It’s no small secret that growing your blog does not happen spontaneously. Shoot, we all wish it did. I spent the entire first year of my blogging life just hoping the right person would come along and ‘discover’ me and how awesome my blog was. Yeah that didn’t happen. It wasn’t until I decided to take over the monster my blog had become did I realize I could actually do things to influence how my blog was going to succeed!
We’ve all had our internet stalking moments trying to figure how this blogger did this or that, and how the heck they’re so ‘big.’ I’ve found and received really great advice, but have also stumbled upon crappy advice. Blogging is a constant learning and growing process, and I still feel like I have tons to figure out.
I recruited my beautiful sponsors this month to bring you the best and worst blogging advice. Please read carefully to their suggestions; we all have something to learn from each other. I’ve always believed in delayed gratification (just ask my confused brother and sister as I spent 20 minutes carefully eating the edges off my pop tart and then the bottom so I could save the best frosting part for last), so let’s start with the bad stuff first.
Worst Blogging Advice Ever
Find Lisa (Ameliorer la Vie) on: Her Blog | Bloglovin’ | Twitter
Find Chantal (Scattered Seashells) on: Her Blog | Facebook | Twitter
Find Mackenzie (Sometimes Z Takes Pictures) on: Her Blog | Bloglovin‘ | Facebook
We’ve all had our moments with bad blogging advice. Thank goodness that the good always outweighs the bad (I’m a slightly over-optimistic person), and lots can be learned from others. These next four bloggers bring it home with advice that cannot be ignored!
Best Blogging Advice Ever
Find Nicole (Treasure Tromp) on: Her Blog | Bloglovin’ | Twitter | Pinterest
Find Casey (True Colours) on: Her Blog | Bloglovin’ | Twitter | Instagram
Find Rachel (Postcards from Rachel) on: Her Blog | Bloglovin’ | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
As far as myself goes, I think some of the worst advice I’ve received is to cater to my audience. Hold up…Amanda, I thought that was a good thing? Yes, if it means morphing your writing style a bit to amuse, entertain, and educate your readers, SURE it’s a great thing. But if it means changing your ‘blogging identity’ and becoming a blogger you hadn’t originally intended on? Then why blog in the first place. Not only will you wear yourself out entirely by constantly trying to satisfy all your readers, but I can guarantee you will lose all the joy you had in blogging. Stick to who you are. That’s who readers will stick around for.
Best advice? Well shoot. It’s pretty much the same thing. Be yourself! We’re all human. We all have bad days, good days, ridiculous days, and sad days. It’s what makes us relate to each other. Want to connect with your readers? Be real with them. Sure cotton candy/ feel good posts are great, but just stir things up a bit every now and again with a post straight from your heart. Trust me on this.
I enjoyed having my sponsors help me out with this post probably way too much, so guess what? They’re all coming back for round two later on this week or the beginning of next week! Stay tuned.
If you’ve missed the other posts in my Blogging 101 series, you can check them out below!
1. Blogging ‘Must Do’s’
2. WordPress Plugins
3. The Sponsor Game