2009, And The 20 Blogging Lessons I’ve Learnt

January 1st, 2010 · 30 Comments

2009 has been a great year for me. Not only has it been a success in terms of my blogging, but also in other forms; my exam results were good, college is great fun, and just generally everything’s going well. Enough about me though – this post is all about Teenius and blogging. I’ll be talking about the highlights of 2009, what to look forward to in 2010, and I will also share some blogging tips with you that I’ve learnt along the way.

2009

Let’s start here. In terms of blogging, 2009 for me has all been about Teenius. There have been ninety one posts in 2009, totalling around seventy thousand words. Here are some of the memorable dates of last year:

  • March 22nd – The first post on Teenius was made.
  • April 17th – My first ever guest post was published on WebJourney.me
  • May 27th – The current theme you see on Teenius was released
  • June 8th – The 1000th comment was made on the blog
  • June 12th – An interview with Michael Dunlop, a well known professional blogger, was published.
  • August 13th – I released a short ebook, completely free (not even an email needed!)
  • November 1st – The first Teenius contest was launched.
  • November 12th – I turned 16!
  • December 8th – The highest ever traffic day on Teenius

Blogging lessons I’ve learnt in 2009

In 2010, Teenius posts will be aimed towards blogging tips more than anything else, so why not start the year with a list of all the great blogging lessons I’ve learnt in the past 12 months?!

  1. Quality content rules – Content is the base of any blog, so to make a successful blog you have to publish articles which are not going to inform your readers, but also entertain them.
  2. Use self-hosted Wordpress – This one is vitally important. Wordpress has hundreds of great features, one of which is the amazing customisability due to the thousands of plugins available!
  3. Get on Twitter – Twitter is one of the best marketing tools available for bloggers and is great for advertising your site and connecting with new bloggers. Check out some great Twitter related articles here on Teenius.
  4. Guest posting rocks – I would advise any and every blogger guest posts on other blogs regularly. There’s simply nothing like it for targeted, high quality traffic. It also gets you known in your niche.
  5. A great logo is key – One thing I stress is the importance of branding, and a logo is the start for this. If you advertise correctly, people will be seeing your logo a lot, so it’s worth paying a professional designer to get a quality logo made.
  6. Unique themes are important – I recognise that not every blogger has hundreds of dollars to spend on a theme, but it’s really worth it. It gives your blog a professional feel, as well as other great benefits.
  7. Comment on other blogs – Much like guest posting, commenting is a great way of driving high quality traffic to your site. Not only that, but it’s great for building relationships with other bloggers, and also getting your name out there to the masses.
  8. List posts are big traffic builders – Every now and again on your blog you should try and do a list post. Try and get as many points as possible, as this will be great for traffic as people like sharing list posts.
  9. Use images in posts – Images make the post look more exciting, which is vital for blogging success, as no one wants to sit and read a boring article. Try and summarise the post in the image, if possible.
  10. Advertise older posts – There’s no point publishing a post, advertising it for a day or two and then giving up on it. Make sure you keep driving traffic to your older posts. View the full article I wrote on this subject here.
  11. Link internally – Linking to your other posts means that people will view your other articles and spend longer on your site. By doing that, you should hopefully persuade them to stay!
  12. Stick to a posting routine – Before you even start your blog, decide how often you’re going to post a new article, and then do that! Switching your posting routine will confuse (and ultimately lose) readers.
  13. It’s worth it to run contests – Contests can not only build huge traffic to you and the sponsors’ sites, but also make you more recognised and allow you to connect with more people!
  14. Thank your commentators – The people who comment are the ones that make your blog what it is. Never forget to thank them by giving them links and as much exposure as you can!
  15. Standard earning methods don’t work – I exaggerate a bit, yes, but there’s no way you can expect to earn a decent amount from selling adverts alone unless you run a HUGE blog.
  16. Interact with your readers – It’s vital to connect with your readers. If you connect with them, not only are they more likely to revisit your blog, but there’s also the possibility of helpful relationships.
  17. Interview people – Readers love interviews, so they’ll tweet and just generally help you advertise it more. Also, it gives you a chance to connect with the person you interview which could mean a relationship.
  18. Put your personality in to articles – Linking in to the quality article point I made before, putting your personality into blog posts give your blog a certain uniqueness that can’t be achieved in any other way.
  19. Get a cool domain – From experience, you need a great domain. A good domain will help you to stand out, will make you more memorable and will generally look good on you, as cool domains aren’t easy to find nowadays!
  20. Enjoy blogging – Here’s the most important lesson I learnt: if you can’t enjoy blogging, then it’s not for you. Blogging requires motivation, dedication and passion… if you don’t have those three, it’ll have a negative effect on any work you do!

2010

Looking forward to the future now, and I’ve listed a few things you should look out for from me in the coming year.

  • More Contests – The competitions I’ve run so far have got an amazing response, so I’m planning on launching a new contest every month, with prizes getting better and better hopefully!
  • Monetisation – Until now, I’ve never really tried to monetise Teenius, just focused on building traffic and relationships. However, in the coming year I am going to introduce certain measures to start earning more from the blog. That said, user experience will always come first, so there won’t be ads everywhere. If you’re interested in advertising on Teenius, please contact me.
  • New projects – I currently have a few projects in the planning stages. I’m not going to reveal too much, but these projects should be quite special, so stay tuned for them (I’ll make sure to post about them once they’re completed).
  • More Posts – Next year, I’ll carry on producing content every two days. Due to the other blogs I’m launching, this blog will be focusing purely on blogging as to not overlap with my other projects.
  • Services – In the new year, I will be providing different services. Blog setup and consultation will just be the start.
  • Products – One of the things I’m planning on doing in 2010 is launching a product or two. These will be blogging orientated, so should be of interest to the Teenius readers.

stopA big fat thank you!
To finish, I’d like to thank every single person that visited my blog and commented on my articles in 2009: I really, REALLY appreciate it. Also, thanks for coming back in 2010, and I hope you like what you’re going to see in the future from me!
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