Blogger Recognition Award

As if nominating me for the Liebster Award wasn’t generous enough, Holly from Life Of A Blind Girl has also nominated me for the Blogger Recognition Award twice this year, in January and October, which is very kind indeed, thank you Holly! Do go and check out Holly’s blog, as she publishes lots of great posts about visual impairment, disability awareness and her hobbies and interests.

The Blogger Recognition Award simply requires you to write a bit about your blog and give advice to new bloggers, and then nominate other bloggers to do the same, to share the love and give them some exposure and recognition. So that’s what I’m going to do here. Thanks again to Holly for nominating me!

Rules

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Write a brief story about how your blog began.
• Provide two pieces of advice to newbie bloggers.
• Select some blogs to nominate and let them know by providing a link to your post.

Why I started my blog

When I was doing research ahead of my move to London, looking for information and people to connect with, it came as a wonderful surprise to discover how many disabled bloggers and Youtubers were out there. It felt like something I could at least try getting involved with, to see if I could generate a bit of online friendship and support.

I didn’t expect it to come to much, and it took a little while to find my footing, but once I got into it, I soon started getting very positive feedback to it. And things have just evolved from there, on both my blog and my Youtube channel. It’s even led to guest posts, public speaking opportunities and real-life meetups that I’d never expected or anticipated. So it’s been very much worth the effort.

Advice to new bloggers

Don’t worry about what others are posting or how many followers they have. Do what feels right to you. Your blog is your space on the internet, and it needs to feel like yours. Focus on the things that you enjoy and have a genuine interest in, because that will show through in your writing, and it will bring the right audience to you. It may take time to build up the number of subscribers, but then you don’t need large numbers to be successful and get great opportunities anyway, as I’ve learned with the public speaking and guest post offers I’ve taken up already. So just keep posting things and sharing it on social media, and it will gradually grow.

And don’t ignore other bloggers either. Respect them, interact with them and befriend them. Because blogging isn’t a competition, it’s a community, where everybody can support and inspire one another, spreading awareness of important issues, discussing a variety of interesting topics, and sharing their enjoyment of different things. So if you like another blogger’s posts, let them know, by leaving comments and using the like and share buttons on social media. They’ll greatly appreciate the love and may well do the same in return if they like your posts as well. And the more you get noticed, the more friendships you’ll make and the more opportunities you might get. So the networking side of blogging is vital as well. Don’t isolate yourself, be a part of the wider community in some way.

Nominations

I nominate Fashioneyesta, Luke Sam Sowden, Nystagmus Mum and Stories From The Edge Of Blindness. Do check out their blogs, as they’re all great. And thank you for reading this post, I hope you liked it! 🙂