What the First 9 Months of Blogging Have Taught Us

9 months ago we started on this journey to document our travels and lifestyle and share it with our friends, family, and fellow digital nomads.

We have truly enjoyed blogging so far, and we hope that you’ve enjoyed following along as well and maybe even learning a thing or two about working online or traveling. 

First we started to document our travels right after we rang in the 2019 new year. Then we started to share tips about places in the Czech Republic like Brno, Plzen, and skiing in Janské Lázně, not to mention our beloved at-the-time home; Prague.

Being so central in Europe made it very easy to travel around as digital nomads and visit beautiful cities like Fuengirola, Vienna, Dubrovnik, and Kotor.

Then we mixed in some hiking in Canada and now we’re travelling The States while finishing up our first 9 months of blogging!

Here’s what the first 9 months of blogging have taught us:

1. Make connections and follow up with them

It’s like anything in life but it’s good to have connections and friends. We’ve been trying our best to connect with other fellow travel bloggers and support each other and help each other grow in the blogging world. Genuine connections can go such a long way!

2. You can collaborate with companies even if you’re just a small-time blog

If you can produce good content and companies can see that then you have a great chance of collaborating with any company you want.

A key is to send a strong email outlying the points why you and the company are a good fit and what you can do for them. If they can see how they can benefit from your collaboration and believe in you and your product then you have many great opportunities ahead of you.

Keep creating good content and you will see great results.

3. Build your email list

Continue working on that email list we mentioned during the first six months. This is something we’re currently working on! Algorithms and platforms change and sometimes even get shut down (remember Vine anyone?) but your email list will always stay with you.

Having an email list is a great way of nurturing your readers and give them extra valuable information. Get on our list here and learn everything about being a digital nomad and life on the road (hint: We sent out our next newsletter soon 😉 ).

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4. Facebook groups are super valuable

Join Facebook groups, learn from them, and provide lots of value in return. When people have questions and you have answers then deliver! People will remember that and be grateful. Just help out because you want to and not because you’re expecting anything in return!

Some Facebook groups we are in are Female Digital Nomads, Lonely Planet Travelers Group, and Becoming a Blogger.

5. Be consistent and use your network

Keep using your network to share your blog. People will see your consistency and they will start to follow and be more engaged with what you’re doing.

It takes time but patience is one of the most important qualities to have when you’re blogging because success doesn’t happen overnight.

So be consistent whether that means creating new content daily or weekly. Just make sure you can keep up with the pace you set for yourself. Consistency is key.

Dom’s biggest takeaways

I think we both definitely set the bar a little high because we know what we can achieve and know we can get there but with everything going on and all the travels it’s been a little harder to balance work, life, blogging, and traveling.

This doesn’t mean we won’t accomplish our goals, they just may take a little longer to achieve – and we’re fine with this because that’s all part of the process. 

I hope that when Jo and I move to Kelowna we will be able to explore every little pocket of the city and its surroundings to hopefully make an ultimate guide for Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley that we will be able to share with all our future visitors. 

Jo’s biggest takeaways

With my VA experience I thought being a blogger was fairly easy. I knew how to set up blog posts, I knew about SEO, alt text on images, and how to improve readability on a blog post, etc, etc. What I didn’t realize was how time consuming blogging can be.

Sure, if you just want to post a blog post a week you can probably write and upload one in 5 hours more or less – but what about ALL the other things that go along with being a blogger?

I’m talking about marketing, networking, engaging, improving & learning, managing, and all those other ‘ing’-ending words you could possibly think of. There’s A LOT to it – and it can be hard to keep up with all of it. But you know what’s cool about it? If you keep it up, you will see the results you’re hoping for and dreaming of eventually.

And that’s exactly what we’re planning on. We have BIG plans for our blog for November and December so by the time we do our yearly update, we will have GREAT stuff to share with you all 😉 Until then…

You may also like…

• What the First 6 Months of Blogging Have Taught Us
• What the First 3 Months of Blogging Have Taught Us

Recap of our first 9 months of blogging

Thanks for continuing to support us as we work, travel, and share content about our lifestyle and to help you with starting your journey.

If it’s blogging, living a digital nomad lifestyle, or working from home we are here to help you! =)

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