I think it’s part of the blogging package deal that sometimes insecurities will creep up. With stats being so in your face, it’s hard not to get caught up in them sometimes. It can also be intimidating to come across bloggers who’ve won awards, have high follower counts, or get loads of likes/comments, and you might start wondering what’s wrong with you and your blog that you’re not managing to keep up.
Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need any sort of external recognition to be a good blogger. If you’re still posting on your blog and putting your words out there into the world, you’re doing a good job. The quality of your blog is only a small factor in the number of visitors you get. You can only have one person reading your blog and that doesn’t mean you’re a lousy blogger.
So, in this week’s blogging chat, I invite you to share some of the things that intimidate you or make you feel like you’re not a very good blogger. I suspect there’s a lot we all have in common because, as I said, insecurity is part of the package deal. And if you’ve managed to opt out of that particular part of the package, please share how you’ve managed that feat.
The blogging toolbox series has tips to support you in your blogging journey. It includes these posts:
You are so awesome for sharing all your knowledge and encouragement with people, Ashley! I have learned so much from you in this last year. As an example, I’ve got it on my to-do list to try out Pinterest this week. Thank you my blogging friend!
Aww, thank you! 💕
I have not persuaded enough people to buy my books, no matter how much they enjoy my blog. In that, I’ve failed. Otherwise, I’m fine because I’m still enjoying the process and the community 💖
Me too. 💖
I get few views and now I am getting bots liking posts. When I started I expected more interaction but now it is a way to organize my thoughts and if someone likes it great.
There seems to be less interactiveness now among mental health bloggers than there was a few years ago. But I agree, blogging is a good way to work through thoughts regardless.
Oh dear. Bots? Yikes. But you have given me an answer to a question I’ve had. Sometimes I get “likes” from users with no posts to show. Those must be bots. Lightbulb!
Taking a blogging vacation was a good way to get away from thinking about the stats. It gave me an appreciation for the artificiality of the stats. Like, of course my stats go up if I do a post in response to a prompt, because everyone else doing the prompt was incentivized to read my post because I’d read theirs – it had nothing to do with the quality of my post. Weirdly enough, my post announcing my break got more traffic than posts of actual content, and I gained 10 followers. I have no idea why because I had quite literally announced that I was taking a break of indeterminate length from blogging and reading. The stats are incredibly addictive. But it’s debatable how much meaning they really have.
I find that announcement kind of posts tend to do well. I figured maybe the draw the sometimes-readers out of the woodwork.
I find follower numbers particularly meaningless. Maybe 1% of my supposed followers actually follow my blog.
When we are authentic—which, for us, probably makes us sound batshit crazy to people—then we don’t get many comments. If we blog about anything remotely construed as positive, the few people who read our blog seem to comment on how hopeful it sounds or how much progress we’re making
We try to just reflect us and not what am audience might want
Still, we are too scared to post anything most days
It’s strange sometimes what gets comments and what doesn’t. I certainly appreciate authenticity. ❤️
We definitely appreciate your authenticity ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for being so nice
All of you deserve kindness 💞
I needed to hear this today, thank you. I’m really big on community, and wanting to feel like a part of something. So I feel like it’s on me, or I’m not doing a good enough job of something, if my community seems a little smaller some weeks than it does others.
I know that isn’t accurate, but I can have a lot of negative feelings and self doubt come up quite frequently.
Yeah, it can be hard. I’ve been blogging long enough to know that audience always ebbs and flows, but it can still be tough not to personalize at times.
Originally, as past blogs have been, I started writing as part of my therapy and also where a few friends could read to see how things are in my life. But in turn, my blog now helps others in different ways.
When I first became a blogger many years ago, I remember after getting nearly on the 2 years mark I was focusing on stats. At some point later down the years I stopped doing that. If I look at stats, I look at it differently, rather than numbers, its more what the inyeresting posts are to the reader.
The only time my eyes pop at stars if all of a sudden I see a peak in readers and think oh. Something got them interested.
The other one time was how other bloggers who I thought didn’t write quality blog posts and had been blogging under a year, were getting lots of comments yet, my blog of over 2 years that I was writing at the time didn’t get the same amount of comments.
The other was when I discovered blogging awards. Again, like the comments I just mentioned, blogs getting loads of them, yet they been writimg under a year a year and I was over 2 years doing. Eventually I was getting a lot of blog awards that after a while I chose not to accept anymore, as they were getting repetitive.
This is what I can remember I had one time in the early years of blogging.
I think probably the longer one has been blogging, the easier it becomes to not pay much attention to stats. Like you, I’m more interested in looking at which posts are getting the most interest from readers than I am in numbers.
Yes, I agree Ashley with that. I think it does become easier like you say, to ignore the numbers the longer you have blogged.
Ashley, I’m sorry I rarely read your blog. It’s a time thing. But I’m so glad I stopped in today. What a great post and such a lively discussion here. I relate to many of your readers.
I often ask myself why I’m still blogging because I don’t get a lot of traffic. I started the blog when I was a contract writer. I needed samples so I wrote about what I was doing – job hunting. When I stopped working the blog languished. But not working allowed me to get more serious about poetry and I fell into a small (single digits) group of writers/fellow bloggers and I really enjoy our circle. I mean, there’s a tiny rush of endorphin when I get a like. 🙂 Occasionally when I have time, I catch up on blogs like yours.
Best!
That’s great that you’ve found a small group like that. I think meaningful interactions are much more valuable than plentiful interactions.
This!! This is why I’ve failed to keep consistency in past blogging experiences. It wasn’t until I gave myself the space and permission to take my time and truly blog for the right purposes. Thanks for the words, Ashley 🙂
I find that it’s when I get distracted from purpose that blogging starts to lose some of its shine, and I have to consciously bring it back to that purpose.
I needed this little reminder. I sometimes consider quitting my podcast because only 12 or so listen to each episode… But like you said, the process of creating and sharing ideas is what’s important. Having an audience is extra. Thank you for all you do!
Thank you! 💕
My blog is for me. Like a digital journal. I make it public just in case there is someone out there like me that wants to feel less alone. However, I do get caught up in the stats sometimes. Either I’m sad that my views and such or so low, or I panic that more people are reading a particular post. Not many people comment, so it leaves me wondering if I’m not doing a good job of connecting. But then I try to remember that it isn’t why I’m blogging anyway. It’s a viscous loop.
I find it’s easy to get dragged away from my main reasons for blogging, and I have to remind myself every so often of what those reasons are.
Thank you for writing this post! I haven’t wrote a blog post in a while because I don’t have any followers and hardly any visitors. I get writers block because I’m worried if my posts provide enough value or if people like what I have to say.
One thing that might help is to connect your Gravatar to your current blog URL, as right now it’s linked to rebeccawelchmua.wordpress.com, and if I click on it there’s a blog not found message from WordPress. To fix this in the browser version of WP, click on your Gravatar imae in the top right corner, then go to Account Settings, then update the URL in the Web Address field.
I’m usually worried a lot about whether my audience likes the diversity of subjects I write about. But I keep hearing lately that people come back. Even for the posts that I expect no one to care about. But in the end, none of that really matters, 1 reader, 50 readers. Who cares.
I quite like the diversity of your blog.
I always struggle with the thought, “does my post have some punch to it”? Do people reading my posts relate to what I have written?
I’ve always found your posts very relatable.
Thank you Ashley!
Amazing post Ashley. As a blogger I am intimidated by other content creators who write high quality work & have so many followers like 5K upwards and I am like: My mouth is waging.
Follower counts can look impressive but don’t necessarily mean that much. A sizeable chunk of mine are bots.