10 Things I Learned In My First Year Blogging

Hello everyone :) Hope you are enjoying the month of May so far! May is one of my favorite months of the year! It's always full of fun things! My birthday, my husband's birthday, my sister's birthday, several of our close friends' birthdays, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, and Memorial Day! It's also usually when the weather finally starts becoming beautiful every day around here. How could you not enjoy it?!?! 
This May is extra exciting because we have some other fun things going on too! Next week my little sister is graduating (Woohoo!!! Goooo Kayla!!!!!!!). This week, I'll also be heading to North Carolina for my good friend Jenny's bachelorette party while Pete heads to Louisiana for his best friend's bachelor trip! Then, I will also be heading to Louisiana to visit with family and celebrate my cousin's wedding!! The next week, Pete's sister is getting married!!! We have two crazy fun filled weeks ahead of us! I'm beyond excited!!!
Last week, I celebrated my blog's first birthday and promised I would have some blog related things to share this month! This week, I put together a list of things I learned in my first year blogging! Blogging can be overwhelming at first, so I wanted to share some important lessons I learned along the way.

It takes a lot of time. I had no idea what I was getting myself into in the beginning. Every post requires a lot of effort... you write the post, research keywords, edit photographs, then promote on social media and link ups. All of that is assuming you even had time to work on any projects worth blogging! In addition, you still want to have time to respond to comments, read other blogs, and participate in the blogging community. When I started blogging, I thought I would eventually end up posting every day, but the reality is, I work a full time job and have other responsibilities on my days off. Because of how much effort goes into a single post, I only have time for 2-3 posts a week. Now that I realize that's all I can handle, I feel much less stressed about rushing to put out content. Be realistic about what you can accomplish.
A project doesn't have to be complete in order to be shared. I didn't have many posts in the beginning because I was so focused on "finishing" a room before I showed it on the blog. I'm sure you all know how long it can take to be totally satisfied with a room!!! So I've stopped doing that and started showing progress. I plan to start doing that with crafts also. Sometimes I work on a craft a little at a time for a month or two because that's all I have time for. There's no reason I can't show a glimpse of what I'm working on. It gives your readers a little sneak peak of what's to come!
Don't be intimidated. I spent most of my first year blogging afraid to share my blog. At first I didn't even want to share it with the blogging community because I didn't think it was good enough compared to the other blogs I read. I didn't share my blog with anyone I knew personally until recently. It's tough to put yourself out there, but once you do it, the feedback you get is so reassuring and you learn so much more from other bloggers. Go ahead, show off your hard work!
Support other bloggers. If you want to get anywhere in the blogging world, you have to participate! Meet other bloggers on social media, through comments on link-ups, or through blogging forums. I made some great blogging friends just through something as simple as the Liebster Award! It's great to support each other and promote each other's blogs through social media. It can also lead to opportunities to co-host events like giveaways or link-ups! Speaking of link-ups...
Participate in lots of link-ups! I didn't start getting page views until I started participating in link-ups. My very first linked post was my DIY Painted "Love Lives Here" Canvas, and I was shocked by my numbers the next morning! Even better, that post was featured on two blogs which helped my numbers even more! I was so excited! The results from one link-up were all it took to convince me of how important they are! Link-ups are a great way to increase your following and meet other bloggers by commenting on their links. Here are some of my favorites...
Sunday Share Your Creativity Party @ It's Overflowing Monday Monday Funday @ Uncommon Designs Online Tuesday The Inspiration Exchange @ City Farmhouse The Makers @ Tiny Sidekick Wednesday Work It Wednesday @ The Turquoise Home Hump Day Happenings @ A Savory Feast Friday Inspire Me Please Weekend Blog Hop @ Liz Marie Blog Best DIY and Recipe Party @ The 36th Avenue Link Party Palooza @ Tatertots and Jello Saturday Saturday Sharefest @ The SITS Girls
Let me know if you host a link-up or participate in a great one I should know about!
Google+ is where it's at! As a blogger, it's important to join social media. I am currently on Google+, Facebook, and Pinterest. Out of the three, I am most impressed by the growth Google+ has given my blog! As soon as I joined and started promoting there, my followers increased quickly! The sense of community among bloggers on Google+ is also great. Everyone is promoting each other and sharing each other's work. I love it! 
Pictures are vital. When I look at my early posts, I want to hide my eyes. Such crappy pictures! At that point, I was using a plain old point-and-shoot digital camera and was not editing my photos one bit. I got a digital SLR for Christmas, and it made such a huge difference! I still have a lot to learn photography wise, but just having a nice camera makes posts look so much nicer. I started doing basic edits using PicMonkey, and I use GIMP for anything major. (Pete just bought me Photoshop for my birthday, but there's a bit of a learning curve there. Luckily he bought me the "For Dummies" book to go with it! Ha!). Photography is definitely something I want to work on this year. The internet is a very visual place (helloooo, Pinterest!), so it's vital to have photos that capture readers' attention!
Monetize early. I wish I had added GoogleAds and Amazon Affiliates to my blog sooner. There's no reason why a new blogger can't add these early on! You won't make any money off of them so early, but having ads on your site tells brands that you are willing to work with them. I didn't start getting contacted about doing product feature posts until recently, right after I added ads to my site!
Branding is important. You want people to recognize your blog. No, you probably don't think of your blog as a business when first starting out, but if you want it to take off, you really should promote it like it is a business! You need a logo that you use for everything and you need to send a consistent message to your readers on what your blog is about. You really should think about all of this before you even get started. For instance, I wish I had thought more about my blog name, because now, a year later, my blog is less about "the B's" and more about our projects! It's hard to make those decisions early on if you don't know where your blog is headed, but it's important to think about who your audience is and what kind of content you are going to deliver. 
Focus on one thing at a time. There is an incredible amount of information out there about blogging. It's a lot to take in and can be overwhelming. Don't try to make your blog perfect all at once. Try to add one new thing at a time. If you're designing your blog yourself, try to learn one new HTML or CSS thing each week until it looks how you want it. Then start focusing on other things, like learning about SEO! Check out my blogging lessons board on Pinterest for some of the things I've implemented on my blog!
Follow my board "Lessons:: Blogging" on Pinterest.


I've learned so much more than just these 10 things, but these are some of the important ones that I wish I had learned early on. Have any of you learned any important blogging lessons? I would love for you to share! Linking up: My Pinterventures // The SITS Girls

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