Medium Sized Family has turned one! I’m so excited about reaching this milestone. I actually published the blog in July 2015, but I didn’t tell a soul about it until August 6, 2015. So I consider that to be the blog’s “birthday”.
I’ve come a long, long way since those first posts. When I look back at some of my first work, I’m a bit embarrassed at how little I knew. But more than that, I’m proud of how far I’ve come! I’ve learned a ton about things I didn’t even know existed a year ago.
I’ve made new friends and met some fabulous readers. I’ve learned about some of your struggles, and I’ve learned how to better handle my own.
To celebrate my blogiversary, I thought I’d write up a list of things I’ve learned in my first year of blogging.
Here are 9 Things I Learned in My First Year of Blogging.
Shortcut! I’ve put together a list of my recommended resources. These are the things that are most worth my time, effort, and money. You’ll find suggestions for daily life as well as blogging there, so be sure to give it a look.
There is always more work to do.
Before becoming one, I always thought a blogger typed up a blog post, published it, and that was it. I didn’t realize how much hard work went into blogging.
A blogger has to wear so many hats! Yes, you have to learn how to write well. But you also have to promote yourself, build your website, design photos, juggle social media accounts, deal with email, decide legit opportunities from people trying to take advantage of you, and so much more.
There’s never a natural stopping point to your work. There is always “one more thing” to do. You have to learn how to manage your time all on your own, and that’s hard.
That said, you also get a lot of chances to be really proud of yourself for learning something new and doing it well (after a lot of practice).
Focus on writing great content first. No, really.
The first tip you’ll read everywhere is that a blogger needs to focus on creating the best content they can. That’s what drives traffic.
New bloggers tend to think, “Yeah, but shouldn’t I also be building my Facebook page? And setting up ads? And, and, and…”
Sure, you do need to worry about that. But I finally realized that, while I could sprinkle those tasks in throughout my week, I needed to spend time writing every single day. That’s how to get readers. After all, it’s no good building a Facebook page that points to a blog without great stories and information!
[Tweet “That advice you keep reading about content being king? They mean it. #allbloggers”]
Have a strategy for social media. Learn one at a time.
After setting up your blog, you’ll want to think about how to use social media. Social media can be overwhelming. You probably already know how easy it is to get sucked in. You’ll suddenly find that an hour has passed while you caught up on your friends or pinned beautiful pictures.
The same can be said for social media for your blog. I need Facebook! And Twitter! Wait, how do you even use Twitter? Oh, Pinterest is a must. But so is Instagram. And how can I use LinkedIn for blog work?
Try focusing on one at a time. Set up accounts on all your favorite platforms so you can be sure to get your blog name. Then spend a month on each of them so you learn how best to use each one for yourself.
When I learned to stop spreading myself thin, I finally made some breakthroughs in my accounts. It seems counterproductive to abandon a couple of social media accounts while you learn others, but I promise that it’s worth it.
Find your people.
You’ll need blogger friends who understand your struggles. Reach out to bloggers ahead of the stage you are in and learn from them. One way to do that is to find them in Facebook groups or blog hops.
One Facebook group for beginners I recommend is Blogging On Your Own Terms. You can find blog hops or linky parties on my Blog Hops I Love page. These are parties hosted by bloggers who are willing to give you a place to promote your blog posts to others who might not otherwise see them.
Don’t join every FB tribe, and don’t try to keep up with all of the share threads.
While Facebook groups and tribes are wonderful, keep it simple. It’s very easy to overdo it and end up spending your entire day sharing other people’s work.
Experiment with different Facebook groups, but after learning about several, choose just a couple to try to keep up with. And don’t feel like you have to join every share thread they offer.
Go with the flow when you can.
Have you ever wondered about my blog name? I began Medium Sized Family with the thought that I don’t have a small family, but I also don’t have a family large enough for their own reality show. Our family with 5 kids is really more of a “medium sized family”. I thought I would blog about life with many kids.
That was a fine idea. But I noticed that the posts my audience enjoyed the most were money saving posts. So I began to post more of them. I have always been interested in personal finance, so those posts were actually fun for me. And so began my tagline: Practical tips for saving money and simplifying life.
