7 Lessons Learned in 3 Years Blogging

by Rebecca Cuningham

¡Hola! Today marks the 3rd anniversary of my first post in 2018. What a wonderful journey blogging has been thus far. Thank you for your support readers, visitors and subscribers!

Seven Lessons Learned:

  1. Comments fields are great places to start conversations. The more you open up and reveal your personality, the more you ‘re likely to find like-minded people.
  2. Use all your talents in crafting your blog, to give it the uniqueness that is you. If you like to draw, sing, or take photos; add your art and music to your posts.
  3. I like what experienced blogger Renard of Renard’s World says about publishing frequency. There is no rule that requires bloggers to post every day. It is more important to be consistent, interesting and sustainable.
  4. Blog for yourself, blog to make friends, blog to communicate, not to achieve stats. Numbers don’t make the blog or the blogger. That said, I appreciate every single visitor and follower very much. Gracias.
  5. Short posts work well for many busy readers. Communication doesn’t always need a lot of words, especially when art, photos or poetry are involved.
  6. Participate in prompts, writing challenges and weekend shares. They are fantastic ways to meet people and expand your circle.
  7. New feature: The bloggers from Gallivance inspired me to add an index to my blog menu called Start Here. Click on those words for post listings by topic!
Ice Lanterns Blur Photo: Rebecca Cuningham

Your participation is the reason I am happily blogging 1096 days later. ¡Olé! ¡Muchas gracias, amigos! –Rebecca

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Rebecca Cuningham

54 thoughts on “7 Lessons Learned in 3 Years Blogging”

  1. This was a timely post…I’m doing some “remodeling” of my site and the idea of the index will fit well. I was trying to figure out a way to categorize things…now I have one. Thanks to you and Gallivance for the idea.

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  4. So glad to have ‘met’ you Rebecca. And you’re right. If your blog reflects you, and not some idea of what you feel you ‘ought’ to be posting, you’ll be authentic. As you always are. And one open to conversations and ‘meeting’ others. I think the blogging community is unusually supportive and vibrant. I love it!

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    1. So glad to have met you too Margaret! I appreciate your contributions to the discussions on these pages. Thank you for your kind comment about authenticity, it is a value I hold dear. Blogging is fun because of participants like you. 🙂

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  9. Congratulations on your three years! I love the points you’ve brought up here, especially about bringing in your talents and to write for yourself. I also agree about the comment fields…. I would never have continued blogging if it wasn’t for those conversations!

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    1. Thank you, Susanne, for your very kind comments! Good to hear your blogging point of view. I looked at your website and it is beautifully laid out with stunning photos for the categories. Thanks for you visit to Fake Flamenco!

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    1. Thanks for your well wishes! For a year I focused on Spanish and Latin America, and skipped anything about where I live now. When I finally began to publish photos of my life in Wisconsin, people responded positively. Now I try to balance the two.

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  12. Wise words, Rebecca! Congratulations on your three-year blogiversary. I whole-heartedly agree with you that the “Comments” section is one of the most-important places for blogs to utilize, as it’s an open space to welcome other bloggers– familiar and new– to engage with and to grow your blogging community! Here’s to more awesome posts from you soon! 🙂

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  15. #4 “Blog for yourself, blog to make friends, blog to communicate, not to achieve stats. Numbers don’t make the blog or the blogger. ”

    I’ve been blogging since May 2010 and blogging was a lot different back then. I made friends in Japan, Dominican Republic, USA, Australia, France, Spain, Alaska, Costa Rica and more. WordPress created a real sense of community and set various challenges from ‘Post a Day’, Poetry, Weekly PhotoChallenges, A blogging type university to encourage bloggers to write and my favourite was ‘Community Pool’ where bloggers would help each other. We’d review fellow bloggers layout etc and make suggestions from the Readers’ experience.

    I gave up blogging for a few years and when I returned ALL the WP challenges and most of the community I knew had disappeared. I still wonder if Seashells got to keep her beach house after her husband lost his job, or what happened to Classy Rose who just disappeared one day …and the lady who was converting a couple of storage trailers to a house in the woods… to name a few. I still pop back to look at their blogs occasionally to see if they have made recent posts.

    So I make new friends now with a wide range of interests.

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    1. Since 2010, that’s a lot of experience! (Even with the break) No wonder Piglet in Portugal runs so smoothly. I know just what you mean about the stories for which you don’t get to hear the ending. In the past year, several bloggers I like stopped posting and I wonder how they are. So glad to know you and see your beautiful garden in all its seasons!

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      1. It’s good to get to know you too, Rebecca. My blog reminds me of a jumbled old attic. It needs a revamp. Over the years it has become disorganised . I need to update categories, blogs I follow and pages Ho hum.

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      2. Thanks, Piglet. Your garden is so beautiful and organized you must spend a lot of your time there. : ) There are a couple of new layouts I’ve seen for blog posts that I like and plan to look into later this year. The index took me four months to develop. All your posts look great, you’ll make changes as you have time. (cloudy weather?)

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  18. Pingback: *Press This* 7 Lessons Learned in 3 Years Blogging #179 | Its good to be crazy Sometimes

  19. Totally agree on the ‘Start Here’ section. It helps new readers get used to your best content that you’d like to highlight. Speaking of which, I’ll prolly need to start creating a proper one too. Thanks for this post!

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  21. These are great tips for new bloggers Rebecca. I reckon I’ve learnt most of them the hard way. I’m intrigued by the Start Here page, and will think about that.

    I have a tip:
    If I find a blog I really like, I will look through the comments and then go visit the blogs of those commenting. It’s a great way of finding new blogs.

    Happy Blogiversary!

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    1. Thanks, Kim for your kind comments. Friendly bloggers like you make this a lot of fun. 🙂 I think your suggestion is great. Friends of friends are a good direction to go. Hope to see you in the poetry challenge this week. It starts tomorrow. Sneak peek: a sijo about wind. 😉

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  23. Congratulations, Rebecca! Other bloggers truly appreciate the creativity and dedication it takes to create and sustain a successful blog. Two years into it, I certainly do. I love your unique content, the depth of your writing, and your personal photo posts. Thank you for the blogging tips, and particularly the index one! Oh yes, and the way you just showed up one day and encouraged me. Deep gratitude for that. ~ Susan

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  24. Hi Rebecca, Thanks so much for the shoutout! (And so sorry for the late reply – I just discovered it.) I just checked out your Start Here Page and it looks fantastic. I already see some posts I missed, so I need to catch up. I’m glad that you found the idea helpful. All the best, Terri @ Gallivance

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