Since starting up my second blog a few months ago, I've been trying to expand my knowledge around blogging/bloggers, how to make then look better, and I've been trying to find other peoples blogs to see what other people are writing about.
During the week this search lead me to find the r/blogger subreddit, where along with loads of get rich quick, get lots of followers type posts, there were also a lot of normal beginner bloggers posting up there blog addresses and asking for tips on how to blog and constructive criticism on the look of their blogs. These posts got me thinking; both about what I was like when I first started off and what makes a good blogger and blog.
When I first started to blog, I had no real intention of writing for anyone but myself. My blog and my writing was for me, it was kind of like an online journal, that I didn't mind being out in the middle of the internet. Due to this, I've never been that fussed about the number of visitors or directing traffic to my blog and other such things. In this sense I wouldn't really class myself as a standard blogger, who began blogging for the more standard reasons and so i'm origins are a bit different from those on Reddit.
Since my writing has changed however and since starting this new blog, my feelings have begun to change and I would quite like to see more people reading my work, and to gain feedback on it to see if it has improved and if it is actually worth reading.
The second question was a lot more complex, there are some tips and tricks but there is no real cut and dry answer. It also all depends on your definition of a good successful blog, is it the amount of views you get, or followers, or comments that are made, or quality of the writing, etc...
When think about this, and whilst looking at some of the redditors blogs, the only real thing I could think of that is mainly universal is this; to write because you want to, and to write what you want to write about. There seem now to be a lot of bloggers emerging who start blogging because they see it as a short cut of shorts, to make them easy money or to use to get ahead in some way. The problem with this however is that most often than not people can tell when your faking it.
I know this blog has been a bit random and probably doesn't appeal to that many people, but in fact this one conclusive thought can be applied to almost anything. Don't try and be fake, do things because you want to do them and not because someone else says so. I know this isn't always the case and sometimes you don't have a choice or the luxury, but whenever you can try to take that option. For me so far it seems like the better choice and you'll feel better about it in the long run.
Just something for people to think about. If you are thinking of starting up a blog or are starting to wrote in any other sense please feel free to share in the comments down below.
