9 lessons I’ve learned in blogging

This year my blog will turn the ripe old age of 4, not long after my daughter does. In blog years that’s like 72 {or it feels like it}. There are a few things I’ve learnt along my blogging travels, here are a few:

1. Content is queen
You can have the prettiest blog on the block, but if it’s not worth reading, it’s not worth reading. The blogs that I adore deliver great content post after post. Fresh ideas, content you’re passionate about and words worth reading are the key to a good blog.

2. Blogging is a hungry beast, much like a newborn baby

Sometimes it feels like I could spend all of my waking hours on my blog {writing, commenting, tweaking, writing some more} and still not spend enough time on my blog. It’s a hungry, hungry beast, willing to take up as much time as I let it. Many bloggers haven’t survived the hungry beast. It needs to be tamed with a little time management. If not, blogger burnout threatens. Eek!

3. Haters gonna hate
I’ve run into a blogging bully {or two} in my time. They’re out there. Just know it’s unpleasant. It’s icky. It’ll make you cry {well I did}. You are the better person. Be the bigger person. Let them hate. Just keep doing what you do. It will pass. It will.

4. Lovers gonna love
To counteract the negativity that haters can bring, there are the lovers. The community that visits and reads each posts, and share their lives right back with me The lovers {the readers} make it all worth it, and some. Never forget the lovers.

5. A picture tells a thousand words
People are quite visual creatures. They love pictures and beautiful things. A blog without a picture, isn’t a blog post I’m likely to want to read, and are ones that are read on my blog. As well, the blog posts I enjoy writing most are picturesque. Pictures for the win.

6. Social Media will change tomorrow
Today everyone’s talking about Pinterest, undoubtedly in a few months there will be a new whizz-bang social media platform that we’re all playing with. Social Media will constantly evolve and change, and give us something else to tinker with.

7. You get what you give
You get from your blog what you put in. I’ve learned that what energy I put into my blog I get back. If I’m lacklustre in energy output on my blog, I get that back in response to my blogposts. If I’m enjoying what I write and put out there, I think it shows.

8. There are no rules
What works for one blogger might not work for me. What works for me, may not work for you. But I think there is something we can learn from everything, whether we agree with it or not. Don’t tie yourself to one person’s rules for blogging, explore others and make your own way, your own rules.

9. But actually there is this one rule

Just do it. Just write. Just share. Just blog. You’ll be glad you did.

Bloggers, what have you learned in blogging?

78 thoughts on “9 lessons I’ve learned in blogging”

  1. I love this & agree with so many of them! I've only been blogging for a short time, a year tomorrow actually! But my blog & I, have grown so much in that year. = )

  2. My little blog is a work in progress & I love reading your tips on how to make it better! Hopefully one day mine will be as fabulous as yours! ♥

  4. Love your readers and never, ever, ever stop appreciating the fact that they are taking precious time from their busy days to stop, read and sometimes comment on what you have to say. That's pretty valuable!

    So, love your readers! Love them like crazy!

  5. Thank you so much for all your tips! They really do make sense and they have helped me in so many ways. My blog is still under construction. Hopefully up an running soon.

    Ps. I will probably purchase your EBOOK, just for myself.. ha ha.. as a quick go to in case of an emergency.. xx

  6. Lovely tips! Thankyou 🙂
    My little blog, which I only started this year, is also a work in progress. I followed all the tips from a few of you lovely bloggers (made the template simple to start with and got right in there and started blogging) now I've made my blog look much better. I get excited when I see that its had lots of views 🙂 not many comments at this stage, but its only been a little while…
    I did it. I wrote it. I shared it. And yep, Im glad I did it.. xo

  7. i totally agree with #2. i need to get better with time management. there's always something i want or need to do that's blog related but i need to just chill sometimes lol

  13. I definitely agree with #1!!!

    If you have something good to say, people are going to want to read it. Be original. There's a tons of blogs doing the same old “tags” and similar posts. Try to find something different that is unique to you and run with it. This is what draws me to certain blogs- the ones who had an original idea/ concept/ etc…

    lacey @ lovely-21

  14. the photo point is so true! i hate reading posts without photos, however i probably take it too far and just bombard people with photos and forget the writing content sometimes- oops! 🙂 xx

