What I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I Started Blogging

I started reading blogs in 2010, I thought it was so fun to get a peak into people's lives and to find other people that blogged about my same interests and hobbies. I quickly got sucked into reading daily and found myself wondering if I could keep up a blog. To be honest, the thought of starting a blog seemed overwhelming. I mean what the heck would I write about? And why would anyone ever be interested in my life? And how would I even get started? And once I got started how would I stay inspired and creative? Guys I've got a million more questions that I was asking at the time. Anyways, I really wish there was someone that could've given me a few tips. So here are just a few things that I've learned along the way.

 Q: How do I even know what to blog about? Where do I start?
 A: As far as blogger goes, they have made it super easy and self explanatory to physically set up a blog. The much harder part, I think, is narrowing down what you'll be blogging about. This is going to be pretty contrary to what you'll hear a lot of people say, but as far as I'm concerned I think you should blog about whatever the heck you want! So often I hear people say that you have to specialize and blog about one specific thing (fashion/lifestyle/food) to make people interested in you. When it comes to blogging I've always been way more concerned with what really makes me happy. For a while I only did outfit posts, and guess what, that can get extremely boring. So I decided to write about my life, share with others do it yourself crafts I was making, show people how I love to revive old clothes and guess what? People love the variety, and it has been so fulfilling! One of the most important things that you should know as a blogger is that as you grow your blog should grow with you. Never feel like you have to be a certain person or do a certain thing just because you think readers will like it. Do what you do best, and you'll feel fulfilled and happy with the end result. So yes write about something that inspires you, something that you would love to know about and don't limit yourself to what you can blog about.


Q: How do I keep from burning out, how can I stay creative and inspired?
A: After blogging for almost three years (wait WOAH has it really been that long?) there are definitely times that you'll feel like you have nothing to say. There are a few tricks that I've learned along the way that have helped me stay inspired. 1. Always have something with you to write down your ideas. I personally love to keep a list on my I Pad or my phone because I know that it's always something I'll have with me. You never know what you're going to see during the day that you'll want to talk about later or what brilliant tutorial you'll think of when your sitting in the car humming to Bieber (yeah it's actually happened). Once that idea is sparked write it down, then when you're feeling uninspired later you can go look at your list and have lots of topics and content to choose from. A word to the wise though, if your toting around your I pad, which I do, make sure you have a good case to keep it protected from all of the jingly, sharp things in your purse/life. I swear by this case, it is lightweight, wipes down easy when I get scuffs on it and is very protective. You can buy it here. 2. Have somewhere you can go for inspiration. I think Pinterest is a great place to go for inspiration, I pin a lot of outfits/pictures that I can go look at when I'm feeling uninspired. I also love to physically go somewhere to get inspired! 3. If you absolutely have hit a wall, it never hurts to plan. When I started working and going to school full time I knew that blogging would slip through the cracks if I didn't plan for it. So I created a blogging calendar. I wrote down what kinds of posts I like to do on a weekly basis and then scheduled them for each day so that I could plan ahead and around my school and work schedule. Sometimes I follow it....sometimes I don't:( But if I'm ever out of ideas I can look up the day on the calendar and have an idea of what to post about.

 Q: What helps you grow your readership?
A: I truly believe that if you love what you're doing and you're good at it then the readers will find you. But there are also a few other things that can help too! Find other blogs that have a similar style and focus as you and comment on their blogs and become friends with them. I'm not talking about the comment that says, "Followed you, follow back??? XOXO Gossip Girl" but a real genuine comment of encouragement. Back before I started my blog I found the lovely Jentine's blog and she was the epitome of what I wanted to do. She writes well, you always want to know what she has to say and she also happens to have an awesome sense of style. So I just started commenting and relating with her stories. To this day she's still one of my favorite bloggers and we still continue to comment on each others ridiculous thrift finds and show support for one another! The second most important thing to growing your readership is your content. Is it interesting? Is it different from what most other bloggers are doing? Is it fun to look at? No matter how much networking and befriending you do, if you don't put quality content on your blog it will be very challenging to continue to grow your blog. I had terrible, I mean TERRIBLE pictures when I first started blogging, and I knew it! So I made it an effort to practice photography, I took a basic photography class in college and kept pushing myself to produce better images. By no means are my photos the crem de la crem, but I'm proud of how much I've grown! 

Whew. I could talk about this topic for hours. But I really hope that this has helped you! If you have any other questions at all feel free to ask in the comment section. I'd be happy to create more posts to answer your questions if you're interested!