5 Things I Struggle With As A Blogger

Blogging. It's a bit of a weird one isn't it? There's so many of us bloggers out there, millions in fact, and yet each and every blog is extremely personal to its owner. Back in 2013 when I started Alice's Antics, blogging wasn't really a thing. When I posted my first Youtube cover back in 2009, internet fame just didn't exist. It's crazy to think how far we've come in nearly a decade, and for the most part it's good. Gone are the days of me saying I write a blog, and people looking at me blankly. Knowing my audience is made up of a lot of friends and family who may not read other blogs, (the true OG's), I wanted to write a post today which might make people think slightly differently about blogging, rather than as a hobby through which some people 'get lucky'.

1) People thinking it's a walk in the park
Since I started writing my blog, I noticed a huge shift in how others see it. When I first started, a lot of people made fun of me for it. A huge reason why I didn't commit to weekly posts until I moved to Italy, was because I knew the stick I'd get for it in England. Yet now, I have people messaging me a lot about starting their own blogs. And that is great, I am all for people expressing themselves, writing is a bloody great outlet, but the truth is, of all the blogs I've seen started over the past couple of years, only a handful have stayed dedicated to blogging. And that, is quite simply, because it's hard. If you want to blog, you need to love writing. It's not enough to love makeup or love fashion, you need to enjoy expressing yourself through words. Because the chances are, you're not going to be making money from it the second you buy your first URL, and the realisation of that for a lot of people, is where the lack of momentum comes in. The only way you'll keep blogging is if you love to write, because it's the only way you'll push through all the shitty bits nobody tells you about like writing 10 blog posts on your days off 'real work' and getting 6 views on a blog you spent hours on.

2) Finding time to blog when it's not your full time job
Tying nicely into the above, is finding the time to blog. If I could, I would be writing 5 days a week, popping out posts like tubes of pringles. But instead, I work 5 days a week, often 9-10 hour shifts, and then I have to come back home and when I want to collapse and have my brain shut down, I get my thinking cap on and start writing. It's hard because turning a blog into a full time job is about consistency, interaction and quality of posting, but finding the time to do that, on top of working a normal job, is bloody difficult. It's a bit of a vicious circle.

3) Writing for yourself entirely without baring an audience in mind
Goodness me, there is a lot I want to write about. Politics, mental health, Fenty Beauty. But I am constantly aware of the people who read my blog. Not for the purpose of views, but because the internet in 2017 has become a bit of a nasty place and more significantly, it's a place of permanency. Once something is out there, it's out there for good, and although right now I might feel completely comfortable writing about anxiety or an eating disorder, will I feel the same in 10 years time? How do I know future employers won't find it and hold it against me? My blog is the first thing on my C.V., so it makes sense I need to monitor my content accordingly, but sometimes that stops me writing what I want to write about, which is a shame.

4) Facing the 2017 Internet community 
IT'S A FIERCE WORLD OUT THERE! If you don't regularly read blogs, or watch youtube, I'm sure you'll be blissfully ignorant to all that's going on. 2017 has peaked in saturation of the internet superstars, and the saturation of blogging. And to be honest, it's slightly terrifying. People are pulling each other down, vloggers are creating 'diss tracks' about each other. I understand, the more fish in the sea, the less likely you are to be caught (or in this case, propelled to fame and riches), but it makes me so sad that that's the reason many people are creating content on the internet. It hurts my heart that people are basically creating negative content as a way to attract attention. Get me outta here and back to 2013 please.

5) SEO
That three lettered acronym from hell. To non-bloggers, the words MOZ, DA, PA, Follow Links and No-Follow Links, probably mean nothing. To bloggers, they mean a whole lot of work and a 9 month plan of how to help your internet space not sink in this sea of blogs. SEO is essentially, how well your blog performs on search engines, aka, it can make and break your blogging life. I'm fairly sure everyone struggles with SEO though and if I could, I'd live in a world where it didn't exist. But it does, so we might as well learn how to use it to our advantage. SIGH.

If you don't have a blog, maybe this will give you a bit of an insight into being a blogger. And if you do have a blog, I'm sure you can relate to some of these struggles. Do you have any to add?

Love, Alice x



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