I have been blogging now for 2 1/2 years. I would hardly call myself an expert, but I am not a newbie either, so I thought that I would put together a few top tips for anyone that is starting out.

1.Either go self hosted or buy a custom URL (if you are on blogger) if you are interested in doing reviews/sponsored posts or care about getting to the top of the Tots 100 rankings. If you do it when you start out it is easier than trying to change it later on.

2. Bloggers do not get freebies. Like it or not, not everyone blogs for the love of writing or recording their life. Some people want to get "free stuff." They have seen other bloggers getting "free stuff" and want some of that. From my experience you will only get approached by PR companies if you write good content. Yes bloggers get sent review items and sometimes get invited to amazing events, but they work for them. It takes time to write a good review, it takes time to build up and audience. Bloggers don't get stuff for free, they have worked for it. There is also no point in getting jealous of the opportunities that others get. Work hard and you will get amazing opportunities of your own. Oh and if you start earning money from sponsored posts you need to register as self employed. If you earn over the tax threshold you need to pay tax on your earnings. Never see it as "pocket money."

3. Comment on other blogs. You may write amazing blog posts, but if the only person that reads them is your Mum, then it is a bit of a waste. By commenting on other post and joining in linkies you will find new readers. I try to comment on posts if people comment on my blog, and it is a good way of finding blogs you like and they might even like yours.

4. Don't link drop. Whilst we love promoting our posts on all of social media, there is one thing that annoys people and that it link dropping. By that I mean, that you are in a Facebook group and you post a link to your amazingly brilliant blog post on the Facebook Wall. Most groups have post or comment threads for these.

5. No follow v follow links. Lots of bloggers get confused by this. When writing a blog post you may want to recommend a great place to eat and put a link to your favourite restaurant. This is fine and the link should be follow. It says that you like the restaurant and in the eyes of Google it will push it higher up the rankings in the search engine for great places to eat. However, if the restaurant have paid you to put the link in or given you a free meal at the restaurant then the link should be no follow. In simple terms, Google want the company to pay them lots of money to rank high on the search engine not pay lots of bloggers a small amount to get to the same place. If Google find out that you have broken their rules they can take away page rank from you and the company. This means they wont be found in a Google search. It is down to you if you choose to do follow or no follow. SEO companies will pay for follow links as sponsored posts. If you don't rely on Google for your traffic then you may want to do this. If you do rely on Google then it is probably best not to.