5 Lessons I Learned my First Year Blogging

A late celebration, but March of 2020 made it a year since I’ve been blogging! To say the least, this year has been interesting. While connecting with some other women and paying closer attention to some of my favorite bloggers, I’ve learned so much this past year!

Blogging is something that I have always wanted to do. So when I finally made up my mind to start, I did just that- started. My plan was to get a good feel for it, make my mistakes and obtain the knowledge I needed in order to be successful. They say “done is better than perfect”, so I threw my blog up and literally with my eyes closed, I hit published.

I would “just start” all over again. However, in hindsight, there is a thing or two that I would have done differently and definitely some resources that I would be sure to use.

With that said, here are at least 5 things that I would have done differently and that I’ve learned within my 1st year of blogging.

Purchase the template

Now, because I wanted to be taken seriously, I purchased my domain, and went with a dot.com but needless to say, I still opted for a free WordPress template. Yes, this option gave me the opportunity to simply start and keep my expenses to a minimum. However, that still came with its set of drawbacks. I was left without a chance to familiarize myself with several widgets, features, etc that I would later see myself using because many of those options weren’t available with a free template. There are creatives that develop affordable templates that can be purchased on Etsy for as little as $15 . This, in fact leads me to my next point.

Etsy is bestie

Etsy is seriously beginning to replace the love that I have for Amazon! Lately, there hasn’t been many things that I haven’t found on Etsy. From WordPress templates, to presets, to logos; I’ve been able to find a multitude of things to help me elevate not only my blog, but my Social Media posts as well. Yes, Etsy is my new bestie!

Pinterest is bae

Think about it- Pinterest is on of the 1st places you go to for ideas & inspiration-yet, I slept on it anyway. I’ve recently learned that this is one of the best sources for driving traffic to your blog and of course, places that I can come to for ideas and inspiration! I’ll definitely be incorporating Pinterest moving forward.

Having a blogging schedule is king

Having a blogging schedule keeps you consistent and being consistent, helps you grow your audience and opens many doors. Here I am a wife, a mother of 2 and I work a 9 to 5 which all takes out a large amount of time from my day! And although my family is my why, I still have to make them a priority while also making time to effectively create. Blogging or anything I add, should compliment their lives and not take over it. Establishing a schedule for creating content helps you to designate time for you to specifically create. This in turns, help you to be consistent and consistency is the key to being successful!

Get your family on board

I love talks of marriage, motherhood, and beauty and this is what I intended on blogging about. So of course, my content would incorporate my babies and my husband and I would have to include them in the content creating process. So having them prepared knowing that mommy will always be snapping pics is key and having their support is crucial.

You don’t have to have all of pieces together and you definitely don’t need to spend an obscene amount of money to get started. If going as close to free as possible is what you need to give you that push, then just start Sis. Don’t let that stop you, but be sure to keep all that I’ve discussed here in mind.