Blogging can feel like a lonesome walk at first. You’re trying to put yourself out there, you have great ideas, yet you get little to no feedback on your work. You don’t feel included in the blogging community, not yet. So you’re waiting for a sign that tells you you’re doing a great job.
This sign for me has been the nomination for the Blogger Recognition Award by the lovely ladies at Woman in Progress.
Thank you Nicky and Laura, it came as a big and lovely surprise!
As they put it, the idea of the Blogger Recognition Award is “to inspire new bloggers, review each other’s work, find new blogs and say well done. A virtual pat on the back which will prompt us and others to go on to find other new blogs, take advice, give some back and so on.”
Accepting the nomination comes with the following rules:
- Write a post about the award
- Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog
- Write a brief story about how your blog began
- Provide two pieces of advice to newbie bloggers
- Select 15 blogs to nominate
- Comment on the blog of each nominee and provide a link to this post
The story of Travelifesto
The abstract idea of a blog has been in my head for years now – I just didn’t have the courage to put it into practice. I have always been journaling during my travels, recording funny moments or things I thought could be important for others to know, but actually showing them to the world? A whole different story. Then I found the right partner in my boyfriend M because he not only shares my passion for traveling but, turns out, he also loves writing about it. We had a failed attempt to run a blog together – it died after three posts due to our different writing styles and lack of time management skills.
Time passed, I was preparing for my final exam during the summer and when my head was overloaded with International Relations, it started to wander towards blogpost ideas I should write. It became a proper list then kind of a strategy – and now here we are. It was not until I got my first pay check that I was ready to buy my domain name, but when the moment came, I was beyond excited – a real dream come true! It was actually M who came up with the name Travelifesto – he likes the play around with words and one day it just clicked. I want to write about travel and life, it would be kind of a manifesto – why not call it Travelifesto?
So now Travelifesto is up and running, as you can see, and I couldn’t be happier!
My advice for newbie bloggers
1. Try to find the right platform to promote your blog
The first thing I did after launching the blog – actually, I did it at the same time – was creating an Instagram account under the same name and transforming my personal Pinterest profile into a renamed business account. I knew I wasn’t going to use Twitter, so I didn’t even bother with that. Facebook is still a bit of a headache, because while I can easily attract new audience for my pictures on Instagram, these people (who don’t necessarily follow me, just give random likes) tend to stop there and forget to visit my website – the original product I’m trying to ‘sell’ on these social media platforms. Facebook would direct them to my website in a more effective way if I wanted to, but my audience will more likely be present and active on Instagram. See? I’m still in the process of learning! (Plus tip: never stop learning!)
Find the platform you are most comfortable using and stick with that! If it’s only one, perfect. If you can manage more, fine as well. It depends on who your target audience is, how much time do you have for social media and what you enjoy doing. Don’t feel pressured to be everywhere!
2. Don’t let social media be more important than your blog
Now that we discussed the importance of promoting your blog, I have to warn you: you’re still running a blog. Don’t try to be a social media influencer if what you are really doing is writing posts on topics that you are passionate about. I’ve already made the mistake of thinking about numbers and likes too much and when I didn’t get enough of them (because I’m still trying to find my audience in an organic way and it’s a slow process) I thought my blog wasn’t good enough. Don’t mix them up! Most of my favorite bloggers (and youtubers as well) use social media to connect with their followers and engage the community they brought together, they do not see it as the primary platform for content creation. It is very important to make this clear already at the start!
Although these were just two of the advice I would give you, I still have a lot of lessons learnt I’d like to share with you, so stay tuned for a post on this topic!
Now to the fun part: my nominees
Some of these people I knew before they started their blog and I love following their journey, some are totally new discoveries and I’m happy to follow theirs too:
Kitti – Cosydish
Anna – TheHungaryTraveler
Lili and Robin – TravelKite (in German)
Alina – Fairlogical (in German)
Anna – Pillanatranna (in Hungarian)
Juhita – Dressesndreams
Ashley – eleblue
Lisa and Eric – Penguin and Pia
Marla and Joel – Traveling For Two
Tyler and Luke – Two Bohemians
Jess – The Layover Life
You might notice that I chose 15 bloggers but only 11 blogs – I have those seats reserved for people who already inspire me with their photos but their blog is still underway, such as Jo and Fabio of Base and Fly. Hope to see your journey in writing soon, guys!
To my current nominees, congratulations! You are doing an amazing job!
Love,
L.
1 comment
Thank you Lucia. The nomination means a lot to me. I have been swamped these last few weeks but my blog post about this award will be going up on Sunday morning finally.
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