We’re back! 3 things we’re doing differently to succeed with blogging this time around.
June 16, 2023
It has been a hot minute since we’ve been blogging! Hey, hi, hello! How has everybody been? Here’s how we are going to succeed with blogging.
Do people still blog anymore?
Who knows? I know I am!
I have always dreamed of building a daily (okay, frequent) blogging habit, and I have never quite been able to. This time, I am determined to make it happen!
But Bex, what is different than all the other times you might be wondering? I’ve broken it down into three main differences, which will be how we succeed with blogging this time around.
1. Build momentum.
Did you notice we have a new and fresh homepage? Heck yes, we do! What do you think of it?
Okay, back to reason #1. I finally have a homepage I am proud of. I know this seems like a weird reason, but previously I’ve always faffed about with the website. Back in the day when we were using WordPress, the homepage just landed on the blog. It was very uninspiring. I think at one point we had a carousel banner with five featured posts, but that was it.
No growth potential at all. It was stagnant.
Since we’ve moved to Squarespace, there have been numerous iterations. Many attempts based on whatever I was learning at the time about the creator economy, but none felt good or true or complete to me. Over the last few days, I think we have finally made some progress! Naturally, this has added fuel to my little creator’s heart and kickstarted the momentum we have going forward now.
Momentum is crucial when it comes to how to succeed with blogging. Identify what creates momentum for you.
2. Have a direction and purpose that is tangible to succeed with blogging.
In the past, I got really in my head about the purpose and value this blog needed to be put out into the world. Everyone says it, “You gotta niche down”. Know your value proposition.
And sure, that’s all good and well, but those things are the complete opposite of what sounds like passion to me.
I hear “niche down” and I feel my heart sink to the bottom of the ocean. It takes this beautiful, freeing place called the creator economy and confines you to a box.
No, thank you!
In my heart, I’ve known I just want to throw it back to the old days of blogging where you just document your life and make fun internet friends! This has always been what has resonated with me, and it’s what brings me back to the internet friends I follow regularly. However, I know this ideology is very anti-creator-culture; at least, anti-new-creator-culture.
“You gotta give the people a reason to want to follow you!”
Guess what – I’m the reason! My tribe will find me with me being me! Nailing down a purpose that feels true to you is the second component of how to succeed with blogging.
This perspective has been affirmed for me by two of my favourite internet friends. First, Elise Joy. She makes things like it’s her job. Or she used to, now she’s living the absolute dream in her whimsical cottage on a vineyard. Her crafty experiments, willingness to try any craft, and sharing the messy middle are everything I aspire to be as a creator. She’s about as authentic as you can get only knowing someone through social media. She recently shared a reel with the absolute best audio I’ve ever heard:
“The algorithm says you should niche down. You should pick a lane. You should choose a category. And you should stick with it. But I don’t want to niche down – I want to expand out. I want to try everything. I want to make everything. And I want to share it all here, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
— ELISE JOY
Um, YES!! Yes, to all of this. Absolutely, yes.
The second bit of affirmation comes from the lovely soon-to-be boy mama, Cathrin Manning. When I first started following Cathrin she hadn’t blown up yet and was making how to grow on YouTube content. She found amazing success, blew up, and then fell out of love with the content she was creating.
Which is my exact fear with niching down! I don’t want to do the same thing day in, and day out! Not in the amazing, new world that is the creator economy! I’d just go back to my day job!
Anyway, back to Cathrin, at the beginning of last year, she dramatically overhauled her content merging her vlog channel into her main channel. And guess what? She gets to do the stuff she’s passionate about, AND she’s seen great success! No more boxes!
Now, the big difference between Cathrin and me is that I don’t have a huge following already established – but that’s okay. We will get there.
My tribe will find me here in time and I hope I can be as inspiring to them as Elise and Cathrin are to me.
3. Visualize when and how you are going to put in the work to succeed with blogging and make it happen!
In the past, blogging has always seemed like a fun idea but I’ve never put the time in to make a plan of action. On top of that, it seemed like it would be in direct competition with other creative outlets, like YouTube. There has been minimal adjusting to ensure blogging is a priority and a success. Granted, I’ve also had to spend the majority of my creative energy on my day job and I’d always be so zapped by the end of the day.
Thankfully now, I am on maternity leave. And sure, I had plans to get this up and going at the beginning of my leave, not with just three months left, but I SEVERELY underestimated how all-consuming infant twins would be. Especially twins who don’t like to sleep and a mom who can’t handle any form of sleep training. Just put a big naive first-time-mom sticker on my forehead.
Nevertheless, we’re here now! And I have two sweet babies I continue to cuddle and rock to sleep in our cozy double-wide recliner. I’ve also recently adopted the typing by sliding your one-thumb technique when I’m trapped under babies.
Voila!
Perfect time to succeed with blogging and get those posts written!
(And then, of course, I’ll do the finishing bits of the post on the laptop after I transfer them to their cribs.)
It feels do-able!
It feels realistic!
We’re making it happen.
The beautiful thing I’ve realized too, is that blogging doesn’t need to compete with YouTube. There’s no way I can film videos while I am sitting with sleeping babies. But, I can use blog posts as outlines for videos to film in the future when there’s time.
Ah! The synergy and workflow potential are real folks! This is how we are going to succeed with blogging
I am so excited for this new chapter. I hope you’ll stick around and join me. Come say hi over on Instagram or in the comments below.
I’d also love to know – what are some reasons you follow people on the internet? Whether it’s a blogger, someone on Instagram, YouTube, etc. What brings you back and makes you stick around?
