5 Tips for New (and Old) Bloggers

...Or things I wish I new when I started blogging way back when.

It took me a lot of trial and error over the course of three years to get to the happy blogging place that I am now. I was actually inspired to write this post by a post a read on how to be a happy blogger (thanks to Bloglovin's top 10 picks of the week!). These are the top 5 things that I think every blogger should now starting out (and even those who have been at it for a while):

1. Write about what YOU are interested in. This sounds like common sense, but in reality, you can get so caught up with what everyone else is doing and what you think people want to read about that you may forget that your blog is just that: Your blog! Your blog is your personal creative space on the interweb, and it's easier to write about what you're interested in. Besides, it may be a breath of fresh air to readers to find one blog on collecting lampshades in a virtual sea of fashion blogs. 
2. Quality is better than quantity. This applies to a lot in life, including blogging. Don't think that you have to post everyday, or even every week for that matter. Some people use their blogs to make money, so they have to post frequently. But if you're like me and are blogging as a fun hobby, it's ok to post less frequently. I good, well thought out post every couple of weeks is better than a forced, thrown together post every day. Also, scheduling posts helps with this. When you have the time or creative energy to write a ton of posts, schedule them to automatically post periodically throughout the month.
3. Don't compare your blog to others'. Another one of life lessons applicable to blogging. As mentioned in #2, people blog for different reasons, they have different audiences, and they have been blogging for different amounts of time. If someone has a million followers, it could be because they have been blogging for 10 years, or they advertise their blog through various media sources, or they just hired some people to follow them so they could look popular. You never know, so don't feel bad if growing a large following is taking a little longer than expected.
4. Get out there. (Of course if you're not doing this then you aren't going to be reading these suggestions in the first place!) Don't post on your blog and then sit back and expect the readers to just magically come to you. Although blogging isn't quite the same as posting on Facebook, blogging is still a form of social media (the most creative form in my opinion), and the whole point is to be social. The best way to attract readers is to follow and read other blogs and make comments. Once you get out there and start interacting with the blogging community, not only will you find interesting blogs to read, but you will also add interesting readers to your blog!
5. Join a blog/web discovery discovery engine. Two good ones are Bloglovin' or Stumbleupon. These sites let you search blogs based on interests or topics. It's easy to follow other blogs and to add your blog to these engines to make it more accessible to a wider audience. 

As mentioned before, these are things that I wish I knew when I started blogging. Now that I have some experience under my belt, these seem like common sense, and I can't believe I didn't figure most of these out before, but it is important to remember that for new bloggers, they are treading in unfamiliar territory.

The most important thing to remember about blogging is that it should be fun and interesting for both bloggers and the readers!! As long as you never lose sight of this, you'll be a successful blogger regardless of your follower or post count.