I’ve been blogging for over 2 years now and it is no secret that I am addicted to blogging. What started off as a safe space for me to vent during the first lockdown has now become a passion that I can’t imagine ever giving up. I’ve met some wonderful bloggers from around the globe who’ve aided in making my blogging journey that much more fruitful. While blogging is a hobby for me, it still gets stressful sometimes and there are some aspects of blogging that I don’t enjoy. So here is what I love and hate about blogging –
What I Love About Blogging:
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My blogging family
– I’ve been blessed to have connected with the most amazing people from across the globe. As an introverted adult with social anxiety – I could never imagine making so many friends. These are people who give me sound advice, hype me up when I doubt myself, and cheer me up when I’m sad. I have often found it easier to share my thoughts and feelings on my blog than in real life and a huge part of making me that comfortable is my blogging family. I have connected offline with so many of my favourite bloggers and love having them in my life. If you are a new blogger, my best advice to you would be to find like-minded bloggers who will keep you motivated to keep blogging.
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Safe space to share my thoughts
– Over the last 3-4 years, I’ve become someone who finds it difficult to share my thoughts and feelings with those around me. Vulnerability scares me a lot. Since only a handful of close people from my real world know about my blog, it has become that safe space for me to be me and share all my innermost thoughts.
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Potential to earn money
– I honestly haven’t earned a lot from my blog and the earnings have been very sporadic but it still is a thrill every time a brand pays me to work with them.
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Working with brands from across the globe
– Free or paid work, either way, I love working with brands from across the globe. I learn about things I didn’t know about before and enjoy the experience of working with brands.
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Discovering new books, travel destinations, movies, shows, and music
– I love how many good recommendations you can find in the blogosphere. I discovered my current favourite author (Madeline Miller) because a fellow blogger recommended her books to me. It has also gotten super easy to plan a trip thanks to the detailed travel blogs available.
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Leaving a legacy
– I fully intend to read my blog posts to my grandchildren (if I ever have them) even if they find me totally uncool and old school.
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Helped me promote my brand
– I started my brand (of sustainable products) last year and it pleasantly surprised me that so many blogger friends promoted my brand via their blogs, social media and even bought products from my brand.
What I Hate About Blogging:
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It can be unrewarding sometimes
– There have been times when I’ve put in a lot of effort and thought into a post only for it to flop big time (stats-wise) – which can be extremely frustrating.
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Time investment
– Most non-bloggers do not understand the kind of time that gets invested in blogging. It is a hobby that requires a lot of dedicated time.
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Bloggers I love disappearing
– Over the past 2 years, so many of my favourite bloggers have just disappeared. With my favourite bloggers, I get very invested in their content and I hate not knowing what happened that made them just vanish overnight.
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Technical aspects of blogging
– When I started blogging SEO, DA, etc. were just random words for me. Learning what they mean, how to work on them, and why they are important – has been quite a task. A lot of bloggers including Pooja often do posts about these technical aspects which is super useful.
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Marketing
– I am an MBA who hated marketing while pursuing my degree. I still hate it and cannot bring myself to actively market my blog via social media and other means. It is a ME problem but marketing is just not for me.
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WordPress platform
– Blogging is hard enough without the platform adding to my woes. WordPress conveniently doesn’t auto-post scheduled posts, doesn’t show me blog posts from my favourite bloggers on my reader, doesn’t allow deleting comments, sends regular comments to the spam folder, etc – leaving me even more frustrated.
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Stats
– This is wholly a ‘me’ problem. I am a very competitive person – with others as well as myself. Seeing someone else’s post performing better than mine as well as my own posts not doing well in comparison to some other post of mine – just drives me crazy. I have learnt to slowly ignore my stats but it still gets to me sometimes.
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Hasn’t made me a millionaire yet
– Seriously, why hasn’t it happened yet!?!!
Overall the love I have for blogging and the blogosphere outweighs the things that bug me. I am really glad to have a platform to share my thoughts/ feelings and feel like I’m understood. What about you? What do you like about blogging and what makes you go ‘arghhh’?
-X-
About me: Hi, I am Happy Panda. I share my personal experiences on my blog and write about my life, dealing with anxiety, dating, my small business, blogging and share reviews for books and TV shows.
So, I want to thank Pooja for this opportunity to write this guest post for her blog. I have been in awe of the space Pooja has created. She is an inspirational blogger and my main source for learning more about blogging. I am so impressed by how she manages to not only write so frequently but also visit so many bloggers and encourage them with her kind comments.
This weeks first guest post comes from the amazing, Happy Panda! I’m sure you know her because I’ve mentioned her on Lifesfinewhine before. Also she’s an incredible blogger so you may already be following her. But in case you aren’t, do take a minute to check out her blog by clicking here. She’s one of my favourite bloggers and I am sure you’ll enjoy her content as much as I do!
