The BAKE Awards 2017 was held a few weeks ago where the winners were announced and rewarded for their great efforts in using digital media to make a difference through blogging. For most people, more so bloggers, this is a time where one’s power to use the keyboard and bring out positive change in the society is recognised and the will to continue blogging is encouraged. This year’s event was marked with a lot of lessons which I hope will encourage any blogger, especially those who have always wanted to start a blog to begin and those who started but stopped at some point, to continue.
- Perseverance
Winning the first time you are nominated is good fortune, winning the second time is a blessing. But what happens when you have been nominated in one category since the inception of BAKE Awards but have never walked away with an award? Most people would give up by the second round and probably not want to be nominated at all for the awards. Some people, however, don’t give in to the pressure of loosing every year. They don’t stop writing, creating photos or working on their websites each and every day. They keep creating content worth the view of every reader who goes through their latest posts. A case in point is magunga.com, a blog that has been nominated over the years but never won in their category but won in this year’s Kenyan Blog of the Year Award, a principal category. Therefore, to the bloggers who have not yet won but have been nominated, don’t stop.
- Blogging can be full-time career
Not many bloggers would take up the challenge to blog full time and not just as a part time activity. The blogging world may be quite unstable in terms of seeing the full results of possibly earning from it. One can make a lot of money with blogging which could be enough to leave one’s day job. This takes the time to achieve, so, don’t expect it at the beginning or even in the middle of your blogging journey. When you are passionate about something, in this case, blogging, all the accolades (BAKE Award) will follow. Case in point is markmaish.com. Mark Maina, the founder of the blog, in his speech, said it was exactly a year since he quit his jobs to pursue blogging as full-time career. If have been contemplating whether you should blog full time, maybe it’s time you took the first few steps in becoming a full-time blogger. Who knows which door will open? A BAKE Award, maybe?
- Don’t worry about who or who isn’t reading, keep doing it
Blogging or any project that one begins always follows a classical pattern between time and the users. When you start any blogging project, your immediate friends will support you, they will like your content, read it and probably share it too. Over a few weeks, you will have reached many users and you will get comfortable. Then you will hit a wall where nothing happens; few people are reading. Most beginners will stop at this point since they believe no one is reading. The trick, at this point, is not to stop, but continue. Because, if you just keep on going, when no one is reading or viewing your work, someone will eventually ‘care’ and many people will discover your blog. Therefore, the only way to get past this phase is to be consistent and not do it just for the numbers or the fame but because it excites you. Bloggers who were nominated for this year’s BAKE Awards 2017 were consistent.
- Be better than your last post
The best way to succeed at blogging is not by competing with other bloggers in your niche, it’s by being better than your yesterday, your last post. Every post should not reflect any competition with any other blogger but with yourself.
Yes, it’s okay to look at other bloggers, but other than getting mad or frustrated over their content, bloggers should focus that same energy on creating good content on their sites.