6 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started My

Blogging Journey

For all those that are planning to start a blog, this one goes to you.

 

 

Today I’ll be sharing the 6 things I wish I knew before I had started blogging. You may have been thinking about this for a while. Planning process is one of the exciting parts of the journey but it was also the most overwhelming. I’ll start off by saying that blogging is NOT for everyone (as anything else) but you won’t know until you get started after the planning process. 

 

I don’t want to scare you off or anything but based on my on again off again experience, it’s not as easy as typing up some words on a document and hitting publish. It’s a lot more steps than that and it’ll quickly show you if it’s for you or not.

Blogging Journey

  

1| There never will be the perfect time to start. 

I remember desiring to start and never knowing the best time to start. I started on impulse and had a lot going on with starting a new business a month prior. Life never stops no matter what you’re getting started; a business, a blog, or both. 

 

Time is also something very subjective. It’s limited.. And not in the sense of not enough time in a day or week because we have plenty but it’s about the deeper sense of not knowing when our last day on earth is. Don’t waste your talent or time on thinking ‘when is the perfect time’ because there truly isn’t. The perfect time is when YOU are spilling out all these ideas. Get to starting!!! 

 

2| OH NICHE; The more specific the better. 

I do not believe in having ONE niche… I just simply don’t. I enjoy speaking on various topics, however this can become overwhelming as a writer and content creator and planning for it has to be very strategic. I wish I had known that the less topics I’d speak about on a blog the better not only for my own sanity (lol) but for the sake of getting a blog to be noticed honestly.

If you’re someone who enjoys cooking and traveling, you could 100% combine those two topics/niches in one blog and make it super creative and fun. Blogging about eating in Little Italy for a whole week with aesthetically pleasing photos? Oh come on, that’s such a win!

I enjoy talking about multiple topics but you’re going to find more success if you have 2-3 topics that you focus on with your blog. There is nothing wrong having filler posts but those would be in my opinion best when it’s 3-4 months in between your consistent content.

But again, you have full control of your blogging journey and if you feel as though you can succeed your blog goals with more than 2-3 topics? GO FOR IT. I’m only stating that if i knew this particular information, I may have not gone this route BUT I am currently on this journey and won’t back down now. I want to make it happen and we can do it together!!!

 

3| Plan ahead!

I have such a tendency of impulsively starting projects as soon as the ideas come through my brain. Although I do not regret this decision, I do wish I had planned a bit better. Originally, in 2016 I started a blog with little to no information about what I was exactly doing. I was simply learning as I go, as I do with almost everything in my 20-something life. 

Fast forward to 2020 when I re-launched and tried for a second time to take my blog in a more serious attitude and created this blog here, I decided to give myself 2.5 months. Within those 2.5 months, I was also finishing up the semester for school, dealing with the pandemic and also health related situations within my family. SO… in other words, a lot was going on at the time for me to take on this project. Did it stop me? Absolutely not. My brain decided to send wave receptors to the rest of my body that enabled the idea, let’s announce to all of social media we will be launching our blog again. WOOHOO (she says sarcastically).

Now I do want to add that I did achieve a lot more that time around than the first time, which is always a win. #ProgressisProgress right? But, I do wish that I took more time to plan out what I’d be putting out every week or month… I didn’t even have a blogging schedule.

Blogging Journey

Fast forward, we are now in 2022 and again not learning from my past decisions… I gave myself even less time; 30 days. I decided in July 2022 that I would be re-relaunching my blog for the month of my birthday. The whole idea behind it was that I’d like to document and capture my golden year. I turned 26 on September 26 and I waited a very long time for this year. We are now four months into my golden year and while it has been an emotional and mental rollercoaster, I am honestly super blessed.

 

Although my blog is not where I currently would have hoped for it to be (due to unplanning) I have been working on planning content for the weeks to come and I’m VERY excited about it. Which makes planning so much more fun now.

So, my advice to anyone reading this post and interested in blogging.. give yourself 6-14 months or better yet, do not put a timeline on it. I will be creating a blog series and a resource page very soon and will update this post here with a link. Just remember this for now:

Work smarter not harder!!!

 

4| Treat your blog as a business. 

It’s 2023 money is to be made on the internet. Blogs are becoming more popular and overall content creation is HUGE. It will not stop growing; Social media will always grow with technology and we as content creators or overall business owners need to just adapt as we go.

