Blogging Growth Overview - Mistakes, Learnings and Improvements

It has been 3 years since I decided to try my luck in blogging.

I wasn‘t expecting it at first – it was just starting a blog.

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So what one should really expect with that?

But I guess that was a mistake too. Too much expectation is not good and I realized having no expectations is also worse.

So that‘s what we‘re tackling now – but rest assured, this blog post doesn‘t aim to make you feel worse or to discourage you from blogging.

Because this September, I‘m celebrating my blog third year anniversary and I wanted to share my blogging insights – lessons, mistakes, improvements and recommendations as a blogger.

Table of Contents

Big 3 Mistakes

Not having a clear vision and purpose from the start

If I only knew blogging can be the key to many opportunities, I would have gone the great lengths even from the start to really work on it.

So if you‘re just starting now – or just started – it is better if you know what you like from the beginning.

You should already have a vision of what your blog like in the future. You decide, would your blog just remain an online diary or would you treat it more than that.

So if you're starting a blog now – you should know from the start what you really wanted like what Julie, a branding expert turned DIY queen .

Julie knew the purpose of what she's doing and how she can help other people with her expertise.

I know we all began from being complete beginners but we also have moments, when we realize, we gotta do something when we feel like something's not going right.

Thinking SEO is unachievable

I know SEO can be really overwhelming and I understand if you would rather focus on other mediums to drive traffic to your blog.

But there‘s a problem…

Inconsistency and lack of guarantee.

I used to have hundred thousand impressions on Pinterest before but ever since they have changed their algorithm, my Pinterest impression drove down to only 20 000 impressions.

I know those are just impressions but one could already tell your stand on Pinterest.

Thankfully – although I don‘t have hundred thousand impressions every month, my Pinterest account is usually back to where it was before – driving traffic to my blog. Not that much but at least with patience, we would get there.

What about Instagram?

I gave up a long long time ago – and I already accepted my fate on Instagram – we are not simply compatible and thank God, I‘ve already moved on many moons ago.

But it doesn‘t mean I don‘t have any Instagram presence. Surprisingly I do and I could only count through my finger how many visits Instagram brings to my blog.

I suggest don‘t close your door completely to Instagram. You can create a business account, add your bio and don‘t forget to link it to your blog.

Is Twitter still a thing?

Ever since college I‘ve been a Twitter fan although I heard (more like read), many complain because Twitter is getting quite political.

Yes, that might be right but I suggest you should only follow users in your niche and ignore political matters ( if you can‘t stand them).

So why am I using Twitter?

My blog gets traffic from Twitter but only and usually if I post or promote there.

So Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest need time for you to feel its growth.

While I like Twitter because of bloggers interaction there, but when I don‘t stay active there – my presence will be forgotten as well.

That‘s why SEO is the best solution to drive traffic to your content.

You write optimized content (with SEO keywords of course), publish it, let Google index it through submitting it on Google Search Console, then watch and wait if it ranks.

Sometimes you don‘t get page 1 immediately, but you can always optimize it and improve your content so you will land in the most coveted place on Google – the first page.

I‘ve always thought I will never ever learn SEO. I had always that mindset, SEO is only for the experts and gurus but I was wrong ( more on that later).

Writing because I wanted to

I know you might be thinking what‘s then so wrong with writing because you wanted to write.

Lately, I cleaned up my blog and fixed broken links through a plugin – Broken Link Checker.

I wanted to only fix broken links because I have learned, it will affect my SEO and Google performance if I don‘t fix them.

But then I just can‘t withstand how my old posts look like.

These were the thoughts that run through my brain when I saw them:

-what am I thinking about writing those articles?

-haven‘t I thought of keywords?

-Were longer URLS a thing 2-3 years ago?

-Did I think I stood a chance competing for the first page of Google against Healthline and other big websites?

So I wanted to fix those „not so stupid beginner mistakes“ by adding keywords but in order to do that – I have to choose keywords in which I will have the chance to rank on Google.

I‘m sure you could guess what happened.

I chose topics in which I don‘t have the possibility to rank on Google because of the giant websites already using the keywords I should be using for my topic.

But that happened in my idiotic days of blogging sans SEO.

Blog improvements

Within those years, I didn't only commit mistakes but I have also learned a few things which I didn't even imagine I would be learning through blogging.

When I started blogging – I only knew how to write, heck, even in that area, I have a few things to learn.

But I didn't know how to rank my blog articles before until I decided I have to learn SEO and implement the steps in order to rank on Google.

Like I mentioned above, having the mindset that SEO is hard to learn is a mistake. I have almost deliberately ignored SEO and how it works but I read it in all Facebook groups that I am a member of.

You can't just ignore SEO especially if you want to get serious in driving traffic to your blog.

So I started the journey to ranking on Google and appearing on the first page of Google.

I first started with reading about SEO, how to write optimized content and researching keywords. I took advantage of free SEO courses and free SEO ebooks.

Then I purchased an SEO book which has helped my blog tremendously and improved my SEO knowledge.

It's not only about blogging and ranking on Google but I have also learned these things:

– Newsletter setup – I am not a pro in this area but hey, at least, I'm not paying anymore someone to do the design for my newsletter.

-Creating templates, planners and blog promotion on social media networks – so overall graphic designing

– SEO writing and blog writing – I may not be an SEO guru but I have managed to make my blog posts appear on the first page of Google, thanks to consistent reading and my zeal to learn more.

-From blogging, I discovered and reinforced my skills in working online that I have achieved to be a side-hustler and freelancer aside from having a full-time job.

So if you want to level up your blogging game, you should know these digital marketing skills as a preparation for the coming years.

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Blogging growth varies for every person – if one is successful in blogging within a month of starting, that doesn't mean, you will also have the same experience.

It takes months or maybe years of constantly trying, committing mistakes to the verge of giving up but what matters is, you learn from those mistakes and eventually help others not to commit the same mistakes.

And just blog on!

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