100 Blogs on BULB: What Have I Learnt?

Yesterday I posted my 100th blog on BULB. The post you are reading right now will be blog #101. It's a huge milestone - One that I thought seemed quite fanciful at times. Nevertheless, I am here in one piece and have never been more enthusiastic about blogging 💪

I've learnt quite a lot along the way ever since I published my first blog on 20th March 2022. The journey from 1 to 100 has taught me resilience, patience and perseverance. It's also given me a newfound appreciation for how tough blogging can be at times. Continually writing posts on a consistent basis requires hard work and dedication to the craft. ✍️

So today, my dear reader, I'd like to share with you some of the things I have learnt along the way while blogging on BULB. I'm hoping that you'll read my story and take some of the things I have learnt with you to apply to your own blogging journey on BULB.

But first, I thought I'd share a little bit about how I started on BULB. 

Where it All Started 🐜 

It all started for me on the 20th March 2022 when I published my first blog, 'Ants in a Law Library'. It was quite different to what was already on the platform or to other blogs I had normally seen. My post was a poem with humorous (albeit sarcastic) overtones of struggles faced by law students during their studies. I had written the poem previously on Reedsy and thought that publishing it on BULB would be a great first move.





I was quite surprised by the reception to it. Everyone appreciated how unique it was. Initially I thought people would be rather disinterested in poetry or daily life as a law student. Fortunately, I was proved wrong. 

Another thing worth noting is that I had never really blogged outside of BULB to begin with the exception of 2 articles I had written for my job. Realistically, this was my first 'major' post which would propel me forward on my blogging journey. 

Let me reassure you that everything becomes much easier after the first post. Yes, my second post happened a solid month later on the 19th April 2022 - That one was titled 'Why Everything You Have Learnt About Writing is Wrong'. But rest assured, writing my second post was much easier than writing the first one. 

And then came the third, the fourth.... and the rest became history! 

What Have I Learnt Since My First Post? 🤯

Here's 5 of the biggest lessons I have learnt throughout the course of my blogging journey on BULB. 

#1. Blogging Can be Hard at Times

I thought I'd start with this one to provide you a bit of reassurance. Blogging can get tough because it requires consistency and hard work. I also find that thinking about how I will articulate my thoughts can be exhausting mentally. 

Sometimes I have been rather unmotivated to write. Sometimes I still am unmotivated to write, and that's okay. What I say to myself is that I'll only do 'a little bit', whether that be writing a brief bullet-point plan of my next post or brainstorming ideas for the next week. At least something is better than nothing. 

In saying this, there's several things you can do to help make blogging easier. They are:

• Use bullet points to plan posts to you know where the 'start' and the 'end' of your next post are. Sometimes seeing the finish line is all you need to get motivated. 

• Supplement mental writing work with physical work, whether this be exercise, cooking or working in the garden. 

• Find a friend to blog with. Having someone to blog with you or to read your posts is a great source of motivation because (1) you're accountable to that other person and (2) you're assured that someone will support your work. 

• Brain dumps are amazing. Sometimes you just need to get your thoughts on 'paper'. 

• Sometimes you just need to get up and take a break. 

• Coffee helps ☕... as does music 🎧

#2. Writing for the Web is Very Different From Other Writing

I've also found that writing for the web is completely different to writing in academia, for university assignments or even just other things I write offline in my personal time. The web is a diverse audience. You need to learn to explain complicated things in simple language so anyone can understand. At least in academia, your target audience already has some background on what you're writing about. 

Another key aspect of writing blogs is that you want to be maximising their searchability. Here, I had to learn to be less 'flamboyant' with how I wrote headlines or my paragraphs and start writing sentences like how people would search for them in Google. To give you a hypothetical example, rather than naming a post "Your Ultimate Guide to Writing a Blog Post", I would name it as a "How to" guide because people are more likely to search using phrases like "how to" rather than "your guide". 

The internet has a lot of 'real estate' but the web is very competitive. Learning how to write to make your posts more searchable will help your post stand out from the crowd. 

#3. Maintain Momentum But Take a Rest When You Need It

One of the biggest reasons for why I have been successful on BULB is because I have been blogging on a consistent basis. It's as simple as that. Consistency is key. Sometimes you just need to knuckle down and write.

As a new blogger, I'd start off with one post per week. Try to aim for 700 - 1000 words. This is quite manageable and will help you build a solid foundation that you can leverage later on. 

In saying this, sometimes 'life' happens and you need to take a break from blogging. Please do so. Take a break from writing for 2 weeks and come back to it. However, I will note that it may be difficult to get the ball rolling again. Should this happen, you can simply start by writing blogging plans or by researching blog topics. Again, doing 'something' is better than nothing. 

#4. You're Full of Blogging Ideas Whether You Realise It or Not

What's the one thing that stumps bloggers?

Help, I've got nothing to write about. 

Wrong. 

You're full of blogging ideas even though you probably don't realise it. For me, one of the most helpful places to start is by revisiting a lot of my previous written work for university assignments. I've found a lot of hidden gems, whether it be the work I've written on climate litigation, AI or franchising. I've found much joy in revising and publishing some of these assessments on BULB. 

Other places to start are as follows:

• Reflect on your career and any lessons you have learnt. Write a post about some of your key learnings. 

• Have you read a really informative article online? Great!! Summarise what you learnt from it as a post on BULB. 

• Write a book review on a recent book you've just read. 

• Share a story. 

Believe me, you've got plenty to write about!!

#5. Sometimes You'll Feel Like You're Going 'Nowhere' and That's Okay.

There's been many times where I felt like I haven't been progressing as a blogger. That's okay, it's all part of the process.

Realistically it took me a couple of months to realise that I had actually learnt something from blogging and to feel as if I was 'getting somewhere', and that's because progress is the result of small things accumulating over time. This goes to show how important point #3 is. You need to blog on a consistent basis to make enough 'small wins' to realise that you're actually getting somewhere. 

Again, progress does not happen overnight with one 'magical post'. 

Where to From Here?

100 blogs is not the end of my journey on BULB. Just as they say earning your first $1,000,000 is the hard part, with the rest of the millions flowing in from there, getting to 100 blogs on BULB is the 'hard part' out of the way. Now I'm ready to reach 200!! 🚀

For my next 100 blogs, I'd like to take different angles to what I've done previously. The first thing I'll mention is that I'll be experimenting more with multi-media blog posts by embedding diagrams, animations and videos. Even more, I'm looking forward to the time when BULB considers releasing a feature where videos, GIFs and animations are supported on the platform. 

Secondly, I'd like to experiment more with BULB's premium content feature. Already I have started my own newsletter (September and October editions are out). I have also published a whitepaper that presents a use-case for how blockchain technology can be used to monitor emissions in supply chains. In addition, I published a crash course on logical fallacies which also embedded interactive quizzes that you can use to test your knowledge of the material. I'm looking forward to experimenting with many other creative ways to create premium content. 

And most importantly, I'd like to start collaborating with other writers on BULB. We are a community after all and I'm keen to start co-authoring BULB posts. 

The sky is the limit. I look forward to taking you on a journey through my next 100 posts. ➕💯