Blogs like the one you are currently reading on or the ones you see brands like Walmart News for example, help brands and businesses get out there more on search engines without necessarily paying for marketing. Forbes actually has an informative post about why e-commerce or overall business should also have a blog on their site. You can read that here.

Blogs provide various opportunities. Not only are you able to monetize a blog in 3+ ways but you’re also able to open up doors within collaborations. Your content can land in front of those who need/want guidance but it can also land on someone’s screen who needs to find someone relatable. Someone they could connect with and find inspiration in.

I know it seems VERY unlikely right now that you may inspire someone or motivate them to be better but– I receive at least 4 messages every 3-4 months and they are complete strangers. Their messages are always uplifting and remind me how far I’ve come and why I even started this journey.

You just never know the opportunities that are hiding behind the door called ‘comfort zone’. I have yet to leap through my own door (fully) with this blog but the progress and journey this far is amazing, the connections I’ve made have led to other opportunities and I’m thankful for it. I’ve seen it work wonders for others and now I’m seeing it slowly work for me.

 

5| Set up a social media presence

Blogging Journey

This is something I really regret not doing first and foremost. I thought that I could use my personal accounts.. The one’s I’ve had since I was 12 years old (lol) but I was oh-so-wrong. 

Leveraging your personal accounts is smart to do, do not get me wrong. However, thinking that it will be the smartest thing to use as the main page? No… no… NO! Create a new page across all platforms. Even if you are not going to utilize all of them for the first 6-12 months. I recommend saving the username (so no one takes it) and use 1-2 platforms until you become a master of them. Get them automated and boom move onto the next platform. 

Having your separate pages for your blog will help with marketing your specific audience and creating a community through these pages. You’ll also be creating a space where you’ll directly talk to your audience/supporters through comments, direct messages, and hey even going live from time to time.

Working with my clients through my VA business, I’ve really seen how important it is to show behind the scenes of everyday life as a content creator and of course creating a community because no one wants to support the creator who just post’s and ghost’s. 

#NoGhosting #BeFFR  

Side note, I’ve JUST created my blogging instagram page. While it’s still under construction and has no posts, I’d love it if you went and followed my page to keep up with me behind the scenes, updates to my blogging journey and more.

You can find my page here.

 

6| Be Realistic & Have FUN. 

Another one of my mistakes in this journey of mine is giving myself unrealistic goals to achieve. It wasn’t the goals itself but the timing that I’d give myself, they were never realistic. First starting my blog journey I tried to achieve 300 monthly views within the first 3 months and although that doesn’t seem like a lot, for someone who put content out 1-2 times per month with no planning involved, it just didn’t make sense. When I’d see my blog numbers very low weekly, I’d get discouraged because I was on that mindset of 300 monthly views. By month 3 I barely hit 40 views per month and things would take a turn… causing me to lose interest in trying again.

Which is where the HAVE FUN comes into place as well. Writing used to be something that I enjoyed doing but when I’ve attached getting noticed and this alternative goal in place, it all just became work, chores, not something fun that i enjoyed anymore. So you can see how this would create an overwhelming and stressful environment as well as an emotional roller coaster. Balancing life curve balls and work along with everything else I’d like to do in this lifetime of mine, it’s not as easy as tic-tac-toe.

I’ve learned over the last 3 years now, things take time but also we have to put in the work in order for things to work. A blog can not reach 300 monthly views by just posting 1-2 posts on the site and no real marketing. A blog cannot be seen by 300 people per month when no one knows that it truly exists because I only posted it on personal pages 1-2 times per month as well.

 

Now that I’ve turned things around and made it fun again to write content or to collaborate with those I’ve connected with using social media– it’s been a different ball game. I get excited for the next blog post to be uploaded not for others but for myself. I enjoy writing content that helps others whether it’s starting a blog/business, new tips and tricks on instagram or pinterest, or it’s me helping them understand themselves a bit more; it’s all a wonderful feeling within my heart… mind.. and soul.

 

I do not regret the way my blogging journey has gone as I’ve learned a lot through failures and mistakes. I look at it as part of my future success story and I know there will be one. I hope that you enjoyed reading this blog post as much as I enjoyed writing (and editing) it.

 

Leave a comment down below if you’ve started your blogging journey or if any of these have convinced you to potentially start one!

Until next time,

Brianna Anjelique.