Do I Stay Or Do I Go?
I've been struggling with this blog lately.
I've talked about this before, how it seems that, at least for the summer, bloggers and readers have taken an extended vacation from both blogging and reading, and I feel like I'm talking to myself in this space, which has left me feeling frustrated with continuing on. The lack of comments and social media interaction, on which bloggers thrive, has left a little hole where my writing enthusiasm resides. Tie in the fact that most posts are going the Pinterest route with a stylized pinnable graphic and top 5/top 20/best and worst/how-to themes abounding, I just don't feel like I can keep up and I'm feeling sour on the whole blogging process.
I love my little space here and my readers (for those of you still with me out there, hi!) but I'm feeling like it may be time to take a break from this blog. I'm hoping to do several craft shows between now and the end of the year in order to help Milo and Molly get out there more in my community- a major business goal of mine. In order to do that, and to also build a better shop presence online, I've been working really hard making new stock, which is a time-consuming but fun process.
Add to that the fact that my daily life is pretty routine: I am a mom at home with kids and we don't do a ton of interesting things because we are homebodies who are both thrifty and tired. We aren't traveling to exotic places, we're not dining out in the hottest spots, we're not buying clothing to follow the trends; in fact, we're hardly out and about in out own community right now. Going out to eat isn't even something we do very often. So when I see posts about travel tips and the latest fashions, I don't feel like I have a whole lot to contribute to what's happening now. I love my little life, but it's not exactly the stuff of awesome lifestyle blogging and I sometimes feel like the content is just not there.
And then I see blogs out there that I would like to be- the ones that have a simple, chic post day after day- but then I realize that a lot of those blogs are a team effort, with multiple authors and designers working on their product, and they do a beautiful job. Whereas, it's just me over here, learning as I go and trying to come up with interesting posts but falling short.
Options I've been toying around with for the past few days:
1. Stop blogging and call it a day. Just pack it in and be done and move on. 3 1/2 years of blogging is pretty impressive, so I'm happy with what I've accomplished here.
2. Microblogging, using Instagram as a blog/diary format for quick but hopefully meaningful snapshots of my life. One problem: I have the lousy old iphone whose camera is not exactly the best, making it hard to do a lot when I'm out.
3. Turning the blog's focus to Milo and Molly, the shop and products, focusing on what I'm working on and what's up and coming with glimpses into my process.
4. Random posting when I feel like it, with finds and link roundups taking the lead since these are fun and interesting for me. The problem here is that readers wouldn't know when I would be posting, which I know can lead to a drop off in total readership.
5. Taking a break until the new year, drafting posts as I feel like writing and saving them up for when I come back.
When it comes down to it, I just don't know if I'm quite ready to let this go yet, but the fun of blogging is waning right now, compounded with the frustration that I can't produce the content I would really like to do. Maybe a small break would be good.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this, and any thoughts you have on the state of blogging. Also, how important is it to you that an Etsy seller have a blog? The idea was that a blog helps the buyer get to know you, but with platforms like Instagram, do we need blogs to accomplish this still? Help!
I've talked about this before, how it seems that, at least for the summer, bloggers and readers have taken an extended vacation from both blogging and reading, and I feel like I'm talking to myself in this space, which has left me feeling frustrated with continuing on. The lack of comments and social media interaction, on which bloggers thrive, has left a little hole where my writing enthusiasm resides. Tie in the fact that most posts are going the Pinterest route with a stylized pinnable graphic and top 5/top 20/best and worst/how-to themes abounding, I just don't feel like I can keep up and I'm feeling sour on the whole blogging process.
I love my little space here and my readers (for those of you still with me out there, hi!) but I'm feeling like it may be time to take a break from this blog. I'm hoping to do several craft shows between now and the end of the year in order to help Milo and Molly get out there more in my community- a major business goal of mine. In order to do that, and to also build a better shop presence online, I've been working really hard making new stock, which is a time-consuming but fun process.
Add to that the fact that my daily life is pretty routine: I am a mom at home with kids and we don't do a ton of interesting things because we are homebodies who are both thrifty and tired. We aren't traveling to exotic places, we're not dining out in the hottest spots, we're not buying clothing to follow the trends; in fact, we're hardly out and about in out own community right now. Going out to eat isn't even something we do very often. So when I see posts about travel tips and the latest fashions, I don't feel like I have a whole lot to contribute to what's happening now. I love my little life, but it's not exactly the stuff of awesome lifestyle blogging and I sometimes feel like the content is just not there.
And then I see blogs out there that I would like to be- the ones that have a simple, chic post day after day- but then I realize that a lot of those blogs are a team effort, with multiple authors and designers working on their product, and they do a beautiful job. Whereas, it's just me over here, learning as I go and trying to come up with interesting posts but falling short.
Options I've been toying around with for the past few days:
1. Stop blogging and call it a day. Just pack it in and be done and move on. 3 1/2 years of blogging is pretty impressive, so I'm happy with what I've accomplished here.
2. Microblogging, using Instagram as a blog/diary format for quick but hopefully meaningful snapshots of my life. One problem: I have the lousy old iphone whose camera is not exactly the best, making it hard to do a lot when I'm out.
3. Turning the blog's focus to Milo and Molly, the shop and products, focusing on what I'm working on and what's up and coming with glimpses into my process.
4. Random posting when I feel like it, with finds and link roundups taking the lead since these are fun and interesting for me. The problem here is that readers wouldn't know when I would be posting, which I know can lead to a drop off in total readership.
5. Taking a break until the new year, drafting posts as I feel like writing and saving them up for when I come back.
When it comes down to it, I just don't know if I'm quite ready to let this go yet, but the fun of blogging is waning right now, compounded with the frustration that I can't produce the content I would really like to do. Maybe a small break would be good.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this, and any thoughts you have on the state of blogging. Also, how important is it to you that an Etsy seller have a blog? The idea was that a blog helps the buyer get to know you, but with platforms like Instagram, do we need blogs to accomplish this still? Help!
