10 things I’ve learned from a year of blogging

So, I realised mid-Sunday afternoon that it had been a year since my first blog post. A lot of bloggers make their first bloggerversary a bit of an event with giveaways and a series of posts about their previous year.

Well, yeah, I guess I kind of missed the ball on that. I blame mummy-brain. (I can still blame mummy-brain, right? I plan on using it for at least the next 30 years… is that okay?)

Anyway, I didn’t want to let the date go by without at least acknowledging it, so I’ve spent the morning reflecting back on my year and thinking about what it has taught me about blogging. Here you go:

1. Blogging is a lot of work

Sure, it sounds easy: write something down, stick up a few photos, then sit back and watch the visitors roll in. Right?

Well, yes and no. If you want to throw some text up on a blog, whack in some photos and leave it at that, you can and it should only take you about half an hour.

But, if you want the copy to be good, engaging, useful and enjoyable to read, that takes time.

Plus, there’s also the process of promoting posts, building a community, responding to comments (something I’m TERRIBLE at) and reading other blogs.

It really could be a full-time job that I spend eight hours a day doing. If only I could find eight hours a day. 🙂

2. Pictures are essential – and time consuming

I make a point to include photos in every blog post because I know how much better it is to read blog posts with lots of pictures. But high-quality images take a lot of time.

To be honest, I’ve compromised some on my photos. I rarely break out my DSLR for a blog post, but when I do, the results are so much better. Then there’s the editing, cropping, resizing and watermarking. Sometimes the photos take me longer to process than the text. But it’s worth it.

3. Being invited to a blogger event is the best

Okay, so it’s not the ABSOLUTE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. We all know that’s cake. But blogger events are pretty good too. Especially when they give you cake.

What’s so great about blogger events, besides the cake? Well, being invited is a nice little boost for your confidence: OMG a PR saw my blog and thought it was good enough to invite me somewhere, feed me and give me free stuff! 

Blog events also give you lots to write about – if you plan carefully, you can get several posts out of a single afternoon event.

Plus, you get a chance to meet up with fellow bloggers. Put a face to the names that you see on Twitter and Facebook. Talk to your fellow human beings using your voice, rather than your typing fingers.

Oh, and have I mentioned the cake? There was also the time I got to eat mountains of sushi. That was right up there with the cake.

4. Being a professional writer means bupkis

My real-life job title is Consultant Copywriter. I write blog posts, news articles and other forms of content for companies’ websites.

This means that I have a lot of knowledge in my noggin about content marketing, social media and writing for the web. I am also a complete grammar geek.

But I quickly learned that perfect grammar and spelling actually don’t matter as much in the blogging world as I would like. I must admit, in the early days I fumed over posts from popular bloggers that had atrocious grammar and spelling. I was trying to learn about blogging from these writers, but how could I learn anything when their posts hadn’t even been spell checked?

Then I realised that, while spelling and grammar ARE important, they’re not everything. Many of these bloggers had stories to tell, emotions to share and messages to convey that transcended the technicalities of writing. That’s why their readers return to them and brands choose to work with them, not because they know how to use a semi-colon.

Now, I strive to do both with my posts. Write something that’s good to read – and that’s correct. C’mon, people. Spell check. Seriously. 🙂

5. Honest trumps perfectly crafted

This kind of relates back to my previous point. There have been posts that I’ve fired off in just a few minutes because I felt passionate about them, or I was feeling an emotion that I wanted to get down before it faded.

Then there were posts that I slaved over. Really worked at to get juust right. Which ones did best? (And by ‘best’, I mean get the biggest response from readers?) The honest post. Every time.

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I think, at least for me, when I really work at an article, all the editing removes my voice. That’s probably because in my writing job, I have to drown out my voice for a more corporate tone. It’s what I’ve been trained to do.

Well, there’s that and the fact that if I’m passionate about what I’m writing, it’s always going to be a better post.

6. I like writing

This probably sounds obvious. I write for a living, of course I like writing. Right?

Well, no. Actually, before I started blogging, I’d grown to hate writing. And that made me sad.

After all, I’d focussed my education and my career around my love for the written word – but somewhere along the line, I stopped enjoying the process of putting my thoughts down ‘on paper’. Probably because in my job, I don’t get to choose what I write about and I get very little response when I’ve completed something.

That’s also why I put off blogging for so long. The idea of spending more time in front of my computer was pretty unappealing. But once I got started, I realised how much I like writing again. As a writer, you want the things you write to be read and responded to – and blogging gives me that.

7. You can’t rush it

When I started this blog, I had some very grand hopes for it. First and foremost, it was a place for me to record my journey as a mum, but I had it in my head that if I worked hard to build it over the first few months, I’d be able to turn it into something that made enough money (and promoted my amazing skills as a freelance writer) so that I wouldn’t have to go back to my job after maternity leave.

But, building a popular blog takes time and most of the professional bloggers I follow have been blogging for years.

They have put in the time to build a following, form relationships with PRs and create an archive of great posts. Will I ever get to that point? I hope so. But I’ve learned to slow down with it, enjoy the ride and see what happens. Even though that also means I’m back at my old job.

8. Stats do matter

“Don’t worry about your stats – as long as you’re enjoying blogging, the stats don’t matter” – that’s advice I got all the time as a newbie blogger.

On the one hand, that’s sound advice. You shouldn’t get down about your stats, and you shouldn’t let them influence what you do or how you write.

 

On the other hand, depending on what you want to do with your blog, stats DO matter – from your Google Page Rank and the number of Twitter followers you have, to how many people visited your blog yesterday or how many people like you on Facebook. (There’s also Tots100, Klout,  Instagram, Google+… the list goes on on and on).

Quite simply, if you want to work with brands, they want somebody who can write great content AND who has the ability to reach lots of people – and that means you need a significant following. Stats.

Plus, let’s face it: seeing those numbers go up is exciting.

However – and this is the important part – you can’t focus on the stats. If all you do is look at the numbers, you’re not going to enjoy blogging. And, if you’re not enjoying blogging, then it’s probably not worth doing anyway. Your readers will be able to tell you’re not into it and they won’t come back… then your stats will go down. It’s all a big circle.

9. It’s no good comparing yourself to others

…but it’s hard not to!

We all do things differently and at our own pace. We all have our own challenges too. When I first started blogging, I tried to be like the bloggers I liked and so I compared my blog to theirs – things like posting habits, how many comments their posts got or how many social media followers they had.

And I’d usually feel down about it afterwards.

But, there’s no benefit to doing this. Sure, take inspiration from the more popular bloggers. See what they’re doing, what you like, what you don’t like and learn lessons from them. But don’t compare yourself to them anymore – they have different situations, have (probably) been blogging longer and have different stories to tell.

10. The #pblogger community is awesome

Being a parent is a wonderful experience. But it can also be pretty lonely. Especially during those late night/early morning feeds and when you live far away from most of your family and friends.

Thanks to the parenting blogger community, I’ve laughed, cried, felt reassured, learned a lot and met some really remarkable people – some I’ve even come to think of as friends.