Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme where participants discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts. Originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books, it’s now hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits.

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This week’s topic is:

Tips for Newbie Bloggers

(Submitted by Aria)

Prompts: What have you learned since you first started blogging? What advice would you give to new bloggers? What is your favorite thing about blogging? What is the hardest part of blogging for you? Is there anything you wish you’d done differently with your blog?

Safe and Secure

I thought this week’s prompt was quite fitting since I just celebrated my third blogiversary. (Check out my giveaway post here!) Personally, I still feel very much like a newbie. I learn new things almost every day. But I’ll try to share some things I’ve learned the past three years. Please remember that my tips are my opinions and my experiences but they may not be yours. And that’s okay!

My blogging path probably started a little differently than others. I had purchased my domain name years before I actually used it, so when I finally decided to give blogging a try, I went the self-hosting route. I really had no idea what that meant. I simply googled the steps to take and followed along as I built my blog.

And everything went swimmingly for over a year.

The short story is my blog was hacked through a backdoor (they didn’t get access to the whole site), which lead to several stressful days, paying someone to fix it, moving my blog to a new and more fortified (and more expensive) host. Then weeks spent working out the kinks of my new security that wasn’t allowing all the comments to go through. It was quite the headache that took the shine off my otherwise wonderful blogging experience. So, that’s my way of saying if you self-host, make sure your security is top-notch!

My Two Cents

Now that we have my most important advice out of the way, I’ll share my more general (and random) advice:

• If you use WordPress, the forum is your friend! Every time I’ve had technical issues, I’ve posted on the forum and found others with the same issue—and/or moderators who eventually solve the problem. It may take a few days, but it’s the best way I’ve found to diagnose problems as someone who is not technologically savvy. And the more people who post about the issue, the more attention it will receive, AND the moderators have more examples to help them diagnose it.
• Don’t ignore those warning signs! When my blog was first hacked, it was preceded by an influx of spam. Now anytime I notice an unusual amount, I’m checking my security.
• Less is more!–point A This is a general rule I like to apply to most everything in blogging. I can be quite word-y, but I try to keep my reviews and general posts to a modest length. Our time is valuable, so I strive for the 5-minute rule: you should be able to read a blog post in less than five minutes. BUT there are times when a topic demands more time—like my Popsugar Reading Challenge posts which go on for days.
• Less is more!–point B And the same rule applies to posting for me. There are exceptions, but when I post, I try not to post more than two posts a day. More experienced bloggers (with more followers) may be successful with posting more, but I don’t want my readers to be inundated with posts, forcing them to choose which one to read—or not to read any. More importantly, over-posting can lead to burn-out quickly.
• Drafts are your friend! The past year I’ve been attempting to stay ahead on my blog posts by creating a bank in my drafts. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t. It really comes in handy when I know I’ll be out of pocket because of traveling or I’m participating in a read-a-thon or Nanowrimo. I’ve especially used it for Top Ten Tuesday posts. It’s so nice to draft those posts and schedule them ahead of time—which also works well for the previous point!
• You do you! The rule that supersedes all others is when it comes down to it, do what makes you happy. It’s YOUR blog, and you have the final say.

Well, that really was a bunch of random advice. It may not sound like it from what I shared above, but overall blogging has been a positive experience for me. I’ve felt very welcomed, making wonderful bookish friends—which is my FAVORITE aspect of blogging—and I’ve discovered books I may not have otherwise. Which leads me to my HARDEST aspect of blogging: balancing my time between blogging and reading!

Let’s Discuss!

Do we share any tips? Let me know in the comments!