Give your newer sisters and brothers-in-WordPress one piece of advice based on your experiences blogging.
My advice can be distilled into one sentence: Make your blog a priority.
Write something every day, whether or not you decide to publish it. Hang around the Community Pool (http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/community-pool-12/) in order to pick up new ideas and benefit from the experience of others. Exercise your curiosity. Ask questions. Stretch your wings creatively and always be willing to learn something new, add a new element to your blog site, change it up, keep it fresh. Make friends in the WordPress community — there are thousands of people here and you will surely connect with at least a percentage of them. If your early attempts at blogging do not meet with success, either in your own estimation or as reflected by a lack of following, don’t give up easily. Try changing your focus, seek input from friends and fellow bloggers, gain knowledge and understanding through reading the selections on Freshly Pressed and elsewhere around the site. Blogging is a highly satisfying endeavor and it’s worth staying with until things start to click!
The first step in blogging is not writing them but reading them. ~Jeff Jarvis
A quick P.S. … Your phone is an excellent resource for note-taking on the run. Jot down every idea that pops into your head because I can pretty much guarantee it won’t be there later when you try to recall what it was. I use the Voice Memo feature on my iPhone when I’m walking — works really well.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/daily-prompt-key-takeaway/
May 07, 2013 @ 13:00:31
I published a book of blog posts last year. It’s called Who Knew? Did you already know that? Is this the Twilight Zone again?
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May 07, 2013 @ 13:34:02
I did not. And not again, still.
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May 07, 2013 @ 11:11:31
Great advice, Judy. I think the process is about the blogger and the audience finding each other. That takes time, and a lot of trial and error. People come and go, for many different reasons. Our culture loves to glorify instant success, but it isn’t likely to happen in the blogging world.
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May 07, 2013 @ 11:21:23
That’s exactly right. I started blogging on the recommendation of my husband and son after back surgery necessitated early retirement. It was almost entirely for my own sanity and catharsis in the beginning, on a host site that brought virtually no traffic. That changed when I discovered WordPress — the feedback was immediate and my energy for writing and posting changed overnight. The people I’ve met here on WP have revolutionized my life at a time when I needed it most — who knew?!
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