One year ago today, I celebrated my birthday by publishing my first blog post. To celebrate my first blogiversary, I’m looking back at what I’ve done in the last year. I’ll also reflect on learnings from my first year of blogging and share some tips for new bloggers that I wish I had known a year ago.

Why I started blogging

Last June, I found myself at a bit of a loose end when a project I had been working on wrapped up. With time on my hands, I needed something to fill the void.

I had developed a passion for eco-friendly living and waste reduction. As I was learning new things every day, I wanted to share them with the world.

I reached out to my friend Cher who has been blogging for several years. (Check out her blog The Chicago Files)  I told her my idea and asked if she thought anyone would read it. Cher said she would read it and encouraged me to do it. That was enough for me! At least I knew I would have one reader.

So I searched “how to start a blog” and got to work!

A look back on the last year

I started slowly, with a goal of publishing one new post a week. When I published my first post, I shared it on Facebook and Twitter and got some attention from my friends and family. Some positive comments and a handful of followers was all the motivation I needed to keep going.

Since then, I have upped my game to three posts a week. I’ve also gained a small but loyal following. Here are my stats from the first year:

• 104 posts
• Just over 5,000 views
• 80 email and WordPress followers

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Things I have learned

I’ll share some tips for new bloggers below. First, I want to share some of my personal learnings from the last year.

Contrary to what I was told by my high school teacher, I don’t suck at writing

When I was in high school, one of my teachers told me I was a terrible writer. To make matters worse, he said I didn’t know how to express myself and I should just stick to typing! What? Can you imagine any teacher telling a student that these days?

Years later, I have done a lot of writing in my career. Since starting my blog, I’ve had positive feedback on the tone and style of my writing. And I have learned that I love writing. Take that, Mr. S!

Blogging is a community

I had no idea there was an active, supportive blogging community. Bloggers love to support other bloggers by reading, commenting on and sharing their posts. Other bloggers are also a great source of tips for new bloggers. Any time I have a question or need help with something, I know I can reach out to the blogging community on Twitter and get some help.

It feels great when people read my posts

Things started out slowly. As the months went by, I started to see my views go up. I was so excited in May when I hit 1,000 monthly views for the first time. What a great feeling to think that people out there want to read what I write!

Inspiration is everywhere

In the beginning, I was worried about running out of things to write about. I made a list of ideas and kept adding to it. Then I realized that the smallest thing can spark an idea for a post.  I have written about things I have seen on my morning walks, how music can unite us during difficult times, and random acts of positivity.

I still haven’t written about some of the things on my original list. I guess that means I will be at this for a while.

Blogging takes some work, but it’s addictive

Putting a post together takes some work. Promoting the post and getting people to read it takes a lot more work. As I started to get more serious about my blog, I found myself spending more and more time on it.

When I sit down to work on my blog, time flies. I get lost in writing, choosing pictures and then editing them into posts to put on Instagram and Pinterest.  Sometimes it’s hard to tear myself away to do things like make dinner, clean the house, or work out!

There’s more to Pinterest than just clicking the Save button

I have been on Pinterest for years but have never really paid much attention to it. When I started my blog, I’d open up my latest post and just pin it to one of my boards. Then I learned that people create hundreds of images specifically for Pinterest. Who knew?

I reached out to the blogging community to see what I could learn. Yolanda from Full Circle Digital shared some of her tips with me. I learned I was doing it all wrong. Since then, I have used some of Yolanda’s tips and I’m starting to see some more traffic to my site.

I have to admit Pinterest is still a bit of a mystery to me. That will be a learning goal for my second year of blogging.

Top 5 tips for new bloggers

If you’re in the early days of blogging or just thinking about starting a blog, here are 5 tips for new bloggers that I wish I had known a year ago.

Engage with the blogging community

As I mentioned, there’s a whole supportive community out there to engage with. Participating in comment threads is a great way to start. If you read, follow and comment on other bloggers’ posts, they will do the same for you. Since I started doing this, my views have gone up very quickly. It does take time but you will learn a lot!

And don’t be afraid to ask questions. Everyone is very helpful.

Use featured images on all posts

I realized early on that images can add a lot to a post. What I didn’t learn until several months later was that it’s about more than just slapping an image at the top of your post. I didn’t discover featured images until about 3 months ago. Now I’m faced with the task of going back and updating my old posts. Featured images set the tone for your post. They also make your posts display better on your site and in your social media shares.

Oh, and another note on images. In the beginning, I used my own photos. While I still do that sometimes, I learned that there are great free, stock photo sites where you can choose from thousands of professional images. Two of my favourites are Burst and Unsplash.

Pay attention to SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It basically makes your posts easier to find using Internet search engines.

If you download a plugin like Yoast, it will help you optimize your posts’ SEO. Again, I didn’t do this until a couple of months ago so now I am going back and updating old posts.

Improve readability by using subheadings

Another thing I use Yoast for is to improve the readability of my posts. In early posts, I was just typing paragraph after paragraph with no subheadings.

Subheadings help guide the reader through your post. They also make it easier for readers to zero in on information that matters to them.

Make sure you include subheadings in your posts so you won’t need to go back and rework your posts later.

Don’t compare yourself to others

I see a lot of bloggers getting discouraged when they see other bloggers talking about how many views or followers they have, or how many impressions and clicks they are getting on Pinterest.

If you compare yourself to others, there will always be something to get discouraged about. There will always be someone with more views or followers than you. But, you don’t know how long they have been blogging or how much effort or money they spend to get those results.

Remind yourself why you started your blog and set small, achievable goals.

I can’t wait to see what the next year brings

I am really proud of what I’ve accomplished in the last year. I have learned so much and have tons of ideas of what I can do next. I just need more time in the day to do them all!

For me, blogging is a fun hobby. I have a full-time job, so I am not looking to make a living from my blog. Every view, like, comment and follow is huge for me. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my posts!

What are your tips for new bloggers? Tell us below!