I published my 900th article last Friday but I only noticed the milestone a few days later.
I had no idea I would still be writing today when I typed my first post on Blogger in November 2006. Starting a blog was a spur-of-the-moment decision mostly motivated by boredom and culture shock. And six years later, I’m still there, still enjoying blogging. Funny, isn’t it?
So in honour of this 900th article, here are 10 things I wish I had known about blogging.
Blogging is time-consuming
I’m lucky, I rarely face writer’s block. Yet, blogging takes much more time than I would have thought at first.
Brainstorming ideas, taking pictures, doing some research, editing and proofreading articles, uploading pictures, replying to comments etc. is a lot of work. Most writers develop some kind of routine (such as scheduling articles) but while it helps, blogging remains a time-consuming activity if you want to be serious and consistent.
Bloggers will develop good marketing skills
Most people don’t blog for themselves—they want to find their audience. And considering the number of blogs around, building a community is almost a full-time job.
There are different ways to drive traffic to your blog but all include some kind of marketing skills. You could promote your blog on social media, participate in blog carnivals or simply leave meaningful comments on other blogs you enjoy reading but whatever you do, you have to be your own advertiser!
… and good technical skills
Those who are on Blogger or WordPress.com don’t have to worry much about the technical side of their blogs. But those who, like me, have a self-hosted WordPress blog fear each major version update. Updating the core of your blog can be tricky, and you could be stuck trying to decipher cryptic error messages to put your blog back online.
Besides, these days, a lot of bloggers want to stick out and express their creativity. Even if you use a theme or a template, there are parts of your blog you may want to tweak. And for that, you will have to edit the CSS or know some basic HTML!
Blogging isn’t always free
In 2007, I chose to leave Blogger, a free service, to use WordPress, a self-hosted blogging tool. It was a personal choice I don’t regret because WordPress offers a lot of flexibility. B
ut this wasn’t a free option. I had to buy a domain name and pay for web hosting. The total cost is reasonable (about $100 per year) but it was still an investment at the time.
… but these blog fees can be paid easily
Fortunately, I quickly realized these blogging fees could be paid fairly easily if I was willing to make a few compromises on my “no advertising” policy.
When I started blogging, I didn’t want to display any kind of ads. I changed my mind when blogging became time-consuming, when I started answering a lot of questions about Canada and when I had to pay for my hosting fees. Today, I make a little bit of money every month with Google Adsense.
Communication is key
I’m a firm believer that blogging is all about communicating and that bloggers should have some contact info available and/or a comment section.
I personally stay away from blogs that make commenting difficult (i.e. asking people to register to comment). Not all comments are deep and meaningful (including mine!) but keeping the communication open does wonders for the community, and you can learn a lot from those who take the time to leave a comment.
Bloggers do receive weird requests
The downside of inviting people to contact you or to leave a comment is that you will get strange requests.
Just today, I had three of those by email. The first person wanted me to help him promote his volleyball tournament (why me? Why? I never ever mentioned volleyball on that blog!). The second one asked me to promote a new website about Greece (lovely country, nothing to do with Canada though!). The third request was three lines in Spanish from a reader in Colombia who wanted me to sponsor her entire family (no “hello”, no “please” and no “thank you”).
I created a FAQ page with a few guidelines regarding questions but it doesn’t seem to deter weird people. Oh well.
Fighting spammers and scammers is annoying
Another blogging annoyance is those bloody spammers. You don’t realize how much of a pain they are until you reach 139,345 spam comments for 14,583 real comments (the latest stats available on this blog). Fortunately, Akismet blocks most if not all of them.
As for scammers, you will get people stealing your pictures, your blog articles, and your entire blog… just be prepared to deal with that.
There is such a thing as blogging etiquette
The first steps of a new blogger online can be daunting but most people are more than willing to help if you are willing to respect the etiquette!
Don’t blog because “you have to”
Blogging is something you should do because you enjoy it. If you don’t anymore, then there is no point in forcing yourself. Readers will feel your lack of interest. Sometimes, it’s better to take a break or post less often than to fill the gaps with poorly-written articles.
Any tip you’d like to add?
Yes, blogging can be time consuming – that’s why I had to cut back on the number of posts per week. When sitting at the computer to write (i.e. work) it was so tempting to just “take a few minutes” and check out other blogs, leave comments, etc. And then I was a goner… You must be disciplined with your time if you blog.
But blogging can be so worthwhile. I’ve met so wonderful people this way – including you!
Thank you! Yes, I find blogging to be a worthwhile investment of both time and money. And I’m glad I found your blog!
Blogging can be addictive. Be warned!
En los dos idiomas! 😉
I agree! Blogging is way more time consuming than I thought at the beginning… but when you’re into it, time flies really quickly. I think specially for us the non native speakers blogging is a real challenge. There will always be some days were I just can’t find the words to express myself – those days I usually just put the computer aside and do something else. After all, blogging is a hobby – not an obligation!
Oh and congrats to your 901 post! 🙂
I completely know what you mean, although I write faster in English than I do in French now. But still, I have to proof myself more carefully in English than in French!
Your article made me check my posts number: I’ve only written 178 articles since late 2006, I’m obviously not as prolific as you are!
Here’s one conclusion : I need to travel more and I need to photograph my city to be able to have something to talk about. Now, I’ve got to find more time obviously…
The number of articles doesn’t mean that much to be honest. I’d rather read longer articles that are well written than short posts that are basically repost or advertising. I like your blog though, and I’d love if you could write more!
Huhu, I’m blushing! I think that if everything goes well, I’ll have a looot to write in a couple of months… 🙂
I hope for our sake 😆
Hi Zhu Zhu,
Happy 900th post!
6 years blogging? Spectacular. I started blogging 5 years ago and I never thought I’d still be here today as well…time flies by, right? I am glad though that our paths crossed :D.
“(…) and you can learn a lot from those who take the time to leave a comment.”
True. And I personally can say that that is my favourite part of blogging.
I must tweet this post: awesome!
Cheerio
Five years ago eh… I think I caught you when you started then, because I think I’ve been following you for about five years!
Hi Zhu,
Happy 900th post! Youpi!!
It looks like our blog lives started at about the same period. I started my now defunct personal blog in NOV 2006.
Tips??
Be yourself. If you want to write it,create it or share it, just do it. People react best to authenticity and not “cookie-cutter” generic stuff.
I agree with you, authenticity is the key… and so is remembering you can’t please everyone!
i’m just on my way to hit 100th! wat a long distance between urs and mine. lol.
good tips. blogging should come from passion, otherwise it’s hard to keep it going.
Yeah, but you have long and detailed articles, so it’s good too.
Happy 900th blog post day! 🙂
Thank you!
A good article and read, Zhu! I am one of those people who has had a diminished interest in blogging after a few years of doing it, primarily because of its time-consuming nature. Yet I miss sharing with my blogging friends and when my heart was in it, writing the posts had meaning. I may be recharged now, enough to revisit the process.
Thank you for a thoughtful and well written article!
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!
I can perfectly understand the need for a break, blogging can be draining and life gets in the way. Glad you were able to reconnect with writing though!
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