Bloggin’ For The Everyday Girl

Since celebrating a YEAR of Chasing Sunshine on  January 24th, which is so crazy on its own, I wanted to create a post that I would’ve needed a year ago. So, if you’ve thought about making your own blog or just want to know what it’s been like for me and what I’ve learned from all of this, then keep readin’!!

• Make a separate insta for your blog: TRUST. I always felt like posting on my personal instagram about my blog and using that as my platform felt forced. Like the people who were already following me had to support the journey I started. I honestly wanted to see what kind of a following I could get on my own by putting it out there completely. Like: hey, this is my blog + I’d love your support. It was pretty rewarding watching it grow over this year and now realizing I have more followers on my CS insta than my personal one is actually kind of impressive to me. While I felt like it was helpful being able to post whatever and whenever, using your own insta totally works too. For example, if your branding or your name for your blog is just your personal name then I totally get it!! Just do you.
• Be super active. Even if you’re just liking someone’s picture, your name is seen. The most effective way to be seen is liking and supporting your fellow bloggers! I learned this the hard way. At the beginning, I was following a mass of people every day but I was hardly liking any pictures because of it. I would gain a bunch of followers and the next day they would ALL be gone. I was so confused! I soon realized that by commenting/liking others posts gained me a lot of attention. But the obvious thing is putting out good content that people want to see which I’ll follow up with in the next point.
• Take the time to create quality content. I got really nervous about 3 months into the blog that I wasn’t posting enough. I was so worried people would just give up and stop reading because I wasn’t consistent. I still don’t have a consistent posting regimen but I still work hard on what I do post. I feel like posting every now and again is OKAY if your content is good. Even your photos if you feel like posting on Instagram. Instagram is my main platform I use to get the word out about my blog so I post on there everyday. BUT I take the time to edit the pictures I post and I’ll talk about that on my next point as well.
• Insta tip: have your gun locked + loaded. I think the best realization I had when working on my blog insta was that there was an option for a draft picture. The caption, the tags, the location- they all stay if you draft your picture. This is obviously for those of you who want to gain an instagram following (which yes, I am still working on) to get the word out about what you’re doing. I would edit the pictures I found on pinterest and the ones I took myself and even now I have at least 12 pictures saved and ready to post when I need some good content if I have nothing going on that day.
• #what??? USE YOUR HASHTAGS PEOPLE. There’s now an option to follow a hashtag which I think is amazing. I see a lot of people will post the hashtags in their caption and I personally don’t like the look of it. I like to post a caption, short and sweet most of the time so people will actually read it, and then I’ll post all my hashtags in a comment below. I also have all my hashtags saved in my notes on my phone so I just copy and paste each time.
• When you get inspo, WRITE IT DOWN. I have also in my notes a check list of all the blogs I want to write. Most of the time my blogs are related to the present like whats happened or what I did/cooked recently but when I have nothing going on or I feel like planning something, I resort to my list! A lot of the time, I’ll start writing a blog and I’ll lose inspo and stop writing. I’ll just save the draft, take a day and come back to it because chances are, it was good writing I just lost momentum.
• Be. Patient. I’ve almost been doing this for a whole year and I’m still learning everyday. Getting to know WordPress on its own has been a process for me because I’m not the most tech savvy. But, this is the best I’ve done all year on growth and views so I hope I can continue this upward streak. In the beginning, I expected to take off right away and I kept getting frustrated when I didn’t see any results. It took me awhile to just take a step back and realize that while I want growth and views, I also love doing this. I would post forever and have no one see it because this has become a huge part of my life. I always remind myself that I’m lucky to have the platform I do and to not rush anything because if it’s meant to be, I could reach great heights Chasing Sunshine some day…. btw are you tired of the CS puns yet?????

So those are my million dollar (I wish) tips on blogging! If I would’ve seen this a year ago, I would’ve felt a lot better about what I was doing. I can’t even believe I’ve built this name and this blog into something that I’m so so beyond proud of. Most things that I’ve tried in life, havent worked out- and for good reason. Its extremely comforting to know that I have a path in this blog I can pour my heart into and the hopes that I’ll have readers I can one day inspire is unbelievable. I can’t wait to look back on this post someday and revel in the past trials I’m currently taking. Thank you for following me along my journey + supporting my crazy life.

XOXO,

Chasing A Year Of Sunshine.

**cue video montage-type photo throwbacks