My Tips and Truths About Blogging

I saw many bloggers participating in Taylor's linkup for "Blogtober", a linkup where one posts a blog post everyday in October aligned with the daily theme. Since my middle name is "planner" and I have a lot scheduled for this month, I have not participated, though I love the idea! 

One of the daily themes that was recently had, really stuck out to me. It was 10 tips, advice, lies, and/or things you have learned about blogging. I thoroughly enjoyed reading how other people perceive and value blogging. 

For quite some time, some of my friends and readers have asked me to write a post on how I have grown my blog, my plans, tips, and/or advice. I have been hesitant to ever write a post like that because quite frankly, who am I to tell someone how to blog? It kind of annoys me when people put rules to blogging. There is no right or one wrong way; blogging is what you want you want to make of it and that is what I love about it! 

Seeing those blog posts gave me the inspiration to write about my experience blogging thus far. I wanted to write about what I have learned, advice I have, tips, and I would love for you guys to share yours as well.  This is by no means a standard to follow; as I stated above, I do not really believe in that. This is more of my view thus far on the world of blogging. 

My truth about blogging is that I never knew how much joy and purpose it could bring to me. Simply put; this is my thing. I spent the better part of my teenage and young adult life trying to figure out what the hell I want to do with myself. I knew I wanted to make a difference. I knew I wanted to bring women together and to try and make the world a better place. I was just unsure how exactly to do this. 

Then I started writing. 

When I was growing up, I was always writing and drawing (I was no good), and making short stories. I never thought about making it a career though. To be honest, I would have not even known where to begin anyway. Then in June of last year, I randomly started this blog on Thursday afternoon. I had been reading a few lifestyle blogs for a couple a months and I really enjoyed it. I am a naturally curious about other peoples lives; nosy if you must, so I thought it would be fun to create an online scrapbook of my life. I started this blog solely because I wanted to document my day-to-day life, no matter how boring or monotonous. 

I also wanted no one to read this that I knew personally. Thanks to Google and being semi-known for my weight loss, people that I knew personally slowly but surely started to find out about my blog. I contemplated deleting it then, but I held off because I grew to love it so much. However, that changed when my partner (ex now) found my blog. He hated it. I am unsure why... well no I am not, I know why (no one was allowed to give me compliments or attention). I then thought "Well now I have to delete my blog. Even though I love it so, so much, and it makes me incredibly happy, there is no way I can continue to write anymore". This resulted in a hiatus for about 3 weeks. 

During that time, life as I knew it changed 100%. My two and a half year relationship ended, I started a new job, I was moving, and I had gained so much weight since the end of 2012 that I was rapidly approaching the heaviest I had ever been. 

At the end of October, I opened my blog back up, and I told myself that now I was going to start living for myself. I had let myself and my happiness go for so long. My life was in sense starting over and I wanted to document it on this blog. I desperately needed it too.

In January, the direction of my blog started to change. I started writing about my weight loss journey, my new life, my problems, my afflictions, and everything in between. That is when my passion really started to grow. I started to realize my purpose in life was writing and helping other people. I am not afraid to open myself up to judgement and criticism in hopes that it can help someone else heal or avoid making mistakes that I have. 

Blogging has now become one of my greatest passions in life. I do it to document my life; and it is definitely still my online scrapbook. More so, I do it to help me grow as a person and other people. Writing is unbelievably therapeutic for me and my readers and friends I have made from here have helped me more than words could ever say. I love each of you from the bottom of my heart and no matter the direction my blog goes into, I hope you always know that. 

My hope for this blog and that it keeps growing; and I am willing to put it in the work and effort that requires, especially because no matter what I will always be authentic. I hope Fitness Blondie continues to expand and inspire, and I want to write novels. I am taking it one day at a time, but that is my vision; and a girl with a vision becomes a woman with a purpose.

This is the biggest piece of advice I could ever give to anyone who wants to blog or already does. Please be you. If everyone was the same, this network of people would be so boring. Variety truly is the spice of life. Do not compare your blog design, logistics, or writing style to anyone else. People see through "fake" and "staged", and it is not a good look for anyone. If your blog is meant to grow, it will. If this is your calling and you want to become "blog famous", it will happen. You can buy numbers, but you cannot buy readers.

Do not be someone you are not. People are going to appear to make a lot more money than you, have the perfect, husband, children, house, cars, and so on, and it is fine to be intrigued and interested in it, but remember to not compare yourself to that and embrace the life you have.

