Blogging: What I've Learnt In Five Months.

I put up a Twitter poll to see what kind of blog post people wanted to see from me. What I've learnt in 5 months of blogging won narrowly, with my skincare routine coming in second. Because I'm such a wonderful person, I've done both. Check out my skincare post here.

I've been blogging now for 5 months. I started my blog up properly in January, everything before that was just... a practice run. Here is everything I've learnt in the last 5 months, if you're looking to start up a blog, hopefully it'll help you.

It's hard.

I'm not even kidding when I say this... blogging is super hard. It takes up most of my time and energy. I think about it 99% of the day. I check my social media non-stop and I'm always looking for new ideas. Some people might not find it as hard as I do, some people might find managing life and blogging really easy. I don't. Most of that is to do with the fact I have super bad health at the moment. Between my hip issue and my mental health, I'm on a crap ton of medication to manage the pain (which is why I'm signed off work) and the tablets really do exhaust me. I forget things easily or I simply don't have the energy. I have to really put my all into blogging at the moment, but it's honestly worth it.

Like I said, you probably wouldn't find it as hard as I do but even without medical problems... it's a lot of work. But when you publish posts and see that people all around the world are reading what you've written? It's all worth it.

It's not going to happen overnight.

I had this misconception in my head, like most new bloggers, that a few posts in and everything will take off like there is no tomorrow and I'd be the new Zoella. That doesn't happen... this isn't a Disney film. I'm five months in, and I still only get around 100 views a month. That might seem a lot, but in the numbers game of things, it's not. I put way too much stress on myself going in to get numbers and it almost broke me and made me quit. I don't put that stress on myself anymore. I'm never going to be the next Zoella, but that's okay. I'm happy just writing and if it helps even one person, then it's a win in my books.

You don't have to churn out a post every single day.

It's about quality, not quantity. As annoying as that age old saying is, it's true. If you try to churn out a post daily, you're gonna lose followers coz the quality isn't going to be there. I did this at the start of my blog, you can go back and even see. It's rubbish. The photos aren't great, the writing is terrible and it's embarrassing. I'm not gonna delete those posts tho, I'm growing as I learn and it's a nice reminder.

Schedules and plans are a godsend.

I have a schedule. I post Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. But I don't always stick to it, I have a life. I aim to post on those days, but sometimes, like this week things get in the way and posts have to be pushed back. I know my readers won't mind. They come for the content... not the schedule. The schedule is more for me, so I know what's happening. I plan everything and use various apps to do so (I'll get onto that in a minute).

Apps. Apps. Apps.

To start with, I used pen and paper. Do you know how annoying that is? I'm not a pen and paper kind of girl... I'm a tech head. Apps are our friends in the blogging world and when you learn to utilize them, it makes things sooo much easier. From scheduling tweets to keeping notes and even editing photos. I've only really started using apps to help in the last few months, and it's made a huge difference to my blog... I've gotten a lot more readers thanks to it. The best apps that I use are:

Buffer: If you don't use buffer, you are losing out. I schedule all of my promotional tweets and posts via Buffer from both my tablet and laptop. You can re-buffer, meaning you don't have to keep typing out the same thing. (I keep the link, change the caption) and you can even see the analytics to see what posts are doing well.

Evernote: This is basically a digital notebook. You can put all your ideas, screenshots, photos, weblinks, audio notes ect in to notes within notebooks on here. It's on tablet, phone and laptop so it's always with me. I find it so handy to be able to jot my ideas down on the go, and even draft out my posts.

Colour Story: This is my go-to photo editing app. I can't really explain it in full, but there are basically filters and overlays. You have to purchase packs, but the free ones are really decent. It's great for just making your photos "pop".

Phonto: Again, another go-to app that basically every blogger uses. This basically lets you watermark and you can download fonts to the app. It's just awesome, and free.

Other bloggers are your friends, not your competition.

I am not good at being social. I don't know how to strike up a conversation or how to maintain a friendship. I'm just alien to it. However, I learnt that other bloggers really are your friends and not your enemy or competition. I made friends with a girl on Twitter (Hi Alice!) and she's honestly a star. She let's me rant to her, share my excitement and ask for help and she does the same back. Honestly reach out to other bloggers, they're in the same boat as you and 99% will help out if you ask.

Twitter's blogger pages and chats are a must.

Last of all are blogger pages and chats on Twitter. I'm new to these, I started this month. But oh my god, they are super important. Not only have I reached more readers, I've met bloggers, found new blogs to read and I've had fun. I loooove blogger chats, they're just great. I usually curl up with a cup of tea when they're on. Blogger pages are just insane resources, usually there is a hashtag and if you mention them in your tweet, they'll retweet you and help you reach a whole bundle of people. The ones I love the most are:

GRL POWR Chat - Handle is @GRLPOWRCHAT and #GRLPWR to be retweeted. Chats are Tuesday 9pm, Thursday 8pm & Sunday 9pm UK time.

Bloggers Tribe - Handle is @BloggersTribe and #BloggersTribe to be retweeted. Chats are Saturday 7pm UK time.

Teacup Club - Handle is @TeacupClub_ and #TeacupClub to be retweeted. Chats are Sunday at 5pm and Wednesday at 7pm UK time.

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There you have it, the things I've learnt whilst blogging in the last five months. Most of it is stuff every blogger will say. Blogging has a huge learning curve, even the veteran bloggers will learn new things. It's part of the fun.

I hope you enjoyed this post and maybe you even learnt something new. Do you have any blogging advice?

XO Nyxie.