February 17 2006 …
It seems hard to believe that I have been blogging here for ten years.
TEN YEARS!
I remember it well. I had never heard of blogging but (I think via Delia Venables service) one day I read an article about legal blogs and thought ‘that sounds fun’. I can remember reading, in particular, John Bolch’s Family Lore blog which had started up the previous month, and which I am very pleased to see is still going.
“I’d like to do that” I said to myself. And shortly after, I did.
My original site was on blogger (the archive is still here). There were only a few of us legal bloggers around in those days and we all knew who we were. Binary Law from Nick Holmes was another one (also still going). Then Nearly Legal started up a few months later on 1 June.
It was a different world then. Somehow it was a lot more light-hearted and playful. I had just set up the blog on an impulse, because I liked writing, and did not take it seriously for a long time.
In fact, it was not really until about 2009, after reading about the growing importance of social media on Ecademy (long since gone) and finding out about the power of content marketing from sites such as Problogger and Copyblogger (both enormously successful and an enduring inspiration to me), that I started to blog consistently and on topic on a regular basis.
I too though have done well by it. It’s a lot of work (thankfully I still like writing) but if you blog for a long time, putting in quality content, and keep on topic, you get your reward. After all – it is content like that which Google WANTS to promote in its searches. So I come up in a lot of searches on my chosen specialist subject – residential landlord and tenant law. Which is good for business.
Something that never occurred to me, this day ten years ago.
So what did I say in that, very short, first post?
A new post on a new blog. A new window on the world. Thoughts on residential landlord and tenant/housing law and practice. Thoughts on law. Or just thoughts. Hopefully at least one a week. Relevant. Concise. Informative. The occasional rant. This is the plan. We shall see.
Well, I think I have done all that? What do you think?
On to the next 10 years …
Well done Tessa. Its a fantastic resource and one I promote on all my training courses as a reliable source of information. Honoured to also be a part of it in my small way
Ahhhh penblwydd hapus from here in Wales…..without a doubt, this is one of the most reliable sources for info around….not only the posts, but the comments are crucial also.
Looking forward to the next decade….and beyond ¦)
Happy birthday! Great blog by the way!
Well done Tessa,
Like you, most people that done well by blogging seem to have started blogged due to a love of writing or the subject. Google does truly regard those that consistently giveaway quality information.
Congratulations Tessa.
There are many that have benefitted from your blog. I’ve always read it with interest and am so grateful you continue on.
Thank you for all your hard work
Congratulations Tessa, what an achievement. Thank you for providing us Landlords with such a fantastic resource.
Thanks everyone.
I should have said in the post that a big part of the blog is the fabulous comments – so thank you to everyone who has commented and so helped make the blog more useful to readers.