Lately, I’ve been receiving emails and messages from other bloggers asking for tips and advice on how to expand their blog, how to get more subscribers, how to take photos, etc. I thought I’d answer these questions and more in a series of blog posts. If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me. I love to read and answer questions (and comments!).
When I first started blogging almost a year ago, I was looking for a way to relieve stress and to distract me from my personal and professional life. I had just finished my degree in dental hygiene and took my licensing exam. Unfortunately, because my patient had not qualified for me to work on, and I lost time looking for a second patient, I didn’t pass the exam and had to wait another year before the exam returned to my area. I was disappointed and devastated by the set back and needed something to distract me.
Around that time, I browsed so many food blogs, admired tons of mouthwatering photos, and had just begun playing around with recipes. I wasn’t completely new to the blogging scene, but I thought that I’d start a brand new blog dedicated to recipes.
When I first started back in November 2013 (just two weeks until one year!), I actually used Blogger because I was more familiar with it. I’ve played around with blogs before, but it was never anything that lasted long because I was always busy with school. I even had one post on Blogger for Cooking with a Wallflower, but that recipe never made it onto this site. At least, not yet. Go ahead, click on the link, and I think you’ll see why. =)
My friend, Emily, from Emily’s Daily, suggested that I try WordPress. So I did. After playing around with both sites, I decided that WordPress was a better fit for me. I liked that I had more control over how the site looked. It really depends on your preference. Some people like working with Blogger more than WordPress. I recommend trying both to see what you like.
Those first few months, I didn’t get many views. Then again, I wasn’t really consistent on posting either. I was just excited to get 5 views a day, then 12.
Soo much has changed since then.
As I created more content, more recipes, I began to receive more views and subscribers.
Some months you’ll do better than others. Some days you’ll have a post that goes viral as I did in May, and then there are other days when barely anyone views your post.
What really works is consistency. Make sure to post every few days to keep your readers interested. If you post, let’s say, every three months, your readers won’t know if you’ve quit or if you’re ever going to update, and you may potentially lose a reader.
I like to post every other day. That’s just my preference. Here’s a little peek at my schedule. I can only cook and take photos twice a week: Wednesdays and Thursdays. So I do what I can to make the best of the time I have. I like to store my photos on my laptop and write my posts the day before or the day of when the post goes live. They’re rarely ever scheduled far in advance unless I’m on vacation. I like pressing the publish button too much.
Everyone is different. What works for me might not work for you.
Writing posts isn’t as easy as people might think. Non-bloggers don’t realize how much work it takes to create content, to take photos, to write, to edit. Lots of steps, tons of dedication. But if this is what you’re passionate about, go for it! It’s a slow process. You’re not going to gain viewers overnight. But in the end, if this is what you’re passionate about, it’s worth the time and effort.
In the next couple weeks, I’ll be posting more to this series. Stay tuned!
You’ll get to see how I changed my technique and went from the first two images to the last image in less than a year using the same camera. You can click on the image for an enlarged view.
If you have questions, please feel free to message me. I’ll be happy to answer them to the best of my abilities and include them in my posts. Or if there’s something you want me to address first, let me know.
Great post Andrea! This is exactly the type of advice I’ve been looking for. I will be glad to see other posts like this one.
Thank you so much, Ashley! Especially for being so supportive! I hope you’ll find the posts in this series useful. If there’s a specific question you have, please feel free to let me know and I’ll see if I can add it in. =)
Thank you for this! I’m a new blogger and I would love to read more about your tips!
Hi Rina! I hope you’ll find my future posts useful. In the mean time, let me know if there’s something you’d like me to cover. =)
I am very curious to read the next article in this series!
I hope you’ll find them useful =)
Happy blirthday! As a hopeless photographer myself, I’m looking forward to your tips on that.
I’m not good with photography at all, so much to learn, but I discovered that using natural light makes a huge difference! I hope you’ll find my future posts useful!
Thanks for the advice Andrea, I enjoy your blog. I changed my WordPress blog during August this year, before I used to just add photos and some quotes, now I changed it to my organic gardening blog, however, I have extended it to thoughts and photos of nature beyond my garden, and I am really enjoying it. There is so much to document in everyday life, so much beauty and wonder about the natural world. Since August I have 52 followers, I need to still work on my blog and appreciate your advice, I have gained a lot by discovering other bloggers, my, there is such a wealth of fantastic and inspiring blogs, I find it very interesting to check my readers every morning. As I have had to retire early due to ill health my blogging is an activity of mine which I find more absorbing than facebook (which I deactivated).
You’re welcome! There are soo many different types of blogs out there! Everyone has different interests. Just make sure to categorize your post so that people would have an easier time searching through them.
I prefer blogging over Facebook too. But sometimes people prefer to connect through Facebook so I created a page just for my blog. That way people can follow me there too!
I’ll talk about reaching out to people in later posts, but for sure, visiting other people’s blogs, liking their posts, and commenting really helps in expanding your viewership. Hope that helps for now!
Thank you Andrea – and good thinking about the face book page.
These are very good to know things. I just started blogging a couple of weeks ago and I found what you said about updating consistently helpful 🙂 oh and your pics are very pretty and artistically done!
Thank you so much! I hope you’ll find my posts helpful =)
excellent advice!!! I am looking forward to more so I can increase my readership on a more consistent basis. Thank you.
You’re welcome! I hope that these upcoming posts will be helpful!
I have 2 blogs and when I hear of a site with huge views, I have to admit I am envious and curious about the whole getting noticed thing as on mudpilewood I post once a week and on Bob’s site about twice a week. I have to admit I am stagnant and eager to soak up any tips thrown my way. Thanks Andrea for your advice.
You’re welcome! I hope these upcoming posts will help answer any questions you have =)
I will watch out for them. Thanks again.
Oh really? hmm? well, as a new blogger my concern is how to reach through bigger media? and I’m also insecure of what I only have and can only do. Sometimes I don’t know what to write and how I would really express myself. But seriously though, I’ve been reading about this topic so yours really helped me a lot 🙂 Thanks again!
I’ll address that in future posts, but I’ll answer your questions now. To reach more people, it’s going to take time. It’s not going to happen fast. What you have to do to reach a larger audience is to engage with other bloggers. You have to reach out and like other posts and comment. It takes time and effort, but it really works. Use social media to “advertise” your post. Send out a tweet or post on Facebook.
As for what to write or how to express yourself, just be yourself. Write whatever comes to mind and then if you need to, you can go back and fix it later. That’s what works best for me.
Don’t feel insecure. Just imagine that this is for you and your friends and be yourself. As a new blogger, I wasn’t sure what I should write or how people would react to my posts. I just wrote what I felt like. You’ll realize that there are going to be people who love your work and there’s going to be people who won’t. But it shouldn’t matter. What matters is what you think and whether you’re proud of what you’ve done.
Hope that helps for starters. And thanks for reading! =)
OMG 🙂 your a heaven sent!! lol Thank you so much. This inspires me A LOT 🙂 I would always keep this in mind. Thank you again.
You’re welcome! =)
thank so much for this 🙂 I’m really glad that I followed you. You’re not just teasing me with your recipes but I love reading how the process goes 🙂
You’re welcome! There’s so much to include so I had to break it down. This is sort of just a little peek at what’s to come. Is there anything specific that you’d like to read about as I’m working on the posts?