Don’t assume you know everything

When I started my first blog, I assumed I knew everything. I’d been in the web design community for a good amount of time in forums and stuff like that, and I felt like I had nothing else to learn. So my first lesson to you is:

Don’t just assume you know everything. Only a fool thinks they know it all.

Always try and learn new stuff. After all, knowledge is power. This is especially important in the web design community where ideas are constantly created and people are making new stuff all the time. It’s important that you stay up to date with what’s happening and then try and take from it what you will. This way you’ll improve not only your blogging but your basic knowledge of what’s going on in the niche you work in.

Don’t burn out

When I started my blog, it was like, I had so many ideas, I just wanted to get them out there to show everyone. After about a month though I burned out, and all my ideas didn’t really count for anything because all I had was a concentrated amount of traffic in a small area of time that died out after I ran out of things to post. So that’s what our second lesson is today folks:

Don’t think you need to post something as soon a you write it. As tempting as it might be, saving your posts could help get you out of a sticky situation, such as lack of ideas or a period when you just can’t post.

Now obviously if you’re a very creative person and you can just come up with idea after idea like some sort of machine, it’s okay for you to post, post and post. Posting everyday will dramatically improve your traffic, but that’s not for everyone. If blogging is just a hobby for you at the moment posting everyday might not be plausible, and saving posts for those times when you can’t post is a great idea.

Patience is a virtue

If you’re anything like me (I’ll assume you are), whenever you have an idea you want to follow it through immediately, and try and get it working as soon as possible. So as a new blogger you might want to get your projects out the door as soon as possible (this even goes for posts). This brings us to our third rule.

Patience is a virtue, and teamed with persistence you’ll be able to get far in this world

When I started this blog I wanted to get it up and going really quickly, and this is probably what stopped me from having a good start in the blog world. It’s important that you don’t give in to these urges and set everything up correctly.

Quick Tips

• Get a good design and code it to be fast and efficient
• Make sure everything is done, such as the sidebar and the gaps in your CSS
• Install all the plugins that you’re going to require
• make it expandable so you don’t have to redesign when you get bigger

Another important thing to remember is if this is your first blog you’re not going to hit the big time straight away. Just keep churning out quality content and eventually you’ll get noticed. Of course to get noticed, you might need a little help..

Take social media seriously

When I first started blogging, the idea of sharing and socializing seemed a bit odd. I mean, blogging is just about writing, right? It’s about me helping people out in some way or another. Of course it was only after a few weeks that I realized how important socializing really is.

Now there are a ton of ways that you can socialize with your community, but I’ve found that the best way is with Twitter, crowd sourcing websites like Digg, and Stumble Upon. Twitter and Stumble Upon especially, giving you constant traffic often. Digg is pretty good if you have a good article which can hit the front page.

URL Shorteners are becoming a more popular way to get traffic to your site. I personally use Su.pr, Stumble Upon’s proprietary URL Shortener as it comes with the bonus of adding your link to stumble upon, where you can end up getting tons of visitors.

Put your back into it

This sort of ties into my other points. To make something successful you have to put work into it. Don’t just sit back and expect the visitors to flow in. Keep posting and try and make the most of what you have. In the past I’ve had websites where I’ve gave up because I haven’t had success as fast a I would’ve liked, and it’s not uncommon for someone to just say “Screw it” and give up because their blog isn’t improving in levels of subscribers or visitors.

Of course this kind of attitude isn’t going to get you anywhere. Once you make your blog stick with it. I remember starting a website about a year or 2 ago, and giving up after a few weeks. About 6 months later I was left wondering what it could’ve been if I’d stuck with it, which is sort of what spurred me to start this blog. So that’s sort of what our fifth little tip is about:

Stick with what you build, even when times are tough. Put work into it and try and make it better, instead of starting again.

Make a schedule

A schedule for posting and doing stuff is great. At the minute, for me, things are very hectic when it comes to the site, and this can cause a bit of stress and just a general cluttered environment. Although I don’t obey this little rule, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

A schedule will not only benefit you but also your readers. Users like when things are nice and regular, like, so they know that every Tuesday there’ll be a post, and you’ll know “Oh, I don’t have to work on that until Sunday because I don’t have to post it till Tuesday”. This can take a lot of stress of you and will definitely have a positive outcome on the amount of work you perceive yourself to have.

So what are your thoughts? What do you think are the most important blogging lessons you’ve learned? Leave a comment below.