Blogger Recognition Award

October 28, 2018 andy Comments 7,813 comments

I was just awarded the Blogger Recognition Award by both Susanne Kainer and Angeli McGovern!

You can find Susanne over at floralcars, a lifestyle blog that focuses primarily on beauty products, books, and travel, as well as DriveTribe, which focuses on cars.

Angeli runs My BeYOUtiful Life; you can find stories about her life, travels, family, fashion, and food, along with a healthy and infectious dose of gratitude!

As a new blogger, I am VERY excited to receive this nomination (TWICE!). Thank you for taking the time to read! Moving on….

The Rules Of The Nomination:

A Link back to the original post and the blogger who tagged you.
A small paragraph on why you started blogging and the origins of your blog.
Two pieces of advice to any new bloggers.
Select and tag 15 other bloggers you want to give this award this to!

In The Beginning…

First Mate Wifey was born out of a need for a creative outlet. I was in a very dark place, struggling with extreme anxiety and subsequent depression, and no time for Me. I felt that I had so much to say, but no place to say, no platform for my voice. So I started blogging! Originally, it was just an outlet, a way to express myself and let a little of the pressure off. I quickly decided that I wanted what I wrote to help other people, and started spreading the word more widely.

As part of my research, I also learned that there are several ways to make an almost “passive” income by blogging, and since we are starting to save for a house, I thought that might be worth a try as well. That effort is still in the early stages…

I now blog about a variety of topics and consider myself a Lifestyle blogger of sorts. Among those topics are Mental Health, Weight Loss and Fitness, and Professional Advice. I never dreamed that my blog would grow as quickly as it has, and I have the blogging community to thank for that. I gain inspiration from them on a daily basis and am constantly inspired to write more content about increasingly meaningful topics. I truly believe I will be able to make a difference with my blog, and that’s all I could ever ask for.

My Advice For New Bloggers

As a new blogger myself, my biggest piece of advice is to get plugged in to a blogging community and LEARN from them! I avoided so many nasty mistakes because I simply listened to other bloggers and read their “How To” posts. Nobody has all the right answers, but a diverse community will certainly have MOST of the answers! You can find these groups scattered throughout social media, especially Twitter and Facebook.

Not only will you find loads of helpful advice, but you’ll also find a genuine community that is passionate about blogging, helping their audiences, and helping EACH OTHER! This is professionally enriching as I learn and grow my blog, but it’s also very PERSONALLY enriching and encouraging. While I myself am still new to these communities, I’ve seen several people mention that they’ve formed life-long friendships as a result.

My other piece of advice is to use Pinterest, liberally. 90% (AT LEAST!) of traffic to my blog is through Pinterest. Make sure you have a business account and pin high-quality pins and contents. There are countless resources out there to help you get set up, and I highly recommend you read through those articles until your eyes bleed – and then implement! (Drop your Pinterest link in the comments and I’ll follow!)