8 Things Nobody Told Me About Blogging

A little over 3 years ago, I was a blogging newb. I didn’t read many blogs and I had no idea what went into making a blog successful. Over those years, I have learned a few things from experience and from others that I thought I’d share.

Making content takes time – Yes, actual time. It isn’t always as easy as simply writing down my thoughts and hitting publish. I need to think about what I’m posting and prepare a photo or edit multiple photos, format it properly, read and re-read, and basically go through a process before hitting publish.

Fashion blogging is hard – I’m not a fashion blogger and don’t wish to be, but those occasional times I do an outfit post really make me appreciate daily fashion bloggers so much more. The time it takes me to even get dressed in the morning is enough to sway me away from that everyday task of actually making sure it looks good to others. Then of course there is the photo taking part, where weather definitely decides if that is actually going to happen and having a single remote for your camera isn’t always enough. I praise all of the boyfriends and husbands who have become professional fashion blogger photographers for their ladies. I still have no idea how they find the time to do this every day.

Lighting is important – The photos I had on this blog when I began don’t even compare to the ones I publish now. I had no clue about lighting and setting up a photo properly before beginning this journey. I used to constantly apply these awful filters/actions to my edited photos to make them appear more “dreamy” or “shabby chic”, but looking back they just look dull and lifeless. A lot can be said for a bright photo!

Haters gonna hate – I didn’t know that there were actually people who spent their time throwing out negative comments and opinions towards so many bloggers. Over the years, I’ve had a bit of negativity tossed at me, and in the beginning I think I was more shocked than anything that somebody could be so full of dislike for someone they don’t know. I’ve learned to pay no attention and not feed into their desire of getting under my skin. Not everybody is going to like you, and that’s okay. You don’t owe them anything.

Blogger’s block is real – The amount of times I’ve thought “I have nothing to write about” have been countless. I’m not good at planning a whole bunch of posts ahead of time (something I’m working on) so a lot of the time I have been stuck for content. Writing 365 Blog Topic Ideas has definitely helped me think about my own content… in fact, this post is one of the topic ideas from the book! Having an ongoing list of ideas has been a lifesaver.

I will have to turn people down – As much as I hate pressing “delete” on someone’s pitch email, it becomes necessary when your inbox starts flooding with promotional opportunities and people wanting to post on your blog for you. A lot of the time, the direction of my blog doesn’t match at all with these brands and I’d have to risk sounding unauthentic to my readers for their benefit. Turning people down and saying “no” is not only okay, it’s necessary.

More opportunities will open – I never thought that I would be able to make a living from my blog, but as it turns out, many opportunities can be found if you work for them. Being able to use this blog to branch out my business plans has been an unexpected but amazing perk. It’s inspired many new ideas and allowed me to share them with a larger audience that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t started this blog.

I am not just writing for myself – A lot of bloggers will tell you that you should “write for you” and not worry about writing for an audience, but that’s not reality. The fact is, I am writing for an audience and I want to post things that would also appeal to you. This doesn’t mean only writing to get views, but rather making sure my content suits my readership as well.

I’m sure there are many more, but I’d love to know what you’ve learned from blogging too!

Last Updated on February 27, 2024