Did you
miss Part One? You can find it here.
6. Set Limits- With blogging there is always more work to do (kind of like cleaning house!). The work
isn’t the problem though. Wasting time is what gets me in trouble. Here are a
few basic ideas that help me get work done without spending all day on the
internet.
- Prioritize- Get the most
important things done first.
- Focus- Set aside time
to just doing blogging stuff. If you are being pulled in a million
directions, you won’t get much done.
- Log Off- When you are
done working log off. Real life is way more important than the internet. I
promise your readers won't disappear if you leave for a few hours (or
days!). Go live your life so you'll have something to write about!
(In full disclosure,
I should say my husband laughed out loud when he read about me setting limits.
Apparently I still need to work on this…)
7. Make Friends- Online friends can
be real friends. Friends that pray for you. Friends that speak
encouragement into your life. Friends that cry with you when you accidentally
delete the post you've been working on for 2 hours.
Making blog friends is just like making friends in any other area
of life. You have to be nice to everybody
and pray that God will open doors. A few months ago I was feeling
particularly lonely and misunderstood. I prayed for the Lord to send me
encouragement, and two days later I found myself in a blogging group with some
amazing ladies who spoke my language! I tell you everything in life is better
with friends, even blogging.
8. Stop Playing the Comparison Game- In
the blogging world, it's easy to get caught up comparing ourselves to other
people who seem to have it so much better than we do! We forget to enjoy the blessings
that God has given us.
Remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25? The
number of talents (or resources, or followers) you’ve been given doesn't
matter. Rather it's about how faithfully you manage those things. If you have
10 followers then be a good steward of those readers, and if the Lord blesses
you with thousands of followers, 17 e-books, and a world-wide speaking tour, be
grateful and humbly allow him to use you in those ways.
9. Try New Things-and don't expect to be good at all of
them.
- The first recipe I ever posted was
terrible. Terrible. I'm sure it's still up here somewhere, but I should
probably take it down. No one needs to read that!
- The first time I linked up to a
blog hop,
it took me 10 minutes to figure out what a URL was and how to download (or
is it upload?) my picture, and after all that work I only had 2 people
visit my blog. Two!
- The first time I wrote a Five
Minute Friday post it took me something like 20 mins to write the
post, and then another hour to finally publish it. Apparently, I can't do
things in 5 minutes.
- The first time I
used affiliate links I stressed for days over the
how, what, and why, and ended being one of two people who bought the
product.
Trying new things is hard, and you may not be good at everything.
That's okay. In my case, link-ups were a success and Five Minute Friday
still a total failure. You win some, you lose some.
10. Don’t
Worry About Followers- Yes, you should put yourself out there. Sell you stuff! It’s
okay to post to facebook, blog hops, and online blogging groups. If you put out
good content and enjoy what you do, then it stands to reason that you would
want other people to know about it.
However, bloggers get into trouble when they start worrying about followers. Stressing over
how many likes or un-likes they have, over-analyzing page views and the lack of
comments on a post. Nothing will steal
your joy more quickly than constantly worrying about what other people think. Pray
and ask the Lord to grow you blog, then relax and enjoy the process!
Want to
know my secret?
I write
for that one person. I write for that one person who is encouraged or blessed by my
stories, and sometime that person is me! It would be awesome to be able to
speak truth and encouragement into thousands of women’s lives, but if it’s
always and only just one person, I’m content. That one person matters to the Lord,
and they matter to me too.
Do you
have any blogging advice you’d like to share? Which principles work best for you
and your blog?
Thanks so Much for the Encouragement. I so needed it. I am new at blogging continually. I am so new, but also a voice for Survivors of Natural Disasters, which is few and far between. I appreciated this and needed this encouragement.
ReplyDeleteHere is the address to my blog:
http://www.thehopejourney.wordpress.com
I'm glad you were encouraged! I'm following you through Bloglovin. I can't wait to read more :)
DeleteOh, these points are even better! I have LOVED making blog friends and you're right, they are *real* friends. I pray for them and I know they pray for me. I so need to learn to log off too. And I try not to worry about followers, and sometimes I'm good at it. But I agree, I write for that one person God needs to speak to through whatever He is leading me to write about. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAs a new blogger, I appreciate these tips. What I like best though is what you said about writing for that one person, even if sometimes that one person is you! :) I can't tell you how many times I've thought, "Even if no one else reads this, God is speaking to me and teaching me through it." That alone makes blogging worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteI love these, the one which resonates with me the most is blogging for that one person, even if it's for myself. Amen. I'm also a blogger, and I'm inconsistent, and lack direction. I've started praying that He show me the way my blog needs to go, and am still praying it!
ReplyDeleteLove reading your blog! Really,you were encouraged! Thanks all.
ReplyDeleteKirpal Singh
Love this. Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting!
Delete