Ahh, well this is awkward! I’m not really sure what happened with the #socialbloggers chat on Saturday, but I expect Noor lost her internet connection as she disappeared after the first question and I was at work!
I’m unsure what the other questions were going to be about, but as the first question was about learning things about blogging, I thought it a great opportunity to share the things I’ve learnt in the 2 years I’ve been blogging.
1. Photography.
1. Photography.I have always had a thing about photography – I bought a fancy camera when I was at university but then sold it. Even though I loved taking photos, I never had anything to take photos of.
Blogging gave me a reason to get back into photography and I’ve learnt so much in the past two years.
I’ve also learnt that I actually really hate taking photos. It’s so awkward and frustrating. However, I do like having nice, bloggy photos that I’ve taken!
2. How to write.
I’ve always been a writing geek. I’ve mentioned a few times how I fell in love with poetry for a few years when I went through my emo phase. I love the clever craftsmanship of words – especially when a sentence or line can have both a physical and emotional meaning. Words are so clever. I’ve always favoured song lyrics over the beat of a song, I’ll pretty much listen to any style of music if the words hit the right spot with me.
Blogging has really aided me in developing my own style of writing. I’ve gone through a few stages during my blogging career – from being a bit manic at the start, to overly formal and I think I’m now settling on ‘me’.
Writing a blog is a lot different to writing an essay or article and it did take me a while to figure that out.
3. Networking.
When I first started blogging, I thought that all I needed to do is write a blog post and people would find me. How, God knows. The sad truth is that hardly anyone will stumble upon your blog by accident unless you network and promote. It’s about getting personal with other bloggers and getting to know them. At the start of your blogging career, unless you are amazing at design, photography and writing from the get go, most of your traffic is going to be from people who like you as a person rather than being amazed by your blog.
And that’s okay.
I know my blog was terrible for the first few months and I am sure that most people will agree that they’ve made amazing progress in just a few months. We all start somewhere – so get making friends, not followers!
4. Working to deadlines.
Blogging forces you to work to deadlines, be it a weekly schedule you’ve put in place for yourself or working with a brand.
It’s that self discipline that you find within yourself and you can transfer it to other areas of your life, such as your career or fitness.
5. Work/life balance.
I like to call this work/life/blog balance – because you’re going to need to know your limits. It’s a trial and error process to figure out how strict you want to be with your schedule, how often you want to post and if you want to schedule posts in advance or just write when you feel like it.
The best thing about blogging is that it’s your blog, and can make your own rules. Don’t listen to all the blog myths out there! The trick is not to give yourself unachievable goals if you’re busy with other aspects of your life.
It’s okay if you find yourself spending more time on blogging than other hobbies, but just be careful you’re not putting too much pressure on yourself or ignoring friends, family and relationships!
6. Not everyone really reads your posts.
I’m sure we’ve all be there. A ‘great post‘ comment. We might have even left them ourselves at some point. It’s a sad fact that not everyone will read your posts. I’ve had people on many occasions leave comments saying they want to buy a product after my ‘great review‘, even though I’ve given it a terrible review!
It can make me sad when I’ve spent a lot of time writing something and think it’s a better than average post, but hey, that’s life! There are people that just want traffic back to their blog so will spam the same comment on multiple blogs. Doom.
7. It’s pretty normal to meet people from the internet.
After going to many blogger events, and even going on holiday with some bloggers – it really does make it clear how normal it has become now to meet people from the internet.
It would have been a strange thing to do 10 years ago, but more and more people are doing it! Just remember to be safe about it – an event with loads of people is probably a good place to start.
Not getting into a strangers car (I’m looking at you, India).
8. The blogging community is massive.
You would be surprised about how many blogs there are out there. There are loads of different niches you wouldn’t believe. Fitness, cars, food, business and more.
It’s so easy to get lost within your own niche, the circle of bloggers who know each other – if you look outside your twitter feed, you’ll find thousands of more people to connect with.
9. People prefer a personal touch.
It’s true, it’s true. One of the most frequent compliments I get is that people feel like I’m taking to them or enjoy that they can tell my blog posts from others (best compliment ever!). It’s good to get your personality out there and not be afraid to let it show with the temptation of trying to sound too professional or formal!
10. You have to put in a lot of time and effort.
When I first started blogging, I thought that once I got to 1000 followers, I wouldn’t really need to try promote myself anymore because 1000 followers is so many! But 1000 followers doesn’t mean 1000 people will read and comment on every post.
You still need to network and promote yourself all the time, otherwise your stats will drop.
What do you think is the most fun thing about blogging, that you’ve learned so far?
@Noor_Unnahar I really enjoy meeting al the new people. These twitter chats are pretty awesome and fun #socialbloggers
— Dora (@adropofindigo) December 6, 2014
@Noor_Unnahar I love being able to be creative, writing about the things I love. Also been enjoying the twitter chats #socialbloggers — Gem (@GTolliday) December 6, 2014
@Noor_Unnahar the most fun thing for me is the photography. I do it all the time so it doesn’t feel like extra work. #socialbloggers
— Apoorva (@tea_and_music) December 6, 2014
@Noor_Unnahar learning, meeting great people, having techie experience and much much more.. #socialbloggers — Sadaf F K. (@ChefinFrame) December 6, 2014
@Noor_Unnahar I love the writing! Also, photoshoots are super fun!
