What I Know For Certain After 2 Years of Blogging

Are we really here already? My blog is celebrating its 2nd Blogiversary and I’m feeling sort of bittersweet about it. On the one hand, I feel like I’ve been at it with this blog for so much longer than two years – I’ve established so many amazing friendships and blogging relationships that it just feels like forever. On the other hand, how has two years gone by so fast? – I’m not even sure I’m where I’m supposed to be yet as a blogger and that realization is incredibly humbling.

This isn’t a post about what you need to know or even tips to make you a better blogger. Nope. This post is about sharing with you some things I have learned about the blogging world. They may not be true for you, but it’s where I’m at as a blogger. Maybe you won’t relate to some of it, but either way… this is what I know for certain:

 

I Have No Niche

This is still the most niche-less blog ever. If I started a blog for everything I want to talk about, I’d never have time to effectively manage or promote them all. And believe me, I tried… and failed. I couldn’t keep Funko Fridays running as a separate blog. It was just way too much work.

My post categories are incredibly wide and they seem to come into play based on what’s going on in my life at that time. Remember, I spent a huge portion of last year talking about our first house and home decor. But that didn’t stop me from talking about WordPress plugins, or nail polish in the same week.

I know, I know… it’s maybe been a bizarre ride, but I hope that there are people out there who feel like they get me and that I get them as a person.

 

Blogging is Expensive

But you knew that already, right? It’s been a year and a half since I talked about the cost of maintaining a blog, and although I still agree with that post, I was perhaps still a bit green and naive. The hard part isn’t even the amount of money you have to spend on various blogging tools or hosting plans… it’s the amount of time spent. It can be outrageous.

Some days during the week, I sit at my desk for 8+ hours before I realize how long I’ve been working without eating a meal. I spend all of that time working… without even writing a blog post. It’s because I’m so busy with other aspects of my website – general maintenance, scheduling social media for the week, checking out blog posts written by my sponsors, reading & commenting on the blogs of my friends, answering emails, organizing giveaways, and more. So much of it goes completely unseen… and yet my blog would fall apart without it.

 

Growing Pains

I’m not where I want to be. Numbers aren’t everything, believe me. You could have thousands of visitors daily and it means nothing at all if you don’t have the content they want to see and people aren’t engaging in your posts. But even still, my social reach isn’t where I’d hoped it would be. The problem is, growing organically is a lot of work and I promised myself that I would run a blog with integrity and grow as organically as possible.

This means I very rarely spend money on forms of advertisement beyond a long-standing ad placement I have with Angie of My So-Called Chaos. I chose her because I feel like my blogging audience and topics match up reasonably well with hers. If you like my blog topics, you probably like hers and vice versa. But beyond that ad? Maybe a few Facebook post boots here and there – most of them largely for experimental purposes.

I don’t have a huge budget to just throw around. Blogging is already expensive, remember? So growth has been a lot slower than I would like. Steady… but slow.

 

Seasonal Breaks

I’ve taken so many breaks. Never for long, mind you… I couldn’t possibly stay away from posting for very long. My blog is as much a creative outlet as it is a way of making money. But breaks happen and I’ve had to learn to stop apologizing for them because every blogger does it.

I get burnt out somewhere around Spring. That works to my advantage since it seems like most bloggers start letting their websites get dusty around that time. Everyone suddenly wants to be outdoors and not at their desks, pandering to their audience. I like to use that time to nap a lot. Next thing you know, it’s Summer and blogs seem to shut down.

But oh wait… kids are going back to school and all the blogger Moms break out their wine glasses and take lots of selfies with their alcohol. Next thing you know, it’s Fall (I affectionately call it PSL season) and all of the Fashion bloggers break out their knee-high boots (which are totally last season) and try to sell the same scarves to you they were peddling last year… and this time for twice the price.

If you’re offended rather than laughing, it’s because you’re guilty. Don’t lie. Sometimes I post certain types of pictures on Instagram because I feel like as a blogger, it’s required of me.

 

Giveaways Cost You

I know you’re thinking “Duh, Kimi” but to really run an effective giveaway, it costs you more than just money. I got smart at the beginning of the year and I began hosting what I call The Golden Snitch – a Geeky Giveaway that Opens at the Close. I started working with other bloggers to deliver prize boxes valued any anywhere between $100 and $200. It’s worked well, I think.

But like I said, it costs more than money. Again, time is such a huge factor. Never mind the many hours you spend selecting items for a prize box, organizing the sign-up form, making graphics, formatting a giveaway post, and writing the countless emails to sponsors. The real time is spent just finding people to help sponsor it.

But having giveaway sponsors doesn’t mean you aren’t routinely paying a lot out of pocket and unfortunately I found myself getting bled dry to the point that I had to take a break from managing these large-scale giveaways. I found that people were often hesitant to spend more then $5 to be included in a giveaway and usually no more than $15. I wanted to promise huge prizes! But I couldn’t do that without forking over a lot of cash that I’m sorry to say… I just don’t have.

 

Taking Pictures is Hard

I do my best to take nice pictures for my blog. I am no photographer, but I know when a picture I have taken isn’t quite my best and I do all that I can to make sure my posts are visually appealing. I’ve picked up some tips, tricks, and equipment along the way (which I thankfully claimed on my taxes) but taking high-quality, stunning pictures is still difficult for me.

Sometimes, I spend several hours just taking pictures of items for a post. Kudos to the real photographers in the world because I don’t know how you do it. It’s exhausting and it often feels unrewarding. Well… maybe that’s because one can only find so much excitement and reward in taking pictures of their hand in ridiculous poses.

 

It’s Worth It All

And yet, this blog has been intensely rewarding over the last two years and no, I am not talking about money (although the money and the lovely freebies have been stellar). I have learned a lot from Kimi Who – how to market myself, the best way to make affiliate sales, and most certainly I’ve found my true voice. But I think the best part for me has been the community.

I’ve made the best bloggy friends in Facebook groups – particularly Geek Girls x Bloggers where I feel like I could drop in on anyone and crash on their couch if need be… and Grow Your Blog where I’ve made fast friends with my fellow group admins and come to experience so many different types of blogs. Those friendships and experiences are truly invaluable and are the best part about being a blogger.

Okay fine… maybe that time I got a free cat rolling pin was pretty awesome too.

[Tweet “You learn a lot about #blogging in 2 years and some things are simple fact.”]

 

Thank You

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for reading – whether this is the 1st or 100th post of mine that you have read. You just being here collectively assures the continued success of this website and I couldn’t possibly thank you enough for the love and support I’ve received over the last 2 years.

There’s no survey this year. Instead, I would love it if you would comment on this post and share with me your favorite blog post I’ve ever written – whether it was silly, touched you in some way, or you just overall enjoyed the writing.