For more guest posts click here.
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I agree on it all the likes and dislikes. 🙂
Thank you ☺️
Recently, I have found blogging unrewarding because I receive nothing but spam followers. It’s frustrating to the point that I wonder why I am bothering with blogging at all. Nice post, Happy Panda.
Same! Out of every 50 new followers I get atleast 45 are spam. It’s so so frustrating!
Thank you for reading. 😊
Keep at it daily, it’s the best way to chip them off of your list.
nevertheless, you get one or two that real. you build slowly from there.
I know what you mea, I’ve had to go in and remove so many spam followers.
You must check your Followers list a few times a day to keep them away, Pooja. I see it as another thing needing daily maintenance of the blog.
Yeah I check every day or every other day because I don’t want them on my site.
Keep at it!
Still pretty new to the blogging world..May I ask how can I tell if a new follower is real or spam? Thank you for direction.
That’s a great question. I think the main way to tell is if they don’t have any content on their site or if their site looks very suspicious. Usually when you see a bot site you can tell just by looking at it.
As always you come thru with the win. I really appreciate you always willing to give tips and direction.
Of course, happy to help!
I find that having been blogging for many years forms an intuition to detect which is which. Some are obviously spam, just have a close look at each blog and decide.
If you disallow businesses like I do, I find them easy too spot.
They are removed as I believe they are attempting to use my site to drive more traffic to their site. Not on my watch!
Thank you for the guidance. I sure don’t want them on my watch either.
When you get those millions, you can hire someone to do the marketing for you.
Hahah! Definitely! 😀
I can relate to what you said. Sometimes I spend hours on a post and get little response. Then I create a post in 15 minutes and get lots of response.
Sameeee!!!! Sometimes I just spend 30mins and type out whatever is going on in my head and boom that post does so well. And some time I research for hours and hours and write a post I’m super proud of and it tanks. 🙈
I’ve heard this happens to people who film themselves playing a highly technical song vs a popular song, and completing a very skilled picture vs a quick drawing… and the the second example in each case goes viral.
Hi Happy Panda,
You have made me happy many times. When I started blogging, you continuously pushed me forward and up.
I’m grateful to you, and people like you.🤜
Thank you! I’m glad I could help you.
So good to see you back here on WP! 🙂
I feel that hate for marketing. I have to market myself constantly as a freelancer. It’s tiring.
RIGHTTT? Marketing is painful! I have my own brand and work on marketing it too and I am terrible at it. 🙁
Same, girl, same.
vulnerability is real struggle to share your inner feeling. couldn’t agree more. knowing the fact people that you know reading about your thoughts and feeling scares me the most contributing me to post less and less. how do you overcome it?
I totally understand that. My trick is that I haven’t shared my blog with people from my real world. My blog doesn’t have my name or details and isn’t connected to my personal social media (although blogging friends now know my name). Knowing that only strangers from across the world are reading what I’m sharing has given me the courage to be vulnerable on here. 😊
I’ve found when I write I have to do it like no one I know will see it. I try and act like Ia holding a conversation with a stranger. All the while knowing as soon as i hit publish, those family and friends will see it.
that’s cool. I’ve started personal to business and started off from my circle 1st. so, its impossible right now. unless, i start a fresh new with hidden identity. I’m also thinking to apply subscribe based content so that i ca control at least a little
Sometimes I wish I could share some opinions and personal thoughts on my blog, but since it is a business blog, I can’t.
i got you there. im thinking to have another new blog fr business side. but yes, its too much to manage.
You can do that my friend. I mean, that will give a sense of togetherness. My niche is health and wellness and I thought I cannot write anything other than this. But, I write things about me and that makes it more relatable.
I wish I could but it is a company blog and so everything needs to be on brand. For example, talking about latest fashions for clubbing or what appliances I’d like to buy for my kitchen would mess up the SEO and confuse potential clients.
I wish I could but it is a company blog and so everything needs to be on brand. For example, talking about latest fashions for clubbing or what appliances I’d like to buy for my kitchen would mess up the SEO and confuse potential clients.
Nice post. I really hope WordPress becomes more user-friendly and bloggers like you don’t get the thought of quitting the platform.
And I am really looking forward to Happy Panda’s guest post. 🙂
Okay so this was a post by Happy Panda. Sorry got confused. 🙁
No problem, it happens 😊
This is the result of doing too many things at once. 🙁
That’s me all the time so don’t even worry, I make mistakes like that all the time 😂
Wow! Okay, now that makes me feel so much better 😀
Thanks so much and this is her wonderful guest post 😊
No worries.
WP should really improve the manyyyy glitches it has!!
