Welcome to my Astro Advice Column! If you subscribe to my Astro-Kats or Star Kids Club groups you are able to ask me questions about astrology for this advice column.
not necessarily an astrology question but any advice for starting your own blog? how did you find your audience over time? and how did you promote yourself without feeling like you're blasting yourself everywhere? (though i did begin my blog during my solar and mercurial return this year hehe)
—an anxious lil blogger
Hello fellow anxious blogger! I really identify with your nickname :) I, too, am often anxious before I post things here. Look at us anxiously blogging! Congrats on beginning your blog during a birthday and a Mercury return year. Sounds like a great time to begin a blog or other form of writing practice!
I have two suggestions/invitations if you want them: the first is that you make your blog readable. The second is to write consistently.
Let me tell you about the first one first because it’s short. I’m talking about choosing a font that is decipherable. No tiny text or light gray text on a white background. No giant dark blue text on a black background. A simple serif font is my own preference but many sans serif fonts are clear enough too. Make sure that your words read okay on a phone and a computer. I believe that 50-70 characters per line is considered readable. Our brains tend to jumble text if we have to read too few or too many characters per line. Since you are going to be using a ton of time and labor to write, then people will want to read your words. This rule seems simple but you’d be surprised at how many blogs are actually quite hard to read for no other reason than design.
Again, very simple. Just make sure that people can read your writing.
My second suggestion is just to write. Write everyday. Write every other day. Write every week. Whatever energy works for you.
In my opinion, the best writing practice and marketing practice for your writing is the one that works for your energy. My question to you would be—do you like to write quickly or slowly? How do you want to show people your writing? You can promote your writing at open mics, by hosting events, by posting articles online, or any other way you can think of.
Based on your energy, what kind of writing habits can you commit to?
The best way to get your writing out there? Promote the same way you write—make it a habit.
I think that, when we begin writing a story or a blog project or an essay, we just have so much to say. We’re brimming with ideas and excitement. Sometimes, your writing will feel like that. Exciting! Inspired! You can’t wait to get your ideas on paper.
Most of the time, we’re not inspired. Writers are not more inspired than other people. This is where habit comes into play.
I’ve been building on this blog for around six years now. Not that long of a time. I know a lot of people have been doing it for longer. I post between two to three articles per week. I do this when I’m feeling inspired and also when I’m really just not feeling it. My writing routine is my personal commitment to myself and moves at a pace that works for me.
Back when I was first starting to post my writing online, I actually was doing just fanfiction. Back then, people would get in my comments and yell at me to post the next chapter. That stressed me out! If this also stresses you out, then I recommend that you turn off comments. You should write at a pace that works for you and not because someone is rushing you. I gave up on a lot of fanfictions because I felt too stressed and rushed.
And sometimes, I post things here or in the fanfiction world that very few people read. I’m writing about a niche topic or in a small fandom. If a lack of readership stresses you out, then stop looking at website stats or hits. Again, you should write at a pace that works for you and not because you get a certain number of readers (or not). Sometimes, you’ll write something that goes a little bit viral. This happens. It also doesn’t matter. You will still write at the pace you are capable of. Inspiration only helps you for a day and popularity only lasts for a day. Your writing practice is for life.
Your writing practice is a promise you make to yourself. No one gets to rush you. Going viral doesn’t matter. Getting no readers on one article also doesn’t matter.
Because your writing practice is a promise to yourself, make it work with your schedule and energy. Maybe you write two to three articles a week like me or you do a long one every month. Make your writing practice a promise to yourself that you can keep. Don’t worry if you are feeling inspired or not when you start to write. Don’t worry if anyone is reading or about anyone who rushes you as you write. You made a promise to yourself, one that you can keep. Just focus on that commitment.
We are both anxious bloggers. You might be trying to sleep one night when you suddenly wonder why you write at all. You might lose your faith in writing mid-sentence. You can have existential feelings about writing but you can’t allow those feelings to distract you from the routine of your actual writing. You will write when you feel like a writer and you will write when you don’t.
I don’t do anything fancy with my promotions. I know people who do really cute things—monthly events, interactive apps, etc. I just put my writing on social media—two to three articles per week. This is the commitment I made to myself based on what I feel like I can do. Sometimes, I post things that very few people read. This has remained true throughout my six years of running this website blog thing. It was true six years ago when I had a few hundred followers on social media and it's true now when I have 70 thousand followers on social media. Sometimes, no one will read what you wrote (immediately, that is—someone will always find your extremely niche idea at some point in time).
You can’t make someone read something they don’t want to read. Attention just doesn’t work like that. However—people out there are interested in what you are interested in. (Enter science stuff here about how our brains develop socially.)
This is why I also would not worry about doing too much blasting. People will be interested in what you wrote if they are interested. If they aren’t, they’ll just scroll past and that’s okay. Your writing isn’t bothering anyone even if you show people where to find it. The internet is full of automatically generated content. Your writing is a homemade brew of carefully rendered thoughts and teachings. People will recognize your humanity when they find you and they will bookmark you so they don’t lose you through the ether.
I also don’t think it’s possible to write so much that you’re bombarding people with writing. Even if you write an essay every single day, that’s just one essay and post everyday. How fast can you write? Probably not enough where anyone feels any kind of annoyed. You’re not a robot. You’re a person with limited capacity.
I know that there are SEO tricks you can do. Make sure that the first sentence of your article includes your title keywords. Use keywords but not too much. I’ve looked into it a bit but honestly? I rarely use SEO best practices. I start my first sentences randomly. I use unpopular names for popular topics. People will still find you if you don’t have the best SEO practices. I think? I believe that people will look for you if they are interested in what you are writing about.
No attention getting trick can replace years of consistent, routine based practice. If you write every single day for ten years and share your writing somewhere with the same consistency, then you will find people who want to keep reading your creations.
Can you tell that I’m a Saturnian? I believe in a slow build. Saturn always pays off. If you make something a habit, then there’s absolutely no way it will not grow.
Just keep your writing real. Make it a habit. Write regularly and post regularly. Commit to a routine that you can keep. Put it where someone can see and make sure that your words are readable. You can worry about your purpose as a writer and will constantly but never allow these speculative concerns to distract you from the habit that is writing. You write when you believe in yourself as a writer and you do it when you don’t. Keep doing that and you’ll build an ecosystem that you might call a blog. You already are.
