What to Expect In Your First Year of Blogging

To say that I’ve reached one year of blogging has been absolutely surreal! Back in November, I hit the one year mark for Cynspo. Over the past year, I can honestly say it was a rollercoaster. From extreme highs, to some of the lowest lows, this blogging journey has been nothing shy of eventful. To say it as been fantastic would be an understatement. So many lessons learned, knowledge gained, friends made and confidence uncovered. If you’re thinking of starting a blog or new to blogging, take a look at what you can expect in your first year of blogging to gain some insight!

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Before We Start

It’s important to note that every blogger’s journey is going to be different. What happened for me in the first year may not exactly happen for you and vice versa. This post was meant to offer a little insight, make you laugh and share common blogging pain points so many of us feel in that first year. My hope is that if you’re looking to start a blog, or new to blogging you’ll use this as fuel to keep going and realize you can reach your dreams!

What to Expect In Your First Year of Blogging

Lots and Lots of Reasearch

From the moment you decide to take on starting a blog, you will spend most of your time researching! I cannot tell you the amount of hours I’ve logged researching (and the number only continues to increase!). It’s only natural since you’re starting something new, and you want to make sure you do it right! As strategies, algorithms and trends change, your research will too. You can continue to look forward to more research in your future!

The Free Vs Self-Hosted Debate

You will read this debate online, you will have this debate internally and it will essentially guide the way you blog. While there is no right way to blog (it depends on whether you want to monetize or not), this is a decision every blogger will have to reach at their own time!

Becoming Computer Savvy Very Quickly

Let me tell you, the second I started blogging I became very close friends with my computer. From learning how to set up a theme, to learning how to create graphics, to storing and editing photos, I had to learn it all very quickly. You will find that as you navigate the blogging world, you’ll become very close to your computer (and may be notorious for always having 10+ tabs open at any given time!)

Wearing A Lot (A Lot) of Hats

When you’re first starting out, unless you have a whole team of people ready to help you at any point and turn, you are for the most part on your own. This includes creating blog content, designing your site, editing photos, curating several social media accounts, navigating Pinterest and more. While it seems like a lot, it’s very likely you will find your stride and figure out what you can schedule to make your life easier!

Some of Your Highest Highs & Lowest Lows

Some days you may feel on top of the world, and some days you may feel like you should throw in the towel. Blogging is a steep learning curve. It’s important to remember that you may not have all of the answers the second you start, but you are smart, capable and creative enough to figure it out! Track your wins, learn from your losses and keep going!

An Overwhelming Sense of Pride & Accomplishment

Your blog? Yeah, YOU created that! Sometimes you’ll stand back in awe and be shocked that you were able to create something out of seemingly nothing! Give yourself a massive pat on the back. You earned all of the accomplishments and praise coming your way!

Having to Spend Money Before You Make Money

While you don’t have to spend a fortune to start a blog (find out how, here!), you will have to put down money if you plan on monetizing your blog. The only way to blog for free is to consider it as a hobby, and use free resources to do so. This is one of the lesser known facts to new bloggers and can have quite an impact if you don’t have any money to burn.

Your Blog Taking a While to Take Off

Lots of blog posts suggest exploding your blog traffic is something you can do overnight, while in reality, it takes a lot longer. Don’t be discouraged if you’re not seeing significant blog traffic or are able to monetize right away in your first year of blogging. Every blogger’s journey is different and it doesn’t make you any less successful if it takes you longer!

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Skepticism from Friends, Family and Others

‘The market is oversaturated’ ‘how do you even make money blogging?’ You’re going to receive some kind of flack from someone at some point. Treat it like water on a duck’s back. You are always going to have someone who’s ready to doubt your capabilities and skills. Push through, ignore doubt and keep going. This is your dream and you should live it!

Get Ready to WORK

It’s no secret that blogging is hard work. You simply can’t expect to put your feet up and have the world fall at your fingertips. You need to put in the work, and sometimes that means spending long hours doing so. Sometimes that means putting in work after work, on weekends, and instead of doing other fun things. The sooner you start to put in the work, the sooner you start to see the results!

Making So Many Friends Your Head Will Spin

The blogging community is BOOMING with likeminded others who want nothing more than to connect, share and support other bloggers! The blogging community is one of the warmest, most welcoming communities going! Be ready to be wrapped in the warm embrace of some of the kindest people going!

If you want to join a community of bad-ass female blogger babes, click here!

To Fall In-Love With Your Blog

You may not quite expect this one, but you will. Your blog is something you created from scratch and share pieces of you sprinkled within it. It is the fruits of your labour, your ideas coming to light and a community of like minded others who want to read what you have to say! It’s a passion that will bloom inside of you and continue to grow the more you grow with it!

Blogging is a whole different world and if you’ve never experience it before, it may come as a shock to your system. Take each moment in and take the lessons with a grain of salt! Every day is a new learning opportunity that I hope you enjoy!