Important Lessons Learned as a Blogger
Why I started blogging
Holy moly I can’t believe it’s been two years since I started blogging (for the 2nd time).
Most of you probably didn’t know this but I used to have a fashion blog. Pretty laughable looking back on it now. It was a great excuse for me to buy cute clothes and take fun photos with my sister. Who knew…a couple years later I would give blogging a second shot.
Blogging goals
This time around my blogging goals look quite a bit different. And for good reason. You know the saying…”with age comes wisdom”. Well I think that is a perfect example of how I want my blog to evolve.
Of course, as we get older we’ve had the opportunity to experience more in life. The dos and don’ts has taught each of us a lot of life lessons. What I ultimately wanted to do with my blog this time around was to share it ALL!
There is no need to start from scratch. By learning where others have stumbled or succeeded so you don’t have to start from square one is my ultimate goal. Whether you are interested in real estate investing, becoming a landlord, going vegan, travel, or more, I’m here to share it all. My passion of health, sustainability and financial wellbeing is endless and I want to share as much knowledge with my readers as possible.
What I have Learned from blogging
After a year of digging into the data, building out content, and sharing a first row seat into my life, my team and I have learned A LOT. And guess what, it’s not always what you want to hear. And the results don’t always come at lightening speed. Like I always say though, knowledge is power, so here I am breaking down some of our biggest takeaways.
Consistency - My biggest piece of advice is - be consistent. Whether you want to post every day, or once a week, just be consistent and stick with it. Time spent on quality content is better than time spent on more content. Quality over quantity. Your audience will learn to expect a certain level and frequency of content from you, and you don’t want to lose traction with them, so stick with it and deliver.
Data Points - Quite often “influencers” or “bloggers” get caught up in the number of followers they have. Guilty as charged. However, my team continues to remind me, for good reason, that the most important data points to track and grow are engagement and clicks.
Content - Do others think of you as being the expert in a specific topic? If so, you most likely should be leaning on that for your blog. If your audience thinks you have a lot of knowledge in a subject, they are going to want you to share anything and everything you can surrounding that industry/topic. Putting pen to paper is one thing, but bringing valuable content should be your number one focus. Your audience will show you which topics are most important to them and you need to pay attention.
SEO - Do the pre-work before getting started. Have an SEO content strategy that will drive your efforts confidently. By writing for SEO vs. who you “think” your following is, you will get leaps and bounds further. In addition, if you network to garner backlinks this will drive your ranking on Google (hello, SEO). I highly recommend this course to dive deeper into SEO, drive your content strategy, and boost your Google rankings.
Advice for New Bloggers
Blogging is deeper than taking your story and telling it really, really well (though that is a great start). With blogging, comes layers of marketing to ensure that what you are spending your time writing about is successfully put in front of your intended audience. It is VERY difficult to stand out among all of the content that is currently out there, which is why before you invest (time and/or money) in your blog, really lean into what story you want to tell the world.
Having troubles narrowing it down? Make a list of topics you want to cover and start to funnel that into an overall niche. Niche content is a new essence of blogging to me. Content that is focused in on a particular topic will draw in an audience that is already seeking that information. Ultimately, a more consistent focused theme will drive monetization opportunities.
Is blogging worth it?
Assuming, blogs are created to be monetized, blogging takes time to grow and therefore earn profits. It takes time, dedication, and patience to truly define if blogging is worth it to you. For example, depending on how much time spent on SEO, it will often take Google up to two years to recognize you as a trusted site to add to its rankings. More traffic equals more opportunity to monetize. Blogging goes well beyond beautiful imagery and great stories, it is time and money.
Sincerely,
Jen
Investor // Landlord and DIYer // Realtor // Business Consultant // Globe Trotter // Converting Vegan.
