I really can not believe that Thoughts and Daisies is officially ONE! It feels like hardly any time has passed since I first started blogging. A lot has happened in this crazy whirlwind of a year. I have learned a lot but I still have a long way to go to get this little blog to where I see it being in my head. And that is okay.
Year one was a learning curve and messy but now I at least have a clearer path. In one year I have written over 60 blog posts, filled a 130 page Google doc with over 40,000 words, and learned how to embed photos into my posts. Let me tell you that last one took me way too long to figure out, but now I have it MASTERED… sort of.
Related: Meaning Behind my Blog Name
With 365 days of blogging a lot is learned and I have come up with 7 lessons, I have learned over the course of the year, as well as 5 goals to launch me into the next year.
Lessons
1. Don’t fall into the comparison trap.
This can be really hard. When everywhere you look it seems that someone is living this perfect life it can be hard to not compare yourself to them. Better clothes, prettier photos, more followers, the list goes on. But constantly comparing yourself is not going to help grow your own content. Everything is not always what it seems, ESPECIALLY in the media world and once we continue to remember this it is easier to not put yourself down when you don’t think what you are doing measures up.
2. Numbers are not everything
I have to remind myself about this a lot. My blog reach is nowhere near what I would like but I am growing and I have to remind myself that it doesn’t happen overnight. Whether someone else has 1,000 or 100,000 more followers or likes than me does not belittle what I have been creating. It just means I may have to work a little harder. Which brings me to lesson 3.
3. It takes work
And a lot of it. Not that I ever thought blogging was some super-easy task that would take little to no effort from me, but I constantly surprise myself at how long I do spend creating my content.
There are days when I still tell myself that I can just knock out a post or even two in half an hour only to find myself working on the same post for nearly 3.
Blogging is more than just writing and slapping something up but takes a lot of editing and photo creating and even some coding and some days can be extremely tiring. But when I know I have put everything I can into a post I have this incredible feeling of accomplishment once it actually goes up.
Let me know if you would like a post about my blog behind the scenes.
4. SEO is important but confusing
I see it everywhere. SEO this. SEO that. Make sure you are utilizing SEO.
I can’t tell you how many articles I have read about the need for managing your SEO. And I am still thoroughly confused. This is something I am really planning to look into over the summer now that I have time in my day.
5. Pinterest is your friend
Pinterest has helped me gain a bit more traction on my blog. Especially when I pin content that I know I would be pinning if I saw. Millions of people scroll through Pinterest every day and it is one of the best ways to help navigate viewers to your blog.
Many a blogger has discussed the magic that is Pinterest and I hope to continue my growth with it.
6. Create for yourself first
A big thing I have learned is it is more important to blog about content that I actually care about than to try and write for everyone else.
I can tell a big difference in my posts that I was writing what I thought people would want to read and posts that I wrote because I wanted to write them. Your blog will never grow, much less last if everything you are writing isn’t something you enjoy or are passionate about.
7. HAVE FUN
Piggybacking off number 6, on top of creating content you love you need to be having fun. If you aren’t having fun while blogging what is the point.
I haven’t written a year’s worth of blog posts because I felt obligated to do it. If I didn’t have fun blogging I wouldn’t be writing this post, and I especially wouldn’t have gotten through my 30 Day Challenge last month.
If blogging isn’t fun for you to take a step back and evaluate why. Once you start to blog with the intention of making it fun you will see how free you begin to feel with your posts.
Goals
–Work on my photography
When I look at some of my old photos from my first posts to now I think there is a major change but I am competitive with myself and I know that I can make my photos even better. I am just not sure how yet. I see all these people creating gorgeous photos by themselves and I am looking at them for tips and inspiration. I also need to get one of those Bluetooth remotes so I don’t have to constantly run back and hit the button on my phone.
-Learn SEO
As I mentioned before SEO is important and I am still pretty lost. This is the year I understand all of the functions that come along with SEO. I am coming for you SEO you have been warned.
-Utilize Pinterest to its full potential
There was a point in time my Pinterest game was beginning to go strong and I have started to slack on it lately. I plan to spend this next year creating better pinnable images and working on getting them out into the Pinterest universe and having its full potential shine through. Fingers crossed.
-Go out of my comfort zone
I am not at all good at this. I see all these other pinners doing what I imagine in my head I could do for my blog but I am a chicken when it comes to it. So this year I would like to be more outgoing in things like my blogging outreach, my Instagramming skills, and possibly even utilizing the Instastories for things like… speaking… I know wow. As Instagram stories is a feature that pretty much scares the living daylights out of me. I say as though I am not pursuing my degree in acting. I can be on stage in front of hundreds of people but am too scared to use the Instastories feature for it’s intended use. Go figure.
-Get a logo
I have wanted a logo for my blog since the beginning but have not gotten around to it. I am not exactly sure how to go about this so any suggestions for how and ideas for cute logos are appreciated and encouraged.
Well here is to my one-year blogiversary and hopefully to many more. Cheers!
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