HOW TO RUN A BLOG – KEEPING YOUR BLOG MORALE HIGH

I think its fair to say none of us ever started a blog with any intention of it being anything more than a simple online diary. Something that might last a month maximum, if you could even be bothered to keep that up?

I for one can relate with all of this. I started mediamarmalade.com back in November 2011 on an absolute whim, I loved shopping and loved clothes and one day was encouraged to start writing about it on my own blog. I didn’t really know what a blog was at this stage, but I felt spurred on by the opportunity it would give me to write. Having always loved the idea of being a fashion magazine editor (I mean who doesn’t) I thought this could be my own little magazine just for me! After a few months of blogging I started to realise there was a huge community out there, of completely like minded people who also loved to write about clothes, style, food and beauty and all shared similar interests. This new found social community made my enjoyment for blogging double and kept me motivated and spurred on to continue my blog, working harder to make great content. In line with this I started to get more and more readers, more lovely people commenting on my features and more and more brands wanting to work with me … and before I knew it i’d blogged every day for nearly three years and had made something that i’m really quite proud of.

One thing I have noticed over the last few years is how much blogging has changed. How blogging has moved from a little hobby for a small amount of people, to an industry critical to advertisers, fashion and beauty brands & the consumer market. Bloggers are no longer amateur writers hidden behind a computer screen, they’re established journalists making money from their content and being included in the marketing plans for huge global brands. Companies have launched off the back of the blogging industry, creating networks and revenue streams from bloggers across the continent. Bloggers are photographers, web designers, public speakers, freelance writers & not to mention fashionistas. It’s absolutely incredible how the industry has developed over time, the opportunities we’re exposed to, and the collaborations we get to partake in. But with this world of opportunity sometimes also comes pressure, stress, competition, self depreciation and a whole ton of other anxiety inducing emotions.

What I wanted to write about today, was how to not let those negatives affect you, i’m sure we’ve all experienced times when we feel hard on ourselves or our blogs, compare ourselves to those blogger millionaires who’ve achieved incredible successes or even feel like giving up. But we should always remember why we started our blogs … I doubt any one of us started a blog for commercial reasons, and if you did, then i’d argue you’ve missed the whole point of blogging in the first place! It’s not easy to keep positive all the time, but I have 5 tips and reasons for why you should keep your blogging morale high.

. GET SOME PERSPECTIVE .

My biggest tip to help keep your morale high and combat any periods of negativity is to get some perspective. As i’ve already mentioned, I suspect that you didn’t start your blog for commercial success, you didn’t start your blog knowing people would actually come and read it, and you didn’t start your blog to collaborate with the fashion industry. You started your blog because of your passion for whatever it is you like to blog about (food, fashion, beauty, writing, shopping etc). And you started your blog for you. Not for anyone else.It’s really good sometimes go back to that, remember why you started your little online hub. Going back to those roots helps put in perspective your worries & probably unnecessary self depreciation. It brings back some humbleness, and reminds you that anything other than your own words on screen is an absolute bonus.

. DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS .

Now this is definitely not the easiest thing to do, and I for one am guilty of this particularly negative trait from time to time, and it’s so detrimental to our own happiness and success that’s it critical we all nip it in the bud straight away. Comparing yourself to others is also bad in your personal life, career & social life as well as on your blog. It’s not constructive and it’s actually quite irrelevant. But I understand it’s hard not to compare yourself to others you maybe admire or deem a success, and sometimes wonder what you’re doing wrong, or why you don’t have the same ‘success’ that they do (whatever blog success actually is .. see the next section for more on this), why said brand didn’t want to work with you, or why X magazines didn’t feature you in that partnership.

Heavens, i’m forever doing this and going through the age old ‘maybe i’m too fat’, ‘maybe my photography isn’t good enough’, ‘maybe they don’t think i’m pretty enough’ … rah rah rah. All total bullshit and so negative.

When it comes to blog success, it’s all subjective & it’s ever evolving in this industry. Just because you didn’t get to work with X brand, you might have had other opportunities which are fantastic, or that others may only wish they could have been a part of. There’s never any point comparing yourself or your ‘success’ to others, you should keep focussed on your own achievements and ambitions, irrelevant to others.

The reason this is so important, is that (particularly when it comes to blogging) it’s your personality and integrity which actually appeals to people, brands, magazines, businesses in the first place. Integrity is the absolute most important thing to a blog (and a person) and if you start comparing yourself to others and changing to try and fit what you believe to be the ‘success model’ then you will lose focus on yourself, your integrity, your personality and quite naturally your blog content will reflect this and suffer as a result. Think about every person you admire, aspire to or think is fabulous … I bet they’re all their own person and it’s their integrity and personalities which make them so appealing.

Staying true to yourself is key!

. REMEMBER IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE NUMBERS .

Back to ‘blog success’, in my opinion it’s a subjective term when it comes to blogging, there’s no defined end goal, there’s no ‘ultimate’ success measure because it’s a new and up and coming industry, the opportunities are limitless. So there’s really no point concerning yourself over it.Everyday another blogger achieves another incredible high, whether it’s an invite to fashion week, a collaboration with a fantastic brand, fronting a campaign, writing a book, designing their own collection, being featured on TV, having their own TV show, becoming a world renowned DJ. I mean the opportunities to ‘achieve’ are endless. There’s no ultimate measure of this success, and be assured that ‘numbers’ definitely are not a relevant success measure anymore. Some of my favourite most read blogs might have less ‘followers’ than I may have, but they’re being flown around the world with brands, collaborating with my favourite fashion designers & being featured in the top global magazines. If one thing is for certain it’s really not all about the numbers, it’s about the content, the engagement, the personality & ultimately YOU.I also think numbers and follower volumes become even more irrelevant when you hear of companies selling these to people – instagram, bloglovin, twitter. I mean the concept is hideous, fake and actually really frustrating for those who work hard and achieve organic growth.

. SET YOUR OWN GOALS .

. ENJOY YOURSELF .

And the most important tip of all is to enjoy yourself. And the moment you’re really not, then stop, take some time out.A blog is for you and as much as you might hear people saying ‘write for your audience’, I don’t necessarily agree. I started this blog for me, so I write and feature all those things which I love, I feel passionate about, or just things I really want to talk about. And I believe that writing those things gives my blog a personality, passion and integrity. If other people happen to be interested in that too, then that’s absolutely amazing. If not, then that’s fine too, but what I won’t do is change to try and please everyone! If I started to force myself to write about topics or post features that I didn’t enjoy or feel excited about, then my blog would become a chore, a pain and something that I wouldn’t really enjoy (plus of course probably be less engaging to read too)!

So number #1 rule, have fun with it, enjoy yourself, keep check of reality & make sure you don’t lose sight of why you started your blog in the first place. Your personality is what makes your blog appealing, so don’t lose that.

Do you ever find yourself feeling a bit hard on yourself and your blog from time to time, what are your tips for keeping your morale high?