Recently I’ve found myself feeling a little bit disenchanted with blogging. Not my blogging-I still love it! But, I haven’t been enjoying other people’s blogs as much as I used to. I spend a lot of time reading blogs across many niches. I love food blogs, the occasional fashion blog, personal finance, and more. Many people, myself included, have begun making the shift to monetizing their blogs and in the process I feel like unscripted creativity may become a victim of the process.
Your Blog’s Voice
Is what brings me back every time. I want to cheer you on, commiserate when you’re feeling down, and feel like I’m a side passenger in the part of your story that you’re sharing in your blog. I feel like everyone has learned the same blogging formula recently and it’s so boring. Myself included.
The Business of blogging is a very real phenomena-you can:
- Add links to posts
- Advertise goods and services
- Get Sponsorships
- Become an affiliate for products you love
- Display Ads
- Create Physical Products
- Create Information products
- Create classes
- Run Webinars
You get the picture-there are a lot of ways to make money blogging. In fact, I’ve spent a lot of time struggling with the monetization process. I wanted to transition into this process and retain my blog’s voice…which is hard to do. It’s hard to not become like everyone else. But, if your blog is like everyone else’ s why am I reading it?
I’ve continued writing posts about “my feelings” I don’t usually blog about my actual budget and I’ve begun to share what I really think about certain situations as they connect to money. Don’t be surprised if I share more political posts that connect to money-as I’ve done before. Or, that I try new things that may or may not work.
Are You Afraid?
Recently I wrote a post about Beyonce and her epic “Mic Drop” during the Super Bowl. I was amazed by the epic sales funnel she created and all of the money she made in one weekend. I knew that it may be considered a controversial piece based on the subsequent blow back that Beyonce experienced after Super Bowl weekend. But, I shared the post anyway.
Later that week I received a notice that someone had unsubscribed from my newsletter. The email they sent me was actually very nice but stated that they couldn’t support me based on that post (they disliked what they felt Beyonce was communicating). I must admit that I was surprised by that reaction but felt a deep sense of relief and you won’t believe why.
I had elicited a reaction from someone that wasn’t: positive, supportive, or excited about what I shared. I had pissed someone off and that was great! I don’t want haters (no one does) but I do want to know that what I’m doing is creating some type of reaction positive or negative in my readers.
When I read books I have a reaction: excitement, boredom, anticipation, or even anger. When I read blogs I want to feel something for the writer. And recently more often than not I feel like people are playing it safe. Like they’re afraid to piss off their readers or show their true selves.
It’s an election year and the next President’s policies will affect your money in some form or another and yet I haven’t read any substantive posts discussing the election from a financial perspective.
I haven’t read many posts recently about unemployment, underemployment, or regular employment. Again, employment during the election year is usually a huge topic. I have only read 2 posts about that and they were written by Canadians.
The point I’m trying to make is I wonder what you’re thinking about a lot of the different issues as they relate to your niche. Sandy Smith from Yes I Am Cheap talked once at FinCon the importance of being ballsy with your blogs. I will always remember that talk because it made me think hard about my blogging process.
I Miss Your Stories
As you (and I) manage the process of monetizing our blogs, making optimal images for pinning, and making sure our posts are SEO optimal don’t forget who your blog is really for-your readers.
I’m not saying you have to write dramatic, super serious posts all the time. Write funny blog posts too. Just please write posts that aren’t so formulaic. If you’re losing me you’re probably losing other readers too. Stop playing it so safe. Write your budget posts, and then share something anything, that will be specific to your personal story. In offering this critique I am also holding myself to the same standard. It doesn’t mean that I won’t be writing the old “standby” posts. But what it does mean is that I will share opinions that might not be liked-and that’s ok.
And, let’s be clear-I want you to make money blogging if that’s what you want. I just want you to mix it up a little bit.
The Business of Blogging
Is a very real phenomena. I’ve connected with several newbie bloggers who want things to happen now. They want to launch an epic blog and have a huge audience within months of launching it and some money coming in.
Courses they take promise blog growth, potential profits, and more. The courses aren’t wrong-all of that is possible. But, it’s not possible if your blog plays it safe. It’s not possible if you haven’t connected with readers through: humor, a shared passion, a disagreement, or a moving story. It’s not possible if everything is on the surface and bland. No voice=no reader connection. No consistency=no readers. No voice=no interest.
Any questions?