Be ready to be flexible in your blogging world! Give your readers what they want as long as you are also staying true to yourself.
Know your stopping point.
When you finally get your blog established and people are reading it, you might get offers for sponsored posts. It’s important to sort out legitimate opportunities from scammers trying to take advantage of you.
But even the legit offers require a hard look. If a sponsor is offering you money to promote their product, always ask yourself if you can write an honest review.
I had to laugh at the first sponsored posts I wrote. They couldn’t have been more perfect if I’d wrote the idea myself! With my fifth born, I only use the nicer diapers, and I constantly shop at Dollar General. So the post is totally honest, I got a chance to share coupons with my money saving readers, and I got paid for it.
On the other hand, I’ve had offers I could never accept. One company wanted me to write about how hard it would be to feed my family for just $5 per person per day. When I did the math, I quickly realized that I spend far less than that amount now! If I can’t write an honest post, no amount of money is worth lying to my readers.
Don’t stop learning.
The internet has brought a wealth of information to our very fingertips. It’s important to keep learning regularly. You’ll have to decide how much or how little you want to pay for new knowledge.
There are so many classes and workshops available that it’s hard to choose which one to try next. I suggest keeping a running list of the most intriguing or promising courses and take them one at a time.
When money is limited, don’t be discouraged. There’s plenty of free information out there. You’ll just have to work harder to find it on your own.
Technology is constantly changing, so no matter how long you’ve been blogging, you’ll want to keep up with the latest information.
Have a passion for it.
I try to run my blog like a business, because I want to see it succeed. But blogging also needs to be fun. I won’t stick with it long if it becomes more of a chore than a passion.
From the start, you need to make sure you are passionate about the topics you blog about, because you’ll be brainstorming and writing about them for a long time.
These hard earned lessons have helped me improve my blogging in the past year.
Reaching the one year milestone is a biggie, and I’m proud to have made it this far. I can’t wait to see what I learn in the second year of blogging!
If you’ve ever considered becoming a blogger, here are some tips for creating a blog:
I’ve also written about ways to monetize a blog for beginners:
Are you a blogger? What’s your best tip for blogging success?
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
Visiting from Share the Wealth, where I posted Use Energy from Green to Refresh You and Your Home. Enjoyed reading your post about your first year in blogging. I’ll pin and stumble it. I agree with you about content is king and needs to come first. Be well and lead a colorful life! Nancy Andres @ http://www.colors4health.com/2016/08/use-energy-from-green-to-refresh-you.html
Great post! I’m stopping by from the IBN FB group and would love for you to link this to a party I co-host! You can find it on my blog!
Kate | TheOrganizedDream.com
Great lessons! I know that I’ve learned a lot, but still have so much to learn.
Great post! I started my blog a couple of months ago, so it’s good to learn from others who’ve been at it longer than I have.
Helpful tips Jaime. I especially agree with always keep learning and trying new things. I am always trying new strategies to see what works best.
These are great tips! Happy anniversary! I am learning there is so much to learn in the first few months!
That’s exciting! Congratulations on all the progress you’ve made in just one year! You are right about all these things and anyone just starting out could learn a lot from this post. It’s definitely a lot more work than anyone would ever think but well worth it if it’s something you love!
Thank you! I’m glad that I still love doing it a year later. It’s a lot to juggle, but it’s fun to do. 🙂
The other day, a friend asked why I call myself a blogger, as opposed to a writer. Her thought was that “writer” seemed more important, but I told her I love calling myself a blogger. Since becoming one, I’m proud to be part of a group that’s a) scrappy enough to figure out how to make the tech work, b) gutsy enough to put their ideas into the world, and c) supportive enough to cheer others on. Great tips, and congrats!
I love that! Bloggers are definitely a group unto themselves. I love being part of this community, too. 🙂
This is all such great advice. I had no idea you’ve only been around for a year. You are killing it! Keep up the great work!
