Tips for Successful Blogging

So I'm about 2-ish or so months into this blog.  I've been spending a decent amount of time learning about blogger, playing around with templates, backgrounds, fonts and even my blog name.  I've read a fair amount of tutorials and how to's.  I've started following some amazing women's blogs and have learned a lot from them (whether they know that or not). 

I always like finding blog posts with tips for a successful blog.  One awesome blog I follow is Hi Sugarplum!.  Yesterday Cassie posted her Friday Five, and her #3 was from Shay at Mix and Match Family (FYI...Shay is Sean the Bachelor's big sis!).  She compiled blogging advice from some of the best bloggers out there (Cassie being one of them). 

A few of the recurring theme's I heard were:
#1-Be yourself: Don't feel like you have to write a certain way that isn't you and don't compare yourself to other bloggers.  Blog for yourself!
#2-Build your community: Network with other bloggers
#3-Don't blog to make money: Blog because you love it, not just to make money.  It will be obvious to your readers.

All the advice was really sound and honest advice that all bloggers should follow.  I know I've been struggling with gaining readers and making my blog look good, while trying to focus on content so getting back to the basics of why I started a blog to begin with always kind of helps me reset. 

To read Shay's entire post go Here.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!