Blogging Mistakes I'm Currently Fixing
I did not know what I was doing when I first started blogging. I went into it blindly and made a lot of mistakes on the way. I don’t want others to make the mistakes that I have made when I started my blog so I am going to share what I did wrong in my journey. I started my blog in February 2018 and I am nowhere near where I expected to be now. I don’t have the following that I want on social media. I don’t have the amount of views I want on my website and I’m not close to working with the brands that I want to collaborate with. The hard truth is that the reason why I’m not where I want to be is because of me. I’m the only one to blame. I don’t know if it was that I didn’t believe in myself to put the effort in or that I was always busy. But I do know that I always made excuses. Excuses for why I can’t post a blog that is already done. Excuses for why I can’t post pictures to instagram. And so many more excuses to the point that I’m tired of them. I know usually people write about the mistakes that they already have success with their blog but I want to see the progress I make with the knowledge I have now. Maybe this will hold me accountable. So let’s get started.
- Not being active on all social media sites– I’m upset that I’m admitting this but it wasn’t until Instagram shut down that I realized that I need to use other platforms because you never know what is going to happen. I was solely relying on IG to promote my blog. I’ve had my Twitter and Pinterest account for Defining My Essence since I started the blog but never used them. I started taking Pinterest seriously two weeks ago and I went from having no views to 14K views a month. Now let’s get into Twitter. I’m upset that I wasn’t active here from the start. There are so many bloggers and writers over there and it makes sense because you’re literally writing your thoughts. I started a TikTok account as well but I just started that this year. The one social media site that I don’t want to do is Facebook, maybe one day but not right now.
- Not taking pictures– For me this is a big one for different reasons. I used to hate being photographed. I didn’t think I was photogenic until my friend Shavell took my pictures and after that I thought I needed others to take my pictures for me. So I made the excuse that because I didn’t have anyone to take my pictures I couldn’t post. The other excuse was that I wasn’t going anywhere fun to take pictures. I wasn’t going out and having a social life and other bloggers went places to take their pictures. They travel and do all sorts of things and I felt like I had to as well so I didn’t take pictures at all. Now I have a tripod and I take most of my pictures in my room. The more I took pictures the better I got and now I could use that as content to write about.
- Not posting– I know what you are thinking. You have to post on the blog to get views. My problem was that I would have blog posts done and not post them because I thought they weren’t good enough. I would have about seven blog posts sitting in my drafts and not post them. I would have plenty of pictures for IG and not post them. I had to let the idea of perfection go because it’s better that it’s done than not posted at all. I took so much time to write or take the pictures so why not post it. I realized that I’m going to make mistakes and that’s okay. If I don’t make mistakes, how am I supposed to grow?
- Not repurposing content I already have– If you have been on my IG this week I have been posting reels that I should have done already. I felt like since I already posted the pictures I couldn’t reuse them and I was wrong. Since I didn’t have actual videos I used live pictures to make reels of things I already posted. One of the reels I posted went up a week after the blog post and someone commented on the reel saying she didn’t know about the tips that I gave. I realized that repurposing your content gives your audience a second chance to see it if they didn’t notice the first time.
- Not being consistent– Since I wasn’t posting I wasn’t being consistent. I realized that I can’t build a following without being consistent. I was unreliable so of course no one is going to stay. What has helped me with being consistent is starting off small. I started posting on IG every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I did that for a couple of weeks then I added the blog. Since I upload the blog on Saturdays, I post about the blog on IG that day too. My goal is to keep those days the same but if I have extra content, I’ll add another day. Right now where I’m struggling with consistency is my Twitch stream schedule. I think I figured out a solution though. On Monday this week I did a productivity stream. So it gives me the chance to stream and still write for the blog, edit reels or update my website which was what I did this Monday. I also change my schedule to 1:00pm EST every stream. Not only is this going to help me be consistent with streaming, it’s going to help me be consistent with taking pictures. I usually take pictures around 3:00-6:00pm and my stream schedule was interfering with it.
- Not interacting with my comment section– I usually stay in my own bubble even in the real world so it was hard for me to start interacting with people online. A big mistake that I would make was not replying back to comments on my posts, even with my own friends. I used to just like people’s comments but now I make sure I reply back. People don’t have to comment on any of your posts and it should be appreciated that they did. And guess what, the more you respond to their comments the more they will come back.
- Not Interacting with other content creators– As much as it is important to interact with your audience it’s important to interact with other creators. Lately I’ve been finding other bloggers to connect with and it’s been wonderful interacting with people that have the same goals. I’ve been getting so much insight into things that I should be doing and how to improve. I’ve been reading and commenting on other bloggers’ posts and they have been doing the same. We have been promoting and following each other and it feels great to be supported.
- Finally, not believing that I’m a blogger– I’m finally claiming the title as a blogger and also as a Twitch streamer. This week I put Claudie|SW Florida Blogger on all of my social media platforms. I think making that change has helped me get a little bit of following on IG. The point is that since I finally claim that I’m a blogger I’m finally acting like one.
I hope that you enjoyed the blog and maybe I will make another list of mistakes I make along the journey because I know there is a lot more I need to learn. Thank you for reading.