  15. Great tips & great lessons learned. I've only been blogging for 2 years…and I go through phases of loving it to questioning it 🙂 I also doubt myself sometimes which then effects my content & delivery…and I also keep changing my own goal posts, ideas & dreams for my blog LOL….it's a complicated world this bloggy one isn't it?!! But also an amazing one which I love being a part of! Have fun tonight Chantelle xx

  21. I think you're bang on, as usual! I also think these are totally things people learn in bits and pieces along the way. Oh, and I'd add a tip for newbies – if you want to make money from your blog, think about that later. Make your blog awesome. Make it an expression of yourself. That stuff will happen in its own time if you want it to.

    <3

  23. I think you are so right and thankfully I haven't come across any haters as yet…so not nice of people really…I have to agree with you about what we put in we get back as I've noticed since increasing the amount of posts I do and adding more pictures I've been getting many more visitors…253 last month alone and for me that's a record as I've only been blogging for six months. What has been really surprising too is how many visitors I've had from places I've never even heard of and now have regulars from Brazil and Russia just to name a couple…..am looking forward to getting to know your blog (and you) some more….thanks for the tips.

    Michelle

  24. Yay! 4 years! That's awesome.

    I agree with most of what you've written, though some of the posts that I've enjoyed writing the most have had the least response. I've just had to stop worrying about the reaction and the comments and write for the love of it.

  25. Four years of yum, if you ask me. You're easily the most fresh and natural blogger I've come across. Just yourself, not trying to be anything else but your dear self. That's why you are so yummy. x

  28. I'm a lover ! I love reading your blog, it's one of the few I read everytime there is a new post. I always have pictures on my blog too, unfortunatly , I not a very good photographer. Thanks for this post . I've been blogging under a year and always love tips 🙂

  29. Very helpful tips! I just started blogging a few months ago, it is definitely a lot of upkeep so I can't imagine how stressful it is when you feel pressured to have posts everyday even when you don't always have the time

  31. I second what Bron says, Chantelle. You're such a generous giver and that radiates from your blog. All power to you, my friend! J x

  33. I just like being able to say 'sometimes I think this' and for others to say 'me too'.

    Its a great way to stretch your writing muscles and to do something that is 100% your own x

  36. Congratulations on 4 years of blogging! Thanks so much for this post, I'm a newbie blogger and it's great advice to have in mind. Sometimes it's just fun to share silly stuff too… today I wrote about my guilty pleasure of watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and I was AMAZED at how many other women do too! So much fun to find out who else 'secretly' loves the show.

  38. I enjoy reading your blog along with some others and each are different in their own way.
    I love looking at photos especially in blogs, it makes it all that much more personal !
    Keep it up as long as you feel it is fun for you :))

  40. I totally agree, especially about the pictures, I try to always use at least one picture.
    I also find that big long paragraphs seem to loose my attention, so I try to break up into smaller paragraphs.

  41. Happy Blogoversary! I just started participating in the Photo a Day challenge, which is how I found your blog . . .and the blogging tips? Priceless. Thanks so much for the challenge, the tips, and a great blog to read with my cup of coffee in the morning. Many more happy blogging years to you!

  44. Thanks so much for all these great tips! One that has got me thinking is using photos. I rarely ever use pictures on my blog, though often will on my facebook page. I wonder if this is something my readers miss from my blog? Might put this to them and see what they they think…
    Thanks for sharing, as always 🙂 xx

  50. Fantastic tips, Chantelle! I really believe you are one of the best bloggers out there and the fact that you are almost celebrating four years of FMS is fan-bleeding-tastic!

  53. This is all so true. Most people are all about how to get more visitors and readers, but I am not blogging to please others. Okay, it would be nice of someone would read it and leave a comment, but it is also about my own pleasure.

    What I have learnt is that being myself and writing from the heart really works best.

