{"id":2408,"date":"2016-02-10T07:15:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T15:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.seasons-and-salt.com\/?p=2408"},"modified":"2020-10-10T18:44:11","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T01:44:11","slug":"2408-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/2016\/02\/10\/2408-2\/","title":{"rendered":"So, you want to start a blog? 3 Essential Insights You Need to Hear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2409\" src=\"https:\/\/www.seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMGP1094-2.jpg\" alt=\"IMGP1094-2\" width=\"3658\" height=\"2449\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Andrea here, I am handing over the keyboard this morning to my friend Karin Rambo of <a href=\"http:\/\/truncationblog.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Truncation<\/a>. She&#8217;s a fellow capsule wardrobe blogger and she writes\u00a0about\u00a0her journey cultivating a life of living with less, as well as some frank talk on motherhood. Karin&#8217;s not only a great writer, she&#8217;s an all-around nice gal too!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>She&#8217;s hasn&#8217;t even been blogging for a\u00a0year yet and has successfully grown an impressive community of readers and social media followers.\u00a0I was a curious to hear more from her on the ins-and-outs of her blog starting experience, so I invited her to share with us.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Grab a mug of your favorite tea and\u00a0give Karin a warm welcome to Seasons + Salt!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Hi guys! It\u2019s nice to meet you. And many thanks to Andrea for inviting me over to share with you guys\u00a0some lessons I\u2019ve learned since starting my blog, Truncation.<\/p>\n<p>Just to preface, I\u2019m a capsule wardrobe blogger and I just started also blogging about ethical fashion.\u00a0Also\u2026 I\u2019m pretty new to this. I started my blog in June of 2015 so I have only been blogging for 7\u00a0months.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, I\u2019m still figuring this out so what I\u2019m going to share with you is simply what I have\u00a0learned in the short amount of time that I have been blogging.<\/p>\n<p>Out of everything I\u2019ve discovered, I thought I would share<strong> the top three things I would tell someone if they\u00a0asked me whether or not they should start a blog.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s start shall we?<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Blogging is no walk in the park.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was SO na\u00efve when I first started my blog. So na\u00efve. I thought I would be able to just quickly whip out a\u00a0blog post a few times a week and call it good.<\/p>\n<p>Um\u2026 no.<\/p>\n<p>I suppose it all depends on what type of blogger you want to be, but as a fashion blogger (I still feel\u00a0weird classifying myself as that since I\u2019m a capsule wardrobe blogger and I really just take pictures of my\u00a0outfits as an excuse to share my thoughts with my readers) there is way more to it than writing a blog\u00a0post.<\/p>\n<p>There is photo taking, which, here\u2019s a secret for you: I absolutely hate having my picture taken\u2026\u00a0the photo editing (this has gotten way better the more familiar I\u2019ve gotten with Lightroom. If you don\u2019t\u00a0have it, but take a lot of pictures for your blog go get it right now. Really. Run!)<\/p>\n<p>\u2026coming up with clever blog post titles<\/p>\n<p>\u2026writing compelling content<\/p>\n<p>\u2026you get the point.<\/p>\n<p>Blogging is hard work! And it takes a lot of time. I probably spend 15-20 hours a week on my blog. And I\u00a0would spend more, but I am a stay at home mom and only work when my daughter is sleeping.\u00a0And if you want anyone to read your blog, you have to network (building relationships with other\u00a0bloggers by commenting on their blogs). It\u2019s the number one way to get people to read and view all of\u00a0that hard work, and you have to do a lot of it.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, I would say that I spend 50% of my blogging designated time on networking.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t care about whether or not people read your blog then more power to you! You\u2019ll have a lot\u00a0more time on your hands.<\/p>\n<p>But I started my blog because I wanted to share my thoughts and to hopefully encourage people to live\u00a0with less. In order to do that, I need to actually reach people with my message.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t expect to start your blog and have it be easy. It\u2019s hard. I passionately repent for any judgment I\u00a0felt towards bloggers before I started doing it.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re hearty folk, us bloggers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. You form some pretty great relationships when blogging.