Okay, TECHNICALLY my 5th Blogiversary is on Sunday, 1st July but since I don’t post on Sunday’s I’m putting this here! 😀

In fact, as well as being my Blogiversary, this post is also my 300th post! *woohoo*

Yes, it’s been 5 full years since I first found WordPress.com and decided to type my gibberish and thrust it into the interweb.

A Slow Start

I started this blog to share my ideas about writing. For the first three years, I posted sporadically and even stopped posting altogether at times.

I hadn’t learnt what worked or how to make my blog truly appealing. But that was okay because I enjoyed blogging when I did it.

A Big Change

In 2016, I made some changes and really wanted to boost my blog and get more ideas out there. The first thing I did was change the blog name from The Eternal Scribbler to Ari Meghlen’s Official Site. This was because I was going to use this as my official author website.

Second thing, I bought and connected my domain name so it looked a little more professional.

Then, I started to learn about blogging and even began reaching out and offering writers a space for guest posting. I wanted to give my readers more. More value, more content.

In 2017, I made the decision to complete the rebrand and have been updating all my old posts with a more specific and streamlined looked.

In 2018, I decided to start a blogging series to run on Thursdays. It’s partway through the year and I still have some new changes coming.

Some Stats

In those first three years, I had 5,213 views in total.

This year alone I have already had over 7,700 views.

That is incredible. I am so unbelievably happy that so many people come by and visit my blog.

5 Things I’ve Learnt About Blogging

Give Value

This platform is amazing but if you are giving something to people, it makes it all the better. I hope that my posts are helpful and I try and make sure I cover details that I think will help.

And I ALWAYS encourage people to contact me and let me know what they want to see on my blog.

Be Consistent

The biggest change I noticed in viewership and engagement came when I started to be consistent. When I showed up on the days I had agreed to blog and actually put something out there.

Not only did that help my readers know when to pop over to this blog, but it helped me stick to a routine and become more focused.

Enjoy the Journey

I am really happy with what I have accomplished. Celebrating my accomplishments is important which is why I’m writing this blog today. I still have a long way to go but it’s not about racing to get a big following or making tons of money on this blog.

I love blogging, I love connecting with people and I want to enjoy the whole journey.  That’s why I don’t compare my blogging journey to others. Don’t get so caught up on where you want to get to, otherwise, you’ll miss what’s happening now. 🙂

Build a Community

I talked about this recently with my article Why you need to be part of the Writing Community.

It’s so important to make these connections. Not just for writers, but for everyone. No matter what type of blogger you are, there are people out there you can network with.

Blogging has been a great comfort to me. I have been able to make some wonderful friends.  People who have supported this blog, people who share their knowledge, people who are just so friendly and awesome to talk to.

Be Genuine

Use your own voice. Use your own style. Find the branding that works for you. Choose the niche that works for you, not just the one that is the most profitable. Blogging is great but it’s hard work so you really have to love it.

Finally, I want to say a massive

THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who has ever visited this blog.

Thank you to everyone who has ever left me a comment.

Thank you to everyone who has ever shared my posts.

Thank you to everyone who supported this blog and me.

Here is to many more years of blogging, sharing knowledge, connecting and supporting each other.

Happy writing

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Source: Images from Pixabay

© Ari Meghlen. All Rights to the works and publications on this blog are owned and copyrighted by Ari Meghlen or their respective owners in the case of guest posters, podcast hosts etc. The Owner of this site reserves all permissions for access and use of all documents on this site. NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the author’s [and publisher’s] exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and the development of machine learning language models.