My Blogging Experience: Being A Beginner Blogger (My Personal Story)

Being a beginner blogger was a title I’ve carried a few times. And gaining experience didn’t come easy. I had no idea then what I know now about starting one. I was struggling with my depression, and I didn’t have the energy or motivation to invest in one. It took a lot of trial and error to get to this point today.

For most, when starting something new, you’re excited to jump right in feet first. And that was me in 2013. I wanted an escape from the struggles of real life, and setting up a blog was my way to let out some frustrations. I wasn’t consistent with it, and after some months, I stopped posting there. My depression had gotten the better of me. Two years later, I had decided to give it another go, only this time I was going to use my blog as a personal journal, posting about my feelings and the growth of my newly created company.

I was proud of myself because I had lasted longer than the first. Once again, I just wasn’t consistent enough with it. And by January 2016, I had closed the doors on yet another blog.

It wasn’t until the beginning of 2020 that I decided to give it one more try, and the first version of The Silent Torch was born. This time, I would do it not just for me but for everyone. While it started promising, I was ready for a change by June. With my recent depressive episode at its beginning stages, I didn’t have the motivation to write anything even though the topics were there. But I wasn’t giving up.

By July, six months after I started, I shut down my blog for its first-ever redesign. So I hit the internet to see what more I could do for my blog.

Deciding to Start the Redesign of My Blog

For me, starting the redesign was difficult because I was in a space where my mental health was beginning to fade. But I wanted to continue. I’d been a writer all my life, and it was something I enjoyed. But my mind just wasn’t there to put in the work to blog. I had decided to shut it down for a month and used that month to brainstorm.

The first thing to do was put in Google search, “how to become a blogger.” I had to think to myself if I wanted to be a blogger, I had to understand what the position was. I learned many things from both company blogs and bloggers who had been at this for a while.

One of the key things I took away from all the information I took in was finding my niche. And that’s what I was missing with the other blogs. At the beginning of starting this current one, I had an idea of what I wanted to write about. However, I was still in the mindset of writing for myself and wanting others to read rather than writing for an audience looking to read what I wrote.

A New Direction

So that meant having to think about what my niche was going to be. Now I’ve always considered myself to know a few things about different topics here and there, and I realized that there was one thing that I knew a ton about. And that’s how my niche was formed towards mental health awareness. Still a sensitive topic for many to talk about, I knew that I was comfortable sharing my stories and what I’ve learned with others in hopes that it would reach someone going through some of the things that I had gone through. For me, it was a no-brainer.

A revamp was in order, and I was going to do it the right way this time.

A Long Two Weeks

After I found my niche, it was time for the hard part. I was already set up on another platform, Weebly, so I needed a change. I wanted to do more with my site, so I took the suggestion of so many other bloggers out there and went to WordPress. You could read more about that journey in my post, My Journey from Weebly to My New Home WordPress.

WordPress would allow me the freedom to make my page look better than it was before. Plus, new environments are often a great way to embark on a new adventure. Let me say that it was not easy at all to transfer my old site to the new one. Because my budget was so tight, I had to opt to move everything manually. And after some research, I came across a site that was a lifesaver.

WPBeginner took me step by step through the process, and before I knew it, all my old posts and comments were now on my new site. I had to reformat everything and create new pages that were expected. It took me two long weeks to finally get my blog looking the way I wanted it to. And it wasn’t because everything was hard to use. It was simply because I was new to WordPress and had to start from scratch.

My Introduction to the Blogging World as a Beginner Blogger

After setting up my site, I decided to take a few days off. It was such a process for me. And just those few days alone allowed me to research and develop a new format for my blog post. I received my first introduction to headings, titles, and lists, to name a few. And after I wrote my first post on the new site, I could see the difference and feel the difference between the old site and the new one.

Even though my first post was on a smaller scale of readers, this was it. I was ready to write another one and see if I could write it even better.

And it wasn’t just the new format. It was learning how to work on a schedule that I created. I used Trello boards before to plan vacations, personal schedules, and my game dev company. So I figured it would be a great tool to have this time around. Because really, I didn’t have any true structure the last few times. But after reading how so many others plan out everything so that they know what to look forward to, it was only right for me to do the same.

Writing is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Trello is an excellent app to have in your back pocket.

I like that I can use it at home on my computer and my phone when I’m on the go. And it updates to both. It works when a sudden topic pops up in my head, and I can pop it into the app. It allows you to keep track of to-do tasks, completed posts, outlines, and even social media. There is a free and paid version. I use the free version because I’m just starting again, and it fits my needs for now.

On top of schedules and formats, I also learned how to put myself and my work out there on social media. I’m a shy and quiet person at heart, and I’m the type that stands in the back of the crowd with the tiniest voice. This was somewhat of a challenge for me, given my history of dealing with bullying.

I remember the first time I created a social media card for Twitter. I was so nervous because I knew that others would see it. Yet I still managed to do it, and I survived. I had to put aside my nerves and negative thoughts to put what I wrote out there for others to see because I wanted to find a way to help others by using my words.

Building a Routine as A Beginner Blogger

Now, it has become a part of my routine, like all the other stuff, to create images for my post to place on my Twitter and Instagram accounts. Canva is a site that I use to make my pins for Pinterest and my images for both my Instagram feed and story. It is a straightforward site, and they allow you to create your images using some of their templates for free. But if you want a more extensive library, there is a paid pro version for $12.95 a month. I like it because it allows my other passion, graphic design, to come out.

It’s only been two months, but as I continue to blog, I challenge myself to learn more and incorporate more into my site. There’s still more that I need to work on. I’m happy that I made it this far. As a  beginner blogger, we have to remember that there’s always room for improvement.

My Goals as a Beginner Blogger

When I started, I didn’t have goals for this site. It would be a place where I could share my stories with others. Now having the time to think, redesign, and reformat, I think my main goal for this site is to bring awareness to Mental Health and create a much-needed positive environment for my readers to come to and share.

But for now, I’m hoping to continue to learn from others, grow more and more as a blogger, and enjoy writing and sharing. Knocking out the smaller goals can only make a beginner blogger stronger and wiser. And with managing my mental health, I hope that will be the same for me.

Conclusion

There is so much to blogging than most expect, and it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and drive to succeed. Even though I’m still a beginner blogger, my advice for myself and others just starting is to research, learn, communicate, and never give up. What are some of your experiences as a beginner blogger? Feel free to comment below.

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Until next time, this is Tammy saying keep strong, keep positive, and NOTHING’s impossible!!!