Twenty Tips for Christian Bloggers from an Expert (not really)

It’s officially been 4 years since I started my blog.
So many people have asked me advice about blogging, and I never quite know what to say. I don’t know exactly what they’re asking, and honestly, I don’t think they know themselves. I want to tell them that they do not know what they are getting themselves into. I certainly didn’t when I started. I want to tell them that I don’t know what I’m doing! I just do it.
I guess they want me to give them tips about social media and tips for reaching people and growing your blog, but it’s so so much more than that. And, just like any ministry, if you’re just in it for the popularity and/or money, then you’re not doing it right, and you will never reap the true blessings that it can bring.

{Side note: I don’t make any money off of my blog. I never have made a dime. I am only compensated for speaking engagements. I don’t have ads on my blog because A) I don’t want them to compromise my message and B) I don’t want to be monetarily motivated to write. I want it to come from and be for Jesus. There is nothing wrong with making money from blogging. That’s just what I have chosen to do for now.}
So from now on, this is my advice for potential and new and current bloggers. In all its glory (or not) and for whatever it’s worth, here it is:
1. Be prepared to learn as you go. Because there are so so many things to learn, and no one has all the answers.
2. Be prepared to be more vulnerable than you’re comfortable with complete strangers. 
3. Be prepared for people to know things about you and make assumptions before you meet them. Sometimes, you’ll be better than those assumptions, and sometimes you’ll be worse. 
4. Be prepared to meet many strange, weird, and wonderful people, and understand their stories. 
5. Be prepared to work 24/7 answering questions, emails, and direct messages laughing with people and crying with them, behind the scenes, where no one sees but God. 
6. Be prepared to contact other people to help those that you can’t. No one person has all the answers, and there are many people out who are experts in their fields who have answers for people. Facebook, Instagram, and email is not the best forum to seriously counsel people who need it. Don’t be afraid to admit that you can’t help, but you can find someone who can.
7. Be prepared to take this personally because no matter what anyone says, it is personal. Your heart is written out for people to read, and criticize, and they will. 
8. Be prepared to not take this too personally because no one truly knows your heart but God. 
9. Be prepared to disengage from negativity and arguments. There is a HUGE different between edifying questions/constructive criticism and people who just like to pick fights and tell you that you’re wrong. (The Internet is ripe with those people.) You don’t owe anyone anything. You don’t always have to respond to negative comments. Arguing online is rarely productive. Who has the time for that anyway? “Delete” is a great button. 
10. Be prepared to keep at it no matter WHO says WHAT. 
11. Be prepared to remember why you started, and write for that reason and that reason alone.
12. Be prepared to know that whether one thousand people read your post or ten people read your post, that if you reach one person with a challenge or encouragement or whatever they needed and got from your heart that day or a few months down the road, it was worth it. 
13. Be prepared to not compromise the truth for followers and likes. No amount of popularity is worth selling out what you believe in your heart to be true. 
14. Be prepared to only do and write what God puts on your heart. If you do that, you will be original.
15. Be prepared to not compare your journey and your blog and what God has you doing, with others big or small around you. God will lead you into what you need to be doing and He will lead you to the people you need to be reaching.
16. Be prepared to not be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s ok. Everyone is a critic. Everyone. You will never please them all with everything you write, and that’s ok. Some of you won’t even like this list, and that’s ok too.
17. Be prepared to lose friends, and make better friends because of what you write.
18. Be prepared to love what you do, but not be defined by it. Just like everyone, you are defined by God and what He says in His word.
19. Be prepared to take breaks when you need them. Don’t be pressured by keeping up with someone else or writing things that God doesn’t intend for you to write about. Don’t burn yourself out.
20. Be prepared for it to be one of the most taxing things you’ve ever done, and one of the things that comes with the most blessings. The biggest being just the chance to reach out and touch other people’s lives with God’s truth- it all belongs to Him anyway. 
So there you have it. If you ask me my tips, be prepared to receive this list and my best wishes. May the odds be evah in your favah.