Happy 6 Months Blog Anniversary to me!
I still can’t bring myself to look at my first blog; Time to Start Blogging. OK I do occasionally glance at it when I open up WordPress for a bit of a Blog Housekeeping session (meaning when I have bloggers block) but I need a little more time to prepare myself for the toenail curling experience I’ll have when I do eventually look at it again.
So 6 months isn’t a long time in the great scheme of things, well it is when you are 5 and waiting for your birthday or Christmas day to arrive but when you are a grown-up it really isn’t. It’s also not a lot of time in the blogging world either but for me it’s probably an opportunity to reflect on how it’s all been going and maybe focus on what I’m going to do blog-wise for the next 6 months.
The Story so far in the world of me and busyfitmama?
What have I learnt?
You probably won’t become an overnight success, be able to hand your notice in and earn millions! Blogging is hard work!
Looking at how others Blog and reading their blogging journeys has not only motivated me to carry on but I don’t feel that I’m the only one that isn’t getting the supposed success or engagement that we all perhaps want when we take the plunge and create a blog.
I prefer to take my own images and not rely on stock photography. Ok my images aren’t great, still very much work in progress but they are mine. Yes I do use some stock photography and love Pixabay but adding my own images has been a means of injecting my own personality into my blog. Having a mix of my own images and stock photography has worked for me.
Using Apps/software to automate the admin side of my blog or help improve my graphic design and photography skills (although that is debatable at times). I now can’t do without Canva, Hootsuite.
Discovering the world of infographics. Wow! I love them! I’ve actually started creating some myself. Check this one out; http://www.busyfitmama.com/how-to-establish-a-morning-gym-routine-infographic/
What have I enjoyed?
The whole creative process in creating a blog and getting it out there.
The learning curve that I’ve experienced and am still experiencing. From registering a domain name, getting to grips with WordPress, editing images and trying to develop a social media strategy (of sorts). The list goes on. Basically I think it’s made me use the grey matter again and at times push me out of my comfort zone.
Falling back in love with Twitter and discovering Pinterest. Both amazing when it’s come to finding other bloggers, providing help when stuck on something technical and helping to motivate and inspire me to get a post published.
What’s not been so enjoyable?
Spam! Grrrrr. Still fighting the battle on that one, I can only liken it to fighting Zombies in a post-apocalyptic world; relentless, never ending with the odd victory along the way!
Editing and using my own images only to find they look rubbish when I look at one of my published blogs.
What mistakes have I made?
Becoming obsessed with statistics. Number of hits, number of twitter impressions, number of comments ………. Yes I do get a buzz when one of my blogs gets a load of hits but it shouldn’t be the be all and end all if a blog doesn’t get many views or no retweets when I throw it out there. I need to get over it, perhaps look more strategically at how I can get more engagement.
Not always writing it in my own style. I’m busy, I’m a mum, I’m passionate about fitness and being healthy, my life is chaotic. So why at times do I write like a robot? I believe it’s important to inject your own personality into your blogs and this is something I need to keep focused on when I am writing.
Writing to please SEO requirements. Yes it is important and gives your blog a potential to be ranked higher but I’ve got to write first then look at ways to improve SEO; not the other way round which I’ve been guilty of doing!
What do I need to improve on?
Being more disciplined about getting blogs written, organised and published. I’m still all over the place when it comes to the frequency of publishing. It is a time thing, I’m busy and life just gets in the way. I’ve overcome barriers when it comes to my fitness, perhaps I need to apply this to my blogging. Sitting in a coffee shop writing dream-inspiring blogs would be lovely but at the end of the day I’ve still got to get the kid’s packed lunches sorted, still have to go to work and occasionally address the pile of ironing, which like zombies and spam, simply won’t go away if I ignore it!
So what happens next?
OK it’s only been 6 months. I’m still a newbie. I need to look at establishing a more regular pattern for blogging. Be mindful of not losing sight of why I started to blog and most importantly for me write as me! This a been a great opportunity to reflect on my blogging experience. Here’s hoping I still feel passionate about why I blog when I look back at this post in 6 months time!
Are you new to blogging? Have you taken time out to reflect on how it’s all going? Are you a blog veteran? Are there any tips that you have for the newbie blogger?
