I can not actually believe that my little spot on the WWW has now been up and running for 6 whole months! It's gone sooooo quickly, I feel like I only bought my domain 6 minutes ago! I've wanted to do a post like this for ages, and today I finally had the time! There are so many other things I could talk about but don't want to bombard 1 post, so maybe I'll make this a little series, who knows! Either way, lets talk about the first 5 things blogging has taught me...
Photo taken from Pinterest
English lesson's at school are important - Basically, spelling and grammar count! To be honest, I can't actually remember my last English teachers name (coming from the girl that is literally told on a weekly basis I have an amazing memory!), I know it started with the letter P though. Anyway, all those minute's I thought I was wasting, paid off. I finally realise, 7 years after leaving school, I do know how to write sentences! I do know where to place an explanation mark and I do recognise when things are written in 1st, 2nd or 3rd person! Hoorah! Anyway anyway, I'm sure we've all come across the odd blog post here and there with terrible spelling and grammar. I don't ever want to be that blog that people criticise! (The blogging community is super supportive, but there will always be snakes and trolls lurking in the shadows wherever you look!). So I now understand the value of proof reading! It really wasn't a task Mrs P made us do to piss us off last period on a Thursday.
Blogging takes time, and the more you have, the happier you'll be - Contrary to what other think, blogging is not a walk in the park. Trying/wanting to keep up with others or stick to your own personal schedule can be hard, and that is OK! No matter how life is portrayed on the Internet, blogging is not the only thing in anyone's life! We all have family, social lives and career's to keep up with as well, and if life gets in the way and you can't post for 2 weeks, then you don't post for 2 weeks - it's that simple! Luckily, there is such thing as "scheduling", but, that doesn't mean you should sit down 1 night and panic that you've got nothing to publish tomorrow/next week, nor does it mean you should be thinking, "I'm gonna half heartedly schedule 8 posts in this 1 sitting that don't actually make a lot of sense and I've put no effort into but I can schedule to give live in line with my own actual schedule! Sometimes blog post's do take 2 hours to write and 1 photo can take 10 whole minutes to edit, but isn't that why we do this? We knew what we were getting into when we started this!...
I took this...
But you only ever saw this!
Growth doesn't happen overnight & you need to work for it! - I'm sure it wasn't just me, but when I started blogging I just hoped everyone would love me and I'd gain at least grow 5 followers a day! That is not the case! Not for me at least... Readers like consistency. It felt like it took me forever to hit 100 Bloglovin' followers, but no matter how long it takes, don't let it bring you down, you should be doing this for you - not the numbers! Numbers are just a bonus. Thinking about it, it's been 6 months and I'm now looking at 550! It's taken what feels like 234542 blog posts and hours of engaging with others, but I got there! The same goes for Instagram! There are so many bloggers out there these days, no one can follow us all! Work hard to engage others, leave people comments, like peoples photo's, and upload at least once every day! Yep, everyday. I do have day's when I think I just don't have anything to post! But there's always something, a new mascara, an old lipgloss, if its an object, you can snap it. Some photo's may get 400+ likes, others may get just 40, either way, daily uploads show consistency, and consistency is what I find brings in new and different followers.
Although others share you're interests, you are individual - in a sea full of beauty, lifestyle, fashion, disability, travel, budget, luxury & food bloggers (and everything else I've missed), it's easy to feel like you are just another statistic. However, no 2 bloggers are really the same. Just because both me and Sadie appreciate the same mascara, that doesn't mean Sadie likes it for the same reason's that I do. Just because Louise and Jasmine both loved their trips to Paris, they didn't necessarily see the same sights, eat at the same restaurants or talk about the same hotel's in their blog posts about their trips! You are individual, you are valued and your audience are here to read your opinions, not that of the "bblogger/lblogger/fblogger community"!
Change is good and should be welcomed - There's not many blog's out there, that look today, as they did the first day they were launched. How many of us even knew what we were really doing when we first signed up to our blogging platforms? As your blog grows, so will your attitude and and preferences. Just as we grow as people through life, our blog's grow as well. Our headers change, our social media buttons change, even our style of writing has changed - well, mine has anyway! When I started Love, Libby xx I was going to be one of those girls that kept everything PG, no swearing, only child friendly topics etc... Now, however, I've come to realise, the only person writing this blog, is me. I do say fuck on a daily basis. I do use the sentence "quite frankly, I was pissed off!" and I do enjoy reading blog post's about other subjects like sex and relationships! I feel my blog has grown in a way that better represents me more as who I actually am, rather then another Internet user trying to bring in page views on their PG Q&A post! Heck, it's been 6 months and I've already changed my header image 4 times! Although, I do feel I'm almost ready to pay for a custom 1 in the new year! With growth comes experience, relish in it. Learn from your mistakes and your past, encourage others, and always be yourself.
Don't forget to follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Bloglovin' for more!
Deff agree with all of these!
ReplyDelete- MoreSpoons.com
Thanks for reading! x
DeleteI agree with a lot of this and blogging has been such a learning curve for me as well since I started. I definitely agree that numbers aren't everything but I love that feeling of knowing someone liked my blog enough to follow it!
ReplyDeletewww.thesundaymode.com
I'm glad you can relate my lovely! x
DeleteThis post was wonderful and so relatable as I believe in everything you have said!
ReplyDeleteKathy x
Alongcamekathy
I'm glad you enjoyed it and can relate :) Xx
DeleteI completely agree with all of these, great post lovely!
ReplyDeleteElla xx
www.inellaselement.co.uk
Yay! I'm so glad you're on my wave length! xxx
DeleteI 100% agree with all of these! What a great post. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteCharlotte // http://fadingtulips.blogspot.co.uk
I'm glad you enjoyed it love! xx
DeleteThis is such a well written post and I can definitely agree with these points! Also, your photo editing ways make me a bit jealous haha!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading hun, that's so kind of you!
DeleteHappy 6 months! I started 6 months ago too! Agree with all of your points. Blogging is a total process and it takes time to get it where you want. And we all have our own style even if topics are the same! Keep on bloggin! XX Jen - beautylifemom.com
ReplyDeleteI agree hun, even if I wrote about the exact same topics as you, they'd always be different!
DeleteI started blogging at the beginning of January, so I have a lot to learn yet... but it's really intriguing to see what its been like for someone else. Congrats on 6 months of blogging! x
ReplyDeletewww.sheintheknow.co.uk
Thanks hun! It's a marathon not a sprint! Haha!
DeleteThis was so encouraging to read, I was feeling a bit discouraged about my blog but I know now not to give up :)
ReplyDeleteNikki O.
herdaringthoughts.blogspot.com
When I first started blogging I didn't realise how much time it would take and how much time i'd spend on my blog! I totally didn't realise the power of editing pics until recently it makes such a difference
ReplyDeleteRonnie
www.veronicabizzarri.blogspot.co.uk
xx
I started blogging again recently and I've been enjoying it much more! It's really intriguing to see what blogging has taught someone else though x
ReplyDeletewww.sheintheknow.co.uk
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThese are so true Libby! It’s easy to sometimes get caught up in all the numbers and forget to just sometimes do what you want to do!
ReplyDeleteSarah x