About a year ago, I published my very first blog post on Sidetracked. I’m a big believer in retrospectives so I thought to list my learnings from the twelve months that have gone past. If you’re an aspiring blogger or content creator, this post will offer you some tips from a year down the road.
Just Do It
If that isn’t the best slogan ever. Nike made it theirs, and Shia LaBeouf immortalized it in the video where he repeats the slogan with varying degrees of passion.
I’ve never been a procrastinator, but I’ve never been good at ‘just doing it.’ Growing up I was very command-oriented where I quite enjoyed homework and the sense of accomplishment in completing the last maths exercise or finishing the essay. My to-do list was given to me and as long as I followed it, I was set. It’s different post-studies where careers don’t have the same milestones for every occupation, country, or individual, nor a clear measuring stick for progress. Even if you hit all of your targets, you might not ‘move on’ to the next grade.
Sidetracked is not my first ‘just do it’ project. I had a blog while living in Japan, and I ran a YouTube channel. The former I wrote for a few months until, while the latter I ran for six. The YouTube project showed to me that I am not a solo entrepreneur and wanted a team around me instead. The channel also required a lot of time – I wrote about my experiences in an earlier post if you want to learn more about it.
But What Will People Think?
My biggest hurdle to all three has been the same: what will people think? Each time, answering the question has gotten easier, and believing the answer, too. Who cares? I see a lot of content creators on social media sharing the negative comments they get, some of which are truly horrendous. I’ve never received that kind of feedback, most likely because I haven’t been as visible as these ones, but I find it hard to imagine I’d like to subject myself to such comments. Especially if I’m just sharing my own passion online to potentially inspire others.
It doesn’t matter what people think. Are you proud of your crocheting? Did your cake turn out better than expected? Or are you sharing a failed woodwork experiment that you find funny and a teaching moment? Then just do it, share it, embrace it. Aside from internet trolls, the truth is that most people simply won’t care at all. Maybe if you hit it big, they’ll either chum up to you, try to take you down, or hopefully cheer for you. But if you’re a hobbyist like me, not pushing your content that actively, you’ll go unnoticed.
But What If They Won’t Think Anything at All?
The actor Kevin Bacon once said: “Show me an actor who doesn’t want to be famous and I’ll show you a liar.” While he noted that he pursued his career for other reasons, too, the initial drive included fame (and money and women). I don’t think there’s many people who very genuinely don’t want to be successful in what they do, and as I see it, part of being a successful actor is being famous. You’ll get invited for more auditions or straight-up offered roles, and you’ll be paid better. Same goes for content creators: the better known you are, the more people will look you up, the more likely traditional media is to take an interest in you and, no matter how much you love the grassroots power of social media, getting featured in a big news paper or on a talk show is a game changer. Whether you made your way there by getting followers on IG, one account at a time.
For Sidetracked, I shared the first few posts on LinkedIn. Sharing outside links doesn’t please the omnipotent and wholly dictatorial algorithm of the networking platform, so each shared link rendered fewer views and likes than my original posts on LinkedIn. I’m also quite vary of drawing attention to myself, and sharing my blog posts still feels like I’m waving a big flag with my face on it, screaming “LOOK AT ME!”. And it’s really not why I started this blog, although admittedly I wouldn’t mind if it got some traction. I had three main reasons for starting Sidetracked: to develop my own thinking; to have a project outside of work aside from hobbies; and to hopefully find new people to exchange thoughts with. If the latter of these led to something that led to fame, it still wouldn’t be my primary aim.
Be ready for no one caring about your project. Don’t set fame as your number one target if it isn’t.
Don’t Wait for the Perfect Moment Or Idea
I wanted to start this blog much earlier. I didn’t have any real reason not to do it: you can write a blog for free, and I had time. I even had a vague idea over what I wanted to write about. But I tried to know my next fifty steps before taking even the first one. I also fantasized that each step would be filled with excitement. But no successful company or project was that before they got started, and most not until several years later, and getting there wasn’t just one big party: some parts was drudgery, other steps would land you on a slippery stone and make you fall down and glide back. And then some steps would bring that spring to your step.
I tried to know my next fifty steps before taking even the first one.
So my advice? Just. Do. It. Just do it. JUST DO IT! Succeed or fail, you’ll learn. And you can apply that learning to whatever you might want to do later.
Keep Consistent
I set out to publish one blog post a week, always on a Thursday. I tried to get to writing the following week’s post on the preceding Sunday, but since I didn’t actually set aside a slot for it, I’d often not write it. Now, I publish my blog posts on Sundays, and I aim for a weekly post, though my average has been two posts a month.
Creating content consistently really is crucial when building up your audience. Think of your favourite TV series, or singer. How many episodes are there of it, how many albums have they got? The more they offer you, the more you know you can lose yourself in their world. And I think that’s what any content is about: you want to lose yourself into it. The 21st century world is also one of mass consumption and incessant feeds. We are addicted to scrolling and constantly seeing new things. You need to show up regularly for algorithms to consider you relevant, and for actual humans to think you’re worth following.
Publish at a regular pace. You can always switch it up later when you get your bearings. Don’t set yourself up for failure by aiming too high in the beginning, but don’t let yourself off too easy, either. What’s a target that’s not a cake walk but not a marathon, either? Use that as your starting point.
Get Found – SEO and Hashtags
I have not optimized my blog for search engines (SEO). The main reason is that I don’t have specific enough a niche I focus on where each of my blog posts would somehow touch upon a clearly defined topic. My theme is worklife, any phenomena I counter in the world of 9-5, whether it’s about recruitment, strategy, communication, marketing, sales, leading, you name it. If this blog’s point was to give the best tips on content creation, I would optimize my blog and every post for searches like “top tips for getting started on content creation”; “how to hack TikTok’s new algorithm”; or “how to brand yourself as a new blogger”. In fact, my blog post on my YouTube channel is the most search engine optimized post I have to-date, because it is in a sense a help article.
I’ve completed Hubspot’s SEO course which I found really useful. From my experience with small businesses and websites, the biggest issue with SEO and not showing up in search engines (most importantly Google with a market share of around 80-90%) is that there is no attempt to optimize the website. Seeing the results of your optimization actions, such as optimizing for keywords and optimizing sizes for certain parts of the page, will take a few weeks or months, but it’s worth doing it.
Same as for websites, ensuring your social media content finds the audience you’re targeting means finding the right keywords and hashtags. No platform gives up the exact workings as their algorithm, so we operate with educated guesses. Hopping on trends, using a combination of large-follower and small-follower hashtags, and posting at a regular cadence with consistent content are enough to give a strong foundation to build on. Many successful content creators do throwback videos showcasing their content from the early days, noting how low-value their production was before they learnt the ropes.
Ready for Round Two?
I’ve enjoyed my sidetracks for the past year. Not once has the thought of not continuing crossed my mind. I don’t have a clear plan for the second year yet, and for the moment, simply the act of writing, typing, the sound of my keyboard and the joy of discovering new things is enough.
Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you enjoy it. And I really encourage you to leave comments or to reach out to me in person.
Sidetracked 