MY ONE YEAR EXPERIENCE AS A BLOGGER

I realized Temituope's Diary had already clocked a year already and I was like; "wow, time really flies".

I can still remember when I started the blog, the encouragement I got from people and the negativity I got from "haters"; it all seems like yesterday.

I would say that this past one year of blogging has been more to my advantage. It has improve my communication skills, it has made me a better thinker, it has improved my self-awareness, it has boosted my self-esteem and finally, it has earned me more respect and expectations from people.

However, one thing I've observed is that a whole lot of people out there don't like reading. To say it in another way; a lot of people out there are lazy when it comes to reading especially when it comes to reading stuff that are not academic or politically related and are not based on contemporary stuffs that easily attract attention. If a post doesn't relate directly to any of these, there is a high tendency that it would attract lower traffic to your blog.

Also, I've come to understand that in order to attract more traffic to your blog, your posts have to have "catchy" titles because that is what lures people to view your blog in the first place. Therefore, no matter how interesting the content of a post is, if the title is not "catchy" enough, there would be less views of that post.

Also, I've come to understand that blog promotion is key to attracting more traffic to your blog. How would people get to view your blog if they don't know about it? This makes blog promotion very important in blogging. There are two ways to it; its either you pay to get it done or you do it yourself through social media which is one of the best platforms; it all depends on your pocket.

Again, as a blogger, people expect you to make money from it. Not everyone sees blogging as a passion, most people see it only as an avenue to make money. So when I tell people that it's a passion, it sounds "foreign" to them. However, its important to mention that you can still make money from your passion; Its not out of place and it all depends on you. You just have to do everything possible to continually increase the traffic to your blog because there is no point monetizing a blog with very low traffic as your income as a blogger depends on your blog traffic.

Finally, there is this unfair expectation of perfection I've experienced this one year. As a blogger, people expect you to be a "know it all" person who can write and talk about anything. They expect you to be intellectually sound and to be an "all-rounder" generally. In reality, this is not always the case. That I'm able to write on society and lifestyle related issues doesn't necessarily make me a guru in other field like religion, fashion, health and so on. It also doesn't make me above mistakes either.

Finally, I've come to understand that blogging requires a lot of time and dedication. If you are not willing to give that, then maybe you are just not ready for it yet. This is why it has to be something you are really passionate about because passion will attract dedication. Blogging will involve sacrifice and you leaving your comfort zone a lot of times. So it all depends on you.

Starting a blog is not the problem but keeping it going. You have a lot expectations to meet. If your last post was "amazing", people expect your next post to be just as "amazing" as the last one and once you fall below that expectation, it affects your blog traffic.

So you see, blogging isn't that easy but it is still one of the best things I've gotten myself into and by God's grace, I intend to keep my blog alive and take it to the next level in future.

In a nutshell, my one year blogging experience has been an amazing one full challenges which I'm still in the process of overcoming. Everyday comes with new challenges, there is no perfect blog, it can only get better.

Thank you so much for reading this post. Your questions and comments are very much welcomed. Its also important to share this post. You don't know who this information can help!