Branding, Organization, and Selling Yourself as a Blogger

It has been almost a year (July 1 2013!) since I started my little corner of the interweb here at A Thousand Tomorrows, formally known as Everyday Southern Prep. I have learned so much and have found that writing is a hobby of mine that relieves stress and lets me create new ideas and content. It has been an absolute joy writing this past year and I cannot wait to see what is to come. 

With this being said, I have learned lots of important things you need to consider while blogging, such as the importance of organization, branding, and "selling yourself" on social media. Each blogger has their own little differences when it comes to branding themselves, whether it be how they describe their blog, style, or content. I have read so many blog posts about blogging tips, how to brand yourself on twitter, instagram, pinterest, etc. (and how to utilize these social media platforms!), creating the best content, and organizing each week. 
For me, organizing is the key to blogging. I use a master calendar along with an Excel Spread Sheet to log every post and its views and reader response. I do not have a calendar solely dedicated to blogging, because the calendar I use is fine for both school and blog work. I simply pencil in the post I want to plan for that certain date.  Recently, I plugged all my posts into my Google Calendar. I cannot carry my calendar around with me, as it doesn't fit in my purse, so if I need to quickly glance at my blog plans, it's all accessible on my phone. It's also easy to edit! 
Carrying around a small notebook is always a good idea for every woman, but for us bloggers, notebooks can hold thousands of blog post ideas and inspiration. I find myself taking notes on my phone, on scratch pieces of paper, and napkins, so having one notebook to compile all these ideas makes it much more organized (key theme here!) and easy to read/navigate.  I mentioned that I have recently started using Excel. As well as logging each post with its views and response, I log my blog ideas here as well. That way if I were to misplace my notebook, its all on my computer. 
With my blog growing slowly each day, I have been thinking about investing more in different items to help brand myself and the blog. A simple solution? Business Cards. They can be customized just for you/your blog and can say everything needed - name, email, web address, social media handles, and phone number. 
Keeping a weekly to do list for your blog can also help tremendously. I tend to keep a master to do list for the entire week, whether it be errands, school, home chores, or blog work, but staying organized in that way also helps - and you feel great when you're able to scratch something off of the list! 
One thing that every blogger will tell you when you ask them how they were able to grow their blog and connect with others will be the usage of Social Media Platforms. Sharing links, mentioning other bloggers, following bloggers, and linking up with blogs when possible will greatly increase your traffic and (hopefully!) keep some readers for the long run! I always had a love for Instagram before I started blogging, but since then my love for Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, and Google Plus (and even emailing!) has shot through the roof. If you can allot a simple 10 minutes each day to a few of these platforms and share your own posts as well as others, you're going to capture at least one persons eye (fingers crossed) and allow them to then go on and share about your personal blog. 
Lots of these tips seem to apply to blogging, but some can even apply if you're going into a job or interview - selling yourself is HUGE in these settings as well! 
Being a high school sophomore (eek!) can be rough because of the constant judging when it comes to quirky things that most people don't do - such as blogging. There are 4 girls I know of (now 3, since Kira has moved on to another local high school) that blog in my grade, and just a couple upperclassmen. Having to share what you do and love can be tough with people that don't always understand how you love writing your heart out to the tiny corner you've made for yourself on the internet, but being able to stand up and strongly state that is something even I'm still struggling with. I don't know how long this blog will last, but being able to share what I love with you, my readers, really inspires me to keep writing. (I'm getting sappy!) 
I'm going to save my feelings about this blogs growth and readers for my 1st Birthday Post, but just know that  I have learned so much from you as my reader and I am so thankful for you. 
xoxo