My Blogging Regrets

Oh my goodness me, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't make some right ooh ha's since joining the blogging world. Blogging is a learning curve for all new bloggers, even the ones that have been creating content for years still learn something new everyday. 


I've been blogging for nearly four years now, I still consider it as one of the best decisions I ever made. Hitting the publish button on my first ever post opened the door for new and exciting opportunities that I never knew existed. 



However, I have made mistakes along the way. Which was to be expected quite frankly. Even the biggest influencers in the country have made some hum dingers in their time. Like I said, you learn from your errors. Here's (some) mistakes I've made during my time in blogging: 



 1) NOT PROMOTING ENOUGH AT THE START 
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When I first started blogging, I wish that I had posted my newest content on Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook more often. I think there was that fear with me that my content wasn't good enough for it to be seen on a wider scale. But I was wrong. It may seem like a time consuming task, but it's well worth it. The more you promote your posts, the more views and traffic you'll get to your blog and the more likely you'll get discovered by so many others. 



 2) FOLLOWING TRENDS 
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You see someone talk about something on their blog, you automatically think that you should be too. For the love of god - DON'T. Your blog is your own, it's your unique work and post whatever you want. Don't follow what others are doing, you'll end up feeling unhappy about the content you're posting. Also, if you feel like you have to follow the trends of others, blog's would look saturated and very samey. Write whatever makes you happy! 



 3) COMPARING MYSELF TO OTHER BLOGGERS
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I'm sure all blogger's are incredibly guilty of this. At the start, I was always comparing myself to other blogger's and deeming myself to not be good enough to be a blogger. The comparison trap is easy to fall into I know, I've been exceptionally guilty of that, but all I can say is that if you're a new blogger, just focus on your blog as much as you can and don't think you're not cut out to do this - YOU ARE. 


 4) STARTING ON WIX 
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Don't get me wrong, Wix does have it's good points. But I wish I started out on Blogger or Wordpress. Wix is only good for so much, it's pretty tricky to customise your website, unless you have a Macbook or other expensive laptop, it's very glitchy and takes an age to do anything. I eventually made the move to Blogger in July 2017 and bought myself a domain and gave my blog a complete makeover. It was one of the best decision I'd made - but one which I wish I had made a lot sooner. 




 5) BEING SCARED OF REACHING OUT TO BRANDS 
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That old chestnut of feeling scared of reaching out to brands because you think you're getting to get a straight no after you've emailed them. Reaching out to brands for collaborations is one thing I struggled to do a couple of years ago. Like I said, there was always that fear of them replying and saying thanks but no thanks. I know that the first rejection email can be very off-putting and I kept thinking that if one brand had said no to me, then the rest would. Not all brands will say no. They will look at your blog and think you're the perfect person/blog to collaborate with.


 6) NOT TAKING SEO SERIOUSLY 
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This is quite a recent mistake with me. I think I have always been focused on making sure my DA score increases that I have kind of abandoned SEO. For those who don't know SEO (search engine optimization) is the quality of traffic to your website through search engine results. I have taken SEO more seriously now during lockdown and I'm so glad that I have! It's worth the effort, again, I promise.


Do you have any blogging regrets? Let me know yours!
50 comments
  1. Ohhh yes I feel so many of these! I regret keeping my blog a secret for so long and my god do I also regret not doing SEO bits properly. I'm not having to go back through old posts to make them more SEO friendly and that's no easy task when you've been blogging for 8 years haha!

    Grace xx

    https://www.gracebee.co.uk

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    1. Yeah that's one thing I regret is keeping my blog a secret for so long before taking it seriously, I wish I hadn't done that! Working on SEO is so time consuming isn't it?! But it is worth the effort! xx

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  2. Could relate to so many of these, Lucy! I still struggle with reaching out to brands. It's definitely a confidence thing for me. I love how much there is to learn with blogging and creating content. There is always room to grow and it's very exciting xx

    Lauren | itslaurenvictoria.co.uk

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    1. Confidence is the key issue with me too when it comes to reaching out to brands, there's that fear of not being good enough to reach out to a big brand with me! I agree lovely, there's always room to grow in blogging! xx

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  3. I can relate to so many of these points you've raised. I wish I'd started out on wordpress rather than blogger because WP is so much easier to grow your following and personalise your blog.

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    1. Yeah I am thinking about making the move to WP soon Kelly, like you said, you can customise your blog in so many ways x

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  4. Oh SO many mistakes made here! My biggest is waiting so long to go self-hosted. Some of the content I created early on was about grief and are still receive a lot of views. I think if I'd of been self-hosted it would have changed the game for me then.

    It also took me well over a year before I made the move to join twitter and start promoting. Feels like such a waste.

    Greta post Lucy. I never used Wix but as a reader, it is my least favourite site to use x

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    1. I need to go self hosted soon but I'm quite wary about doing that! Wix isn't the best, it's great as a temporary solution or start, but definitely not for the long term! x

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  5. It took me absolutely AGES to get over comparison, and it still creeps back sometimes! I wish I didn't follow trends either, it would have saved so much time haha. This is such a relatable post, I loved it!