What a compliment! Thank you so much. 🙂
Wow Jamie – I did not realize your blog was only a year old. I assumed it was much more established. You have done a really great job. Lots of great blogging advice here and lots of great inspiration. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing this on the Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop. I have been blogging for 5 months at Heritage Club Stables…so, am very new to all of this! These are great suggestions! Thank you! It is so so so easy to get overwhelmed!
Thanks for sharing these great tips. I learned personally to limit the facebook groups from getting completely overwhelmed and it was giving me writers block. I actually had to take a facebook hiatus for a few weeks to get back my creative mojo. There are so many things to learn about blogging. Thanks also for calling your family a medium sized. I am expecting our 5th child, and really feel that this sized family while not small is certainly not large. Although I have received a few comments about becoming like the Duggars. This kind of made me a bit sensitive about telling people I didn’t know early on. My blog is around 6 months old and is named because we have enough kids for a basketball team, and my husband is a big Yankees fan.
Starting blogging felt like a serious crash course in social media marketing and HTML for me! I love it though, it’s such a fun hobby. 😀
Thanks so much for sharing over at #FridayFrivolity.
Yes! I had no idea what Twitter was or how to use it. And Instagram?? Forget it! Now I’m on both and slowly getting them figured out. 🙂
Congratulations on your first blogiversary, Jamie! I’m coming up to number 14 in October – it’s gone so fast!! You’ve shared some great pointers. I think my biggest one would be not to do things for free – once you start it’s a slippery slope! Tweeted this post. Thank you for sharing it with us at the Hearth and Soul Hop.
Wow, 14 years! You have such a wonderful blog. I love blogging so much. I hope I still enjoy it this much in another 13 years. 🙂 Love your advice, and it’s something I’ve learned. People do come out of the woodwork to try to take advantage of your audience.
I’ve learned a lot of these lessons too – especially about making connections and limiting how many social media sites you are on, otherwise you spend all your time trying to keep up with it all. I don’t do sponsored posts (unless they fit exactly with what I blog about) because I don’t want to become a sales yard instead of a blog. Congrats on your 1st blogiversary!
I’ve turned down a few sponsored opportunities lately, too. Like you, I don’t want to be salesy, so if I can’t genuinely recommend a product I decline it. I’d love to use that money to pay down debt, but it’s not more important to me than my readers and my own integrity.
Blogging has always been a hobby for me. I’ve been a book blogger for years, and most book bloggers are hobby bloggers; posts about how to make money blogging are rare on book blogs. Then I started reading PF blogs and starting Racing Toward Retirement and now I see all these posts about making money blogging. I’m trying to decide if I want to take RTR in that direction. Do I want to invest money in it in hopes it will pay me more than I invest? I don’t want to spend hours a week promoting on social media; making sure my posts are SEO friendly or creating pinable graphics. I’m not going to write an e-book or put together a online course somewhere. Am I better off as a hobby blogger who makes a couple of dollars here and there or should I take it to the next level?
There’s certainly something to be said for getting paid in enjoyment rather than dollars. It can be stressful trying to turn a blog into a side job rather than a hobby. I’m trying to streamline my blog work so it stays enjoyable and doesn’t eat up as much of my time as it did when I was a beginner.
Congrats on your blogiversary! Thanks for sharing some valuable lessons as well as the struggles.
Thanks for reading! It’s nothing without my readers. 🙂
These are great tips. Especially the tips aimed at reducing overwhelm (share threads etc). I can’t believe your blog is only a year old!
Thanks so much! Can you tell I’m focusing on shortening the amount of time I spend on the blog without compromising my work? 😉
Thanks for sharing the great tips and happy blogiversary!
Jamie, this is such an insightful article. I love your clear (and grammatically correct) writing style. Happy anniversary, and may you have many more.
Love your emphasis on content is king! I was told that but it is definitely hard to manage everything else! I totally can’t focus on more than one social media platform either. I’m only three months in so I have a ton of respect for a full year. Congratulations and thanks for sharing!
That’s how I felt at 3 months in, too. Things start to become more clear the longer I blog. Thanks for reading!