Things I’ve Learned in Four Years of Blogging

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Blogging advice

Today marks the four year anniversary of Suzie Speaks.

Four years, 838 posts (if you don’t count the hundreds that I’ve deleted), a collective following of nearly 19,000 people, nearly 780,000 views, the biggest blogging hashtag of the weekend, an amazing Facebook group and three awards.

Since starting the blog I have quit my job, got engaged, gained a brother-in-law and gorgeous squidgy niece, travelled, attended events, reviewed everything from restaurants and cocktail bars to theatre shows, hotels and products, made a whole bunch of new friends and experienced things that I could only have dreamed of in what I consider to be my previous life. What an unbelievable journey.

The blog began as a simple online journal – an outlet to try and calm the stress and anxieties I was experiencing at the time. There were no expectations or dreams, just a desire to write. However, as my blogging knowledge grew, I found a community, started to develop promotional strategies, learned a great deal about social media and, as a result, now have a whole list of things that, if I could go back and start again (not that I would want to, mind you), I would do differently.

Of course, there are no specific rules and regulations when it comes to starting and marketing a blog. However, here are a few things that have learned in my time spent in the blogosphere.

1. Social media accounts are as important as your blog if you want to grow your traffic. It took me eighteen months to start my Twitter account, two years to develop my Facebook page, two-and-a-half years to start my Stumble Upon, three years to start a Pinterest page and only discovered Flipboard a few months ago. 75% of my views now come from social media and I always wonder how many views I missed out on.

2. Your blog name needs to be something that you like right from the beginning. In my eagerness to start writing, I hastily chose a name, Suzie81blog, which was my first name and the year I was born. Consequently, when I decided to purchase my own domain name a year later, I had to choose ‘Suzie Speaks’ so as not to confuse my followers. I hate it, but unless I want to completely rebrand then I’m stuck with it.

3. A niche is not necessary to be successful. A particular layout for your web design is not necessary to be successful. If you like it, stick with it and avoid comparing yourself to other blogs – half the blogs I’ve seen appear in the last year or so all look pretty much the same anyway. You can’t be anyone other than yourself.

4. A willingness to follow and interact with someone shouldn’t be based solely on numbers. A following doesn’t equate to views or quality eg. I’ve got only 4,000 people on my Pinterest page and yet have received 28,000 referrals from there since January, even with the massive changes that Pinterest have been making over the last few months. Are their posts actually worth reading? I’ve read posts that have been shared thousands of times that are utterly pointless and posts that have only been shared a few times that are brilliant. Do they reply to your comments, even if (like myself) it takes several days or even a week? Follow what you genuinely enjoy reading and be open to newcomers.

5. Blog envy is a waste of time. Try to avoid getting involved in the whole blog envy thing, which I appreciate is easier said than done. What other bloggers are doing is nothing to do with your own blogging journey. It’s your space – get your head down and create something that you’re proud of. Ultimately, remember that there is an audience for everything.

6. It’s important to be as polite and respectful as possible, but remember that you don’t owe anyone in the blogging community anything just because you have a blog. Of course, your posts are more likely to be shared if you regularly promote those of others, but you don’t have to (although, I would advise that if you join in a link-up you at least make a bit of an effort). Inevitably, bloggers will only show you what they want you to see and there are indeed those who aren’t as authentic in their activities as they claim to be. They will buy followers, use bots, spam your pages, repeatedly follow then unfollow (Instagram is THE WORST for this), make aggressive demands on others to share their stuff, steal ideas and in some cases, directly copy and paste posts from other blogs and claim them as their own. Ignore, block, report and then move on. Indeed, I’ve had people steal posts, leave nasty comments (note: insulting Justin Bieber is not a good idea), send nasty emails and passive aggressive messages when I haven’t followed them back or promoted them, or people who have requested interviews but then haven’t published it when I told them I wasn’t able to reblog them for a while because of my schedule. I made the mistake of challenging people on a few occasions and trust me, it’s not worth it. A large percentage of this is part of a massive numbers game and some genuinely get a kick out of confrontation – it’s not a fight you’re ever going to win.

