restaurant my husband and I visited over the weekend.
What’s your favorite blogging memory or highlight?
I had a great time at the TBS Conference in Chicago. I learned so much and got to meet so many new bloggers, it was a really great weekend of all things blogging.
