Blogging Expectations vs Reality (+ 5 tips for beginners!!)

Here’s who I think you are:

1. A blogger, wondering if anyone else is also feeling burned out and unmotivated (if you want some motivating writing quotes, this post is for YOU)
2. Someone who aspires to blog
3. A blogger who wants to see the life of another blogger

Even if you aren’t any of the above, this post will help you see the expectations and reality of blogging.

Blogging Expectations:

You write a post, and you post on social media about it, and boom you have readers swarming your website. 

Your ads are performing well, you have brands reaching out to you. You have people following you daily, and more emails subscribers. People are buying your products, opening your emails, and telling their friends about your posts and products.

Your posts are being read and shared. People are engaging with you and want to know more, and read more. Your corner of the internet is being appreciated. And that’s great, that’s something I want for my blog. That’s something I want for you. 

I want to impact my readers, and I want them to think of me as a dependable and helpful person.

But unfortunately, that’s not how blogging really is.

Blogging Reality:

You finally get to writing, and when you started you probably researched and started getting post ideas. You had a schedule, and you know you need some form of social media.

All you have to do now is to write, publish and just mention it to your friends and followers. Sorry, to say this, but that’s not how it works.

It’ll take a while to organically get followers, and a lot longer to build a connection with other bloggers and readers. Establishing trust in your niche’s community is something every blogger needs to do.

You can’t be blogging about numerous niches and expect people to stay. Usually, people care about one thing, people who read about cars won’t necessarily read about gardening. I blog about productivity and tips that will help you become the best version of yourself. I have posts like workout reviews and time management, and I have some posts about blogging(like this one!).

I have to create pins and social media posts, and I have to schedule these as well. I comment and build relations with other bloggers and influencers in my niche. I also have to keep up with my email newsletter and write posts for my blog. There’s a lot of time that goes into blogging, that’s unseen by readers.

These apps help you manage and spend your time blogging much better!

Don’t let this scare you though! Start small, and use these tips below to help you.

Blogging Tips

I’ve been blogging for about a year and a half by now, and I’ve picked up a few tips

• Start making friends early on. The better relationship you have with fellow bloggers, the more fun and beneficial your blogging career will be. These bloggers will be the reason you write and promote on hard days. You can find new opportunities such as guest posts and free promos.

• Plan ahead! Make your content calendar right now. Even if it’s just a list of post ideas and their scheduled posting dates. Sometimes you might feel like writing a different post, and that’s okay. You can refer to your post ideas and write a better post. Use this post to help you plan your week and include your blogging duties.

• Schedule dates every few weeks so you can go back and interlink blog posts. The more posts you write, the bigger your content library.

• Only focus on two social media platforms. For me that’s Twitter and Pinterest, I use Linkedln In occasionally. I recently created an Instagram for my blog, and I’m following everyone back!

• Write. Write. Write. I wish someone told me to focus on writing first, because it may seem like that’s most of the work, but it’s not. Writing blog posts is 30% while promoting, connecting, email newsletters, creating pins/infographics, commenting, etc is the other 70%. In the beginning, schedule posts for at least 1-3 months, and then start creating social media posts.

Conclude

I hope this helped clear your mind about any blogging doubts. I know it may seem tough but if you enjoy writing and talking about your niche, then you should certainly go for it. If you feel like investing in your blog is too big of a commitment try Medium for a few months to test the waters.

It’s free to write and publish there, and that’s where I started as well. You can check my profile right here: https://thelazygal.medium.com/

I’m trying to write more, so you might see another post next month instead of a 3 month dry spell. I’m planning on just writing, and focusing on social media after. I can’t believe it’s already April! My birthday’s next month and I’m so excited.

That’s it for this post, take care babe :))

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