Recently, I feel that blogging has done another u turn on it’s head and has changed again. Over the past five years or so, blogging has gone from this unknown thing that people did in their spare time, to something that now everyone seems to do. Most people now have a blog and whether they update it regularly or not, it’s still sitting in the big old wide web.
Blogs are well known now, and bloggers are able to leave their bedroom hobbies and turn them into careers. Myself included. I never thought that when I started blogging which mainly involved me sitting on the bed with Henry’s laptop, armed with a digital camera, some nail polish and a tea towel for a background, that one day this would be something that I did full time. It’s amazing how things work out, and I know that I would be lost without blogs.
But it seems recently that blogs aren’t just about one thing. Back in the day, you had blogs for all genres, fashion, beauty, travel, etc… but they kind of stayed tied to those things. I’ve been noticing recently that these days, it’s all about variety. Blogs have to have a bit of everything, they’re like the all you can eat buffet of the internet world. People want a plate of content with a bit of Chinese food, some American food, some Italian and even a side of some Indian food too and that’s how I feel blogging is going too.
I used to blog predominately about beauty. Tbf, I did get a little bored of just writing review after review and decided to switch things up, and I guess this is what a lot of other bloggers have done too. But I can’t help feeling that we are launching into the era of the glossy blog. The almost magazine blogs that are actually replacing magazines. I go on my Bloglovin feed most days, and every day there is a bevy of new fresh content from my favourite bloggers and I never know what to expect. Will it be beauty, maybe an outfit post, or perhaps a lifestyle post? Although this is great and amazing, I mean I’m never bored. Part of me feels sad about how much blogging has changed. I feel that there is a lot of pressure put on bloggers to churn out all this amazing varied content and we’re kind of losing sight about what blogging is truly about.
I don’t want to sound like a child, cause everything has to change but I suddenly feel that blogging has got way serious. Like blogging used to be like the shabby primark bag that you used, which was your favourite but wasn’t the most polished bag in your collection, now I feel like blogs are these posh shiny briefcases, which is a shit analogy I’m sorry, but I can’t help feel that blogging is like proper serious now.
I get caught up with the seriousness, I won’t lie. I mean this is my job, I have to be a bit serious now and then cause y’know I have a dog to feed. But I don’t think that means we should take blogging so seriously. My bloglovin feed is always full of blogging tips posts. Like these are the most popular, knock one of these out and you’ll get loads of saves on bloglovin for sure. They’re helpful, it’s what people want.
It seems these days that it’s encouraged to want to be a big pro blogger. Of course having loads of readers is nice and being able to make your own money from the sofa is fantastic, but sometimes I think the fun of blogging needs to be remembered.
The other day, I was stressing out about what to write for my blog and I just had a brain fart. Literally could not thing, it was like my brain had just turned to strawberry jelly and would not return. This got me thinking, ‘what do I enjoy writiing about?’ Just because this is now my job doesnt mean I shouldn’t enjoy it, and surely by writing about things I enjoy, this will shine through in my posts making them better right?
So I guess what I’m trying to say from this massive word vomit, or is it finger vomit? Hmm that sounds weird, let’s move on. Is that you should never forget why you started blogging. Blog about what you love, and remember what’s important about your blog. Forget about the bloglovin fame, the free samples or the fancy events, blogging is about having your own place on the internet writing about what you love. I think sometimes we forget that and get swept up in a trail of blogging tips posts and wanting to be on the path of super duper blogger. You should write about what you love, and what you enjoy. Don’t feel like you have to blog about what everyone else is blogging about. Be you and your blog. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, you don’t have to churn out several posts a week, do what you can and most importantly enjoy it. Blogging is tough.
I’m still going to write about what I enjoy, and yeah, there will be a mixture going forward of different genres but this is what I enjoy now. Probably chances are a blogging tips post will come out at some point, but don’t let them consume you, and if they are just take a step back. This is what I’ll be doing from now on, remembering why I started blogging and not what I think I should be blogging about. Your blog, your rules, enjoy it.
