My Blogging Journey: What I’ve Learned Blogging for 5 years

It’s been 5 years (and more) that I made a decision to start a blog.

I started this blog because I had so much I wanted to share and I couldn’t wait to share a part of me with the world.

Just like a lot of bloggers, my blog started as a .wordpress.com blog, where I did book reviews and book tours majorly.

I love reading books and I needed a place to talk about my favorite and least favorite books, so starting a blog seemed just right.

By 2019, I decided to buy a domain name and revamp my blog.

I came up with the name theavidinspire.com and my blog was named The Avid Inspri because I wanted to inspire other people through what I wrote on the blog.

For a while, I was consistent in my own way. I wrote book reviews, wrote some things on faith and my personal life before I stopped.

Yes! I stopped.

I got tired. I knew nothing about consistency.

I had more important things to do and I couldn’t keep up with consistent writing and posting.

So, from 2019 to 2021, I was on and off on my blog.

Someday, I would post; other days, I would be totally out.

This continued until the end of 2021.

I realised how much I wanted to write on my blog and share the many things I knew with others and this is why I have been consistent since then.

So, I will be sharing 10 things I’ve learned in the last 5 years and recently that have helped me stick to blogging and you can avoid the mistakes I made.

1

Have a Plan

If you want to be a blogger, ensure you really want to be a blogger. 

Don’t just buy a domain name and leave your money to go to waste.

Have a plan on how many times you want to show up on your blog every week and the things you want to write.

Before 2022, I only showed up on my blog when I had something pressing to write and sadly that only happens like once in a month or sometimes, once in a year. 

Imagine that!!!??!!

So now, what I do is, I have decided to show up once in 2 days on my blog.

So, whether I have something in mind to write or not, I show up, I write, I post.

And this has helped me to consistently show up. I have also realized that when you do show up, what to write will come. There are lots of ideas on things to write on the internet space.

If you have a plan, you will have a reason to stick to the plan.

2

Have a List of Ideas

Yes! It’s easy to think you will always know what to write but the truth is there are times you will have nothing to write even if you’re the best writer in the world.

So, what do you do to prepare yourself for those days?

Have a list of Ideas ahead. I have a book where I write down every blog post idea I’ve ever had as soon as they come.

There are times I also check online for ideas. I have a post on blog post ideas for any niche of your choice.

And, you can also check out other sites just by searching (blog post ideas for (your niche or topic)) on google.

These sites will give you hundreds of ideas you can pick to write your next post.

3

You don’t need a Niche

I know this is unpopular and if you look through some of the blog posts I’ve written on my blog, you will see I have some opposing statements about this.

But, sincerely, you don’t need to have a niche.

For a long time, I battled with the niche thing because today I might feel like writing on freelancing, tomorrow I will feel like writing on productivity, the day after I will feel like writing on religion and faith.

But everyone kept saying to niche down and write all my posts on one niche or around a topic.

I tried but I couldn’t keep up.

You can niche down if you want to, it has a lot of advantages, but if you’re finding it hard to niche down, jus write what you like writing.

If you have a lot to talk about or a lot of values and principles you believe in and want to share, go ahead and share everything.

One thing you should make sure to do is make it easy for people to know when you’re talking on a different topic. 

You can use the category segment and also your menu section to show that to your readers.

4

You can Monetize your Blog

This is one thing new and beginner bloggers are not aware of. 

But it is possible.

You can make use of Google AdSense, allow ads on your blog, and also use SEO to rank your blog so you can be easily seen on search engines and people can reach out to you for business opportunities.

5

Learn the Business of Blogging

There are bloggers and there are business bloggers.

If you love blogging and you want to make a living out of it, then you must do something different from a blogger who just wants to post for fun.

So, learn the Business of Blogging. Take a course. Learn something new about your blog niche. You can also learn the Business of Blogging on Hubspot Academy.

Create valuable content that will make visitors and readers stay on your page, bookmark your page, learn your page url by heart, and also keep coming for a long time.

6

Learn SEO

One of the things I had to take seriously when I became serious with my blog apart from changing my blog name from The Avid Inspri to Sarah Olaleye to boost my brand was to learn SEO.

If you want to be a blogger with a difference then you must be a blogger with SEO knowledge.

It is easier to learn for yourself than paying other people to do it for your blog when you have not even started monetizing the blog.

Also, when your blog grows and you need to hire someone to handle the SEO strategy, you will also know when the strategist is doing a good job and when they are not.

You can read this post to know more on why you should learn SEO.

And, you can also learn SEO from MOZ Beginner’s guide to SEO or from Hubspot Academy.

7

Guest Post on Other People’s Blogs

If you would like to be a well known and popular blogger, apart from constantly showing up on your blog, also show up on other people’s blogs and link them to your own blog.

Let people see you everywhere. Let your name be everywhere.

You can get Guest Post opportunities by checking out Guest Post opportunities or checking out blogs that allow Guest Posts online and by also writing for big name blogs and hoping they pick you.

This will be a great boost for your blog.

8

Write Valuable Content

Before you write for your audience or readers, think about it.

Will I read this type of content on someone else’s blog?

Will I continue reading or will I even click this blog if it were on someone else’s page?

Ask yourself these questions.

One thing that will guide you in writing valuable content is having a target audience and knowing your target audience.

Are your audience in their 20’s, navigating life and wondering what to do with their life and what career path to choose?

Are your audience in their 30’s looking forward to settling down or maybe finally making enough money to live the life of their dreams?

You need to know your audience. That way, whatever you write for them will be just right.

You will be able to target their emotions. Talk about their

struggles and meet some of their expectations.

9

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

When you just start blogging, there will be days when no one — I mean — no one will check your post.

No one will give a toss abi what you write.

No one will visit your blog.

No one will check what you write.

If you are just starting, you need to wait for a long time before SEO strategies start working, so the only option you have to get seen is off-page SEO.

Off-page SEO is posting your blog links on your social media pages and making people click on it to read your post. I always post my blog links on my Instagram page, Instagram stories, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.

You can also post your blog link on other people’s blogs through guest posting.

Off-page SEO might work at first but later, you will begin to get lower views.

Your social media friends will start getting tired of clicking your links.

And you might check your site stats one day after writing a blog post you worked so hard on and realize no one has visited your page.

This doesn’t mean anything at all.

Blogging is a long term thing and the more you write, the more chances you have of ranking on Google’s search page result.

The more consistent you are, the more people will value what you write and this will keep them coming.

So, keep posting.

Even when you don’t feel like it.

Follow your posting plan and keep showing up. It will be worth it at the end.

10

Keep Improving

As you progress and grow as a blogger, ensure this reflects on your blog as well.

Keep Improving.

Keep fixing your blog designs, your page arrangements, your site appearance, and your menu.

Keep working on your content.

Write better than you did the last time.

Check out what popular bloggers are doing with their content and on their blogs. See how you can learn from them and implement some of their ideas on your blog.

There will be days when you will not write as great as you did previously but don’t let it be everyday.

Ensure you write better, research better, publish better, and also improve in your SEO strategy.

Keep improving because this will help you stand out as a blogger.

–

It’s been 5 years of blogging but in reality, I’ve only been a serious and consistent blogger for 2 months and I have made 23 posts in those 2 months, around the time I wrote this blog post.

This is more than I have written in 2 months since I started blogging 5 years ago.

Imagine what I can do if I keep at it and keep showing up?

I am saying the same to you

Don’t give up on your blog. If you have something to write or talk about, do it.

Even if people don’t recognize what you’re doing now, give it time, people will see you and you will get all the applause you deserve.

Cheers!!