Yesterday made one year since my blog relaunch. It doesn’t seem like it’s been a year already but time has flown by. Happy Blogiversary to me!

This post is for reflection and to share a few things I learned throughout my first consistent year of blogging. I relaunched my blog with no real idea of how it would perform. It had been a goal of mine for years to share my interests with the world so my focus was on creating content. All I wanted to be was consistent. The first few months were about learning as I went. I set out to post every Thursday and I did just that. 

I really didn’t know what I was doing to be honest. I started to learn what my audience enjoyed seeing from me and tried to deliver that. I played around with a variety of topics from style posts, some beauty, and lifestyle stories. I can truly say the best thing about blogging is owning your own voice.

I am truly appreciative  for every comment, DM, share, verbal kudos I’ve ever received for something that I have created. No one has to read anything so it literally brings tears to my eyes to hear that someone has checked my blog out. I am most proud of myself for putting myself out there in order to inspire others.

My purpose was to share what I love in an relatable way and even if I reach one person I feel like my job has been done. I have been fortunate to partner with some amazing small owned businesses, Mejuri, and with Macy’s during my time as a style crew member. This blogging community has been nothing but supportive and I am so excited to see where Taytréschic goes next. 

Below are some thoughts on what I’ve observed/learned. Nothing you may not already know but reminders that I kept going back to often.

•  Don’t expect your close friends and family to support you. Now this may sound off but not everyone is your audience try not to take it personal. Support can come in a number of ways, but don’t always assume your closest will be your number one blog readers.

• People pay attention even if they never interact or engage with you. If you ever feel like no one is watching or reading don’t because someone is. I have been surprised by people who I didn’t think knew I existed reach out saying they love what I’m doing or loved a particular post. #keepgoing

• Don’t compare. As a blogger in whatever niche you may see others killing it with brand deals and more opportunities but remember everyone’s journey is different. What is for you will be for you always. 

• Engage. Genuine support of others is key in this blog space. I like to lead with the idea that we are humans first. I’m not better than the next person and I love to chit chat with my internet friends.

• Community. Having a blogging community is key in order to leverage ideas, possibly collaborate, or to even have an event buddy to tag team with. I am so grateful for my tribe y’all know who y’all are OK!

• Never start from scratch. This means once you have your style of blogging or post format that you use keep using them as a template and editing/rearranging from that point vs. starting new blank posts each time. Work smarter.

• Google for everything. Google saves my life. I use docs, sheets, and more to keep my thoughts organized.

• Take that break. I’m all for consistency but I have learned to take breaks as needed.

• Blog maintenance. Make sure you go in and update older links periodically. Ensure each post can be viewed with ease on mobile and on desktop.

• Don’t sleep on Pinterest. Some of most popular posts gained tremendous momentum from Pinterest vs. anywhere else. Utilize all social networks. I find my most traffic comes from facebook and I rarely post on facebook. I find this to be the case because it is easy to click on links and to share articles.

• Utilize and learn your analytics. I’m such a numbers girl and digging into the numbers will help you make better content decisions, and to learn who your audience demographic may be.

• Have fun. This should be a no brainer right? But make the content you love and want people to see do it for you.

Honestly I could go on and on about what I have learned but we’d be here all day. I just want to say thank you for rocking with me. I am so thankful for it all!  Love you all so much!

XoXo

Taylor