Why I Started Blogging and 5 Tips I've Learned Along the Way

Blogger:  derived from the term weblog (a journal written on-line and accessible to Internet users); one who maintains a website containing written entries of one's own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites.

The past few years have been pretty rough.  I, like a majority of Americans have been suffering from the economic downturn since June 2010.  I remember it like yesterday.  I lost my job, my home, several vehicles, my drive, ambition, strength...the list goes on.  Fast forward to August 2011, new baby, still unemployed, second address in five months.  December 2012 still unemployed, evicted five days before Christmas, now living with family. March 2013 part-time job, living with family (who is so ready for me to get my own place at this point).  2014 has not been a great start either, sad to say.  Today, though, I reflect on the turbulent periods I've had over the past four years.  It has not been easy and truth be told I'm still recovering from economic hardships.  I'm actually moving again....for the fourth time.  This has been extremely tough for my family, especially my kids.  I pray to God all the time to comfort them and help them understand that He has a plan for our lives.  I thank God, everyday for their resilience in this situation.  See my babies below... *inserts kissy-kissy*

Which brings me to why I started blogging...   I love reading and writing, they were my most favorite subjects in grade school.  I decided to browse the web one day just to ease my mind about all the issues I was having.  I came across several blogs about fashion, body confidence, and self-love.  Since I love fashion so much I opted to start my own blog about all things fashionable and my personal style.  Hence, the birth of Kishina's Kurvy Korner!  After deciding on a blog theme I struggled, and still do, with finding my own voice in the blogosphere.  As you will notice, I blogged my first entry HERE. Yep, February 26, 2014! You will also notice I didn't blog another entry until July 2014.  Yep, there's some inconsistency there... I'll address that later.

At any rate,  I've learned some things along my blogging journey that I wanted to share.  I still consider myself a newbie at this and I know in due time I will develop a writing style that is unique to my personality.  I also want to express a huge thank you to those who follow me.  I promise not to bore you and I'll offer as much fresh, new content as I can.  Here's 5 tips I've learned along the way.

1.  Be YOU!  The absolute, number one thing I have learned is to find, develop, search for your own voice in this blogosphere.  There are millions of voices out there.  Excellent bloggers at that.  I've learned that I am the only one who is best at being...well, ME!  Honestly, I'm still trying to be the best me.  We can all find things that we want to better about ourselves, thought, right?

2.  Be consistent!  I am the world's worst for starting a project and stopping mid way because *inserts cough and excuse* I got distracted, lost my head, life happens...get my drift?  I can't count on one hand how many blog entries I've read about being consistent when blogging.  One thing to help with my consistency is setting a goal of 2-3 posts weekly.  I will try to post them around the same time weekly so my readers will know when to look out for new content.  Stay with me my loyal readers, I'm working on it!

3.  Offer blog content with substance!  If you're gonna blog about something, ultimately people will read it.  Don't blog something all willy-nilly, just because you ran out of ideas.  The internet offers a plethora of blog topics for any type of blog..use it! Finding your own voice and being consistent with your postings is one thing.  However, I've learned quickly just from browsing other blogs, that sometimes you run out of things to blog...hence writer's block.  Everybody has times in their lives when the need to be inspired and rejuvenated.  I vow to do my best in offering content that will engage my readers, evoke an emotion, and encourage interactions with me. I love all my loyal readers!!

4.  Always be open to change... I mean really, I learned at a young age that change is the only thing that is constant in this world.  When I refer to change, that means learning new things about blogging.  For example, I know you guys see the new template, right?! I got rid of the old design and opted for something with a clean background and fonts that are easy on the eye.  How do you like it? Let me know in the comments, please? I spend countless hours researching ways to offer the best blog experience ever for you guys!! Which brings me to this...ugh! Rant: Google+ should not punish me by removing all my comments because I no longer use their comment box.  When checking some analytics about traffic sources, I noticed I was getting increased traffic but no comments...bummer! I want all my readers to be able to comment without having to sign into a G+, Facebook, Twitter, Disqus or whatever...  I enjoy interacting with all my readers, so if Anonymous from Kalamazoo decides that they like what they read I need to know about it.  I don't want to have to force them to create an account just to comment on my blog...not fun!! So, I'm sad I lost all of my lovely comments since opting not to use Google+ as my comment box. Shame on you G+!! Rant over...

5.  Interact with other bloggers who share your interests.  This is simply one thing I love about blogging.  I love meeting new people and drawing inspiration from them.  One way I love interacting with bloggers is by participating in weekly linkups.  I enjoy exploring new blogs that interest me and also I gain new followers this way as well.  Linkups are a great way to increase your blog traffic.  These are some of my favorite bloggers that I look forward to linking up with each week :)

Whitney James ~ Personal Style Monday

Paige Wall ~ Stylish Tuesday

Carylee ~ Manic Monday