Sometimes I get frustrated with it, but I love it all the same.
I feel the same way.
I can’t add anything to the mentioned points! I agree with all. Marketing is a great struggle because it is super tiring but also needed. As for WordPress, they should step up their game.
Right?!? Marketing is a whole other job that gets added to blogging!!! I just can’t bring myself to do it. 🙈
Haha tell me about it!
Good post regarding blogging life.
I commented on Happy Panda’s blog! This is a great list of pros and cons.
That’s awesome, glad to hear that!
I relate on e v e r y t h i n g
Thankeee. Good to know that I’m not the only one. 😊
A great share Pooja!!
Good job done by the writer. 🙂
Thanks so much and yes she did a wonderful job with this one 😁
😁
I kind of share the same perspective
Great post.
Thankee! 😊
Cute, and so true. Must admit I’m shocked you aren’t a millionaire yet from blogging. How could that be? 😜
Lol I think all bloggers ask themselves that 😂
You explained all the likes and dislikes perfectly.
Thankee
very cool
I can relate
Blogging can be daunting at times. I do agree with all the points Moksha mentioned. Stats used to frustrate me a lot. I had to pull myself back. It was hard because I could not see the results of the time and effort I invested on the posts. Nonetheless, blogging is fun. There’s nothing as fulfilling as putting up a post and engaging with others on a certain topic. So cool
I so get you, girl. My stats were constantly falling this year and it was very disappointing. But I’ve shifted my focus to just enjoying the writing part. And I love your blog posts always – so unique and interesting ❤️
I don’t like marketing either. I just can’t bring myself upto the task. It kills me to share my posts on social media
OMG. Same. I literally thought it’s a ME problem. I’m glad you agree
As someone who usually has a small circle and is terrible at marketing on social media, I seem to be doing pretty good. I’m pulling back from posting daily and start focusing on making more quality posts, but still experimenting
So happy to hear that! I still experiment (two years in) to see what’s working and what’s not. Pooja did something similar when she changed her posting time for a week (two weeks or so back). Good luck! ☺️
Okay, this post is definitely interesting. Like why aren’t we millionaires yet? I loved this guest post ❤️, can’t wait for more ✨
Lol I ask myself that all the time 😂
Thanks for sharing this wonderful post can definitely relate to the likes and dislikes when it comes to blogging especially when it comes down to sometimes feeling unrewarded for your efforts and the sudden disappearance of bloggers that you’ve been following
Agree with most of your points, especially the ones you hate 😉 But I think WP has features that allow you auto-schedule, delete comments, etc. I think so.
1. Scheduling option is there but very often it doesn’t auto-post and you need to manually post it. Or it posts late!
2. You can delete comments on your posts but you can’t delete the comments you make on other people’s posts which is annoying cause so many times you notice a typo after commenting but you can’t edit or delete it.
Thanks for reading ☺️
Ah ok.
You’re welcome 🙂
I can totally relate with your thoughts about blogging! To me, it is a hobby that is difficult to maintain but also difficult to give up ahah! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
It’s starting to get to be the same for me. But I’m trying to juggle things around to make sure I can maintain it. 🙈
thank you for following me
Great piece , I relate!
I do agree with all Moksha said, especially the part when she said she couldn’t share her thoughts with people around her. Actually I’ve had this problem all my life. My narcissistic family made it impossible for me to communicate with. My own interests and tastes have often incurred criticism from people around me who consider me as a woman of discontent, but in really I am just a woman with a bit of eccentricity. Other women in my community are more successful at hiding it while I don’t care to hide it. I mean I want to be a write–a bad writer is still a writer in my opinion. lol–and hiding who I am is the last thing I want to do with my life or my thoughts.
I know what you mean because I have the same problem. I think the main reason I got into writing was because it was the only way I could express myself.
I’m very blessed that I’ve made a career as a writer, so blogging, for me is a glorified diary and place to share my thoughts. I’m not about getting “likes” or “followers” but if someone connects with what I’m sharing, that’s cool. I DO miss the bloggers who disappear. I went to my “About” page yesterday and looked up bloggers who commented, and they just stopped writing. Many of them didn’t share their real names so I’ll never know what happened to them. (Same with the Live Journal platform that was popular twenty years ago).
That is really lucky. I have noticed quite a few bloggers disappear over the years and it’s quite sad when they leave randomly with no explanation.
This post is such a mood. Thanks for checking out my blog, by the way.
Thanks so much and my pleasure.
A very interesting topic to share. These issues you emphasized on is what we bloggers are experiencing, but we still harmonize both the like and hates together. In as much as you are generating income with it
Thanks so much. Glad the post was relatable.
Nice article 👌
Thank you 😊
It’s such a grind but gotta keep on going!
Absolutely!