Every blogger's favorite post to read is a post about blogging. Me included. (Is it not your's?) Recently, I've stumbled upon two great articles that shine a light on slightly varying perspectives on lifestyle blogging: Blog Brighter's The Mistake Lifestyle Bloggers Make When Trying To Grow Their Blog and The Well's The Future of Blogging, An Update – in particular the section on the OG bloggers. (PS. Both are awesome blogging resources!)
You guys, we know The Rules of Blogging. Get your Bloglovin' profile hoppin' and poppin'. Become a social media guru and shamelessly self-advertise... but not too much! Add value to your content. Be original. Have your own voice. Use your firstborn's college fund on a DSLR and Photoshop.
But you know what? Sometimes I get really good at procrastinating on schoolwork, and I go way way way way back in the archives of some really big blogs (or medium, or small blogs too for that matter). I read their one-line photo-less posts. I see their simple 10 word happy lists. Their grainy, blurry, pixelated pictures. And honestly? These are kind of my favorites (uh, after a post about blogging, let's not get crazy now).
How wonderful it is that we're allowed such a real, imperfect, unedited, un-curated peek into someone's lives! How amazing is it when we hear their unfiltered words, feel the joy and the pain and the pride and sadness and exhaustion that emanate across screens?
Don't get me wrong. I do appreciate today's blog landscape. The editorialized layouts - so pretty. The breathtaking photos. I can scroll for days. The thoughtful posts. The helpful posts. Instagram, Pinterest – I live for those shenanigans! And blogworld has increased so dramatically in number and influence that some of the noise do need to be cut. I can only take so many gross photos of hummus before someone peaces out, or else I'll be the one judging them.
But what if ... What if sometimes I'm just really over coming up with the most SEO friendly blog post that includes value, originality, humor, and a touch of quirk? What if I just want to post about my friends and I making pizzas over the weekend and how okay, it was really pretty dumb, but it was SUCH a happy time... the pizzas were ugly and way too salty and yes the triple layers of cheese was NECESSARY, but it was just so. dang. fun. And sometimes I don't want to be bothered to repackage that into something more meaningful than what it was - a heckuva good time.
The point of this blog is to document my life as I transition my way through some unfamiliar terrain, to remember ten years from now what it felt like to be here at this one point in time. This blog has been such an enormous part of my life for the past three years because I've been doing just that, and I've been reading back periodically and it excites me each time I come across a little moment I've forgotten, or a milestone I want to replay in my mind. And what if I'm willing to give up a certain number of post pageviews to have that completely authentic experience? Does that make me a selfish blogger for taking up valuable Bloglovin' space on my readers' feeds if sometimes my posts can veer towards the unedited and the imperfect?
I am truly a believer that blogging should be for you. It should be the space you want it to be. If you want to post once a week with a rambling of words. If you want to get 10,000 page views a day then do it. Labels frustrate me and I enjoy avoiding them. Blogging was meant to be a space for you and for whatever you want it to be and whatever you want to do. So be selfish, be inclusive, be whatever your heart is calling to you!
ReplyDeleteWell said! Wouldn't it be ideal if we could ramble on and on about whatever the heck we think is important (even if it isn't really to other people), and consistently get thousands and thousands of pageviews as well? Not likely in this day and age of blogging sadly, and understandably too, but oh what if, what if!
DeleteI always try to give each post a "purpose"-sometimes the purpose is to share a minor "epiphany" I had while ranting with my bestie on the phone, sometimes it's to poke fun at situations I've encountered, sometimes it's to document a moment or feeling I never want to forget and sometimes it's to share advice or bits of my life that may be useful to others. More often than not my blog is written for me both as a virtual scrapbook to look back on and as a therapeutic form of writing in the present. While I aim to create content that can be enjoyed by others I know there will be posts that may not get many comments or clicks but were necessary for me. I prefer reading blogs that seem authentic as opposed to perfectly curated and well planned out. I understand that some planning and staging IS necessary and can aide your message but like you the blurry photos and silly lists are often my favorite!
ReplyDeleteI try to do the "purpose" thing as well, but sometimes I feel like I'm being so cliche or repetitive - you can only say "it's the little things that count!" or "it's the people in it that make life truly awesome" so many times... you are SO much better at this than I am! Ha, I think I just want to be Naomi from love Taza and literally only post cute pictures all the time, but I totally get that we can't all be like that and have her level of success!
DeleteI believe that a blog should be whatever the creator wants it to be :) That being said, if you know what your audience wants and you're interested in it too, then there's no harm in sharing the love, right? Some planning is necessary for blogging, but some posts can just seem too crafted or perfect to come off as authentic. If a blog is a total reflection of the audience's wants and needs then I think the blog has lost its heart.
ReplyDeleteYes, completely agree. I think the true challenge of being a good blogger is taking your experiences and your thoughts, and aligning those with what the audience is looking for. Doing that in an organic, thoughtful, yet still authentic way is getting harder and harder when we're all posting so often. It's become this every day kind of thing - what am I doing right now, and how can I turn it into an original and quality blog post?
DeleteI think it 100% depends on your goals for your blog. If you want your blog to document your life during a certain time, that's what you should post -- and most of the time, you probably shouldn't bother with SEO and pinnable photos and whatever. Personally, I get bored when my feed is post after post about "7 Blogging SEO Secrets" or "3 Proven Ways to Get More Followers" as if having a monetized blog with a huge following is the only goal. I get so much more enjoyment out of blogs like yours, so you do you and have fun with it!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point. I think that's also why I haven't chosen to monetize yet - my goals currently are simply to record what I'm feeling and doing and thinking, and I think if I chose to monetize, those goals would change (and understandably so). I really admire the bloggers who are able to consistently write and pitch sponsored posts that are original, fresh, and valuable. I really respect all the thought and work they put into it!
DeleteThanks so much for your kind words, Allison! :)
I struggle with this a lot on my personal blog. Some people don't love the carefully curated, perfect pinable image, list style post. BUT those are always more popular on my blog. If you do too many of those, you scare off the readers who want to hear about your authentic, every day life. It's such a delicate balance. I feel like it depends on the blogger for me. There are like 10 bloggers I want to hear ramble about their lives (you, The Daily Tay, and Life of Bon come to mind). Other than that, I usually like the curated stuff more. For East &, I have no freaking clue what people actually want. That's why I'm enjoying writing over at Blog Brighter. It's so niche that I don't feel pressure to include personal details, like people know what they're getting when they go to the site. Thanks so much for including my article in this list. It's been a creative process starting Blog Brighter and one I'm still figuring out but I so appreciate the support.
ReplyDeleteI definitely get how those posts get more traffic... and to be fair, when I'm on Pinterest, those are the images I click on as well. I wish there wasn't such a discrepancy between list style posts and more "let's catch up - here's what I'm doing!" kind of posts when it comes to driving traffic. You're doing such a great job with both East & and Blog Brighter! I think that you are one of the very few who are able to balance authenticity with explicit value-adding :) And oh gosh, I ramble pointlessly way too much that's for sure, but thank you so much for being such a great blog supporter / role model / friend! :)
Deletei have to agree with you. I actually don't blog about blogging much because I feel like these days people only do "how to" blogging posts in order to get traffic and clicks. I guess thats why I don't have a big blog etc... but I like to show the real me sometimes too you know? That said... I do love to read a good blogging post (contradicts self much) and so I'm going to check those out!
ReplyDeleteThose "how to" blogging posts are so useful sometimes, but every once in awhile I want to know what's going on behind the scenes too! It definitely is a tradeoff!
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