What I've Learned From Blogging

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My blog is over a year old now an although I still consider myself as a bit of a newbie, I'd say I've learned a lot of things along the way too. I had a few ideas of what blogging would be like before I started and I think it's safe to say my perception of those has changed quite a lot too. Here's just a few things I've learned from my 14 months of blogging.

You don't have to be a technology whizz
I'm not exactly the best with technology, I've struggled with many a gadget along the years, so actually coming to set up my blog seemed a little daunting to me and I thought it would take me forever to get to the point where I was happy to write my first blog post. Using Blogger templates made it a lot easier though - I think it's a lot more beginner friendly than Wordpress. There's so many online guides to help get you started too - I found Khila from Miss Budget Beauty's video in particular very useful. There's still a few tech bits I would like to learn to improve the design of my blog though!

You don't have to be well off to be interesting
When I first started my blog I thought I had to buy every single new product going to be relevant to readers, costing me a heck of a lot of money. I soon realised after following more blogs myself that hyped up new launches get a lot of coverage elsewhere and it actually starts to get quite repetitive, so would people really need yet another review from myself?! I started to have a look through my stash and dig out things I already had that I could talk about, and other topics away from product reviews that I could cover (you can see a list here). Of course I still love to buy new products, but these days I only pick the ones that are of interest to myself.

Taking a break is fine
I was really annoyed with myself when I had to take a fortnights break due to illness last year. Looking back at it now I'm wondering why?! This isn't my job, it's a hobby and hobbies are meant to be fun. Putting pressure on myself to produce content when I'm really not feeling up to it is 1. more than likely result in poor content being produced and 2. make me start to resent my blog and not enjoy the process of writing anymore. And to be completely honest I'm not sure anyone even noticed I was gone, or if they did, they didn't seem to mind! I've managed to blog every day so far in 2015, but if I need to take a break at some point for whatever reason, I'm not going to beat myself up about it this time.

It's not all about the numbers
Don't get me wrong, when you first start blogging it's really exciting to see your page views going up, or to receive another email informing you of a new follower, as it's a sign that people are actually reading your work. About a month or so into my blogging journey though, I became obsessed by the numbers. Why do I have less page views than I did yesterday? Why has no one new followed me today? It's so easy to focus on the stats and see it as a reflection on you, but I've learned not to look at it like that anymore. I started my blog as a creative outlet where I could talk about the things I love that people in my personal life quite frankly couldn't give a toss about! My husband doesn't want to hear me whitter on about the latest lipstick I've bought, but I'm hoping my readers do or they wouldn't be here! It's all about sharing my passion with like-minded people, and if people enjoy reading it then that's a bonus!

I can actually stick to something if I put my mind to it!
When it comes to finding hobbies, I'm the girl that starts something and after a month or so gets bored and moves on! I've never really stuck with anything for a long period of time - I ummed and ahhed about starting a blog for a long time for this very reason But to now be over a year in and still loving every minute of it is a huge achievement for someone like me! I guess I just found my "thing". I guess learning all the things I have along the way, and realising I don't have to be "perfect" to enjoy it, has spurred me on to keep going. The blogging community is also a really good motivator. I really enjoy Twitter chats, and reading your comments (even if I am still so slow at replying sometimes!). I've also made a really good friend who I would never have met if it wasn't for my blog, but I couldn't imagine not having her in my life now! It's things like that which make me realise starting Kizzy Hearts was one of the best things I ever did, and I certainly don't want to stop anytime soon!

What have you learned from blogging?