Do you know what (June 8th) was? OUR ANNIVERSARY!

I have officially been blogging for five years now and it’s a little hard to believe. It absolutely does not feel like it’s been five years at all, but I guess time does fly when you’re having fun! This journey as a blogger has been one with many ups and downs, and it’s a journey that still has a long way to go, but it’s one I will never regret. I could have never imagined being where I am right now in my blogging journey. In the same way that I look at other bloggers who have been doing this for 10+ years for motivation and inspiration, there are bloggers who look at me the same way, which is something that will never cease to amaze me!

I have learned so much during my five years as a blogger, which I still have so much more to learn, and I will share (a few) of the things I’ve learned thus far!

Treat your blog as if it’s your business. Some may not see their blog as a business, but if you even feel as if you may want to blog full time, you should treat your blog as your business from the start. Doing this will allow you to take the important steps needed in the early stages so that way you won’t have to worry about being “behind” when/if you do decide being a blogger is the career path you’d like to take.

Treat your five readers as if there were 500. This is something to keep in mind when you’re just starting or with anything you put out that may not catch too much attraction. As frustrating as it may seem to not do as well as you hoped in the beginning, remember to treat the few readers/supporters you have as if it’s double the amount. Every single supporter is important no matter the size. Because of this, I always say that I rather have five true and interactive supporters versus five-hundred people who don’t interact or aren’t the most supportive.

Using ads is a hit or miss. As I’ve gotten further into my blogging journey, I decided to use ads for my blog as a way to get a little bit of money coming in. I’m sure there are others that may have a good amount of success with them, but they have not been successful at all for me. In order for them to work, your readers must click on the ads, which will then result in you obtaining revenue. It sounds easy enough because there’s no purchase necessary, yet it’s still hard to get anyone to click on them. With that being said, I’m keeping my ads and I still suggest others to put them on their blog. As I said, they’re a hit or miss and you’ll never know how well they may work for you if you don’t try.

Get a newsletter before you start your blog (but it may not be necessary). Something I truly wish I knew about before I started blogging was newsletters. If I knew about them, I would’ve started setting up a newsletter either before my blog or during the first year of blogging instead of these last two years. Newsletters help you connect with your supporters and it allows you to share with them things that you may be selling or creating. I believe they can work very well, but I also say that they may not be necessary. If you’re a reader, you may have read a recent post about struggling with getting interactions from my subscribers. I’m spending money on my newsletter, but the clicks/opens aren’t fitting the number of subscribers (and haven’t been for a while), which makes it a big loss for me. With that being said, I do believe that having a newsletter can be a big help especially if you’re starting an e-commerce business, but it may not be necessary.

SEO will make you go “Hell No“. SEO is something I’m still trying to learn and have yet to really put my all into (despite its importance) because it’s a huge headache! With that being said, it is very important and is the base of what’s going to get your blog out there (and even potentially on the top of a Google search). When you’re tackling SEO, the best way to go about it is to take a deep breath, get wine, and ask for help when you feel frustrated. Things take time and SEO will be no different.

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I have so many more things that I’ve learned, but that would require a much longer post, so I just stuck with five that are pretty important.

I hope that I was able to share a little bit of wisdom and I thank every single one of you for supporting me through my journey thus far! I’m so appreciative of every DM, collaboration, comment, email, subscriber, and more. You all continue to remind me of why I have to keep going and continue to be the blogger that I know I can be.

Cheers to five years and here’s to five more!