Blogger Spotlight: Katy, What Katy Said

Mother of three Katy launched her blog to share details of her family life with an online audience, through photos and films. What Katy Said is a digital diary which includes both the ups and downs of family life. In this spotlight Katy, who appears on our top mummy blog ranking, chats to us about the challenges of balancing motherhood with her blogging career, why she started vlogging, how she likes to be approached by PRs and why making a difference in the lives of others motivates her. 

What inspired you to create your blog? I started my blog after having my second child as a way of sharing my experience of milk allergies in babies. I had never heard of blogging before but a friend suggested I start one as I was always sharing my experiences with others and she felt I could spread the message further – she was right!

What is the most challenging part of being a mummy blogger? Time management is always a challenge! Being a busy mum of three means I am always juggling school runs with after school clubs. I have to squeeze in photo-shoots and social media when I find five minutes and then as soon as they are in bed I can get everything else done.

How have you built up your audience? I have been blogging for nearly three years now so have built it up over time. I share things that I hope will help other people and hopefully people can relate to my life. I get so many lovely messages from readers, thanking me for making them feel a little more normal.

Since starting your blog, what are the major changes that you have seen in the industry? There has been a definite shift towards video in the last year and so I am very thankful to have an established YouTube channel. I get so much work around creating videos and I can see that will become a big part of blogging as time goes on.

What is the most rewarding part of being a mummy? I have always wanted to be a mummy, that is all I ever wanted to be when I grew up. The three of them make me so proud and to see them all growing up happy and healthy is the only thing you can ever hope for as a parent. To know that I am shaping them into kind and caring human beings is an amazing feeling.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with any PRs or aspiring bloggers? There are so many people taking up blogging every single day and many expect to be hearing from brands straight away. My advice has always been and always will be to blog because you love it. Share content that will help or inspire other people and your readership will grow. It takes a lot of hard work but anything worth having always does!

How do you prefer to be approached by PRs? How can they improve their strategy? I love when someone has taken the time to look at my blog and see who we are as a family. I love working on campaigns and on the whole I always have a positive experience with PR companies. As bloggers we just want to feel valued, to know that brands understand that it takes time and effort to put together a quality post.

Will you be working on any exciting projects or campaigns this year? I have quite a few exciting opportunities on the cards, life is never dull! We are doing quite a few travel collaborations this year which is amazing and something I will never take for granted. Most projects involve video now and I am having a real push to build up my YouTube channel as I really love creating videos.

What has been your proudest blogging achievement so far? It would be easy to say reaching the finals in a blogging awards but actually my proudest moments have been knowing that I have made a difference to other people. Sharing my allergy journey has helped so many parents and there is no better feeling.

How do you maintain the balance between sponsored posts and organic content? It can be difficult with deadlines looming but I love writing for the sake of writing and will always make sure I share something just because I want to. Every Saturday I share a gratitude list and that is purely because I love thinking of the happy things that I have experienced that week. I have also started a monthly ‘life lately’ update which I like to view as writing a letter to friends, catching them up on everything I have been up to lately.