One month in the life of a blogger..

So it's been a month since I set up 'Dim Frills Blog' and I thought that I would do a quick post on my blogging experience so far.
Hopefully this will be a good insight for anyone who's considering setting up a blog. I was a total rookie entering into this and still learning many things but here's what I've learnt over the last month..

1. Don't expect an over night success

My very first blog post received less than 20 views and I immediately thought that maybe I was boring or something. However, slowly my views have crept up and I hope this will continue. Getting people to view your blog requires time and effort. I find that my posts have mainly been beauty and shopping based which has such a big following that it's hard to stand out in the crowd. I hope the more time I spend working on the identity of the blog that I'll find out what makes this original and worth the read.

2. Promotion is key!

I quickly learnt that by sharing my blog, I could reach more people and hopefully there's something about my post that make people feel like they would want to read it. Twitter is where I promote my posts (feel free to follow me @dimfrillsblog) and by tagging blog retweet accounts, I'm very fortunate that most of them are kind enough to retweet my posts. This is a brilliant way to promote and share your posts for free. I don't really know how else to share my blog without bombarding my other social media so suggestions in the comment box would be greatly appreciated!!

3. Starting off is pretty lonely

If you look at the most successful bloggers e.g. Zoella or Sprinkle of Glitter, they help each other out by posting, retweeting and promoting each other as well as collaborating. When you start a blog, you're out there on your own. You have to promote your own blogs and put yourself out there in order for people to find you and even then, you're just a small fish in the big big blog ocean.
I've found that other than the retweet accounts, no one has commented or interacted with me yet (big sad face) because I haven't established myself in the blogging world. I'd love to work with other people so please get in touch with me, comment, tweet me. I like to chat and won't bite haha!

4. Ideas, inspiration and researchI tend to post weekly on a Monday as this is a quiet evening in my house when I can sit and write my post. Planning or scheduling a regular post can be a good idea for staying organised. Also, I give myself a week between blogs to plan my next post.

My best blog posts have been ones where I've spent time taking photos and researching the products. As you can see above, I like reading magazines for inspiration on how they write and review. I also LOVE reading other blogs to for ideas on how to photograph and see what things people enjoy reading/writing about.

Some days, I'll be sitting on a bus and an idea for a blog will just pop into my head and other days I'll have to look around my room and see what inspiration I can get. A blog post can be about anything; a new pair of shoes you've bought, an amazing new beauty find or a recent trip. As long as I've enjoyed shopping for it or writing the blog then I hope that's enough:)

5.Keep going and just enjoy!
It doesn't really matter if you get 10 or 1,000,000 views, the most important part of blogging is to enjoy it. I started this blog as a hobby as I'm currently on summer holiday until I go back to uni. I hope that people like what I write and that this leads to new and exciting opportunities in the future.

Some people have said 'what do you get out of this?' and 'you're sad' but I really don't care. I'm doing this because I'm enjoying being a part of something new and gaining new skills.

I hope this has been an insight into my first month as a newbie blogger. If you want to get in touch, comment below or follow me on my social media.

Much Love
Abbie xox