I have been blogging since 2008. Almost five years later and I still don’t know what I’m doing.
I joined the 28 Day Blog Challenge to get some insight into what I might be doing right and what I can improve upon. I’m not expecting to become a blogging sensation, but I love the connections I’ve made {and continue to make} from blogging and I’d like to expand on that as well as possibly make some pocket change one day.
A lot of the recommendations that I’ve taken action on were simple: update header, clean up side bars, interact more with readers, that kind of thing. Some I’m not ready to jump on board with just yet, like moving to Wordpress, becoming self hosted and hiring a blog designer. To be honest, I’m not interested in putting any money into this blog {with the exception of the $7.95 a year I pay for the domain name} when I’m not getting any money out of it. Paying someone to help me move from Blogger to Wordpress, paying a hosting company and paying a blog designer just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me right now.
I think that instead of worrying too much about aesthetics {while making sure this place isn’t a jumbled mess} I’m going to focus more on content: what I’m writing and how I’m writing it while still staying true to why I started blogging in the first place. I wanted a space to share my thoughts, opinions, worries, struggles, triumphs and accomplishments. I wanted to be able to interact with other people like me that could offer insight and advice or just answer a simple question. I’ve definitely achieved that but I’d like to take it to the next level.
Some of my favorite blogs aren’t professionally designed. Most are not only not self hosted but they still have blogspot in their domain name. I don’t think it really matters how much money you put into your blog, it matters what your readers – and you - are getting out of it.
On that note, I pose these questions to you: what are you getting out of this blog? What are you not getting? Tell me what you want to read about, what you expect to see when you click over to this corner of the Internet. Am I hitting the mark? Or am I missing it completely?
If you’re a blogger, why do you blog?
Even though you're on blogspot (which annoys me.. hehe.. I love my Wordpress); your blog is quite aesthetically pleasing. And even though there's the whole "don't judge a book by its cover", I am more drawn to blogs that put a bit of time into how they look; self-hosted or not. Yours is clear and concise, so I will read ;)
ReplyDeleteHowever.. one down side that drives my nuts on so many blogspot blogs, is that when I do leave a comment and you reply, I have no way of knowing. And commenting on a lot of blogs makes it difficult to go back to every one to see if there was a reply! Just a thought for something in the future.. or tweet at me :)
Other than that. Keep doing what you're doing. :)
Agree on the comment replies...I've used Disqus in the past, might have to re-evaluate using it again. And I'm thinking about Wordpress, I promise! :)
DeleteAnd thank you!
Blogging should be whatever YOU need it to be, and nothing more! Everything you said is right; it doesn't have to be fancy or professionally done or costs hundreds of dollars. If it is what you want it to be, and it serves its purpose for you, then that is enough! It's important to stay true to yourself and why you wanted to blog in the first place. It's easy to look at all the blgos in the blog-o-sphere - people who get paid to blog, have professional templates, have 17889752 followers - but a lot of their content and what they blog about changes when they get to that point. And maybe it is authentic to them still, but some of it turns into what the host wants, or the sponsored company wants. And I try and keep that stuff in perspective when it feels like my little blog isn't "enough."
ReplyDeleteI blog as an outlet. To share, to reflect and to connect with other like-minded people. I plan on writing my own "blogging code of ethics/values", so that I don't lose sight of why i started to blog in the first place. It will serve as a list I will stick to when I start to question choices I'm making (like lighting my blog up with ads, or affiliate marketing, etc). Maybe that will help serve as a guide for you, too?
I enjoy reading your blog because its real and I can relate to it (and you). I don't ask for anything else but staying true to what you want to blog about!
Thank you, Alicia! I appreciate your support so much!
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