5 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started Blogging

Over the past few years, blogging has evolved from personal journals to big business, and the way we blog has undergone so many changes and evolutions that its barely recognizable from the simple online journals it began as.  I started my first blog many years ago, and through trial and error, there are a few things Ive learned that make my blogging life much easier and more efficient.  Here are a few things that I wish every new blogger could know.

5 Things I wish I knew when I started blogging

1. Community Is Very Important - The blogging community is a very tight knit one, and I am so thankful for the online friends I have made.  From answering my millions of silly questions, chatting with me about the frustrations, trials, and triumphs that my offline friends just don't get, sharing opportunities and  always having encouraging comments for me, my blogging community friends have been pivotal to the success I have found so far.

2. Social Media is Huge -  The majority of my traffic comes from social media; Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Stumble Upon, the list can go on and on.  Social media has the ability to put my content in front of more eyes than I could ever have imagined.   Its worth the effort to spend at least a few minutes on social media every day.

3.  Your niche will find you - I used to worry about every topic I wrote fitting into "my niche", there were even times that I didn't write about a topic I wanted to because I was worried about it not being a good fit.  The truth is; your niche will come organically if you just write what you enjoy writing.  Writing the posts you want to write, ones that are about a topic that you really care about, will be much more satisfying and enjoyable to both you and your readers than just writing content that "fits". 

4.  Its Not Free - Well technically it can be, but there are a few places that putting out a little money can take your blog the extra distance.  Things like premium memberships to certain programs, hosting packages, and design are all very worth a small investment.

5. Design is so important - You can write amazing quality content all day and all night long, but if its hard to read because of bad design, poor font choices, clashing colors, or annoying pop up ads, than nobody is going to stick around to read it.  You want to make your blog a comfortable place for your readers, clear simple font, neutral colors and a good layout are all essential.

Happy Blogging

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