December 12th (TODAY) marks the first day I blogged for The Veda House and I want to commemorate this first year with a week long series all about the ups and downs of blogging. Last year I was not new to blogging. Throughout my college career, a classmate and I maintained a joint design blog that lived for 3 years. We both shared design content on a daily basis, but since we were design students, it kind of felt like part of the student job description. I really enjoyed it, but didn’t feel any real pressure to maintain the blog for traffic or growth reasons. Last winter, I realized that I wanted to blog more on a personal level and the joint blog was no longer the place for that.
Last December I was a little over a year out of design school with a huge desire to get connected back into the online social community where I once lived and thrived. I was missing being surrounded by all my other designer classmates and sharing content dropped off soon after school ended. I was also yearning to leap into the world of documenting my many DIY projects and mini-adventures I embarked on. I wanted to get back into photography that I once loved so much and I wanted to try baking…why not? I will admit that The Veda House started with very little direction, focus or plan for the future. I just wanted to document, and document in my own space/on my own time.
I’ll start by saying that the first year was one nasty roller coaster, and I hate roller coasters. The climbs to the top were short lived and the time spend zooming down hill were long and excruciating. When I first started I didn’t know that putting together posts about personal content would be so exhausting and mentally draining. I didn’t know that I would want to constantly be validated for the content I was putting out there for everyone to see. It became a war between me and myself and honestly, I hated it. I wanted my little blog to be seen by others. I wanted others to like the content enough to share it, and I wanted my blog to grow at a steady rate. I blogged about recipes, diys, thrifting trips, homes I liked, music I liked, our trip to the zoo…everything. This was mistake number one and the biggest mistake I’d make in year one; not having any focus what so ever.
During the first few months my itty bitty blog grew slowly. There was a time when ten views a day was like winning the lottery and days were 5 views was like death. I became a chronic stat checking, because I am a human who yearns to succeed at everything I set out to do. I wanted the numbers to tell me that all the time I had spent pouring my soul to the internet was worth all the hard work. Numbers grew, but at an embarrassingly low rate. I kept going, hoping that this was just what it takes to make the blog a success. That’s what others were telling me at least. Success doesn’t happen over night right? I networked my ass off, paid for advertising on other blogs, left meaningful comments on other blogs, and filtered all my blog content throughout Twitter and Facebook. I felt like I was doing everything right, but what was my problem??
About half way through the year the numbers stopped. My blog was no longer growing, but laughing at me at the top of a very low plateau. My blog laughed at me for the next couple months. This is when I was certain it wasn’t worth my time anymore and that being a full time blogger on top of a full time day job was just crazy talk. But I’m super stubborn and I keep going because this is what I do. I complained a lot about, whined and pouted, and even stopped my feet some, but I kept going.
Three quarters of the way through this first year I decided that I needed to shift the focus of my blog content to something a little more manageable. I needed to make my blog more about collaboration and networking to help out with the pressures of creating original content. I started blogging more about what was inspiring me on a daily basis, and less about where I went last weekend. I realized that as a design professional who is surrounded by great design on a daily basis, I had access to sharable design content. I know “good” design. I know what a beautifully styled room looks like. And I know that blogging about these kinds of things is really easy for me. It flies off the tip of my tongue without a problem. Over the last couple months of this first year my blog finally stopped laughing at me. OMG! Finally! Numbers have started to slowly grow. They are growing at a rate that keeps me motivated to continue. And wahoo, I really enjoy blogging again.
So today The Veda House is a place where I document inspiring graphic design work, illustrations, photography, interior design, and design trends. My blog has become a collaboration with other online bloggers/designers/artists who share similar design beliefs as myself. It has become a place to grow my network and share my own design services with others. It has become a portal to my online design portfolio and other social media outlets. My blog has become organized and refreshing to read. Most importantly, I really enjoy blogging. It’s no longer a debbie downer on my to do list, but something I can spend hours and hours enjoying. I can’t wait to see how this next year goes. So excited…and relieved.
Over the next 6 days I’m going to share with you 7 tips/suggestions (one category a day) I’ve gathered from my first year of blogging. I have so much I’d like to share, information that I wish other bloggers would have shared with me when I first started out. I hope you find this information valuable, even if you’ve been blogging for years. Everyone has a different experience, and this is just my version. I also wanted to thank all of you who have traveled this first year with me. It is because of you that I have kept going….and going. haha
Stay tuned for Part 1 and some additional insights from some of my blogger pals.
*All photos in this series are from Marco Suarez Art Shop on Etsy and all type was typeset by myself.