I started Time Value Millionaire back in 2016.
However, I never had the confidence to hit the ‘Publish’ button for the first time.
Until exactly one year ago, when I published my first blog post titled “Hello, World!“
365 days and 29 posts later, I have learned A LOT.
As a result, I wanted to share 7 lessons I learned in my first year blogging for those who are thinking about starting their own blog.
Let’s dive in.
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Lesson 1. There are a lot of great free resources
When I first started blogging, I had no idea what I was doing.
I thought that I needed to purchase a course to learn about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or invest in fancy tools to create images for my blog.
I’m happy to report that I did not spend a dime.
That’s because there are a TON of great free resources available.
I learned almost everything I know about SEO and blogging via the following free resources:
- YouTube
- Subreddits
- r/JustStart (my favorite by far)
- r/Blogging
- r/SEOGrowth
- Bloggers
In terms of getting images for my blog, I discovered and leveraged the below resources:
One important note about leveraging images for your blog: always verify that the image has a Creative Commons License (CC0). A CC0 license allows you to use the image for free.
All images on Pexels and Pixabay are CC0 images.
Finally – there is only one exception to the rule in regards to spending money on your blog. And that would be Ahref’s 7-day trial for $7. (not sponsored)
During that 7-day period, you will have access to Ahref’s massive keyword database.
This was extremely helpful in helping me discover different topics to write about.
From an SEO perspective, this can then help identify low competition keywords that you can target to write about. As a result, this can increase your chances of ranking higher on Google.
Lesson 2. Focus your energy on what matters
The most important thing you can do for your blog is to write, write, write.
Don’t be like me when I started and focus your energy on the things that don’t matter:
- Obsess over your google analytics
- Tweaking your blog’s theme and layout
- Promoting on social media
- Focusing on the business side of the blog
The honest truth is that if you are not writing, then you are not growing your blog.
With that being said, a lot of folks will leverage social media in driving traffic to their blog.
However, all that promotion requires constant effort and is not truly passive.
I like to think of social media like pouring gasoline on fire. Sure, you can get a big fire for a little bit, but unless you keep pouring gas on it, that fire WILL eventually smoulder.
Instead, writing content for your blog is equivalent to gathering kindling, twigs, and logs to make sure that the fire burns longer.
Yes, writing is the hardest part of running a blog. However, it will provide the greatest return on investment for your time.
Trusting the process and slowly growing your website via SEO can earn you free passive traffic to your website for years to come.
Lesson 3. Rest is just as important as writing
Look, blogger burnout is a real thing.
You are going to want to put all of your time into your blog to make sure it’s successful.
In the beginning, I did not see any traffic for the first 6 months. I thought I wasn’t working hard enough and that the solution was to dedicate even more time to the blog!
And all that did was burn me out and I began to resent writing.
However, I didn’t realize what I was doing until after reading Cal Newport’s ‘Deep Work.’ As Cal describes in his book:
Humans have a limited of amount of deep concentration a day. You have a finite amount of willpower that becomes depleted as you use it. Your will, in other words, is not a manifestation of your character that you can deploy without limit; it’s instead like a muscle that tires.
Cal Newport, Deep Work
Going beyond that limited amount of daily deep concentration will only produce sub-par results.
That is why you need to establish a blog/life balance.
If you don’t establish that balance early on, then you will be on track to becoming burnt out.
Lesson 4. Always keep the long game in mind
When I first started Time Value Millionaire, I had 0 traffic for the first 6 months.
During those 6 months, I was constantly thinking “WTF am I doing wrong?”
And then the traffic started slowly coming in.
I was finally starting to see the mythical benefits of SEO.
It’s hard because not seeing any results can decrease your motivation and contribute to blogger burnout.
However, I had to keep reminding myself that blogging is a long game.
I realized that the people who replaced their full time income with blogging in their first year were anomalies. Glitches in the matrix.
That’s not to say that it can’t happen in your first year of blogging. However, it’s important to manage expectations and understand success is normally a slow game.
Lesson 5. Done is better than perfect
Winston Churchill once remarked, “Perfection is the enemy of progress.”
Nobody wants to publish shit. However, we need to remind ourselves that we are our own worst critics.
In my first year of blogging, I stressed out about the smallest things: how things are worded, synonyms, sentence structure, blah blah blah.
The truth is that as long as you are effectively getting your message across, done is better than perfect.
Hit publish and move on.
What helped me adopt this mindset was an article on the r/JustStart subreddit titled “Don’t Get Emotionally Attached To Your Posts (It’s not worth it)“. This helped me break the notion that everything I published did not need to be perfect.
Because at the end of the day, perfectionism will do nothing but create unnecessary stress in your life.
On that note, here’s one more quote from one of my favorite authors and favorite books:
And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.
John Steinbeck, East of Eden
Lesson 6. Don’t compare yourself to others
It’s our natural instinct for us to compare ourselves to our peers.
We see how others are doing and use that as a mental benchmark for if we are successful or not.
This may manifest itself as reading a post somebody in your niche wrote and say “wow! they did such a great job! I can’t do anything close to that!”
The truth is, you can. You know why?
Because everyone has their own unique experiences, views, personalities, memories, etc.
Your personality is your differentiating factor. That is something that nobody can replicate.
Be yourself and have your work reflect your uniqueness that you bring to the table.
Lesson 7. Remember to have fun
The last lesson I learned in my first year of blogging was remembering to have fun.
If you are only writing to cater to the SEO Gods, then you may find yourself writing about shit you don’t care about it. Writing for your blog is going to feel like a job.
The truth is that the choice shouldn’t be between having fun or focusing on SEO.
You can 100% do both.
And when you are able to do both, you will see massive success.
Final Thoughts
There were a lot of lessons I learned in my first year of blogging.
If you are considering starting your own blog, I would encourage you to just start. That alone will put you ahead of 99% of everyone else.
While I’m no Blogging Jimmy Neutron, if you have any questions, feel to drop them below and I’d be more than happy to answer π
Thank you for reading π
_
Full Disclosure: Nothing on this site should ever be considered advice, research or an invitation to buy or sell securities, please see my βTerms & Conditionsβ page for a full disclaimer.
RE@54 says
Just saw your site listed in All Star Money on the 12/3/21 Community News. Congrats on One Year Anniversary!
I looked at your previous posts and keep up the good work.
We are on opposite end of FI spectrum where I have achieved FI over time and now in my early 50’s and you are in the process of achieving it. I am intrigued on your path. It is weird looking back now and trying to figure out how I did it. You are documenting your quest to FI on this site, which is pretty cool.
Congrats again.
Time Value Millionaire says
RE@54,
Thank you for your kind words π
What was your approach to becoming FI? Were you just a natural saver and one day checked and found out? If so, that’s AWESOME.
I started Time Value Millionaire to document my journey to show others that it is possible to live a normal life (whatever that means) while also saving for one’s future. A lot of people think you have to choose one or another.
Thank you again, hope to see you more around!
– Matthew
RE@54 says
“What was your approach to becoming FI? Were you just a natural saver and one day checked and found out? If so, thatβs AWESOME.”
You hit the nail on the head. We were not hardcore savers, but just continually saved and invested. We also enjoyed life with travels and food. We paid off the house early. I know others say invest instead, but we wanted to pay off house early. There are so many ways to save for one’s future. We never felt like we sacrificed. We made enough financial mistakes too. Ha ha. Like you said, live a normal life.
We are planning to retire in two years when I will be 54, hence the name RE@54. Ha ha.
Feel free to email if you want more info.