    Anika | chaptersofmay.com

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    1. I know how you feel Anika, it still sometimes creeps back for me too! I'm glad you liked this post lovely! x

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  6. Such a relatable post! I still hesitate to promote my blog...and for the longest time, I didn't even think I should monetise my blog. It was one of those "good for her, but not for me" kind of things. Not focusing on SEO is probably one of the biggest mistakes though. When I look back at some of my old posts, I don't understand how I could have expected any sort of traffic with those kinda posts! ��‍♀️

    Anyway, given all these mistakes... in so many ways I feel like I am such a blogging newbie, despite the fact that I've been blogging for years now! :)

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    1. SEO is so important and it took me a while to understand why it was so important! x

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  7. Last month was my third blog anniversary and I'm still so guilty of comparing and scared to pitch. I need to get better at both of those things. My degree taught me a little bit about SEO so I' glad I considered that earlier on. But I totally agree that it's one of those things where you're constantly learning x

    Sophie
    www.glowsteady.co.uk

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    1. Happy third year blog anniversary Sophie! Pitching to brands is never easy, I sometimes still struggle with it! You're right lovely, SEO is always going to be a constant learning curve x

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  8. Thanks for sharing this. I’m relatively new to blogging. It’s good to hear that others have experienced the same things when they were new to it. It’s easy to be put off and daunted seeing massive, successful blogs. It’s important not to compare someone else’s end result to our own beginning or mid point I suppose.

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    1. This is so true Ruth, you cannot compare your own beginning to someone's end result, otherwise you'll end up getting nowhere x

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  9. I loved this! I feel like my biggest regret was not giving my blog the full attention it needed. I've written on it for 7 years but there have been times when I wasn't really focusing on promoting it and engaging with the blogging community xx

    http://www.dellalovesnutella.co.uk/

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    1. Sometimes engaging can be hard to focus on when you got life admin to deal with! xx

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  10. Love this! I started blogging on blogger, but wish I bought a domain sooner. Totally get what you mean about not being able to custom much, as it's such a horrible feeling when your blog doesn't look like how you want it to xx

    Hannah | https://luxuryblush.co.uk/

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    1. Yeah that feeling is horrible when you can't customise your blog to how you would like it! xx

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  11. I still don't reach out to brands and I know I should do. And promote my blog more! Maybe these could be my goals for 2021. x

    Zoey | www.zoeyolivia.com

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    1. Yes Zoey, make them your goals for 2021! x

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  12. This has made me look back and there have been so many things that I have done over the years that I wish I could change!

    Danielle xx

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    1. I think we can all definitely relate to that Danielle! xx

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  13. Agree with all of these! I still need to start looking into SEO but it confuses me so much but I'd like to increase my DA score!

    Tash // A Girl with a View

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    1. SEO is very confusing, I'm only just about getting used to it!

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  14. This is such a great post. I totally agree. I constantly compare myself to other bloggers all the time and often feel defeated because I am not doing as well as they are. But I need to stop doing that!

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    1. Thank you Charity! It's so hard not to fall into the comparison trap isn't it? x

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  15. I definitely need to do more research into SEO (as well as DA scores) - that side of blogging has always confused me because I'm not very tech Savvy.

    www.themakeupaficionado.com

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    1. I'm surprised I can run a blog as I'm not tech savvy either lovely!

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  16. Great points Lucy! I agree with all of these. <3

    Ledia | kbeautynotes.com

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  17. Thanks for sharing, I have so many regrets when it comes to blogging, comparing yourself is one of them, plus writing good content to :)

    Nic | Nic's Adventures & Bakes

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    1. Comparing yourself to others is something I think we have all definitely done in our lives Nic, it's so easy to fall into the comparison trap!

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  18. Such good insights, I'm in the early part of my blogging days and I am making most of these mistakes! 😂
    Reaching out for Collab is something I've not done yet and a little daunted to do tbh!

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    1. Reaching out to a brand for a collab is daunting and I still find it daunting to this day! x

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  19. This is such a great post! One of my biggest regrets is not posting what I wanted on social media because I was worried what friends and family would think. In the end I decided if they could invite me to like their facebook pages I could do the same.

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    1. I felt exactly the same Sarah, I was wary of what my family and friends would think of my blog and what I posted but they're so encouraging with it all thankfully!

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  20. Even a year after starting I am still VERY much guilty of number 5.. I keep trying to kick myself out of the mindset and tell myself that the answer to a question not asked is also a no, but it's hard!

    I really enjoyed your post, thank you for sharing!

    Em x

    www.emsworldblog.com

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    1. I agree lovely, reaching out to brands isn't easy, especially when you think the answer is going to be a straight no! x

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  21. I am trying to work on my SEO massively but it is soooo time consuming! Haha hopefully I will get there in the ned!

    Amber | The Unpredicted Page

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    1. It is so time consuming isn't it Amber?! I feel the same, it's a struggle for me too!

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  22. These are all interesting things. I am glad that SEO is promoted and mentioned a lot more so I was able to work on it from the start. I used to have a weebly blog and I HATED it - I am so glad I restarted with blogger. Thank you for sharing your regrets, it's interesting to hear what people would do differently

    Em | www.loveemblog.com

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    1. Yeah I wish I worked on it from the start Em, that's one thing I definitely regret! I never thought about starting on Weebly, I'm glad I didn't though by the sounds of it!

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  23. I loved reading this! I definitely would compare too much and I wish I promoted my blog more in the past too xxx
    Www.dellalovesnutella.co.uk

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    1. Yeah I feel so annoyed with myself for not promoting my blog enough in the past xx

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  24. It's like you went into my mind and then wrote down what I think - I agree with you on every single point here, Lucy, except Wix - I went self-hosted on Wordpress from the beginning, which I'm very thankful for! xx

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    1. That's great that you went self-hosted on Wordpress from the start Lisa, that's something you definitely won't regret! xx

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  25. i have some of these regrets too. Such a good post and thanks for sharing!

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    1. I think a lot of blogger's definitely have a lot of regrets Charity!

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