I still consider myself a bit of a newbie in terms of blogging. It's been less than 8 months, so there are definitely still a few things I'm getting to grips with! Today I thought I'd confess some of the things about blogging that I don't talk about that much - the good, the bad and the ugly. So it's truth time on the blog today - here are some of my blogging confessions!
1. I'm pretty disorganised - I routinely will leave a post until the last minute and then write it up the day before or on the day itself. All my blog photos for the week get taken, streamlined and edited on Sundays, but time just seems to run away and often I'm left tapping away at my keyboard the morning of the day my post is going live. I'm kind of doing that right now. Shhhh!
2. It's hard not to get caught up in the numbers - I always find this a bit of a controversial one, because really we're constantly reminded that it's not about numbers, which is true. I started blogging as a hobby because I've always had a mild to severe obsession with beauty and wanted a creative outlet. However, it is tough not to let yourself get carried away worrying about expanding your audience or being concerned about traffic. I think it's normal to want to reach more people but sometimes it's important to remind yourself that there's so much more to it than the numbers. Having said that...
3. Losing followers sucks - So the numbers most certainly aren't everything but when you refresh your social media and the follower count drops it always gets me. I don't think I'll ever stop being a little miffed over people who follow me solely for the purpose of me following back. I feel like any blogger who says that they don't inwardly shed a tiny tear when they see their Instagram followers drop is lying! Either that or I need to stop being such a baby.
4. I'm a total tech noob - If I had a techie friend, I would be badgering them all day every day. I'm honestly so useless when it comes to things like HTML. I'm so scared of messing something up in my blog's HTML I barely ever go near it unless I really have to! There are about fifty things I want to change on my blog and just have no clue how to. Thank goodness for YouTube tutorials, amirite?
5. I worry about being boring - Sometimes I read through my posts and think "hold on a minute. Is this really boring?". Truth be told, when you're doing an in-depth beauty review I think it's a bit of a challenge to bring it on both fronts in terms of helpful facts and some cracking jokes. Ah well, you can't have it all!
6. I'd like to blog about other topics - All in all, the blogging world still scares me a bit and whilst I'd love to blog about more serious topics, I do worry about how it'll come across. I've had a more personal post sitting in my drafts for months now, too worried to press "publish", so that's definitely something I still have to work on!
7. I'll take 40 photos of the same thing - ...and then promptly delete them all and start all over again. The amount of effort it can sometimes take to get one good photo even just for my Instagram is ridiculous. I have no idea how some bloggers take photos for ten posts at once, I think I'd need a nap after that! Hats off to you!
8. I really don't understand Google Analytics - Honestly, I tried to set up Google Analytics ages ago before giving up when I couldn't figure out what a meta tag was or where to put it - I told you I'm useless at tech - and then recently realised that apparently Google Analytics is up and running for my website. The only catch is that all the data is completely inaccurate and I regularly get spam crawlers from analytics giving me a bunch of invalid traffic. Basically I have no idea what's going on. Seriously, if you have a techie friend I can borrow...
So there we go, a nice rambly post on me dishing the dirt on the many areas of blogging I certainly do not excel at! Overall I love blogging and I don't even really remember what I did with all my free time before I started! Nonetheless, sometimes it's fun to chat about the things that don't always crop up on the blog. Like how I'll swatch things and then forget and end up freaking out that I have a horrible rash when it's actually just smudged lipstick. Oh the glamour! Have any of you encountered any of these things? What are some of your blogging confessions?
Love this post! I'm at 10 months for my blog, and I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I just write stuff I want to talk about and hope people want to read it. I crafted a post back in Oct along these same lines: http://modern-moms-life.blogspot.ca/2015/10/making-time-to-blog-is-hard-i-need-help.html
ReplyDeleteJust keep doing what you're doing - this post was great! Honestly and transparency in a blog is a great thing. And I totally agree about photos - I have such a hard time capturing the "look" I'm looking for all the time! How do people do it??
