Having A Crisis With My Blog

 

 

I am having a crisis with my blog. If you have visited my blog before, you may have noticed that the title of my blog is, ‘The Reluctant Blogger’. The reasons I named my blog that is because every now and again I have a wobble. I get overwhelmed with everything, forget why I blog and want to delete everything. Back in 2019, I actually did get so overwhelmed that I went ahead and deleted the blog that I first created in 2011. As much as it helped me in that moment, I quickly missed having an outlet to express myself on. However, I now find myself having yet another wobble where I don’t know if I should continue to blog. Here, I am going to share my thoughts and where I am currently at…

 

I don’t have much time.

I need to start this with the biggest challenge and that is time. When you work a full-time demanding job, it can be so hard to find the time to run a blog. I completely understand that most people think that it takes no time at all to write and upload a post. However, it is so much more involved than that. By the time I get home from work, and I am sat on the sofa, it may be 7pm on a good night. Each evening I will try to do a couple of hours work. Then over the weekend I will take photos, edit them, upload the post and everything else. It is all consuming and it leaves me feeling like I have had no spare time.

 

I can’t do it by halves.

For those of you guys that don’t already know, I work in marketing. I am the Head of Marketing at a healthcare company; however, I specialise in SEO. If you are an avid blogger, you will have heard of the term SEO before. SEO is what makes your website appear in the search rankings. When it comes to SEO, you are never finished. There is always so much to do, and this is one of the main things that I do in my day job. When it comes to my blog, I could do a full site audit and then work on it for weeks/months on end. However, even though I know that overall, it would improve my blog, I do not have time to do that. Not being able to give it 100% and use all of my knowledge, kills me and always niggles at me.

 

I worry that people will think it’s silly.

I have been uploading blog posts now for over 10 years. When I created my first blog back in 2011, I didn’t include any images of myself or personal information. The reason for that was because I was nervous that people that I knew would find my blog, think it is silly, screenshot it and ridicule me. Even though the feeling never really went away, I was able to overcome it slightly when I saw the view figures increasing and the money that I was earning going up in my bank balance. However, I now still have the same issue. I can confidently say that all of my nearest and dearest friends and family do not know about this space and the posts that I write. If they were to find it, I would feel just like I did 10 years ago.

 

I earn much more money in my full-time job.

Back when I first started blogging in 2011, I created the site simply to have an outlet. I wanted to share my thoughts and opinions in an open forum for everybody to see. Back then, I doubt I was even aware that you could earn money through blogging. As time has gone on and I have advanced in my career away from my blog, I now value my time. If I am spending all of my evenings and weekends, writing, taking images, being social, working with brands, I want it to be profitable. Some people may say that you should simply blog because of the passion, and I do agree with that to a degree. I can post as often as I do because I love what I write about, however I don’t think it is crass to say that I want the monetary aspect of that too.

 

I am not a fan of photography.

If you have frequented my blog for some time, you will know that photography is not my strongest point. For me, blogging is all about the writing, not the imagery. Don’t get me wrong, I would never upload a post without imagery, but I also know that I could do so much more. With some of the other websites and blogs that I visit, I see the stunning visuals that they use and create, and I just wish that I had the capacity to create things like that. I don’t know how people feel about that, but for me it just isn’t a priority and I know how that not only effects user experience, but also SEO.

 

I know that this isn’t particularly a post that is enjoyable to read. However, I do love to share the good points, so I need to share these moments. At the minute, I really do not know if this is something that will continue with. But I am fully aware that if I was to delete my blog tomorrow, I would miss having an outlet. Or if I was to take a break, if I was to pick it up again at a later date, I would always regret taking the break. I would love to hear from you guys below regarding this. Have you ever felt like this when it comes to blogging? How did you pull yourself out of it? I really do want to move past this and continue to blog in a way that fits in with me and my lifestyle.