Opening up on my blog was one of the scariest but greatest things I have done. By being raw and honest, I have come to terms with hardships of my life and I have been able to properly move on. Sometimes writing my deepest and most personal posts have lifted such burdens off of my soul. In addition, it has also allowed me to see that so many of my friends and readers have gone through similar situations and have given me great hope and advice. Being honest is one thing I admire most about some of my favorite blogs, but when you are writing, be honest in a tactful way. You never know who will find and read your blog. 

There have been so many times where I wanted to be brutally honest and share so many personal things that have happened to me, that would maybe make my situations more understandable, but I had to digress. It is hard holding back on some things, but necessary. It is also important to remember that the more you open up, the more you open yourself to criticism. 

The above tip brings me to my next one. Not everyone is going to like you nor is everyone going to understand you. Blogging is no different than real life, so please be ready for it.  If you really enjoy blogging, dedicate a lot of time and effort, and end up growing, the criticism and negativity about you may happen more. The more you are known, the more people have to say about you. It is unfortunate that it has to happen this way, but it is something you do not have control over. 

At first the negativity could be hard to ignore, but over time it gets easier. When I told my mom about it her reply was "get used to it". I was shocked at that response. She added "Listen if you want to grow your blog like you say do and I believe you can, you are going to have to understand and accept that people are not going to like you. Not just that, but people are going to be jealous of you and do anything they can to see you fail. It is what happens to people who become successful and get known. If you cannot handle that, you need to rethink your dream of writing books and blogging". 

And just like that, I got over it. I love makeup and wear a lot of it. I love feeling sexy and confident. I write about my weaknesses and flaws, and I do it to help myself and other people. Those are easy targets for people who dislike me. I could not allow it to tear me apart. I work and try far too hard for something like that to take over and deter me from my dreams. If you are a good person and a good friend, you will find that in blogging, the positive unbelievably weighs out the negative.

Sometimes though, the criticism will be constructive. I am not perfect, nor are you. Be open to suggestions and growing as a brand and person, but ignore the petty and ignorant things.  If you do not think you can handle any type of negative feedback, blogging may be hard on you. Going through this has made me a much stronger and surprisingly more confident person. 

We all want to be heard. We all love those comments. We all love to see how numbers grow. But be genuine. I love to write, which is why I in turn love blogging. Therefore, I really want my blog friends and readers to read what I write. As a result, I always do the same for them. If a person pours from their heart a long blog post and posts a picture; and someone comments solely on the picture, it is kind of insulting. I do not believe in commenting just to comment or following just to follow. That takes so much away from goal. Not every blog will appeal to you, if it doesn't, move on. If you want a solid, real readership base, then be a solid reader. The same goes for blog hop and link ups; do not participate solely to promote your blog. Take advantage of having a network of bloggers at your fingertips and mingle! I can sum this tip up in a few short words: be the type of reader you want on your blog.

This seems to be a touchy subject for people. If you truly love blogging and want to take it further than just a hobby, do it. Blogging is grossly underestimated with the amount of time and dedication it takes. I spend at least 24 hours a week blogging. I work a minimum of 4 hours a day, 6 days a week on writing my posts, creating graphics, responding to emails, reading my friends posts, creating new content ideas, and finding new business opportunities. I absolutely love social media and business, so my goal is to grow but never, ever lose my authenticity. My advice on this is grow in a smart way. 

Grow by being yourself. You can buy followers, but not readers. Participating in giveaways occasionally is a great way to market yourself and get people interested and intrigued, but if that is your only source of growing, you will not receive the type of readership base you think you are.

Congruently to my point above, another way to grow is through partnering with brands, reviewing products, and writing sponsored posts. Sometimes people can be cynical about this, and that is something I do not understand - as long as your sponsored posts are not on a basis to where it outweighs your regular posts.

As I stated, a lot of us work very hard on our blogs. It is so enjoyable, but still time consuming, especially since a lot of us have full-time jobs and other things going on. Creating new content, creating graphics, finding new opportunities, reading our favorite blogs, writing posts, and responding to emails, takes quite a bit of effort and dedication. Therefore, do not knock a blogger or immediately click away when you someone has a sponsored post. A lot of us give away tons and tons of free recipes, advice, and more, so if an opportunity is presented to receive a little bit of compensation, do not automatically think negativitly about the post or the blogger.

We all love sharing new beauty finds, fitness products, good deals, etc., so a sponsored post is no different! It is a great way to try new products, get discounts, and share something you love or enjoy. Most reviews, even though they are sponsored, are still honest. That is one pledge I have to on my blog no matter what the product is.

My bottom line is blog how you want. I love variety and I love how we are all so different with an array of stories to tell and experiences to share. This post was just a tiny view of my experience thus far in the big ole' blogging world.