What I Learned From a Year of Blogging

February is my blogging anniversary month.  Yay me!!

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been one year.  It feels like it’s been sooo much longer.  Over the course of the year, I’ve tried to accomplish many things, and I’ve learned a lot through my blogging experiences.  I’d like to share what I’ve learned with all of you.

You Need To Be Determined

If you aren’t determined to accomplish your goals, nothing will ever happen.  Seriously.  Even in the blogosphere, nothing gets handed to you on a silver platter.  This is just a truth that is inescapable.  You have to work hard if you want to see results.

For example, I always want more followers.  I mean, who doesn’t?  Of course, with me, things are a little different.  I’m writing a book series, and I would love to have a multitude of adoring fans.  When I first started blogging, I thought that everyone would LOVE my ideas.  They would LOVE the fact that I’m a teenager who has some great writing skills.

Well, I was wrong.  Because everybody else was trying to promote their own ideas.  And there are lots of other teen writers out there.  I wasn’t special.

At least, to everybody else, I wasn’t special.  I knew that I DID have something special to offer everyone; the problem became, “How do I prove it to them?”

You need to be determined if you want to blog.  People think that blogging is easy, or that anyone can do it and be successful.  Well, anyone can!  But only if you are willing to persevere and fight to have your voice heard.  Let’s face it, there’s a lot of competition!

Build a Community

In spite of the fact that there is a lot of competition (and there is!), it’s important that you build a community of loyal followers.  The relationship needs to be a two-way street though.  You have to be willing to be a follower of OTHERS.  Being present in the blogosphere is important, but it doesn’t mean being selfish and only thinking about you.  Don’t just blog about your personal endeavors; in fact, don’t just blog.  Read.  Allow yourself to become interested in what other people are doing.

This kind of attitude will help diffuse the feeling of competition.  Overall, I’d say that this kind of friendly support is called NETWORKING.  And, if you’re trying to promote ANYTHING, networking is extremely important!!!

Read other peoples’ posts.  Comment.  Share.  Get to know the bloggers around you.  Believe me, it’s worth your time!

Find Your Niche

This can be difficult, depending on what you write about.  I used to write about anime, and, although there is a growing presence of anime-bloggers, I just couldn’t fit in to this group.  My series, Elithius, used to be anime-esque, so I thought finding an anime audience was a good idea.  But there really just isn’t a large enough audience of people who like to watch anime and read books at the same time!

So I made my books more literary, more fantasy-esque, and took away some of the anime-feel.  Then I started searching for people who were interested in fantasy and sci-fi.

Bingo.

I found my niche in this area of the blogosphere.  It wasn’t too hard to find people who were interested in fantasy and sci-fi, all you have to do is search for tags or categories under those names.  But finding people who were equally interested in MY blog?  That was harder.  But it was worth the search.

Blogging, networking, and building a community is so much more rewarding when you are surrounded by supportive, like-minded writers!

Learn From Other Bloggers

This relates to being determined.  You have to be willing to learn what styles of writing attract or keep people’s attention.  You have to learn what works and what doesn’t.  The best way to do this is to go follow some really popular blogs.  Observe their techniques, and try to emulate them.  Lots of bloggers out there (like yours truly) blog about blogging, and these are great blogs to follow.

Don’t be stubborn and try to “do your own thing”.  Believe me, this rarely works.  The truth is, there are systems and methods for how to post regularly, find time to read and socialize, and still get enough sleep.  And these systems and methods work.  You don’t have to waste time trying to create your own.

Find the flow and go with it.  This will help you to be successful.

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Overall, I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished through blogging.  But there’s still a lot more work to be done.  Guess I’d better keep at it!  Thanks for being great followers!

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What do you think?  What have you learned since you began blogging?