Some may wonder why bother getting back into blogging when the industry is already so crowded.
After a year of procrastination and having it on my to-do list time after time and not getting things done, now we’re here. All because I saw a tweet from Michelle from DAISYBUTTER:
After reading Megan’s article about personal blogging and how it has changed, I thought about how much it related to me and even relates to why I stopped blogging.
When I first started blogging many years ago, I wrote about everything I did, shared all my thoughts, feelings, etc. It was just like writing a letter to a friend and it was fun. As I grew older, I felt like blogging had some sort of standards that I wasn’t too bothered about achieving and so I stopped blogging for a while. The reason I felt like that was because as a content creator/digital marketeer, I thought “why even blog without a focus?”. Some call it niching down. Some others care about the numbers but to be honest, I was in it because I had so much fun writing, connecting with like-minded people, and taking photos.
A blog should be documenting one’s journey even if that means the blog shares about ten different topics. A blog is a safe space for the writer. After spending time setting it up, here I am today. I should have not let what was ‘expected’ within the industry stop me from blogging.
After all, the ten skills and topics that I wanted to write about make me who I am. What makes every blogger unique are their skillsets, their personality, their style of writing, and whatever topic they choose to share on their blog that helps their readers learn more about them. THAT is what a NICHE is. Make yourself a niche just by being you, not by putting limits and dumb as fuck boundaries on the things you enjoy doing and writing about.
I was just following the rules
In 2019, as a new graduate who aspires a career in digital marketing to specialise in content creation, I thought that I had to be specific with my blog but since I have so many interests, that would be impossible. I would not be sharing about one topic nor would I have a niche and that contradicts the ‘marketeer’ in me.
Every ‘successful’ blogger I follow has a focus, which leads me to think, if I write about all of the things that I enjoy, I am never going to be “successful” in blogging. But what exactly is success? And who created the standards that I was thinking of?! Instead of blogging for myself, I was blindsided by the rules and the standards that were set (by god knows who) within the industry.
It took me nearly a year to realise I don’t have to follow the rules because my blog is to document my own journey. If you like it, great. If you don’t like it, who cares?
Having a writer’s block
As a person who expresses their feelings better through writing, not having a blog was a real struggle for me, I still kept journals but that was different. Rather than being able to discuss it with like-minded people on the web, I was discussing it with myself. I have so many thoughts in my head that I could word-vomit daily.
Looking at my Instagram homepage feed, everyone has ‘their thing’ or some sort of specialty and it really put me in a lot of stress because I am multi-passionate. Everything just excites me and I didn’t want to have to compromise my excitement for a lot of things to focus on one.
In my head, “EvErYoNe NeEdS A NiChE”. Realistically, no you don’t.
Although it took me a year, I am glad I am not the only person who enjoyed personal blogging. If anything, I truly hope that it’ll make a come back. With that said, here is one! Who’s next?!
