I never really know how to feel about blogging advice posts. I mean don’t get me wrong, I have written some myself in the past, but I sometimes find it weird how common they are. when I think back to what the world of blogging was like when I launched my blog in 2010.
Blogging has completely revolved since then, back a few years ago, people blogged as a hobby and it was about things that people loved. There was no money or free samples involved, it passed the time for many of us whilst we were at school/college/uni/work. For me, blogging was always an escape. It helped me battle through homesickness, loneliness and the stress of my final years at uni.
However, over the past few years, the popularity of blogs have grown. People realised that blogs have power and influence, then suddenly things started to change. Brands were interested in blogs, events started being planned for bloggers to attend, PR samples were being given out and before we knew it, blogging could soon become a full time job.
I am a full time blogger, which I still find hard to believe when I think back to my days in 2010, where I’d blog about nail polish, and take blog photos on my phone, on my bed on a tea towel. It always makes me laugh how no one would ever read my blog now if I posted photos with the tea towel background and how much pressure there is for blogs to be super glossy and I always feel sorry for new bloggers as I wouldn’t even know where to start.
I mean heck, I’ve been blogging for seven years and I feel overwhelmed at times.
Blogging no longer is just about writing about what you love. Blogging is a career prospect, it’s a way to try new things, get to go to new places, everyone and their dog pretty much has a blog these days, and people want to know NOW how to make your blog popular.
Which is why blogging advice posts are so popular, people can tell their success stories to other people, but sometimes I feel like the advice is so overwhelming that even I don’t know if what I am doing is wrong or right. Right now, my head feels like my phone when the ‘storage is full’ notification comes up.
It’s probably my own fault for always clicking on these types of posts. I can never help myself, especially when I’m going through a bloggers block or I’ve looked at my analytics and my views seem low.
I was on my Bloglovin feed the other day, and there are so many posts titled such as ‘how to make your blog successful’ ‘how to double your blog traffic’ ‘how to get more followers’ etc…. and sometimes I wonder if all these kind of posts have taken out the joy of blogging.
Blogging doesn’t seem as innocent or naive anymore, it’s about business, it’s about getting brands to notice you and being sent samples. These types of posts, are always so popular which means a lot of people want to know these things, which in a way kind of makes me sad.
Over the last year, I’ve been so stressed when it comes to my blog. I’ve done that horrible thing of comparing myself to every Jack and Sally. Ive let my motivation take a tumble and I’ve let my self confidence get in the way. I won’t lie that I read all of these advice posts in my feed, and then I feel overwhelmed when it’s like ‘you should post on your blog every day, make sure to schedule social media posts 19 times a day, post on Pinterest 100x a day, etc etc’ sometimes I’ll get a headache just thinking of what that to do list would be like.
I don’t even know what I am trying to say with this post, but the final straw was when I clicked into a post that was like ‘how to make your blog SO successful’ and it was a click bait post. There was no actual advice, the blog itself never use their own pictures. They always use ones from Pinterest or from other bloggers and suddenly I thought ‘why am I reading this?’
It suddenly hit me, that only I can decide what I do with my blog and maybe my head feels so full because I’m so obsessed with reading these ‘helpful’ posts, that then make me feel bad cause I don’t pin stuff 100x on Pinterest every day.
You have to do you, and I am determined this year to get my love of blogging back. I want to feel motivated again. After all, I got to where I am now, by being myself and blogging about what I love. Not because I had some ridiculous strategy in place.
It’s hard cause sometimes, the business part of my brain is like you should be doing this, you need a strategy and then human part is like ‘no!’
I think for my own sake. I’m going to try and ignore these types of posts for a while and focus on doing what I feel is best. I’ll still post helpful advice posts such as photography and blogging advice that isn’t about getting loads of followers, or free products.
There is no right or wrong way to blogging, you can read posts that give advice or you can not. Blogs got popular because we are all different and we are all human. It makes me sad to think that new bloggers are being told that there is a cookie cutter blog and that will only work for you. If you are yourself then your blog should do well, but don’t ever feel like your blog is rubbish because you don’t have loads of followers or no saves on Bloglovin.
This year, I am focusing on myself being happy with my blog, and I am ditching the advice posts.
If you work well with a strategy then go with it, or like me if you don’t work that way, that is is cool too.
I’d love to know your thoughts on blogging advice, is it a help or is it a hindrance? Do you have any actual really good blogging advice for anyone?
Mine is: write what you’d like to read about and always be yourself.
Right I’m going now, but let me know your thoughts down below 🙂