— Katya Bychkova (@stylesprinter) December 6, 2014
@Noor_Unnahar I think it’s being able to just let my creative juices flowing! It’s like an outlet #socialbloggers — Christinax3 (@christinawhox3) December 6, 2014
@Noor_Unnahar Meeting so many amazing people! #socialbloggers
— Becky Bedbug (@BeckyBedbug) December 6, 2014
@Noor_Unnahar Can I say everything! I must admit I really do like being able to finally share my photography #socialbloggers — Ludo / Animation (@aminae14) December 6, 2014
I agree not many people read the post and we have hectic life, I like making new friends learning about others and after a few weeks you know who are the real followers due to them visiting everyday without a doubt or liking you in other media.
I’ve already learnt a lot from blogging already! The main one being that taking photos for my blog is incredible frustrating! haha 🙂 x x
http://www.beyondthevelvet.blogspot.co.uk
I’ve learned so much from blogging too! The biggest thing is probably how to network (still learning!) and how to have a work/life balance.
Great tips! I’ve found working on a deadline (even a self imposed deadline) makes a world of difference for getting things done!
Shannon
Unfortunately I have to agree with no. 6 the most. Back in the earlier days, I still reply and actually hop over to visit their blogs too but my husband asked me why do I even bother? and I stopped eventually. These days I just ignore those comments, it’s a little insulting when they just leave random comments without the effort to read my hard work. And you are right about the massive time and effort that goes into blogging, I had no idea how time consuming it can be but I love it and yes, it actually helped me to be more discipline about my deadline too.
Reflection of Sanity | Smashbox Giveaway
I agree with the personal touch, it just makes a blog better!
http://touchofcollege.blogspot.com/
Love this
check out todays blogmas
xx
Tyana
theluxedition.blogspot.com
I’ve learnt so much from blogging! I really feel like adding a personal touch to your blog makes it all the more better. And I really hate those lame ‘great post’ comments! I roll my eyes so hard at them
Sophie x
Hi sweetie!
Great post, really interesting, thos tips are great
xoxo
Great tips Corinne! Thanks for sharing))
http://fairyland111.blogspot.com/
I love this post!
Photography was never really a big thing for me but I love to write! I always have. English was my favourite class at school!
I would always write in journals but then I thought why not share it with other people, some people might have the same interests as me.
I enjoy blogging so much, its very relaxing.. Well for me!
I love how I’ve started talking to people quite regularly too. I love meeting new people!
Charl Jimenez
Great post! Meeting other people has definitely been my favourite thing but I’ve learnt so much too, especially when it comes to networking and working to deadlines x
Josie’s Journal
This is a wonderful post and some wonderful tips! Especially the tip about networking.. It’s so so important!
Emma
Very nice post Corinne. How are you ?
Your know, I spoke three languages a few years ago. Now, I lost a lot of vocabulary 🙂
Great post….. Nah I’m just kidding. I try to never leave vague comments like that as it’s important to recognise that the post that you’re reading has had a lot of time and effort out into it. I think it’s better to not leave a comment than to leave one for comment’s sake or just to promote your own blog. I enjoyed reading this and agree with so many of the points you’ve made even though my blog is just a baby at the mo!
http://www.catsincroptops.blogspot.co.uk
I love love this post. Everything what you wrote is true. Personal touch is so important part, as always bloggers should read and support their fellow bloggers out there. Thanks so much 🙂 Have a great day. Mel
I think photography is really great and the way people can admire a picture without any words but at the same time it’s fun to express exactly how you feel. It’s cool you like poetry, I mostly just write in a diary. I don’t have an expensive camera I actually just take all my photos on my phone. Hopefully I’ll improve blogging overtime. I started 3 months ago and am working my way through. I used to and still get frustrated when I make a post that I’ve worked hard on and don’t know if people bothered to read it, I think every blogger can pretty much relate to that. 🙂
NIKIMINT
Catching up with you! It has been a while I participated. I think I lost track when I was away so long in summer. Hope to get back to it. Seems like it was another amazing session with so much to learn. XOXO, Elif
All very true, good advice
xo
http://www.laurajaneatelier.com
After a year of blogging, I feel like I have discovered my long lost self. I use to just go with the flow, now I’m more focused and disciplined. I’ve made a handful of blogger friends. It’s amazing to see so many wonderful bloggers and how friendly and helpful they were to me. I try as much as possible to thoroughly read their hard written post and offer a good feedback of my opinion.
Lilly. xx
heyhellolilly.blogspot.com
Well you might not of had this planned as this type of post but it’s a great one. All great tips. I missed my first deadline ever in a year of blogging and so gutted. But my plane back was delayed, I sat writing to so late but couldn’t push through the tiredness and cough. But I guess the world won’t grind to a hault Lucy x
Haha – I’ve not met anyone through the internet yet.
your blogging post are alwasy saved by me lol
check out todays blogmas post
xx
Tyana
Finding blogs with personality that a unique to that person are definitely my favourite ones! I’ve struggled to find a few recently but I’m thinking a new year will being in some new blogging meat 🙂
Interesting blog post, It does amaze me how many blogs there are out there, in different genres!
It’s sad if people dont take time to read your blog but then comment as if they have. It’s good to give and receive comments, it makes it more like a discussion etc x
http://www.leannewinters.blogspot.co.uk
This is such a great post, Corinne! And I think all bloggers can identify with these. The one I struggled with most I think was writing, thinking I had to be ‘formal’, but I now love that you can write however you like.
Also, so cool that you went on a blogger holiday – I had no idea!
Jodie x
p.s. Look at you go with all the comments! 🙂
I HAD lost my internet connection 🙁 so sad that it happened right at the moments of chats.
Blogging has taught me a lot of things. And I am definitely keen to learn more (AKA photography)