Yesterday the blog turned two years. Two years ago I decided right away to start to publish my stuff online, for exercise, just because it was a good excuse to practice with English for an upcoming exam. I knew nothing about blogging, WordPress, how to create content for the Web, SEO, Analytics, Facebook groups of support between moms and bloggers, social media, the importance of a uniform feed in Instagram, telegram and groups of Like Exchange. And I can keep going for a while… If you’re wondering why is it worth to open a blog nowadays when the world is full of bloggers and you’d be just a drop in the ocean, my answer could only be one. Because it will allow you to grow!
Table of contents
WHY I STARTED BLOGGING
Photo by Mert Talay on Unsplash
Those of you who follow me in Instagram know that before becoming ‘ mum what else ‘ I used to work in TV production. A job I loved and I stopped doing after we moved to London. For obvious reasons: because waiting for a child and being mother of one-year-old requires it. And for a while, I wasn’t a career woman anymore, and I was completely devoted to my children.
Big commitment, huge if you don’t have any help. But I’m glad I did it, even if alone, here in London, because it made me to take a break. And it made me to rethink myself.
Motherhood changes everything, especially the balance in a couple, and even in ourselves. And I followed the flow. The children have completely captured me and I had a profound identity crisis. The job wasn’t nothing to me, I just wanted to stay with my children. And it went well for a while. You know you enjoy your kids, you’re lucky. They tell you. But in reality, being a mother should not preclude us from being able to express ourselves, totally and in many aspects that distinguish us.
I was happy but also a little frustrated, I felt that I needed to get back on track, to do something for me, to make my brain work again. Being a mum is a h24 job, you can’t rid off. However, for most of our lives we have also been other than being just mothers..
A BLOG TO LEARN BY DOING
Getting back to work here in London for me meant especially one thing: practice English. Yes, because when you arrive in England fresh from years using English every day at work, you realize that you do not know English at all and you need a lot of practice.
So I chose to enroll in a course of English and to practice writing, I do not know how, I got the idea to open a blog. I say I do not know how, why, please forgive me other bloggers who will read this post, but I have never read blogs before, and I didn’t know who the bloggers were!!!
I know what you’re thinking now… So you can!
Of course you can and I’m the proof of it! If I look back to my first Instagram or blog posts, I can see obviously all my inexperience. But I am for learning by doing, and with the practice you will also learn.
WHY YOU SHOULDN’T OPEN A BLOG
What you certainly do not have to do is to open a blog to earn money or because you want to have free holidays.
You should like to write, and write grammatically well, because you can’t afford a proofreader.
You don’t have to open a blog if you think to obtain results from the next day. It takes patience, study, determination, have in mind an editorial plan, follow courses (there are many online), and keep you updated.
Do not open a blog if you do not want critics or if you want to become ‘popular’.
WHY OPEN A BLOG: HOW TO START
Photo by Alexandra on Unsplash
First, you will need to have the support of your family because the blog will take you away, and when you are on a visit or on holiday, you will probably often have a camera in your hands.
You will have to start studying: how to use WordPress, how plugins work and what to install, how to fix the photos and shrink them to facilitate the loading of the page, what the keywords are and do an analysis before writing, because you want your post is ranked well. Which means, get to the first page of Google search for the keyword you’ve chosen.
Do networking, a lot. Learn, give and receive. Read, especially other blogs, because you can not think of opening a blog and do not spend time reading what they the other ‘colleagues’ do and how they write.
The blog allowed me to reinvent myself. At almost forty years old. It allowed me also to discover a passion that has turned into a job now for me, because I create content for companies.
Why open a blog? Because life is too short to just one job, and if you are in a critical phase and want to start a new profession, certainly in digital there are many possibilities. And even if you don’t work in digital, the blog will let you see what you know. It’s a great window to show up and be able to ‘ sell ‘.
Just start rolling foot. Step by step!
7 comments
Complimenti per il tuo blog, molto bello!
Alla domanda “perché hai aperto un blog” qualcuno ha risposto: “Perché avevo del tempo libero, ora non ne ho più e sono felice!”.
Noi l’abbiamo aperto per condividere le nostre esperienze di viaggio con amici e parenti che sovente ci chiedevano dettagli sui luoghi visitati, info sull’organizzazione, ecc… Poi abbiamo visto che i nostri contenuti interessavano ed abbiamo allargato i nostri orizzonti verso il “grande pubblico”. Piano piano stiamo crescendo e questo ci piace molto.
Francesca, che bel post. Aprire un blog per me ha significato riattivare le sinapsi, come scrivi tu, e sentire che ancora valgo qualcosa al di la’ dell’essere mamma, che la mente funziona e crea ancora cose (spero) valide. E tutto questo e’ importante per non demoralizzarsi professionalmente. Un abbraccio! Chiara
Grazie Chiara sono felice che ti sia piaciuto :) Riattiviamoci infatti perchè abbiamo ancora molto da dare!
good suggestions, also if I don’t think at blogging as a profession but as a passion. And happy birthday to your blog!
Thank you :)
I only recently discovered that before your blog you were working in tv production. What a job you had and actually what a job you have now! I agree with you with you with all the things you said. I do have a blog as well and the reason I have it is because it hels my person. I happy to give advice and suggestions that other people can find helpful for ther trip. But mostly, I am the one who needs the blog most. I care for it and I want it to grow, maybe one day, in my only and real job. But mostrly, my blog is my passion and I have to never forget that!
A passion that we hope to grow as a child :)