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| Blogger Terise Cole |
I am a college student who loves
horses and writing and is just starting a blog. Terise Cole is a college
student who loves horses and has written a blog called Breeches and Boat Shoes
for almost two years and has more than 480 followers. Cole seemed like a great
person to learn from about how to start, write and maintain a blog about
college life and horses. Cole goes to college at Becker College in
Massachusetts. She has two horses, rides on her college’s riding team and
enjoys equestrian fashion. Though there are marked differences between her life
and mine, our passion for horses and writing seemed a good place to start.
Cole said she has always loved writing
and started riding at age seven.
“The majority of my life revolves around my horses and riding, so it
seemed natural to write about them,” Cole said.
Cole started her blog,
after she bought a new horse named Southern Axcent. She
had been contemplating a blog but the new horse helped push her into the
blogosphere. Her blog was originally a way for her to share progress reports on
her new horse with her family and friends. However, the blog soon grew to
include equestrian fashion and product reviews, training stories, interviews and
“all things equestrian.” Cole said that one thing she wished she had known to
establish her social media presence early and have a clear idea of where the
blog was headed before starting her blog. She said that how follower’s first
view a blog is hard to reestablish once you start a certain niche of posts. Cole
said that, since there are so many aspects of the equestrian world, a blogger
should understand the audience that they are specifically writing for.
Social media is the
main venue that Cole uses to promote her blog. Having a strong presence on
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram along with encouraging reader communication
through comments and email helps to point potential followers to her blog.
Another way Cole promotes her content is through product reviews or including a
company name in a post.
“If (the
company) likes the post, they will probably share it with their followers,”
Cole said.
Cole tries to post “every other day or at least
twice a week.” She said that posting much more than that can take away from the
novelty of a blogger’s posts and that posting less can leave the readers
hungry for new content. However, another factor of how often she posts is her
school, horses and other parts of her busy life.
“Sometimes it is hard managing a blog and classes,
so my blog can be a bit neglected at times if my workload increases from
school,” Cole said.
Inspiration
often eludes writers that want to post content regularly. However, Cole has
found topics in her experience, opinions and creative blog hops from other
bloggers.
These “hops” consist of topics and questions sent from one blogger to
others to explore different opinions, stories and experiences along the same
subject lines.
Cole is
excited about how blogging has affected the horse community.
“It was surprising to see how many horse people
actually read blogs. A lot of equestrians look to others' opinions or want
their views on certain topics or products before trying them out themselves,”
Cole said.
I learned a lot from Cole and hope to
use this knowledge well in my blog. One of the biggest things I gleaned was that
I needed to make sure I know what the purpose of my blog is. That way I will
create content that both my target audience and I will enjoy.
Check out Terise Cole’s blog here!
Here are some other horse related blogs that I enjoy.