7. The community – the RIGHT community for you – will be the best, most supportive group of people you will ever meet.

Blogging is the most exhilarating, exciting, time-consuming, frustrating and sometimes heartbreaking thing I’ve ever done. I’ve had sleepless nights when my stats have rocketed and more sleepless nights when they have tanked. I’ve experienced sometimes week-long periods of the dreaded bloggers block, followed by days where I can’t stop writing. Even four years later, I still get a huge buzz when I create a post that I’m genuinely proud of. I’ve met people in person from all over the world who have become trusted friends. And even better, I NEVER get bored – it’s gone from a passion to a profession and it has changed my life for the better in so many ways.

Thank you for all of your support – here’s to the next four!

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog, and don’t forget to follow my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/suzie81speaks, my Pinterest page http://www.pinterest.com/suzie81speaks and my Instagram page http://www.instagram.com/suzie81speaks

152 thoughts on “Things I’ve Learned in Four Years of Blogging”

  4. Once again, I am grateful for your honest, open, straightforward advice on blogging.
    BTW – I love the name ‘Suzie Speaks’. I am so glad that you didn’t change it!

  7. Congrats on yourself for keeping with it and evolving yourself to stay engaged in the process. As a newcomer, I’ve said this before… I have found getting connected to your blog helpful and you always appear to be friendly and supportive from what I’ve been exposed to thus far at least lol. Keep blogging!

  9. Congratulations! And thanks for sharing! Great tips! Will be looking more into social media now after that! Have a great day and heres to many more posts xxx

  10. Congrats, Suzie!

    I myself have found blogging to be immensely rewarding, if for no other reason (and there are other reasons) than it serves as a great intellectual incubator: The blog is a place to refine and debate ideas, because one better understands what one thinks/believes when we’re forced to put it in words so others can follow our thought process.

    Sean

  11. Congratulations, dear Suzie! You are an inspiration to me and thousands of others as well! I appreciate everything you write, all of your support for the blogging community! But most importantly, I appreciate YOU!!! Cher xoxo

  13. Happy Blog Birthday and congrats on so many awesome achievements. You are one of my oldest and dearest blogger friends and I am so glad blogging brought us together!

  14. Blog envy is something I’m perpetually struggling with (I alternate with author envy, just so I don’t get bored – LOL!). I agree with Phil – excellent advice, and it will be interesting to see where you are in another 4 years! Congratulations, and thanks yet again for all you do for the blogging community!

  16. I got my first hateful comment a few weeks ago, and it upset me more than it should have. When I told my son about it he was thrilled and declared me “big time” since I had haters. Blogging is definitely an adventure and an education. Congratulations on your accomplishments!

  18. Congratulations! Wow, four years!
    These were all amazing tips, especially the last one, one of the most rewarding things about blogging is the blogging community.

  19. Congrats, Suzie on your 4 year blogiversary!!! Great advice! Cheers and to many, many more blogging years. P.S. What serendipity that I posted this on the weekend of your blogging anniversary!
    Hope this weekend is treating you kindly. See you on #SundayBlogShare tomorrow. 🙂

  20. I love this post and I love your blog! Four years, wow, doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun haha. Great advice here and OMG, yes to number 7! Thanks for being a huge part of my blogging life too, Suzie x

  21. You’re always so great at inspo! When there’s so many people telling you to automate everything and bombard your followers 24/7 with the hard sell, it’s refreshing and oh-so helpful when someone tells you that it’s possible to blog *and* be genuine, and still make a good hash of it!

  23. I especially like the advice to not compare, Susie. The times I feel the worst about my tiny piece of the blogging world is when I compare myself to someone else. Especially when I think my writing is better and why don’t I have 9 million followers too, etc. etc. I’ve not had many haters but I still have a relatively small number of followers and I’ve never written about Justin Bieber. LOL. Congratulations on your success and your 4 year anniversary!

  24. Really enjoyed this Suzanne. Prior to starting my blog, I read so much guff about ‘you have to find a niche’. So I ignored it all, decided I’d like to write about more than one thing and chose three! I think niche can be restrictive at times.

