Lifestyle Photographer & Creative Freelancer
Hello lovelies!
Yes, I do realize I have been having site troubles. No worries. They are all fixed now. I do want to give you a heads up though. . . If you look through my archives, none of my 2009 stuff is there. I am working on getting that back up.
As a side note, if you haven’t read all of the Photography Basics or Blogging Basics series thus far, now would be a good time to catch up. Just search “photography basics” or “blogging basics” in the search bar {on the right}.
Xoxo! Be blessed!
Growing your blog is a lot of work. The close friendships that are a result are priceless.
1. Commenting – Comment regularly on the blogs you read. When you receive a comment {from another blogger}, return the favor by commenting on their blog.
2. Social networking – Twitter, Facebook, and the like are all great tools to connect with readers beyond the comments and promote your blog. Use them to their fullest.
2. Email – Email you close blog buddies regularly. Set up times to meet with them. This might be a little more often for bloggers who live closer together.
3. Guest posting – Ask a few friends {with blogs} if they’d be interested in you guest posting for them. Also, you might want to throw the offer out to guest post on yours.
4. Word of mouth – Write really good, make your posts word of mouth-worthy, and make it easy to share them with others.
5. Blogrolls – Put your friends on your blogroll. When you do, they will most likely put you on theirs.
6. Advertising – See if you and a few blog friends can trade blog ads.
1. Write what you are passionate about.
2. Write from where you’ve been. You aren’t the only one.
3. Interact with your readers.
4. Write for God. Give it to Him.
5. Let go. Let God take you, your blog, and your writing over. Let Him be glorified.
It was Spring of 2006. Almost half a decade ago. At that point in time I only read one good friend’s blog. {I know! Crazy, right?} Like I am prone to do, I got a crazy inspiration to start a blog out of the blue. (’Cause I have my daddy’s visionary dreamer gene like that.)
My parents always said I should host a talk radio show. I am serious. I announced my bright blog idea to my parents that night. My parents agreed and said I could start one, but they wanted me to keep a consistent journal first. I agreed and complied with their request.
My humble little blog started May 18, 2006 when I set up an account with Homeschool Blogger. It didn’t even have a name. I honestly don’t think I had a clue what I was in for, though. I didn’t even know how to blog.
Like most first time bloggers, my first posts consisted of one line that was posted once every week. I had no idea how to create content, what “SEO” meant, or how much fun reviews could be. I didn’t have a clue.
That next year was quite a learning curve. That’s when I learned the very basics of blogging. It’s a whole different language! It was when I discovered the gift of writing that God gave me. I learned basic language, worked it, and it was time to spread out and grow. That is when I moved to WordPress.
You will have to be a blogger to understand this, but going from a very basic to a high-tech is intense. My jump from Homeschool Blogger to WordPress was a pain. There. I said it. Growing that much at once hurts.
Right after my leap, the FTC cracked it’s whip on bloggers. The disclosure, the taxes- it was everywhere. It was on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and the news. Blogging suddenly became more complicated and turned into a business. I didn’t like that fact and I still don’t.
I broke under the pressure of the new FTC regulations and quit reviewing and giveaways. I didn’t want to have to worry about legal stuff all the time. I just wanted to stay out of trouble and blog. A couple months afterward, I began to miss the people and small businesses. I missed connecting like that. It was fun for me. So, I opened the giveaway and product review doors back up.
Blogging has opened so many doors up for me. God has used it incredibly.
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