Advice for New Bloggers

 Ooh my turn to give advice! How exciting! I bet you’re just waiting with bated breath! It’s a tough act to follow after the great advice posts already by Heidi, Janice and Tessa!



I’m no great expert on blogging. I blog for fun. I’m not a professional nor do I play one on TV. I’m TERRIBLE at html (just ask Alyce who gets stuck with my weird coding questions!). But I love to quilt, and I love to talk. And I love to talk about quilting. Hence my blog. So here are a few things now-blogger-me would have liked to have told new-blogger-me.



Don’t be so serious! Have fun!

Blogging shouldn’t be a chore. If you’re like “oh man, I have to post today and I’d much rather wash the roof and paint the cat”, then don’t bother blogging. Or “Eek,  I need to make a King size quilt out of 1” pieces like TODAY or I have nothing to blog about”, then don’t bother blogging. You’re sucking the fun out of it for yourself. Blog when you want, what you want and have fun! I roughly aim for blogging three times a week, but if I don’t manage it, ah well. Next week maybe. Just have fun blogging. 



Include a picture or two! Break up all that text!

Because blog posts are boring without pictures. And large chunks of narrative text make my eyes go weird and I’m likely to skip that and look for the pictures. Unless it’s a super funny story. I’m totally up for weird eyes to read that. I didn’t have any old-blogger-me vs new-blogger-me pics to share, so I decided to chuck in some pics of my favourite projects instead as I think they give an idea of who I am quilty-wise.



Comment, email, be social!

If someone took the time to comment on your blog post, take the time to reply. We all have things we probably should be doing instead of drooling over quilt patterns and fabric so be appreciative and write a reply. Preferably something more than just thanks. I totally get sad-face when I see I have an email, open it and all it says is '”Thanks”. Awesome – you were polite and acknowledged my comment on your blog, but where’s the love?! I’ve made some of my best bloggy buddies simply from commenting on their blog (or them on mine) and a conversation starts (albeit via email). So if you’re wondering how to make blog buddies, there’s a tip.



Party on, dudes!

Absolutely, positively, most definitely join in linky parties! But wait – that doesn’t just mean link up your post, sit back and hope you get a zillion people checking out your awesome hand-sewn, embellished, FMQ’d toilet seat cover. It means check out a few of the other links and go comment on their amazing hand-sewn, embellished, FMQ’d letter-box covers. We all want comments – that’s what makes linky parties fun. Oh and like what you read or saw? Follow that blog!  Not sure where to find parties to join? Start with Beth’s Let’s Get Acquainted linky party on a Monday. Check out other people’s blogs and see where they’re linking up to.




Please don’t make me prove I’m not a robot. 

Seriously, turn off word verification. You might not even know it's on - so go check then turn it off! I don’t think there is anything more annoying than going to leave a comment and having to try to get that stupid Captcha (I can’t even spell it it annoys me so much!) phrase right. It usually takes me 3 goes. Or I give up and don’t leave a comment. Sad. So turn it off. Worried about spam? You can moderate posts, or just turn off Anonymous commenters. Check out Lucy’s post on fixing this.



Be brave! Be Bold! Be adventurous!

Maybe less new-blogger related and more pep-talk related… but… if you’ve got something quilty you’re passionate about it, spread the love. Pass it on. Recruit other fanatics. For me it was paper piecing. This has lead to selling my patterns, starting a BoM and hosting a weekly linky party. If someone had told new-blogger-me that was going to happen, I would have laughed at them. But if you have an idea, don’t let being shy or nervous hold you back. Go forth and conquer the quilty world.



So new-bloggers, that’s what I’ve got. Happy to elaborate on anything or share my vast knowledge (ha!!) if you have any questions. But I hope that gives a starting point at least. Let’s finish this all grandiose style.

In conclusion, my friends, blogging should be fun.

Make it so.