  26. Congrats on 4 years of blogging and all the success, online and offline. 🙂 Some good advice too! I too hate the Instagrammers that follow and unfollow too 😐

  27. Congrats! Good luck. I’ve been blogging for only six months and have not experienced most of this yet but still I get mad sometimes that I got sucked into blogging. It takes so much times, patience and perseverance! What would you have done differently?

  31. I’ve only been blogging for a little less than a year. I enjoy it for many reasons, but only since I’ve engaged in the wider blogger community-through Big Up Your Blog-have I felt truly connected. I love meeting new people, and seeing what’s important to them through what they choose to blog about. Your learnings in the last four years, have benefitted many. Not just in this post, but in your journey as a whole. Thanks for the thoughts, here. And for being the hub around which community grows.

  32. Great post. Agreed that blog envy, comparing to others, and constant stat-checking will bring you down. Love the “be yourself”, authentic approach. Really, it’s the only way to go. Congrats! 💖

  34. Congratulations, Suzie!! What a journey you have been on but an eventful and fulfilling one! I am shocked by some of the nasty things people will do to get numbers or followers, there is never any need to be horrible to anyone!
    I must admit to suffering a bit of blog envy from time to time, but like you have said, we can only be ourselves, which is what we should continue to do.
    Here’s to your continuing success!! 🍷🍷🍷

  35. Reblogged this on Journey To Ambeth and commented:
    The wonderful Suzie Speaks blog has just turned four! Congratulations, Suzie – what a wonderful journey you’ve been on so far! I first connected with Suzie a couple of years ago via another blog, and I’m so glad I did – she has been a supportive blogging buddy and become a real friend. Here she tells us about all she’s learned in four years of blogging – it’s well worth a read, so hop on over to her blog and check it out. Congratulations, Suzie! xx

  36. Congrats on 4 years Suzie! You’ve come a long way in just 4 short years! Thank you for sharing your advice. It means so much to new bloggers (especially me) to read about your suggestions on how to grow our blog. I’m looking forward to your next 4 years too!

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  39. Wonderful advice! Congrats on ur 4 yr blog anniversary. What an achievement! My blog is just one month old, still a baby i know. What shocked me most was the number game, follow then unfollow, and commenting just for the sake of commenting without even really reading the article! I am still working on the social media part (didnt realize how much work it takes) as i only have instagram now. Which platform do you think is the most important?

    • Oh my gosh I really hate the whole follow / unfollow thing – drives me insane! Pinterest is definitely the most effective, despite the issues with it at the minute…

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  42. Congrats on your 4 years. I’m going on 4 months. Thanks for the advice. I love I can learn from bloggers like you who are willing to share their journey
    Thanks
    Athelenerose

  43. Happy Anniversary! My sixth was yesterday, but I didn’t begin to write in earnest until 2014. What have I learned in six years (four, really)? Blogging is a community. Liking and commenting on other bloggers’ posts is essential to blogging happiness. I didn’t understand this until recently. I posted my work and left it at that. When I began reading others’ work, I was astonished at the variety of expression and types of voices. It’s a wonderful world 🙂

  44. A very inspiring and motivating post! Newbies like me need exactly this, so thank you 🙂 Followed!

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  47. Congratulations and thank you for all the advice and support. I don’t think I’m ever going to get the opportunity to insult Justin Bieber. I’m not even sure I know who he is.

  48. I’m just getting started in the blog world and can already tell I need to stop worrying about comparing myself to other blogs. Just write. Write for myself. Write for whoever happens upon the blog. And just push forward that way. Thanks for the reminder. And congrats on 4 years!

    • You’re absolutely right – create things that you are proud of for you. Don’t have total blinkers on, as sometimes someone will write about something that will spark an idea or ten, but don’t get involved in the whole blog envy thing…

  50. Thanks for posting this, Suzie! Congratulations on your four years! I’m a new blogger, and I totally related with staying true to my writing, remaining authentic, and not trying to force the blog or my writing to accommodate things that aren’t true to me. Thanks again, I really needed this read!

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