10 Random Things I Learned in My First Year of Blogging
I wasn’t going to do a post on this, because when it comes to blogging I have way more questions than answers. But then I thought maybe a little of what I have learned in the last year might be beneficial to someone else starting out. If you are not a blogger, please stay and leave a comment, I’d love some feedback on what you would like to see more/less of in the next year. Don’t forget, there is still time to enter to win a $50 Birch Lane gift card! This week marks one year that I’ve been blogging, so here are 10 random things I learned in my first year of blogging. I hope there is something useful in here for you!
1. Name your images when uploading to your blog. In the picture below, you can see in the box on the bottom right, when I uploaded my image I filled in the title and the Alt text. It helps for SEO. I’m still learning about SEO, and one useful article I’ve found is: 10 Food Blog SEO tips. Although it’s titled for food blogs, it is relevant for any blogger. I also recommend signing up for the newsletter on that site, it’s always full of helpful hints.
2. Similarweb.com is a useful website. You can enter the URL to any blog or website and see how many page views that site gets a month. While I don’t recommend comparing yourself to others, especially when just starting out, sometimes that information can come in handy.
3. Create a clickable image in your sidebar. This one drove me crazy and took me awhile to figure out, but it’s actually easy to do! Read the how to here: How to make a clickable image.
4. Pinthemall.net is a site that lets you create your Pinterest pins with several pictures, gallery style. Below is an example of how I used this to pin my Spice Rack project. From what I understand, these type of pins have a higher rate of repins. For great instructions on how to use this, and other Pinterest tips visit the Rustic Willow.
5. Schedule social media. Embrace the use of social media, it is imperative in blogging. There are many websites that will let you schedule your posts in advance so you don’t have to remember to constantly update your various accounts. This is something I’m only just beginning with. Last week I signed up for BoardBooster, which lets you schedule your pins to Pinterest.
6. Only blog about something your passionate about. Blogging takes a lot of time and effort. If you aren’t passionate about your topic, you will burn out quickly.
image via fashion designing india
7. Focus on growing and learning a little each day or week. Blogging can be overwhelming, to say the least.
8. Make sure you back up your site! With all the time we spend on blogging, having a back-up in case of any problem is vital. I use Blogvault. Thankfully, I haven’t had to use it at this time, but I have sent several emails with questions over the past year and the customer service is fantastic!
9. Being social in the blogging community is extremely important. The blogging community (the DIY niche, anyway) is a supportive one. Blogging can be lonely without a support system. You can find a lot of great advice on this, as well as tons of useful tips on all aspects of blogging in this e-book: Building a Framework. I highly recommend this, I still refer to it months later.
10. Install the Comment Email Reply plugin. As bloggers, we all know how important comments are, whether leaving them or receiving them. When you have this plugin installed, it will automatically email your reply to the comments left on your blog directly to the person that left the comment. This way, they don’t have to remember to come back and check if you’ve responded.
If you’re a blogger, I would love for you to leave me one or two of your best tips in the comments! Blogging is best when we continue to help each other! If you’re not a blogger (and you’re still reading this, thanks!) please let me know what you’d like to see more or less of in the next year!
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You’ve picked up a lot! I’ve been blogging a little over two years and just found out about titling your photos! I’ve also never heard of pinthemall.com but I’m so excited to use it! Thanks for sharing these!!
I had not heard of pinthemall.com, and I am excited to check it out! I have been blogging for less than a month now, so I am in the “learn everything you can” stage. One thing that I have found helpful for bringing in more traffic is joining a Facebook group in your niche. My blog focuses on faith and family, so I joined two groups within that niche. Every so often I will link to a post that I have written, and I always get a lot of traffic and comments.
Sarah, thanks for the tip! I look forward to checking out your blog!
I wish I knew all those tips when I first started. Heck, some of them are still new to me! Thanks for sharing at Thursday Favorite Things. I hope you will join us again next Thursday!
Great list, thanks for sharing!
I stopped by from Thursday Favorite Things,
These are great things to have learned – I too, just had my 1 year blogiversary, and it’s crazy how much you can learn in a year and still have so much you don’t know about! But I wouldn’t trade this crazy journey for anything 🙂
Thanks, Erica and Happy Blogiversary to you too!
Thanks Roxanne: Great Tips. I am still in the learning process, however if I come across something interesting I will pass it along.
Thank you for sharing! I just got started blogging 2 months ago, and I find myself tied to the computer whenever I have a free moment. I LOVE it, and at the same time I am afraid this will lead to burnout. Any suggestions for finding balance? 🙂
Britny, when my family starts getting annoyed that I’m on the computer too much I know it’s time to take a step back…lol.
My friend and I just started a blog less than a year ago. These are great tips. It is very overwhelming and there is so much to learn but thanks for this post because it will help us a lot.
Thanks so much for sharing these tips! I’ve been blogging for years though it was almost a year ago that I launched my current site and these are great pointers. I feel like there is always so much to learn even if you have been doing it awhile 🙂 I think the most helpful thing for me was to find my niche on my old site and so when I started fresh, I kept my mission pretty clear since I was kind of blogging all over the place before. A little bit of everything isn’t going to feel cohesive or ordered to a reader (especially when even I didn’t feel like it was cohesive)!
-Sara, uncommongrace.net
Blogging can be a little overwhelming is right! Just when you think you have your site the way you want you learn something new. 🙂 There are so any tricks to this trade… which also makes it fun!
Thank you so much for this useful information. I’ve only been blogging for 3 months and need all the help I can get! 🙂 Have a wonderful day!
Great stuff!! Thanks for Sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday!! Hope to see you again tomorrow…love your stuff!! Pinned!
These are great sites that I never knew about. I am glad I stopped in from Pin Worthy #32. I have been blogging for over 3 years now and I can tell you I am learning new things, web sites and blogs everyday. Have a great one.
These were excellent Roxanne! I learned a few new resources! thank you!
This is so wonderful. I just started my mongrandvoyage blog and you have some great advice to get me started! There are so many little things people can do to improve their blog!