My blog turned five a little over two weeks ago (June 21st) but life was happening so I didn’t take time to celebrate/acknowledge it. Prior to Coronavirus, Covid 19, da rona or whatever you call it, I wanted to have a small intimate party with close friends and family. I mean five years is a big deal and although I’m no where near where I thought I would be in the blog world it’s still a win so I wanted to celebrate.
Dress gifted from ModCloth!
But life. So instead, I thought I would share what I thought blogging was, what I learned it was and what I’ve learned so far.
I thought blogging was easy. Make a post and brands start calling. I just knew after my first blog post, my blog was going to blow up. I mean it was really good. LOL! I just knew after that brands were going to come knocking. I didn’t have to do anything they would just see my greatness. Boy was I wrong and really thought a lot about myself and one blog post. I mean y’all I was using a blog template on Wordpress. The basic one. Then I got fancy and bought a $25 template from Etsy. After that I knew that was it. NOT!
What I learned. Blogging is hard and SO much work. Yes, there are some bloggers who blow up over night but for most it takes a lot of time, hard-work and consistency. Last year when I wrote a post celebrating my four-year blogaversary and I was trying to get to 2K followers. Now I’m at 2,698 followers hoping to get to 3K by the end of summer so as you can see it’s a process.
What I’ve learned so far.
Blogging is hard. Did I already say that? LOL!
Have a plan, outline, idea, something before you start. Do not do what I did. Check out my post here on how I began.
Set REALISTIC expectations of when you are going to post on your blog and social media.
Patience, patience, patience!
There is a 99.99% chance it will not happen overnight.
Find you some blogger friends. You need people to share and vent to who are doing the same thing.
Consistency, consistency, consistency. People are following you because they like what you are sharing so set a posting schedule. If you can’t post daily that’s okay. But when you post, keep it consistent so your followers know what to expect.
Share quality content. You don’t have to use professional photographers. Cell phone pics are totally fine. But clean your lens.
Photos are important. I always say I’m not a fashion blogger, so I didn’t think pics of me were important. But people are visual. They need to see you. Grab them with the pic, and they will read your caption. Well, most of them. LOL!
Pitch, Pitch, Pitch. I have under 3K followers and I have worked with some large brands and a few more than once. Which also means size doesn’t always matter.
Dress gifted from Fashion to Figure. I pitched them on a whim. Never thought they would say yes.
Videos, IG Stories, IG TV is a thing. Get on board. I hate them all but when I started doing them, I saw growth. So just do it!
You NEED a blog. Instagram will shut you down in a minute and/or stop working. They do it all the time.
Remember your WHY.
Be YOU! If you’re a corny goofball that LOVES Hallmark movies like me. Share that. There are more people out there like you and they need to know they aren’t alone. People are more invested if they feel like they know you.
No one is YOU and that’s your Super Power. Don’t compare yourself…I work on this daily.
Don’t take it so serious…think will you die if you don’t hit 10k followers? I mean, yes, if you want to make it profitable you should take it seriously, but not to the point that you lose yourself and/or your purpose.
Be supportive of others, especially bloggers. I can’t say this enough. It’s so important. Comment and/or like their post. Share when you can. Sharing other bloggers post in stories is easy and quick. And I can tell you from experience when someone does that for me it always brightens my day. I’m working on doing that more.
Post for the followers you have now not the ones you are hoping for. Others will come.
Last but not least…DON’T jump on every offer when a brand reaches out to you. A lot of them are with that bull. Be careful. We all want to work with brands but not all brands are good for you and your brand.
This is just a bit of what I’ve learned, and I learn something weekly. Blogging is fun, but hard work but I say if you want to do it. Go for it. There is room for all of us. If you follow me then you know I “quit” blogging all the time, but overall I enjoy it plus I am not a quitter and I have come far enough now to keep pushing to see where I can go. So, Happy Five Year Blogaversary to me and here’s to making it to six.
Dress and Headband gifted from Fashion to Figure