It's my little, tiny blogs birthday this week and quite frankly I can't bloody believe it! I mean, it's only 3 years old but for me, writing consistently for 3 years ain't bad. Obviously last year I only managed to write one blog post a week but since moving back I have moved up to 2 and still want to get it back to 3 times a week, when I can! Today I kind of just wanted to write a little post about a few things I have learned or at least became aware of since blogging and be quite honest with it.
It's a numbers game...
The amount of people who buy their followers or use platforms for help grow their audience is crazy and this is purely because numbers do matter! If you want to have a career from blogging then you need to have a substantial following, end of! Don't get me wrong, I'm tiny and still get exciting opportunities thrown my way but in comparison to others they would be considered small. I have to be honest, I get hung up on numbers all the time because I would love to have a few thousand followers on instagram or twitter but after 3 years...it just ain't happening guys!
Affiliate links are everywhere...
I am all for affiliate links in content, I love it! Send me to the page so I can buy the item you're swooning over immediately. However, I have realised an increasing amount of affiliate links being posted on twitter with captions such as "love this jumper" - they of course link to ASOS the biggest online retailer so easily earn commission when you buy regardless of the link they posted. I have seen it done really well such as "love this jumper" but there is an image of the jumper attached and there might even be a #aff or #al added as well just so people can see. I think it's great that bloggers can earn money from sales but spamming links just hoping to drop the cookie on people who are likely to shop at ASOS anyway seems rubbish to me.
Real opinions are rare...
I've read a few good posts lately about how rare real opinion are and Hayley from London Beauty Queen puts it so perfectly but it is so rare to hear an opinion where something isn't "amazing" or "perfect". Don't get me wrong, I am all for positivity and even I tend to like a lot of new things but I think we are starting to forget that not everything is wonderful, not every product is the next best thing. When a brand releases a new product it's like EVERYONE loves it, where have all the other opinions gone? I love seeing reviews telling me that actually this product doesn't work for them, that they really liked one element but the rest was pretty naff or that the item is too expensive for what it is?
The art of illusion...
I think probably has the most impact l so many people because we all live our lives on social media, we become obsessed with the images we are seeing and think that everyone's lives are perfect apart from ours. The illusion of a perfect "instagramable" life is a tricky one because it is so damn aesthetically pleasing but it's heavily curated! People don't want to see the boring parts to our lives that everyone has and that's fine. People see these huge bloggers with all these designer handbags but they don't know that the item is actually borrowed from the retailer for pictures, they don't know that the bag was purchased using a high value giftcard in exchange for content to be produced - I have to say this is fine but it's easy to just assume that they are buying these items when they aren't.
I don't want to be a career blogger...
I read a great post by Becky at www.bkyrouncefield.co.uk about why she doesn't want to be a career blogger and oh my god! Finally someone else who is perfectly happy to just write! I think it is a wonderful thing that careers can be formed out of a blog but I don't think everyone should just assume that we all want to make money and be a full time blogger! I like my job, I have worked hard in my career and I will carry on having this little blog as an outlet to do on the weekends! I do have a journalism degree and whilst at some point I would love to get back into it, right now, making money from my blog just isn't a priority and that is ok.
I hope this post hasn't come across ranty, I just wanted to share my honest thoughts on blogging over the last 3 years!
What things have you learned since you started blogging?
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