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the things that I least expected was how supportive other bloggers are. Facebook groups are\u00a0WONDERFUL for this (just search blogging in Facebook and you will find all kinds).<\/p>\n<p>I thought it would be so much more competitive, but people have been so warm, inviting, and welcome.<\/p>\n<p>If I\u2019ve ever had a question or concern, or even just needed to vent, I have had so many bloggers come\u00a0around me and offer support and encouragement.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a community that I did not expect, but am so thankful for.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the relationships that I have formed with other bloggers, I have also seen an amazing\u00a0community come out of my readers. We connect in the comments on my blog and also on social media\u00a0and I have formed some very real friendships with some of them.<\/p>\n<p>Now, when I write a post, I write it for those people and it makes me feel like we are having a\u00a0conversation. I love that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Don\u2019t compare yourself to other bloggers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is SO easy to get so focused on how great other bloggers are doing that you lose sight of why you\u00a0started blogging in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>This is a DAILY struggle for me. I see so many compelling, beautifully written posts coming from other\u00a0bloggers and sometimes I spend far too much time wallowing in the shadow of these bloggers instead of\u00a0remembering that I have a unique voice.<\/p>\n<p>I think that is the biggest thing I would tell anyone who\u00a0is considering starting a blog. <strong>You have a unique\u00a0voice.<\/strong> No one else can say what you have to say or create what you have to create.<\/p>\n<p>When I let go of the fear that I\u2019m not good enough, I find so much joy and satisfaction in sharing my\u00a0heart with my readers. And no. Not everyone is going to like what you have to say, but that\u2019s not the\u00a0point. You say it as much for yourself as you say it for that one reader who tells you that it is exactly\u00a0what they needed to hear.<\/p>\n<p>I hope this helps anyone who is considering blogging or anyone who has just started.<\/p>\n<p>This biggest take away that I hope you have after reading this is that, yes, it is hard work, but it is SO\u00a0MUCH fun! I have never enjoyed doing anything more. So go for it! Take the plunge. I think you\u2019ll be\u00a0surprised by how much you love it!<\/p>\n<p>And if you ever want to stop by and say hi, I would absolutely love that.<\/p>\n<p>See you around!<\/p>\n<p>Karin<\/p>\n<pre class=\"aLF-aPX-K0-aPE aLF-aPX-aLK-ayr-auR\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2415 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMGP8484-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"IMGP8484\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMGP8484-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMGP8484-768x1147.jpg 768w, https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMGP8484-685x1024.jpg 685w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/>\r\nKarin Rambo is the founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.truncationblog.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Truncation<\/a>, \r\na social experiment in living with less. Why did she name her blog Truncation? Because in math to Truncate is to limit the number of digits to the right of the decimal point by discarding the least significant digits. And that\u2019s what she\u2019s doing. Clearing out all that isn\u2019t significant. She is wife to David, mother to Kit, dog mommy to Oscar, and a lover of all that is life! You can find her over at Truncation, and on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/truncationblog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andrea here, I am handing over the keyboard this morning to my friend Karin Rambo of Truncation. She&#8217;s a fellow capsule wardrobe blogger and she writes\u00a0about\u00a0her journey cultivating a life&#8230; <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/2016\/02\/10\/2408-2\/\">Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[332,331,333],"class_list":["post-2408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blog-tips","tag-starting-a-blog","tag-truncation"],"categories_names":["Uncategorized"],"previous_post_ID":2399,"previous_post_title":"Mini Capsule Challenge: 20 Items, 21 Days","previous_post_link":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/2016\/02\/08\/2399-2\/","acf_fields":false,"comment_count":14,"formatted_date":"02.10.16","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMGP1094-2-scaled.jpg","tag_names":["blog tips","Starting a blog","truncation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2408"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19011,"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408\/revisions\/19011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seasons-and-salt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}