Surprises of Blogging – Tips for a New Blogger
As a new blogger I am constantly looking for new information to help my blog grow. I love reading posts from experienced bloggers that have found great success and it always helps me keep my head up knowing achieving my blog goals is possible! But I also love reading posts from new bloggers and hearing about their journey to finding success as a new blogger, like myself, and finding out what has helped them along the way.
After three months of blogging I have learned more than I could have ever imagined. The process has been a whirlwind – I have learned everything from starting my blog from scratch (thank god for Bluehost – I would never have been able to get anywhere without it!) to gaining followers and traffic on Pinterest. This journey has been nothing if not eye-opening.
Before I started blogging I thought about the obvious things – if I could build a website, what I would write about, would anyone see it??? But there is so much more to it – things I didn’t even know existed!
1. SO MUCH to do, so little time
As much as I would love to be a full time blogger, I am just not at that point (yet!!) I work a full time 9-5 job, so I after long days at work I have to make a conscious effort at times to put work into my blog. Before I started I would have thought that meant writing a post every night or creating content. While that is a huge part of the work I put in it is not nearly enough to make my blog successful – not even close! I spend so much time on Pinterest – maybe even more than on my actual blog! Most days, after working a full day at my job, I come home and have 10 things I want to do for my blog and I am lucky if I get to more than one of them.
2. Pinterest is EVERYTHING
Once I created my blog and had great content to start promoting I went to Pinterest. Of course I have been using Pinterest for years just for personal use, but honestly I was doing the BARE minimum – I basically just used it to find ideas for things I wanted to make or for food inspiration. I didn’t have boards, I didn’t even pin anything! When I started my blog I had to start from scratch on Pinterest and really learn what the heck I was doing! I am pretty happy with my Pinterest success so far – I am not anywhere close to where I want to be, but when I started I NEVER thought I would be where I am this fast (ever!) Which brings me to the next thing I wish I knew from Day 1….
3. PIN PIN PIN No Matter What
My boyfriend encourages me with this play on DJ Khaled lyrics from time to time and I hate to admit it, but its the truth! Once my blog was up with lots of content I jumped on Pinterest and I was off! I started off with a few boards and just started pinning – at the beginning I definitely didn’t know what I was doing, but I was getting some followers and my Pinterest monthly viewers increased slowly. Then I invested in the Manual Pinning Simplified ebook and I finally felt like I was on the right track. This book was easy to read and the manual pinning strategy is super easy to follow. Before this ebook I felt like I was pinning without a purpose, but now I really feel like I’m on the right track! Since starting on Pinterest mid-August I have almost 100k monthly viewers – not a ton, but remember I started with 0, so not too bad!
4. Keywords are KEY
I admit I kind of ignored this advice in the beginning. I read it over and over, but I didn’t listen! And boy do I regret it! There was just so much to do when I started with Pinterest I didn’t think it mattered, but since diving deeper and deeper into Pinterest I realize I was so wrong. Since making this realization I have made this a huge focus of mine and it has definitely made a difference!
I honestly can’t believe the amount I have learned in these past few months and how much more I still have to learn! Though there is A LOT involved in this process it has been really exciting and super enjoyable. Whenever I see a jump in my monthly viewers or someone saves one of my pins I get equally excited each time. I can’t imagine what I will learn in the next few months as I continue this experience and I can’t wait to share everything here!
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