Friend Friday - In the Beginning

One of my earliest attempts at pattern mixing

This weeks Friend Friday topic is 'In the beginning'  and asks what have been the 5 hardest blogging lesson you've learned during this process that have helped you to become a better blogger as a result? This post actually required quite a lot of though for me. Firstly as I am not entirely sure that I have become a better blogger, although the blog has evolved and changed. It also suddenly occurred to me that this blog has been running for nearly three and a half years and I never even noticed. I think a birthday party (or at least a cake) is well overdue.

When I first starting blogging, the blog was set up to drive traffic to my other websites. However the blog quickly took over and became a creative outlet for me.
Blogging is just a type of social media - in other words it should be social. The reading of other blogs and interacting with the other bloggers that is just as fun if not more so than writing the posts. I didn't really get this at first and just published my posts. It all felt a bit lonely and not much fun. Now I interact much more. I am completely addicted to blogging and reading other blogs and I feel like I have got loads of new friends.

Quality over quantity - at first I used up a lot of energy trying to post something to my blog every day. I ended up compromising on the quality of the posts and feeling like a failure if I didn't manage to post. Now I only post if I feel like I have something worthwhile to say. If I don't feel like blogging one day, I don't! - it would only feel empty and will probably sound empty to readers too.

Start as you mean to go on -  it is easier if you get somethings right at the beginning. It is worth doing a bit of research to start with and getting the right blog name, url and platform that you want to stick with. It saves on loads of time and hassle in the long run.

You don't have to participate in every partnership - If you accept every single offer of freebies, samples or advertising that comes along you might make a bit of money but you will end up feeling like your blog is not your own any more. The turn around for me was when I decided to only write about about products I love no matter what the financial gain. I now turn away advertorial posts posts on the basis that it is a personal blog so I write about what I like.

Have a vision for your blog - in the early days I felt like my blog was meandering along without  a clear aim. When I actually spent a little time thinking about what I wanted from my blog and what I wanted to achieve, it became so much more interesting and also hopefully helped me to differentiate myself from the other blogs out there. I wanted it to be personal to me so I started showing a little more of my personality and make it my own by posting outfit pictures. I also wanted to promote ethical and eco fashion but in a subtle way that would appeal to everyone and not just those who already love it.

Do you have any tips or lessons that you have learnt since you started blogging?

Interested in joining in the conversation? Learn more about Fashion Beauty Friend Friday and then join the Google Group. This will get you access to the Friday questions a couple days early as well as the off-blog conversations we have on any number of topics.


Have a good weekend

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

In case you are a little confused as to why this post has been posted on Thursday instead of Friday, I have decided to participate in the bloggers day of silence For Japan With Love. There is not really anything meaningful I can say about what is happening other than my thoughts and prayers are with all of those who are suffering or have lost people close to them.