It’s been a while since we’ve discussed blogging here on Land of Marvels but I always love throwing in the occasional post about travel blogging because so many of us here are bloggers and I love hearing from other bloggers how they feel about the blogging world. So I decided a new series was in order… welcome to #BloggingDesk.
I’ve been thinking lately about how exhausting it is to try and keep up with the numbers game in the blogging world. How many Instagram followers do you have? How many on Bloglovin’? How many on Twitter and Snapchat and Google + and on your newsletter subscriber list? What’s your unique visitors count, what are your page view numbers? Do you post on Snapchat or Instagram Stories? Ahh… make it stop!
I’ll be honest, I’m sick and tired of playing the numbers game with blogging. In truth, I go through spells where I try to gain followers or where I try to grow my blog and then I always end up back in this place, where I really just don’t even care any more. The truth is, I still write here on Land of Marvels for me, I love it. I don’t make much money from this blog, I don’t write posts every day to get someone to advertise here. And I still post on Instagram and Snapchat because I like to, it’s not about how many likes I get or who’s following me. Of course, more followers are always nice and I welcome each and every one, but at the end of the day, I’m not pushing for this blog to be my income source, which in turn frees me up to not have to promote it endlessly on social media and try to gain every follower I possibly can.
And I know there are lots of bloggers that are trying to have their blogs as their sole source of income and that’s totally fine, but for me personally, I’m sick of the numbers game and trying to keep up with everyone else. The fact of the matter is that blogging has become a business, and in that, we’ve lost some of that magic that this forum used to have. That’s why here on Land of Marvels, I continue to post for my readers and to try to keep a community alive of like-minded travelers around the world and that for me, is enough. I don’t need 100,000+ followers to know that those who come here every day to read the words I write about our world, mean just as much as the thousands of followers I could have if I really wanted to play the numbers game.
So I guess in short, if you’re a smaller blogger and worried about the numbers, my advice would be to not worry so much. Followers will come and whatever the numbers are, it doesn’t diminish what you’re doing, what you’re trying to do. At the end of the day, numbers aren’t everything. It’s the community you build, the relationships you create that really matter. So let’s do us all a favor and stop worrying about our followings, stop trying to market everything and just focus on the things that connect us authentically.
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Brittany Fry says
I really needed this reminder. After taking a blogging break and now coming back it is hard to regroup and I need to remind myself I am blogging to document our life right now so one day we have something to look back on. It doesn’t matter if only one person reads my most recent post or if 100 do. Thanks for reminding me!!
Casey says
Totally! Don’t let yourself feel like what you’re doing is any less worthwhile if only a few people read it. Blogging is all about our connections and our community and documenting your life through your blog is such an amazing thing to have down the road! 🙂
Saphia Louise says
Thank you so much for this. I love how genuine it is. I’ve found myself in that trap a few times also. The numbers game. It can be so frustrating at times. For me, I always loved to write poetry. I started posting videos on youtube and the feedback was great and I started to feel like I was writing for people, and not myself. That’s one thing I try to keep with my blog. No matter how many people see/read it, or love/follow it, I must keep that passion and love for it.
So again, thanks for sharing this.
-Saphia
Casey says
It’s so frustrating! It’s so hard once you get an audience, then you’re going back and forth to make them happy… but at the end of the day, we need to do what makes us happy too! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Sara Rose says
LOVE this post. I have really changed my view on this as well in 2016. I used to be so concerned about posting in order to gain more followers, and to be honest it just wasn’t as fun. I love my little blog of mine and the number game doesn’t effect me too much anymore either.
Casey says
Totally. It get to a point that if my blog grows, then great. If it doesn’t, maybe that’s ok too. At the end of the day, when we’re posting for ourselves, I personally think our blogs benefit more too.
Emily of Em Busy Living says
I’m so with you. I knew when I moved somewhere “less exciting” than where I had been that my numbers would go down. I’m also working full time and have very limited time to spend on my blog, even less so on engaging on others’ blogs, which doesn’t drive traffic either. I go back and forth between missing that engagement and being a bit sad about “missing out,” versus just not giving a crap because I have this great book to read and dinner to cook and way more important things than getting upset over followers.
Casey says
I hear you. It’s really hard with the time commitment. I go through spells where I just don’t have any time to be looking at any other blogs, let alone dealing with trying to keep up with my own. It’s so important to realize that it’s here when you can be here, but it doesn’t have to be your whole life if you don’t want it to! 🙂
Rachael - Seachange Okinawa says
This is a great post! I feel the same. Sometimes I get really fixated on the numbers and then I step back and ask myself why? I’m not trying to make money from my blog. I don’t want to get stuck feeling like it only matters if i’m increasing my views, or followers etc…
Casey says
Totally! It’s easy to get sucked into that trap of obsessing over our blogs, I do all the time!
Courtney Minor says
I feel the same way! While I do want to have an engaged audience (it’s nice to have SOMEONE reading & interacting), ultimately I try not to get too caught up with numbers. Sometimes they go up, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes I try to grow my traffic, but ultimately I enjoy sharing and writing about my adventures more than anything. I’m not trying to turn my blog into my income source either, so ultimately it’s not a big deal if I don’t have thousands of people reading every day.
Casey says
Yes!!! It’s great to have that engagement and community, but when we enjoy what we’re sharing and writing, that is what really shines through!
Laura Valuta says
Thanks 😉 Oh, I’m tired of the numbers too 🙂 Still enjoying my blog and reading others – no matter what 😉
http://www.be-fabdiary.blogspot.com
Casey says
So glad!!! 🙂
kaili willows says
Couldn’t agree more. I also go through the cycle of promoting & then tiring and not caring haha. While it would be nice to have an extra source of income, I’d rather have a blog that preserves my memories than a business. There is nothing wrong with a business, but travel-blogging for income is not for me right now.
Kaili | weirdwonderfulwanderlust.blogspot.com
Casey says
Totally! It’s all about what works for you and not everyone wants to turn their blog into a business!
Camila @ AdventitiousViolet says
I’m exactly the same with the promoting and then getting bored, definitely comes in phases! I think I just need to focus my attention on generally blogging about things that I love and inspire me and keeping a good community around it 🙂
Casey says
Totally! When we do what we love, it really shows! 🙂