Blogging Tips – What I Wished I Knew When I Started Blogging ~ Steph from Somewhat Simple

One thing that I’m constantly surprised with bloggers is ‘how do they do it?’

I’m learning so much from each blogger that has been here to share

{and of those who I’ve followed for a while}

But, they have multiple talents, jobs, children, pregnant, delivering babies, and blogging!

How do they do it all?

They are SUPER WOMEN!

Steph from Somewhat Simple is here today to share her tips about blogging

She JUST had a baby boy and you’d never know it

{other than her telling you … and she has 3 other cuties at home!!!}

Her blog never stopped.  The content kept flowing!!!

Kudos to you, Steph, you are a SUPER WOMAN!

Okay, let’s hear what she says….

Here are 10 Things I Wish I Would Have Known “Back in the Day”…

1. Wordpress vs. Blogger: I started on blogger and stayed there ’til December 2010. I love blogger but search engines like WP so my numbers have more than doubled since my switch. Here is my opinion: If you plan to be blogging a year from now and you want to earn money on your blog, go with WP. If Blogging is just a hobby of yours and you aren’t trying to make anything of it, Blogger is just perfect. My family blog is still hosted by blogger. I tried making the switch 3 times on my own before I ended up hiring someone to do it for me. Saved my sanity.

2. Criticism & Discouragement: Learn real fast to deal with criticism and discouragement because it happens to the biggest and best bloggers out there. I have been slammed on a message board for a project I did and it hurt my feelings. On the bright side, it was a HUGE message board, so my numbers for the day were crazy high! I don’t like mean people, but sometimes you just gotta deal with them. The best way I have found to deal with them is to avoid them. 

3. Put Yourself Out There:  I started having more confidence in my blog when “bigger bloggers” featured my ideas. I’d suggest emailing the bigger blogs with links to your projects and dont sit around and wait for them to find you. You could also link up to link parties and ask other bloggers to “blog swap” with you. Blog swapping was probably the best way I found to get some more site exposure.

4. Grow Authentically: Don’t expect overnight success. And don’t expect to get rich blogging.

5. Keep Your Priorities In check: Set daily “business hours” and don’t overwork yourself. You will get burnt out and other parts of your life will falter. Then comes the guilt. Don’t let yourself get to that point. I love being a blogger, but I love being a mom even more. I don’t want to look back on this time when my kids are little and regret not spending more time with them, so I set hours that I allow myself to be on the computer and stick to it.

6. Be Yourself: Do what you love and stick to that. Don’t try to be someone you’re not, your readers will see right through it. And don’t compare yourself to other bloggers or try to pass their ideas off as your own. 

7. Let Your Personality Shine without being too Personal: People like to know the person behind the posts. With that said, remember that being super sarcastic or blunt may offend some. Also, too much of a personal blog mixed with your creativity doesn’t work well either. Its fun to read a little glimpse into an authors life, but when the blog ramblings start to make up more of the content than the actual creative projects, some may not want to come back. 

8. Don’t Rely on Blogging to Define Yourself: The sooner you realize your blog is disposable, the better! I used to stress over getting a daily post up, but eventually came to the realization that my life does not revolve around a post and neither do the lives of my readers! As much as I love to blog and it is something I am passionate about, I can quit blogging tomorrow if I needed to and I like that I can say that! 

9. Be True: Getting offered compensation in exchange of promoting a company or product is always tempting, but make sure your post is your actual opinion and don’t shove something into your readers faces that you yourself wouldn’t try or love.

Thanks for having me here today Tara. Have a great day everyone!!!

© 2011 – 2012, Tara. All rights reserved.