I started my first blog back in November 2008 when I was merely 13 years old trying to figure out the whole shebang of blogging world. I remembered getting my first ever follower and getting all excited because there was one person in the world who was interested in following my blog.
And the number kept increasing and increasing until I hit 1500 followers and 250,000 pageviews. By the time I turn 15, I was known for my blog tutorials and posting 20-30 entries in a day. I was proud of my blog but that was that.
I got tired of my blog and doing tutorials so I stopped blogging altogether and left it to dust. I felt like my blog wasn’t mine and people weren’t interested in what I posted, instead they followed my blog just for my tutorials.
A few years later, I was 18 doing foundation in science at MSU, I got my own room in an apartment shared with other students with nothing but a laptop and wifi. I started blogging again but this time about product reviews and I got rid of all of my old posts.
However, that only lasted for a year before I got tired of it and moved my blog to Tumblr. I even deleted that blog along with my followers and pageviews.
This time around, I intend to do blogging right. Although there is no right or wrong way, but I’m learning from the mistakes I made during my early years of blogging.
Followers are everything
No, they are not. It’s nice to get a few new followers every single day but don’t be discouraged if you don’t. I know it’s hard not to compare the number of followers you have with other blogs but blogging isn’t about popularity.
It’s the number of people that benefit from what you write is what matters most. I only have around 270 followers on my blog but I helped so many of my blogger friends with their blog and I get comments each time I published an entry and to me that’s enough.
I couldn’t be happier. I was obsessed with the number of followers I have and sometimes I still am and I get discouraged over it but I spent a lot of time and money on my blog and the least I can do is to be very happy with it. My blog is my safe haven and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Quantity over quality
Like I mentioned, I used to publish around 20 posts everyday and my monthly average posts is around 300-400 posts each month. I didn’t know what was I thinking when I did that because apart from the tutorials I did, every other posts were rubbish.
Now that I have started blogging from scratch, I am perfectly fine with publishing 15-20 entries every month as long as I’m satisfied with what I have written.
I am currently trying to blog everyday for a month but I don’t know when will I be able to do that because it needs a lot of planning and scheduling posts. I hope I am able to do so in November or December, hopefully.
Too much information!
Did you know that I have been in an online fights via blogging with two of my ex-boyfriend’s girlfriends? Yes, the same ex-boyfriend, one in early 2010 and another in 2011. I was clearly not thinking clearly because I practically degraded myself over a boy, online, where everyone can read about it.
It was such a horrible time for me mentally and venting it online seemed like the only possible way to show how wrecked and heartbroken I was.
My advice is to steer clear of your blog when you’re having boy trouble or any other troubles that are hurting you mentally. Talk to someone. Read a book. Go for a walk.
Do anything you want but don’t go near your blog because the urge to vent and posting it online is stronger than your good conscience that is screaming “NO” in your mind.
Bad writing
I don’t always write like this. By this I mean.. this. On top of posting rubbish everyday, my writing was bad, too. I didn’t construct my sentence properly and I wrote how you would expect a 14-year old writes.
It was horrible but then again, my target audience was lower secondary school students with a blog and too much time in hand like I was. But it was fun, nonetheless.
The interaction between bloggers and readers were interesting and everyone was sharing tutorials and remember rainbow link? Yes, me too!
What are your blogging regrets?
