5 Lessons I’ve Learned From 5 Years Of Blogging

Do you have the TimeHop app? I loving having a peek back through time each day to see what happened in our family’s life over the past few years, not to mention finding little surprises like the fact that April 22 was my fifth anniversary of blogging! Five years ago, I posted my very first blog post on Blossom Heart. This evolved into a personal/mummy blog and lasted about 3 years, but once I started Blossom Heart Quilts almost 3 years ago, it quickly dropped off my blogging radar as I fell hard for quilt blogging. Throughout these five years, I’ve learned a lot of blogging lessons – a lot of them the hard way, many of them through hard work and research, and some I’ve observed along the way!

It’s All About Community

Why do we blog? To be read. To be heard. To be seen. The community is what makes a blog a blog. If you don’t take care of “your” community, they won’t stick around. Likewise, if you’re not actively involved in the wider, general quilt blogging community, it’s much harder for people to learn about and relate to you as a person and thus as a blogger (and to then want to follow you).

Ways to get involved in the online quilting community:
– Reply: To blog comments, on Instagram, on Facebook, in email. Open up a conversation with those who have taken their time to comment on your work!
– Connect: If you’re blogging, you have to be involved in other social media outlets if you want to have any chance of reaching a wider community. At the very least, choose either Facebook or Instagram and dive in. Connect with fellow quilters, with those who have a similar style or interests as you, with other bloggers. Find your people and make friends! Follow their blogs, their social media accounts, make an effort to connect.
– Share: Share your knowledge via tutorials, share your craft by joining swaps, share your love by commenting on other peoples’ work!

Related: The Importance Of Comments, Helping People Follow You

Be Real, Be Serious

Hands up who has known some fake people in your life? Those who pretend to have it all together, or those who are in relationships only for what they can get out of it, or are all about desperately trying to be the popular one? While at times it can be hard to interpret tone via the written word, in this day and age of social media, you are able to get quite a well-rounded image of what a person is truly like. When you interact with fellow bloggers in Facebook groups, follow them on Instagram, not to mention their blogs, you get to see the way that people interact, think and act, not just when they’re “in their brand” on their blog, but how/if they interact on Instagram, or within blogging and quilting Facebook groups. Be real, be you, be a genuine and caring human being! Because people will notice if you aren’t.

Part of being real is also about being real with yourself, and taking yourself seriously. If you want to be in the blogging game for the long-term, you need to be consistent, persistent and ready for some hard work. Making a blog last and grow and avoid becoming stale is not easy; there are no “get rich/readers quick” schemes that work and anyone who tries to tell you that is actually trying to sell you something, and that’s usually some ebook or course promising fantastic results. What they don’t tell you is that it still takes time!

Related: Valuing Yourself As A Blogger, What Blog Sponsors Are Really Looking For

Love What You Do

The only way to last in the blogging industry is to love what you do. Passion is what keeps you wanting to continue when it feels like you’re talking to yourself, and when your inbox is overflowing, and when you get the occasional rude comment. You need to be passionate about your topic, and you need to be passionate about blogging!

When you’re passionate about what you do, it not only drives you to keep working, but it also comes through in what you say and do. Which comes right back to being real. When you are passionate and real, people can see that spark. They admire that spark. They want that spark!

Related: My Story

Take A Break

I know it seems ironic after have just raved about passion driving your work, but you know what? Sometimes the blog-jo just isn’t there. And you know what else? That’s ok! Sometimes life happens and sometimes the motivation has just plain ol’ left the building. Give yourself the permission to take a week off and not even think about blogging! If you have obligations and deadlines, then of course make sure they’re done first. But it’s ok to need a holiday. And when you get back on the train, don’t make a big deal of it, just write! Focus on other creative activities to help feed that passion spark – drawing, painting, sewing, reading. Refresh your passion.

It’s Worth It

Just like quilting, blogging is fun! But it’s hard work too. It takes time to piece a blog together, from choosing your layout, to piecing it together post by post, not to mention ironing out the wrinkles and unpicking the technical difficulties! But just like quilting, the end result makes it all worth it. Keep at it, keep those fingers on the keys, keep smiling!

But most importantly? THANK YOU. Thank you for inspiring me to turn on the computer when I’m tired, for commenting and becoming my friends, for making this blog what it is. Forgive me for being corny, but I truly literally couldn’t do this without you and I never, ever take you for granted. Ok, soppy moment over. Go, live your blog lives and thrive!