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I hear you! At some point, we all fall into the trap of 5 Ways to do whatever types of posts. Nothing wrong with those as long as you provide your personal experiences and perspectives. The courses help but you have to remember why you’re in it, the whole reason you started your blog. I’ve recently had a similar experience and elicited a negative reaction from another blogger but sometimes that’s the way it goes. It happens. If we were all the same in life it would be a very boring world.
I’m just feeling like I’m reading the same posts everywhere all the time. There are some posts that I enjoy reading from everyone (love budget posts and online earning posts) but after that everything feels so safe and boring right now. I don’t want shock value posts but I do want to feel like people are digging a little deeper and not just following a formula. OR, if they are following formulas for earning (which is fine) that they from time to time consciously step away from the formula and let us connect with them on a personal level.
Preach! I know it’s tough to find the balance between earning income and having very personal perspective, but it’s a quick way to lose readers. I have dropped many blogs in the last couple months who I love as people dearly, but I seriously just can’t think of anything to comment anymore, ya know? Plus I have less time to dedicate to writing and/or commenting, so I want to make it worth my while!
I am just finding that a lot of blogs have become…consistently boring. I think that the easiest way to deal with this is to really utilize editorial calendars. I make it a point to always start the week with a post that either: forces you to think about things differently, is very personal, or even political in nature. Basically, I don’t start the week of trying to solve a problem for my readers. I start by sharing a little bit about myself and then share posts through out the week that may: solve a problem, etc. What I’m finding is that I could just go to Pinterest instead find pins that solve my problem (pain point) and circumvent a lot of blogs that have become too formulaic. I only have so much time during the week.
Wow! Such a great post! As a new blogger this really hit home! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Latasha! It has been on my mind for awhile.
I feel ya. I’ve struggled with this too. I want to brand my blog more and get more traffic, but my creative voice is EXTREMELY important to me. Maybe more than anything else.
I just don’t want to read the same post everywhere with slightly different details and recently I’ve really begun to get frustrated with a lot of blogs. Especially when the I know “the voice” of the writer from before. I am working hard to shift to making money with my blog and not to lose my voice in the process. It’s a challenge but I think it’s important to bring this up from time to time.
I understand where you’re coming from. Some blogs have changed a little bit. As my audience continues to get larger I think my voice has something to do with it. I don’t plan on changing that.
I think that your voice is a lot more confident vs. when you first started blogging. Don’t change! And, yes-that’s definitely one of the reasons why your blog is growing.
Thank you. I won’t change.
**Am copying and pasting the answer here too! I’ve had a couple of really interesting conversations with conservative friends about: the election, Black Lives Matter, etc. and they were hard conversations to have but we managed to have great conversations about tough topics from different ends of the spectrum. Sheryl from Save Spend Splurge ROCKS! She wrote one of my favorite blog posts ever about Filial Piety. I actually didn’t think my post was that controversial either-but, I knew that it wasn’t what people would consider a “safe piece.” Ultimately, people who are online will get haters. It’s a part of being exposed to people via the internet. Every single one of the big personal finance bloggers that you read has haters. So, I’m not worried about any more-haters gonna hate. But, if I can people as much as I can, then I’ve met one of my personal goals. To be a positive force and help people. Seriously!
I’ve been blogging and reading blogs for a few years and it seems to go in cycles. You have a great blog that starts off just telling a story, then they get successful and have an audience and next thing you know they’re off monetizing the heck out of the blog. Sometimes they integrate it seamlessly but often not. I actually find that this is why I’m always finding new blogs. Many of the favorites along the way get dropped because they lose their voice or sometimes actually just give up. But the good thing is there are always new voices coming in that you just have to look for. I have a post going up really soon about how I just found 95 new blogs that I now read (and yes this is one).
I’m really noticing it recently. And, yes, you’re right about the cyclical nature of blogging. I am glad that people are making money with their blogs especially after all of the hard work that they’ve put into blogging over the years. But, I have only so much time in the day and when a blog loses its voice even when I adore the person I just can’t keep reading it. We all walk the fine line as bloggers and it’s a hard process to manage. I’ve just really noticed it a lot recently. Thanks for stopping by and I can’t wait to read that post.
I couldn’t agree more! I have stopped reading some blogs as they get bigger and bigger because they become generic and salesy. And in many cases their writing wasn’t all that great to begin with, so without a story? Dead. (My take: http://nzmuse.com/2012/05/on-authenticity-in-blogging/)
Thanks for including your post! I love it.