When I saw this weeks listography over at Kate's I knew I had to take part. I consider myself to be a friendly, approacable blogger and one of my favourite things is passing on the knowlegde I have gained in the last 3 years of blogging. I have been through such a massive rollercoaster ride on this blogging journey that it feels only fair to offer my services where I can to newer bloggers. Hence New Bloggers Fortnight coming up in just a couple of weeks.... keep your eyes peeled.
So what are my top tips for blogging?
1. Have confidence.
It is your blog, write it how you like. Really think about why you are blogging and remember that. If your blog starts out as therapy and a place to rant and that is why you continue, then remember that and do not get distracted by number of comments and stats or if your blog is primarily a place for you to make friends, then go out there and comment on other blogs and make friends - attract them back to your blog with your friendly personality.
2. Persevere
Blogging can be a massively emotional journey. Most bloggers I know have shed tears at some point and it can be over many things; the emotions it brings up for you, the mean person who talks about you on twitter, or your lack of visitors. But stay focused, if blogging is working for you on most levels then ignore the bad and keep going. At some point it will all come good and you will reach a place of serenity..... it just takes time!
3. Blog from the heart
You have probably noticed what my blog is called. I tend to be known as a pretty honest blogger. I reveal mostly all about my self (not others) and am happy to do so. It helps me and I know from the emails, comments and tweets that I get that it helps others too. That works for me. Blogging from the heart does not mean you have to be as open as I am, it just means that what ever you write should be written with passion and care. Do not try to imitate others, it is not flattery, it just will mean your blog will fall flat on its face.
4. Don't be afraid to ask
If you want something, go out there and get out. Need to know how to put that widget on your blog? Want to know how to use twitter? Would like to be tagged to join in with that popular meme? Would like to write a guest post for someone? Ask, just be bold and be polite and ask for help. There are some wonderful places where you can ask for help like BritMums, Blogger.Ed, Love All Blogs and Twitter or just find your favourite blogger and use their contact page.
5. Make Twitter your friend
I had a love/ hate relationship with twitter for months when I first joint. In fact it took me about 5 months to feel like I could spend an enjoyable hour on there. The best thing I did my shed my inhibitions; I learnt that on twitter you have to just dive in. No-one thinks you rude if you just jump into a conversation, the quicker you learn this the better. You will start to have banter, fun and conversations with all sorts of people. Follow 1 or 2 bloggers you have found you like and then look at their follower list and just start following people that you think look interesting. You are going to need to follow around 100 people to ensure that enough is going on in your timeline to give you variety and something you fancy joining in with.
Last year I wrote a longer post wth tips for bloggers, take a look here if you fancy reading and if you are a new blogger you might be interested in the post I published a couple of days ago called How to get the most out of meme's, linky's and blog hop's.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I am hosting New Bloggers Fortnight for the 2 weeks commencing 6th February. This is where new (ish) bloggers write posts for new bloggers with the aim of helping them find their feet quickly and with the least amount of pain! If there are any particular topics or questions you would like to see posts on then do leave me a comment and I will see what I can do.
Now head over to Kate's and check out all the other entires in this weeks Listogrpahy linky.
Cheers for reading, Mich x
