You want to know something? I never meant to start a blog or online design business 6 years ago. I was interning at Better Homes & Gardens eating way too many test kitchen baked goods when I met a fellow intern who had a college dorm decor blog. We bonded over our love for crafts and $2 taco nights and it wasn’t long before she talked me into starting a blog of my own.
I had no idea what to name it, so I thought about what 50% of my friends described me as (a Grandma) and named it 20 Going on 80. I mean, wasn’t knitting and baking what every college kid was doing? Don’t answer that.
That site was all about what *I* liked. Crafts, design, outfit ideas, decor, baking – basically whatever popped into my head. As I got deeper into blog-land, I started seeing what other people were doing and I wanted to do that. I mean, I could so why wouldn’t I? So I did. And before I knew it, my site was a hodge-podge of outfit collages (I’m more of a sweatpants type of gal), home decor projects (I don’t really like painting) with some recipes and printables mixed in.
The moral of the story is that for the first 4 years of blogging my blog was simply a hobby, yet I would get frustrated with why my blog was 4 years old and still not any where near the size of others. And then it hit me. I was blogging 100% for myself, yet wondering why it wasn’t growing very fast.
I was throwing spaghetti at the wall just hoping for a post that would stick…one that would go viral. And the worst part? When one did go viral, I would throw even more out there hoping those would somehow stick. But they rarely did.
It was then (about 4 years into blogging) when I realized that if I wanted this to grow, I had to stop posting whatever I impulsively wanted to make that day. I realized that I could no longer spend so much time hoping things would do well – I had to be strategic with what I posted. (The carefree, spontaneous side of me hated that because heck, this was supposed to be fun. This was supposed to be for ME.)
But what I realized was that I could still do the recipes or DIY projects that popped into my head, but I just had to be more intentional with filtering out some of the “okays” for more of the “home-runs”. I had to spend a little more time planning, but blogging became more enjoyable because I had a game-plan and I knew what niche I wanted to fit into. I got intentional with my content instead of just hoping the posts would stick. I started thinking about my readers and the types of brands I wanted to attract, and I started creating content that would resonate with them.
That light bulb moment took me years of “mindless blogging” to realize. I didn’t even realize at the time that I was making a huge mistake, but by not defining my content, I was basically just an energizer bunny that was slowly running out of battery. So now I preach brand definition to every business-minded blogger I know.
Don’t wait until you’ve already thrown 5 pots of spaghetti at the wall to get serious about your content. (That was me.)
Lay the foundation for your brand now, so that you can stop wondering WHAT to post and spend more time creating content that you know your audience will respond to. It doesn’t matter if you’re 4 years into blogging or just starting, there’s always room to get even more crystal clear about your brand.
I know it can be overwhelming to narrow down your content strategy, so I created something to make it easier for you to define your niche.
Click here to download your free 12-page Brand Foundation Workbook.
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