Blogger Spotlight: Maggy Woodley, Red Ted Art

Authored by Maggy Woodley, Red Ted Art was created to teach children and adults how to make fun and easy artwork and crafts for numerous seasonal occasions. Maggy uses the blog to post how to make beautiful craft designs with kids and also personalised gift ideas. As well as posting her own creative ideas, Red Ted Art also features ideas from different sources which have influenced Maggy. Craft tutorials include pop-up Christmas cards, winter ice ornaments, origami cats, and knitted love hearts – all created with the help of her kids Red Ted and Pip Squeak. In this spotlight, Maggy, who is number one on our crafts ranking chats to us about how she measures the success of her blog, having over a million social media followers and why she is now using vlogging to build her brand. 

Why should people read your blog? What makes it different? Red Ted Art focusses on bringing EASY crafts for kids. The aim is to make crafting “accessible”, in expensive with great results. Something that everyone can have a go at, enjoy the process, but still have cute results. Red Ted Art also aims to teach kids the basics in crafting.

How do you measure the success of your website? I measure the success of my website through a combination of things – page views are a simple measure of knowing how many visitors you receive on a regular basis. However, getting feedback from readers and crafters is what really shows you that you are making a difference to people. I cherish every email and comment on Facebook of people telling me how they have enjoyed a particular craft.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a blog? Be prepared to work hard and to invest your time in a blog. Growing a blog from scratch will not happen overnight. You need a degree of patience and drive. It is also very important that you find a niche that you are passionate about and genuinely enjoy. Blogging is as much as a hobby, as it is a job. And being unique and true to yourself will show in your writing.

How do you work with marketers and PRs? There are a variety of ways I work with PRs and brands. Each project is tailored individually to the client. Sometimes, they are keen to make the most of my large Facebook following (1.7m likes!) other times, they are keen to explore the more niche audience on Instagram. Whatever work we agree on, it has to work for both the brand and my audience.

How do you use social media to promote and share content? What are the challenges? Social media is a key aspect of promoting and driving “traffic” to the website. It is how most people now find and absorb information. The key challenge is to keep reaching people as social media companies such as Facebook and Instagram continue to tweak the algorithms and how people see information. Social media easily takes up more than 50% of my work day!

What can PRs do in working better with you? Be open to discussion and approach to how to make the most of what Red Ted Art has to offer. As much as I try and tailor what I am offering to a brand, a brand also needs to take into consideration the needs of my viewers – affordable, accessible but good quality products and services.

What has been your blogging highlight? Just one highlight? Oh that is tricky. There have been so many fabulous milestones along the way from reaching 1million subscribers on Facebook (hoping to get to 2million soon), to passing the 100k on YouTube, to speaking at events and have readers send you photos of the crafts they have made.

What will be big in your blogosphere in the coming months? My current focus is on building and developing my YouTube channel – continuing to diversify how I reach and speak to my readers and viewers.

What does the Vuelio Blog Ranking mean to you and how does it affect your blog? Any recognition from rankings is hugely important to a blogger. It really puts your work into context and is much appreciated.