What I learned in my 1st year as a Blogger!

I can’t believe it’s been an entire year since I officially launched Liz-Laugh-Love.com. It took me a little over a month to prepare my site to go live and I was so nervous. I wasn’t sure what people were going to say and if they were even going to care.

Looking back at my first year I feel so blessed that I was able to accomplish so much. There are also so many relationships that I built over time that has helped my success as a blogger.

I’ve honestly met so many special people that have such a close place in my heart. I now consider so many of them to be some of my best friends.

It’s important to look back and reflect because you realize how much you’ve accomplished, how much you’ve changed, and everything you’ve learned.

So I tried to put a short list of all of the major things I’ve learned as my first year as a blogger. It will be a combination of running my actual blog as well as my social media presence on Instagram.

1. Just Launch your Blog

Now whether it be a blog, podcast, or youtube channel, just launch it already. I’m not sure exactly what you are waiting for but nothing can be perfect. I gave myself a deadline to launch and had other people I know hold me accountable. If I had not done this I probably would have kept pushing the launch date back. You can tweak and make adjustments as you go so just go for it!

I spent about a month on Instagram before I launched my blog to really build an audience. I was engaging with people 24/7 and building meaningful relationships. During this time I was also posting consistently M-F which helped me grow as well.

2. Driving traffic to your blog is HARD!

Yeah, I said it. It’s really hard to get people to your blog when you first start. If you are just starting you most likely have a small audience. This means you probably don’t have the swipe up feature just yet and you are trying to get people to “click the link in your bio.”

Trust me people are lazy.

Understand that your blog topics have to be something your audience is highly interested in. You should also make sure you are attracting the right audience based off of what you want to write about.

If you build up your launch also understand that this surge of traffic is not the norm. I know I had a huge surge of traffic when I first launched but it died down after that.

Learn about pinterest traffic, Facebook support groups, and SEO. Those are all things that will help with traffic so you are not solely relying on Instagram. Just don’t get discouraged when people are not flooding to your site. Trust me it will take time.

Blog traffic is never ending and is always a learning curve. Just stick with it and be consistent.

3. Stay Consistent & Create a schedule

I know you’ve heard this often but this applies to both your blog and your social media presence.

You should determine how many post you want to publish a week and then come up with blog topics. Stick with it and this will really help keep consistent traffic. Of course along with all of the other methods to help drive traffic.

Same goes for posting on Instagram. Pick a day where you can create tons of content for 1 week or 2. When I first started I would stress about taking a picture the day I needed it. Why in the world would I do that? I have no clue but I quickly realized I need to designate a day to do this. Now I can be stress free because I have everything a week in advance.

4. Content really is KING

I know you’ve heard this a million times but it’s so true. I can see which blog posts do great and which ones just suck. Most of the time it’s because the actual blog topic was just mediocre and not appealing to my audience. The ones I actually spend the most time on or I’m the most passionate about do really really well!

As you release your blog posts you will see what does better and stick to that.

Same applies to content on your Instagram. Make sure you post stuff that you are really proud of. You need to have good lighting, clean backgrounds, sharp images, and of course that it relates to your overall brand.

Please please avoid posting blurry images, whether it be for the gram or on your blog.

5. Be prepared to invest in yourself to see true positive results!

Your blog and your brand is an investment. You will have to invest in both and you may not even see the positive results until months later. It may even take years so understand that this a marathon and not sprint.

Just starting a blog in the first place takes some money. I would rather own all the content I create though and not start my blog on a free platform. I know many people do this because they may not have the funds but that’s also fear talking. Well if I don’t spend money and it doesn’t do well then there’s no harm.

Girl save the money for a month. Do whatever you gotta do and OWN your stuff! I spent a total of $131.04 and I completely own Liz-Laugh-Love.com

Other things I invested in: a pretty theme for my website, my logo, brand new camera, editing software, presets, stock image subscription service, photo shoots, and the list goes on. I wanted to equip myself with all the proper tools so that I can start off on the right foot. This applies to my Instagram profile as well and never hesitated to invest in things I needed.

Now I am not saying you have to buy everything I did or that you have to spend all this money. I just want you look at your brand/blog and spend your money wisely on what you really need. Do what makes sense for you and of course what you can afford.

Also time is money guys, so the more time you invest in your blog the better it will do. I put my blog on the back burner for the month of February and of course I can see how it affected blog traffic.

6. You must build meaningful relationships.

Now meaningful relationships are so important in this blogger industry and it’s seriously going to help you.

You can’t just post content and expect people to just flock to your blog or even to go like your new picture!

People have to connect with you in some way. They have to have something in common with you. They need to care about who you are as a person.

So work hard on putting yourself out there, meet new people, go to events in your industry, and of course connect with people online.

Just remember your vibe attracts your tribe so ALWAYS put out good energy. Trust me it will come back to you!

With that being said always make sure to be careful with who trust! In any relationship you want look out for bad intentions or negativity. Steer clear of these people and run the other way. You can gauge who someone is just by talking to them online and if it doesn’t feel right, don’t push it!

So now what?

I feel like those are some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned but I feel like I left one major thing out.

Money. Everyone wants to know, how much money am I going to make? Better question: How much money am I making after 1 year?

I would say if your goal is to make money then you should probably just pick something else to pursue. In the blogging world, money comes slow and in very small amounts when you first start.

At first I was getting tons of money questions and keep in mind you should follow the same etiquette as any other job.

That etiquette would be: you don’t just ask someone how much they make per hour or what their yearly salary is, right? Same applies to the blogging world and we should get the same respect.

I pursued blogging as a new venture and placing high expectations or feeling that peer pressure is just not fair. When you start a new career you simply have to start at the bottom.

Cesar and I both knew that going in and we were prepared for it. Yes, I make money from my social media presence, some blog posts, and very small amount from affiliate links but it’s not a full-time salary.

Owning a blog takes constant research and constantly trying to find what will work for you and your brand. So understand that and make sure you are doing it out of a passion.

Also, please don’t quit your full-time job to start blogging without thoroughly thinking it through.

It seems glamorous and fun but trust me it’s not like that all the time.
Making money from blogging takes time and you have to be patient.

I hope that by sharing all of this with you it could possibly help you on your own journey.

As usual thanks for stopping by, and let me know if you have any questions!

xoxo,

Liz-Laugh-Love