I totally agree with all of this! I've just had a read of your post (I liked it very much indeed!) and I totally agree that it can be a huge challenge to juggle blogging along with everything else! Thank you for your lovely comment! xo
DeleteYES TO ALL OF THIS. I couldn't agree more (Especially with the numbers part) And Google Analytics? I don't think I'll ever figure it out.
ReplyDeleteAisling | Aislings beauty bytes
Haha, I'm so glad you can relate! Honestly, I'm not sure I'll ever figure out Google Analytics either! xo
DeleteYes!! I suck at HTML! So so bad at it. I don't even try! lol
ReplyDeleteI'm also useless at organising! lol But I must admit I am so unattached to my numbers on IG, so used to the numbers going up & down it doesn't bother me anymore! :)
http://www.makeerinover.co.uk
Haha, HTML is so challenging! I'm definitely getting used to my Instagram numbers fluctuating, but I still have to work on being totally unattached to them! xo
DeleteLoved this post! Can totally relate with the photos thing, I take so many photos and can still be unsatisfied with every single one of them! It's so frustrating! xo
ReplyDeleteohhelloitshannah.blogspot.co.uk
Thank you! I know what you mean! taking photos in the winter light is also a real challenge sometimes! xo
DeleteI love this post! So relatable, especially about the numbers and google analytics! I struggle with the HTML and coding too, so desperately in need of a techie friend over here!
ReplyDeletehttp://heart-autumn.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you! HTML is such a challenge, I really don't know how some people do it! xo
DeleteI also have no idea when it comes to Google Analytics! I get the basics but have no idea how to use it to my advantage xx
ReplyDeleteLaura | Lala London: Beauty & Lifestyle
Haha, Google Analytics is a bit of a mystery to me, hopefully we'll figure it out one day! xo
DeleteCan relate to so many of these! Especially the google analytics and losing followers ones xx
ReplyDeletewww.chasingbelle23.blogspot.co.uk
I'm glad you can relate! Losing followers definitely sucks sometimes! xo
DeleteLOVED this post!! I honestly think like and do every single thing on this list! I'm horrible at being organized and have post pre-made, I also worry way too much and then blame myself for putting too much pressure on me! And like you, I cannot for the life of me figure out Google Analytics! xxx
ReplyDeleteFilippa ⎮ Always a Dot
Thank you so much! I know exactly what you mean, I always tell myself that next time I'll write my posts way in advance and then I leave everything until the last minute again! I think it's just important that we don't put too much pressure on ourselves! xo
DeleteYou've been doing a great job with blogging! I can't believe you've only been blogging for 8 months!
ReplyDeleteThere is so much about blogging that you will learn over time from experience. It's hard to know what certain stats mean, or how to work with brands and other blogger, or what posts keep your followers interested. You can read plenty about the dos and don'ts but from my experience, don't take these tips too seriously as you can easily get too caught up in it and have false expectations of outcomes. At the end of the day, be patient and keep pushing out quality posts that you're proud of!
Can't wait to see more from you! xx
Celina | The Celution | Bloglovin’
Thank you so much, that is such a lovely comment! I definitely have so much more to learn about blogging and I totally agree about all the the blogging tips online. They are helpful up to a certain point but can also be super overwhelming sometimes! Thank you for the great advice, lovely! xo
DeleteI have always been so impressed by the aesthetic and quality of your blog, Sonja! I feel bad because I don't comment nearly enough (mainly because although I love makeup I don't buy a whole lot or experiment with a bunch of new products), but I still always scroll through your posts. Your posts definitely don't give the impressions that you've only been doing this for 8 months, you've always seemed so professional to me. I am soooo bad with blogging tech stuff :P And just a random thing, I would love if you eventually felt comfortable enough to put a personal post out there! :)
ReplyDeleteRaashi
raashiagarwal.blogspot.com.au
That is such an incredibly lovely comment, thank you so much! You definitely don't need to feel bad for not commenting on my blog enough, your comments are always so sweet! I think a lot of bloggers struggle with the techie side of things, at least thats what I tell myself, haha! Thank you, I think I'll definitely consider putting a more personal post up soon! xo
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