  60. Thank you for all these wonderful tips! I'd love to start a blog, but am pretty clueless as where to begin. 😛 Someday maybe. I've really enjoyed reading everyone's comments too. You have a really wonderful blog & followers. Thank you for everything you put into yours! I appreciate it & enjoy sitting down w/ my cup of coffee everyday to see what you are up to! I relate to you so much! Hopefully be a #4 for you.

  61. Great tips! And, I am wondering who was hateful towards you. I didn't think for a second that there was bullying in the blog world! I don't get it. There's bullys at school, bullys in grocery stores and mostly I have found that there are MORE bullys on the roads… but a blog? I would have never guessed. Shame on those people who even did that.

    I love you and your blog and your instagram. My only guess about the blogger bully is that they are jealous of you and yours. Like you said.. let them hate, you aren't the one losing sleep 😉

    Keep on, keepin on!! I read DAILY!!

  62. I've had this blog for a couple of years now, and while it started as an addition for my business, this year I decided to make it more personal. So far I have only posted pics of jewellery or clothes and am still finding my way into posting more personal, or other things. Although I'm not sure if I want to get too personal on there, or even how to go about making it more me.

    I look at other blogs and think, “wow, that's really nice how they've laid that out”, and then think about mine and it's so different. But then, I'm different. So I'm still finding my way into life.

  64. Great points. I feel like I have been blogging for years but I still forget a lot of these things. Must add photos!

  66. Hi Chantelle,

    thank you – simplicity always runs the best and you have said this so simply for all.

    Love number 3. (well unfortunatley I love it).
    I have encountered a viscous blog bully – what is their deranged problem?
    They are mealy germs of the world and eventually all germs wither amongst themselves.

    I too have used your saying “haters are going to hate” leave the parasites in their own pathetic crumbled world.
    Move on – keep your head high – when you know you are doing things right – that's when the 'tall poppy's” come out of the woodwork.

    Thank you for your March Photo challenge – I have had a ball.

    Keep smiling Chantelle – you have a lovely one and a lovely blog.

    🙂 Loulou

  67. How odd that I came across this today. I am sitting struggling over my very FIRST blog post. My niece just finished my website http://www.shabbydaze.com and sent me an email saying I need to get her the first blog thingy by today! Oh, Good Lord what will I say????? and why will anyone care????

  69. I really appreciate all the tips and advice you are sharing about your experiences blogging, that's why I love visiting your blog (a few times a week).

    Can you please share, what happens when you are sick? My blog is only new and I was so excited about time managing it, drafting posts days ahead, prepping my images, posting everyday (this month) and managing being SAHM that I didn't factor in my getting sick (5 whole days). I literally couldn't get out of bed and I also didn't want to post about the negatives of being sick (which I hate reading about too).

    I tried not to beat myself up about the 5 days of non-blogging. If bloggers like you can share their experiences maybe I can try to avoid it again.

    Thank you.

  70. I recently started a new blog after blogging about my wedding last year and this was very helpful! I agree with everything you say here and you give some good advice, thanks! I also can't wait to participate in the photoaday for April! I have the list printed out and hanging on my fridge!

  72. Fabulous advise. It is true, just do it! It works and it connects you with so many wonderful people all over the globe and that's what keeps me blogging.

  74. This post is so great, and shows such a generosity in your blogging style. I love it when people who’ve succeeded share how they got there; Thank you. I started a blog last week and can’t believe that people are actually reading it. I guess if people are going to read it I’d better make it worth their while. Good tips.

  75. I love this post, it really helped me when I had no idea what to write about and it also encouraged me to keep writing. I love your blog 🙂 If you ever want to do a guest post on my blog that would be amazing!!!

    <3 Kim (Kimmieinwonderland.blogspot.com)

  76. love this a lot. your blog has been my inspiration within my new blog. I’ve been blogging since Jan 2016.. i’ve had some bumpy roads but your posts have kept me motivated and inspired. This post actually hits home for me because all these things (besides the hate) have some kind of meaning towards what i’ve experienced while blogging. i won’t say that I’m an expert or as well as you are in the blogging realm BUT i know some day i’ll get there and i have you and many others to thank.

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