What I’ve Learned From Blogging

It’s blogiversary week! I started this little blog almost one year ago. My technical blogiversary is Thursday, but I’ve always been one of those girls who celebrates her birthday all week (ahem month) long, so why can’t I do the same for my blog? I’m going to have lots of fun things happening this week so be sure to stop by.

Today, I’m starting off soft (it is Monday after all) and having a tell-all of the things I have learned in the past year from blogging. So here we go!

-Wordpress.com is not fun. You can’t customize anything, and it definitely isn’t the same as regular WordPress. Using a self-hosted WordPress or a Blogger account is really the only way to achieve the look and feel you want. SHOUT OUT to Alanna for helping me through this hot mess of a time.

-I am not a blog designer. Therefore I should hire someone to do it for me so my blog doesn’t look like this…

-Having blogging friends makes all the difference. I love the people I have “met” while blogging. Maybe one day we can all fly to the same place and hang out.

-Posting consistently is really important. I don’t post as much as I should…and I’m sure my blog would be much better if I did!

-Write a blog you would want to read.

-Use key words. According to my Google Analytics, it’s the best way to drive traffic to your blog.

-Don’t lose the products people send you to review. This only happened once by the way because the products came the day I moved out and I never found the box they were in. No telling what else I lost, but that was a bad day.

-Use pictures, but don’t forget your voice. I love the blogs with lots and lots of pictures but if there are no words to accompany them, I lose interest. Sometimes I get really lazy and have significantly more pictures than words and I always hate myself afterwards.

– Use your social media to connect with brands and bloggers, to share your posts, etc. I love social media and I feel like having a blog has only upped my game.

-Take advice from people that are smarter than you. Helene is a great example. Girlfriend is one of the best in the biz and gives out free advice all the time. She has another free webinar coming up on Wednesday.

-It’s alright to love blogging. I just love it. It’s not my full-time job and I have a totally crazy schedule, but I make time to blog because I love it.

Those are some of the things I have learned so far, but I’m always hungry for new information, tips and ways to make this blog the best it can be. I would love it if you would help me out and make my next year of blogging even better. Please take the survey below and as a thank you for participating, all my ad spots are 50% off today if you use the promo code BLOG.

Happy Blogiversary Week! 🙂