In 2015, I watched my blog stats grow. By a lot. I increased my follower count to a level that even I was shocked by, worked with amazing brands and got some incredible opportunities.
But by the end of December last year, I felt burnt out. When I first started blogging and heard seasoned vets talk about blog burn out, I naively thought I could never be one of those people who found blogging tedious. I loved sharing my thoughts, my photographs and learning new things.
Blogging had become a crazy numbers game. I was propelling toward making it my full-time thing and stressing myself out to produce content four times a week, working with almost every single company that asked me.
Then I just stopped. I took a break from blogging for about a month and let my stats fall. I lost some Instagram followers by not posting as often. I stopped accepting things from most companies. A lot of this had to do with moving and dealing with a 3 week long sinus infection, but some of it just involved me needing a breather.
I've gotten rid of a lot of negativity in my life in the past couple of months and it took until very recently to sink in. And to be honest, I think pushing myself to meet these crazy blogging goals and produce content all the time made everything worse.
So now, I blog smarter and not harder. After this year of pushing myself, I've found what really works for me in terms of advertising and have stopped wasted my time with things that don't bring in traffic. I've stopped accepting offers from companies I'm not interested in and I've stopped pushing myself to get content out just to get it out there. I think my readers would appreciate better content less often than forced content everyday?
My stats fell during my absence, but they are slowly rising and I'm really happy with them. My DA score has gone up and I'm still getting some really cool opportunities (even though I'm still sitting a lot out due to still not feeling 100%).
My YouTube hasn't gone as well as I'd like and I wonder if it is because I enjoy it less than I thought I would/have just felt too crummy to film recently. At any rate, I will be pushing forward with it still as it is a great way to reach out to others.
I am so glad I took the time off, because now I can focus on blogging as I enjoy it. But I'm also glad I pushed myself in 2015 because now I know what works and what doesn't.
So expect content three times a week instead of four.
What is one thing you've learned from your time blogging?
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I absolutely agree with this. I felt silly putting out content just for the sake of it. Now, I just do it when I feel there's something worthy of posting? That way, I feel what I am writing is more genuine, not just posting something because 'oh people must be missing me!' I still have people reading and commenting, whenever I post. To me, as long as people are engaging with it in some shape or form, I am happy.
ReplyDeleteMeg | A Little Twist Of…
Agreed. It's like after a while it kind of becomes a bit meaningless and I don't think that's the content people are after! xx
DeleteThank you for being "real" and honest about blogger burnout! <3
ReplyDeleteOf course! I think sometimes it's hard to see it at the beginning and after a while it's like "HELP!" Taking a break was honestly the best thing I ever did, even if it wasn't the best for my stats. I'm now growing my enthusiasm for my blog again. I recommend it to every blogger!
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