5 Things I Wish I Had Known When I First Started Blogging

When I first started blogging it was as a requirement for my college study abroad program in Italy. Partly for something to grade and partly I think to let our parents know we were still alive. I had always loved to write and take photos so blogging was the perfect outlet for me. I loved sharing what I was doing through writing and photos and graphics (putting that whole BA in graphic design to good use) and it was something other than Facebook. Oh, and IG and Twitter were not a popular thing yet. I stopped blogging after the trip and closed my page. When I graduated college I realized how much I missed writing, bought a domain name and OneBroadsJourney was born. I had a lot to learn when I started and didn’t even know it. Turns out there’s a lot more to blogging than just fun photos and sharing your thoughts. For any of you who refer to blogging as “an online diary” should ask a writer what goes into their work and think twice about stereotypes. Here are my 5 Things I Wish I Had Known When I First Started Blogging.

Blogging takes serious time// If I think about it, it takes about 2-3 hours to write a post, edit photos for the post, create a graphic to share on social media and edit my writing..and that’s just one post not including the photoshoot time. Do it once a day, 6 days a week and thats 18hours fully dedicated to blogging. That’s a part-time job!

SEO is a real thing// Surprise! That tip that every blogger tells you is super important but you’re probably not paying much attention to…turns out it is really important. SEO is in a nutshell how people find your site. Say someone googles juicing; somewhere on the engine list will show my juicing recipe that I put time and effort into the SEO labeling and meta description. The one I just posted about and never took the time to work the SEO…Surprise! does not even show up on google results until about page 12. Try it and see what happens.

Photo Labeling// When you upload a photo it automatically labels itself as the image title from your library. For example, my camera labels all my photos DSC#####. Here is why it’s important to change the name prior to uploading your post. When your readers simply click “Pin It” or any share buttons it will create the description/label as the photo title. So when someone goes on Pinterest and searches “Vegan Blank” your recipe will not come up because when it was pinned, rather that saying “Vegan Blank” it says DSC##### and that will cause you to lose out on a view.

Post Daily// It wasn’t until I created a calendar and dedicated every day to a specific post and got more content out there that I actually saw a difference in my stats. I know we don’t all have time to post every day, between starting a company and trying not to become a hermit I certainly do not have the time. Try dedicating a day, I like Wednesdays, purely to editing photos and writing posts. This will allow you to knock out posts in one day that you can then share throughout the following week.

Blogging Opens your World…ignore the “haters”// I know I hate the word haters too, it’s the epitome of self centered a-holes but it works for description purposes. “Haters” can be anyone… strangers, family, friends, they don’t actually hate you they just don’t understand the blogging world. That’s okay it’s not their fault most of us are working blogs like a full time job… with no income. I get it, but that is no reason to down grade something that we truly enjoy. You can’t let people who make fun of bloggers bring you down. Hell I’ve had people come up to me at parties and say “How’s OneBroadsJourney, do you have a real job yet?” Dead serious and in that sarcastic not very nice way too. I realize blogs have started popping up like weeds on the internet but if you keep it up and make yours one of the good ones it can open a world of possibilities. Blogging opens doors to partnerships, business opportunities, networking, advertising, product launches, company sharing and much more. You name it and blogging can probably help you get there! Stay confident.

Hope these help you as you embark on the blogging journey. Remember to find your niche, keep your own voice and stay strong and confident in your posting. You’ll do just fine.

xxDiana

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