Has it really been seven years since I started this blog? Hard to believe, for someone who had a hard time updating a journal more than once every couple of months, as I shared in my very first blog post!

Since then, I’ve managed to fairly consistently blog once a week, even during the two years of my BA degree. Here’s what I’ve learned from writing 630 posts for this blog:

1. Blogging is the first to go when things get busy, and I seem to lose my blogging “mojo” when that happens.
2. It helps to get into a rhythm. Decide how often you’re going to post and work towards it.
3. How often you post is up to you. So-called experts have all kinds of advice, including posting daily, but feel free to ignore this unless you are a juggernaut like Mashable. I aim for weekly.
4. Decide what you’re going to write about. I talk a lot about words and writing, newsletters, social media and the independent life. Once in a while, I can’t resist something silly, or perhaps heartfelt.
5. Keep a blog journal (cheat sheet) with ideas for future posts as they occur to you. If you want to be really organized, put it in a spreadsheet organized by the topics determined in #4.
6. A blog is an important cornerstone of your marketing efforts. What you say on Twitter or Facebook is gone in seconds, but your blog is your own real estate. Plus, Google likes sites that are regularly updated.
7. Blogging is a great way to “meet” and get to know other people, especially if you take the time to comment and get into discussions with others — and you should. (As always, hello and happy blogging anniversary, Les Potter, ABC! We met and became good friends after we cosmically started blogging within a day of each other.)

Thank you to the people who have taken the time to visit, read what I’ve written and commented here on the blog or in person. It means a lot. YOU mean a lot.

Image: From “Stoonn” and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Related reading:
The post marking six years of blogging