Guess who’s back for another reflective post. But first, how fancy is my new blog design looking? Gone are the days of Blogger, I’ve finally seen the light and moved over to WordPress.
I first got into blogging as a 15 year old with too much time on her hands and a stash of Lush bath bombs waiting to be tried out. To this day, I have no grasp on why anyone saw value in what I had to say on Mac lipsticks and cupcake baking, but here I still am. I’ve gone from rearranging my living room furniture so I could use a particular wall as a backdrop for outfit photos, to booking in a professional shoots with the ever talented Kaye Ford.
If you read blogs back in the early days, you’ll know that now more than ever the ~industry~ has changed, almost beyond all recognition. It’s the norm to see bloggers on tv adverts, jetting out to the maldives and putting down deposits on houses. The value that brands see in online “influencers” (yes, I detest that word too) has shot up more than anyone could have ever anticipated even just a few years ago. But where does that leave us part-time bloggers?
As much as I miss the times of the blogging circle feeling tight and seeing all the same faces at events, times have changed and you either have to embrace it or be left behind. It is deeply engrained in me to be stubborn and drag my heels in the face of change, but with 2018 came my resolution to try new things and since then I’ve learned the value of overcoming mental blocks and becoming unstuck with my approach to creating content.
SHOP THE LOOK
I say all of this because the old me found the idea of hiring a photographer for blog photos pretentious, the thought of migrating from Blogger to WordPress a step too far and I’d been trying hard for so long to keep a firm grip on the old school blogging way of life. I’ve come to realise, no one has ownership rights over the definition of the blogger title and it really doesn’t matter in which format you choose to connect with an audience so long as you’re keeping things fresh.
So, here comes my advice, on a topic I’ve only just started to get my head around. Whichever way you choose to style it out, always keep it real. Authenticity shines through any content that you create and the primary reason people stick around is because they are magnetised to your individual approach. Yes your sense of style may change, you may invest in a fancy new camera and you might decide to step it up a level with a cleaner looking template, but beneath all of that, if you can maintain a strong identity and keep momentum you’ll have it made.
You can absolutely make it work to run a smaller scale blog without feeling the pressure of having to rise to the top in a world that is already oversaturated. There’s something strangely liberating about putting out content simply for what it is and without the intention of using it as a tool to draw in hits. Go at your own pace and just do you.
Photos by Kaye Ford