5 Lessons of Blogging, in 4 Years



It's been almost 4 years since I started blogging. Four years of writing out my thoughts and feelings, of developing where I want to be in the blogging world, bringing new traditions and forgetting old ones (RIP 'ciao for now'). I've been so so lucky, and whilst this piece of the internet is still relatively small, it's blown up and received more attention than I could possibly have imagined as an 18 year old sat in her bedroom, from working with The Huffington Post to being lucky enough to have products sent my way, blogging has opened so many doors, and probably the biggest door of all, was the realisation of how much I love to write.

Despite all of this nostalgia, there have been weeks I've wanted to delete Alice's Antics and give up on everything ever, it's not been an easy ride and I'm still winging it (as with everything in life, let's face it), but I wanted to share my 'experience.' Don't worry, I'm not closing it down, but for anyone wondering what it's like to be a blogger, or is debating starting a blog, I thought I'd give you a piece of my blogging brain. 

Don't Expect Everybody to 'Get' It

Blogging is a fairly new concept, which has absolutely blown up in the last five years or so. But just because you and I have heard of blogging, it doesn't mean everyone has. When I first started my blog, I was terrified. I kept it hidden for a while, and had a solid 3 readers. When people did inevitably find it, of my friends from school really understood the concept, and I remember meeting up with them over Christmas and people making offhand jokes about my blog posts. Obviously no one meant any harm, but it's sometimes hard hearing people comment on a piece of writing you've spent hours on. I can't stress enough how important it is not to let this get to you, if I had stopped after receiving criticism, my blogging life would have been extremely short. 

There's a Whole Blogging Community

This is something I was not expecting. But it turns out, there are blogs for literally anything and everything. Facebook groups, Twitter chats, there's a whole network out there for bloggers to gain help, advice and just to make friends. Despite dabbling in the 'tumblr' community when I was younger, this big-girls-blogging club came as a huge shock to me, I've been so lucky to make friends through Alice's Antics, it's just an added bonus to blogging and I've learnt so much from talking to others experiences of blogging first hand.


Blogging's Not Easy- But People Will Think it is

In the last four years, I've probably been asked to help set up the blogs of between 15 to 20 people. Friends and family and individuals who have been following blogs for a while and just want a crack at it, and that is actually great. Blogging has become extremely saturated, to the extent where I don't in any way feel threatened or worried if someone I know sets up a similar blog to Alice's Antics, I certainly wasn't the first blog by any means. But of the people who have asked me, I could count on one hand, the amount who have stuck at it. People don't tend to understand each blog post takes time, and it's not just a case of throwing words together. Because of the large scale of photo-based blogs, I think people forget the majority of bloggers are writers, and each post takes time, but I've found this is overlooked a lot by people who don't blog.


If You Want to Get Something Out of it, You Need to Invest in it

This relates back hugely to my last point, in terms of how much investment goes into blogging. You must love what you write. You must love writing, full stop. Because people can tell. I can look back on posts, and know when I've written something in a rush, or half heartedly. And you will never stick at something, if you don't believe in it. 'Investment' is also very literal, because believe it or not, blogging costs money. Advertisements, sponsored posts, blog layouts, if you want to gather a wider audience, or make blogging your job, you'll be left out of pocket. Which is why it's even more important for you to love what you're doing.

It's Ok to Take a Breather

Towards the end of last year, blogging was stressing me out more than it was filling my heart with warmth. So this year, you may have noticed a certain lack of schedule, and I am so so sorry for that, but as the blogger, I decided to take a step back. Instead of posting 3x a week or forcing myself to write every Monday, I'm writing whenever I feel like it. And that means it is a bit sporadic, but that's totally okay, rather than pushing out blog posts about random crap, I'm writing about what I want to write about, and that is probably the most important lesson I've learnt.


Whether you blog full time, have a little side blog, or are just here to read Alice's Antics, I hope I gave you a bit of an insight into writing a blog!

Love, Alice x







2 comments

  1. People can definitely tell when you love what you write and put effort into your blogging. I too have felt like giving up and deleting my blog at times- I think that's just a right of passage for bloggers haha. I'm glad you're still blogging and learning! xx

    My Lovelier Days

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  2. Blogging is not easy! Nobody told you that it will be easy to create a blog, support and and invest in it. However, your lessons amazed me so much.

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