Over the past year, blogging has become extremely important to me. I love this past time & I want to encourage others to be great bloggers as well. But I wanted to let you in on a little secret: I still struggle with blogging.
Every day something throws me for a loop & I wanted to let you know that not all bloggers are perfect, as I am sure you know! When I first started out blogging I'd compare myself to others rather than just enjoy blogging. I am so thankful that somewhere down the line I fell in love with blogging. Remember this quote from a while back?
Well this is how I feel about you all! I want you to be great bloggers. I want you to be great at whatever your heart desires & I am being oh so genuine! We are a big community here so I wanted to share with you what I struggle with.
1. image quality - I feel as the daughter of a photogrpher (peep my dad & my younger-brother-from-another-mother at JK Photography) I should be able to have awesomely shot photos on my blog. For the life of me my camera throws me for a loop every day I step in front of it (and sometimes when I'm behind it)! I do much better with my iPhone..horrible, I know! I struggle with making the pictures not blurry, etc. I also struggle with my love of camera apps. I strongly dislike blogs with overly edited photos & I really hope that I don't do that to you all too often! I like to curate my photos as if my blog were a magazine...but sometimes my iPhone gets the best of me.
2. Browser issues - Even though I've been designing my own layouts for my blog for ages, something always pops up where it doesn't translate well in some sort of browser. I am getting better at figuring things out but it still frustrates me. I've mastered all the problems presented to me so far for the designs in the shop but I love learning new things. Hitting a road block is something that is a part of learning.
3. outreach & promotion - I am addicted to Twitter & Instagram but I don't know if it's doing much for me. I am also on HelloCotton but don't really know how to participate in forums. I try to remember to do it, but I just go to the blog & leave a comment instead of following through the forum. HelloCotton is a bit more interactive than Bloglovin & I love that. But I still can't seem to operate it correctly. I also don't really know how to translate readership/following into sales. I love that I have likes & views on Etsy, but how do I translate that into sales?
4. identifying a target market - This sort of goes with the previous one. My target market is like me: they want unique items, are creative, have a fun aesthetic, love to enjoy, & are generally happy people.....at least I think that's my target market! I've struggled with which blogs to sponsor: identifying which blogs in my niche that will help me out & which blogs that are just outside the boundaries of my niche but still may draw traffic.
5. balance - Because I like to blog, it's not surprise that I'd do it 24/7 if I could. I love it! But keeping balance with life, laundry, & paying attention to Zach is hard. He's noticed sometimes when I am just waiting for something to be over so I can get back to something I have planned or need to work on. Knowing that I can't do everything in a day frustrates me. But I love putting time into Five Sixteenths & seeing the reward. Taking a step back is hard for me. I often make the excuse that I need to spend a lot of time on blogging so that I can eventually make it a part of my business. But a lot of the time I spend is unnecessary.
I am all about blogging honestly & I wanted to share with you the fact that the blogger here isn't perfect! I still struggle with loads of things on the blog & off. I would venture to say that even the most seemingly perfect blogs don't have perfect bloggers. In fact, I'd bet you five big ones that I am right!
So if you ever feel discouraged or like you don't know what you're doing...I like to think that we all don't know what we're doing & it's ok. I am so thankful that I have this opportunity to meet others & share with others about my life & my blog.
What do you struggle with in blogging? How do you overcome it?
I think we all have our little struggles when it comes to blogging. I struggle with trying to remember that bloggin isn't about how many people view or comment on my blog. It should be about me writing what I want and just getting it out there.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right! It is about writing for yourself & sometimes I forget that!
ReplyDeleteI totally relate to the balance point. I am very much guilty of spending so much of my time commenting, posting in forums, promoting my blog and then of course writing it, taking photos and all of the other stuff.
ReplyDeleteI love it though - it's such an excellent feeling getting your thoughts and ideas out there.
Sarah
http://acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk/
I struggle with consistency - I would love to blog every (inset day of the week).
ReplyDeleteI find myself struggling with some of these same issues. Hopefully over time we will both be able to overcome some of them.
ReplyDeleteI love this post! Thanks for your honesty and for sharing your mind...so heartfelt. I'm still a new blogger and I often compare myself with other bloggers who seem to have it all together and wish I could be more like them. But your post has helped me realize that we are all in the same boat. I'm having a terrible time promoting my posts and interacting with other bloggers on bloglovin and twitter and such. And balancing life and blog...so hard. I love blogging and creating but I can't do it all the time since I have a little one who depends on me taking care of him. So I understand your frustration. Thanks so much for sharing and I'm interested to see how you develop in your skills and creativity over the years to come.
ReplyDeleteI can SO relate to this post! To me, blogging is all about finding that balance that you are comfortable with. I'm still trying to figure that out! I just go at my own pace and try not to overwhelm myself. I find when I'm giving myself more time to my real life I'm a better blogger. I'm trying not to worry as much about the numbers and just be happy being part of it all!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean! Blogging definitely has its challenges. Balance is something I'm struggling with too. I want to post daily, but some days I just don't feel inspired, and worry that my post will be boring. But, like others have said, I'm trying to post for me, and not worry about stats and numbers. Blogging should be fun, after all! :)
ReplyDelete- Sasha
www.lacewinged.com