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.
sweet article! im new myself and im not at all tech savvy. im spending tonight learning how to use the twitter account from over a year ago. haha. congrats on all the success and being certified to be a dental hygienist. clean teeth is important =D
Thank you so much, Thu!
This is tons of fun, Andrea! And you’re so much fun to read as well, it’s really no wonder your blog grew so quickly 🙂 I know for one that I look forward to all your incredible, warm posts. I really need to get inspired by your level of dedication and consistency, because goodness knows I haven’t got that down quite yet–heh. Cheers to this!
Thank you so much, Ala! It’s been so busy these last couple weeks I’m starting to feel like I’m falling behind! I saw your amazing brownies, but haven’t had a chance to comment yet! But I’ll be sure to do it soon =)
Your blog is so good. I started going through the recipes and it really made me fell like going to the kitchen and preparing an amazing meal. I’ll surely try to cook something from here! Thanks for sharing too, it’s important to see more experienced bloggers talking about the beginning.
Thank you so much! I hope you’ll like the recipes that you try. I’ll be posting more in this series. Hope you’ll continue to follow along. Have a great weekend!
Thanks so much for sharing. I started blogging in June and it is a very slow process (gaining followers and readers). I am trying to be patient. 🙂 I love your blog!
Thank you so much, Nicole! I plan to do a few more posts in this series. Make sure to visit other blogs and like and comment on posts. People will notice and start coming to your blog. Hope you’ll find my posts helpful =)
Thanks for sharing your experience and tips!
You’re welcome!
Now I’m inspired to write more 🙂 Thanks for this wonderful post 🙂
You’re welcome! Hope you’ll stay tuned for more posts in this series!
A lovely girl and post. Thanks for it dear. Have a sunny day. 🙂
Thank you!
Thank you Andrea, I can’t wait to read further tips you’ve got. I’m sorry to hear about what happened with your qualifying exam. I am in a similar profession and progression also depended on patient cases which sometimes is beyond our control. Anyway, I love your blog!
Thanks, Lily! It’s sometimes really frustrating when there’s nothing you can do. If it’s your mistake, then you can learn to improve, but if it’s circumstances like that, there’s nothing that can be done to change it.
I’m going to post more tips over the next few weeks. Hope you’ll find them helpful!
Andrea, I have a q regarding customising the wordpress pop up reader. To clarify, I am referring to when I use my wordpress reader, see a post i like and click on it, resulting in the pop up reader which displays more of the post.
How do you specify exactly what portion of the entry is in the pop up ‘preview’ before there’s a ‘read more’ lik? For me, when i go to dashboard -> setting -> reading -> “For each article in a feed, show” -> options are either full text or summary. When I select ‘summary’, it limits it to very few words being displayed and no picture. I would like mine to be more like yours … that is, shows a paragraph or two, as well as some photos, before the ‘read more’ link comes up?
Thank you!!
Hi Lily! When you create a new post, look at the toolbar. There should be an image next to the “remove link” button, that looks like two solid lines with a dash line in the middle. Insert that wherever you want to stop the summary. That should work. I think you can keep the setting as “summary” but if it looks the same as it does now, change it to “full text” to see if that works. Let me know if it works or if you have more questions =)
Ha, ha, ha! I get those too! At least three a day. I always just thought it was spam especialy since it s clear what blo I use. You are so kind to write this up!
Have a great weekend! =)
You, too! Cheers!
Thanks! This really helped me, and I am trying to be as consistent as I can to help get Lens Flare moving as much as I can! Do you have any tips on making good content?
That’s a great question. Get inspired by what’s around you. lol. I focus on the season and what’s available right now. Then I try to relate whatever my topic is with what I’ve personally experienced. I try to include little stories if it fits.
When I write, I try to write the way I’d speak with friends, family, and acquaintances. We each have our own voices so I think it’s important to try to include that in our writings. That way people get to know us better and “hear” us. Hope that helps! =)
Thanks! This really helped a lot!