Why I'm Still Putting My Eggs In The Blogging Basket
Every other week there is another post that gets published about it being the end of days for the blogging world. And there is no denying, the blogging world is much slower now but dying? Certainly not. I’m now entering my ninth year of creating content on this corner of the internet but I’ve had a blog in some sort of way for nearly 14 years now and I hope I always will in some capacity. Whilst many have jumped ship and put their focus on YouTube and Instagram I’m still very much focused on my blog and this is why.
you own and control your blog
Social media platforms are wonderful when they work how you want them to and often it’s when they’re working most logically. But the problem is that none of us own our social media profiles no matter how many followers we may have. We all saw it with Vine when that shut down it was scary for the people who had built careers on it and there is no way we can ever guarantee that something like that won’t happen again. There are people on Instagram that have huge followings but it could all be gone in a second, this isn’t to say that these people are wrong for wanting to grow on the platform. Not at all, but it is scary that so much can rely on something that we have no control or ownership of. Over the past couple of years, I’ve felt so unbelievably frustrated with Instagram but ultimately, no matter how annoyed I get with its algorithm and constant changes it’s never going to change. It’s a free app that doesn’t owe me absolutely anything and as hard it can be to swallow it’s true. One thing I do own and have full control over though is this blog. I can control how much content comes out and how many people can potentially see that content. I don’t have to mess around trying to find the right time of day to post or what hashtags are in the at the moment all I need to do is press publish. And despite the blogging world being quieter than ever, it’s still something that brings me immense joy, as well as being part of my job too.
a blog is searchable & discoverable
Like most bloggers, I was a blog reader before I started my own and when I want to read about something even now before purchasing I will always search for blog reviews. And that is one of the best things about websites and blogs, you can easily search for something and find a great write up on it and that is something that is very much lacking in other forms of social media. You can search for hashtags or locations on Instagram but when looking for something super specific I don’t find it easy at all and I truly believe this is what gives blogs the edge. A couple of things that help your blog become easily searchable are;
SEO & keywords
Image labelling
Provide a search bar on your blog
blogging is evolving
In the past eight years, I’ve seen the blogging landscape change a lot. But one thing that hasn’t changed is that it’s built on a community who love to share things that make them happy. The type of content may be more polished now but I’ve always been a big believer that you can have the fanciest images in the world but with a blog, it’s your words that matter the most. You can have images that could easily sit alongside high-end editorial work but the things that still make blogs different to magazines is that it’s one person writing those posts sharing their personal experience. Within the past couple of years with how social media is changing alongside the people saying that blogging is dying a lot of people have rekindled the love for their corner of the internet. I don’t think blogging is dying but I do think it’s evolving just like it has constantly been changing over the past eight years, we seem to be breaking away from the highly polished editorial style content and giving a nod to our roots. Whilst the future is uncertain, having a career online is still something that is so new and fresh and it’s exciting to see how it will change and evolve as time goes on.
you can do exactly what you want with a blog
Whilst From Roses has become my job and there are some things I’ve had to change I still very much run this blog in the same way that I have done from day one. The possibilities of what you can do online are absolutely endless, some have turned their blogs into communities and collaborative efforts, some into a place that provides resources for others who want to grow their online space, some treat theirs more like a diary and that’s the awesome thing about a blog it really can be anything that you want it to be. For me, this blog is very much a place that I share what is a big part of my life at that moment whether that be a beauty product or how my mental health has been lately. Many of the posts come to life because I think of them as a conversation that I’d have with a friend. And I like to think if my younger self had come across a place like this she would have felt a little more secure going through her early twenties as that was a stage of my life that so stressful and full of doubt and worry. For a long time, there were a lot of posts (and I imagine they still are floating around) of how to run a blog that would get hits but now it’s very much a community of people just doing what feels right to them and it's been such a positive evolution.
it makes me the happiest
Out of everything that I do online creating content for From Roses and now The Adventures of Josie and Edie is what makes me the happiest by far. Getting an idea, planning, taking the photographs, editing, writing the copy and seeing it go live is still something that brings me so much joy. I’ve built a really lovely community of humans too which of course, is an important part of this blog and I feel so lucky to receive some not only incredibly kind but insightful comments too. With each post comes somewhat of a different challenge, that might be how I want to write it or something about the layout and I constantly try to push myself to try something a little different.
