One year ago, I started a blogging journey not knowing what to expect. I knew nothing about blogging. I had not followed any blogs nor had I ever read any blogs! So what the hell was I thinking?
I have a passion for home interior design and I want to share that passion, it’s that simple. I had no other motive. I wrote my first post 1 year ago on my birthday and have consistently posted twice a week for the last year. One year into this journey has given me a completely new perspective into the blogging life but I still wonder where do I fit?
Personal blogs have been around since the late 1990s. These bloggers share their daily experiences and innermost thoughts and feelings with their audience. These bloggers feel a need to express themselves through words and are incredibly introspective in their writing. These bloggers write about anything and everything. Some may focus on a particular interest or hobby, a passion or a cause such as their struggle with cancer. They will write about whatever comes to mind on that particular day.
Then I have found the business bloggers. They blog to gain more exposure, traffic and customers for their business, writing articles targeting their ideal customer.
Professional bloggers blog to make money online. They either are supplementing their income or blogging is their sole income. They earn money by promoting products for a commission and displaying ads, and they use different forms of monetization to achieve their goal, such as affiliate links. They may review products and give recommendations.
The Niche blog is also very popular. Instead of focusing on many broad topics, these bloggers focus on a particular area of interest. A very popular niche blog community is food. I have found the food community to be very engaging and passionate.
A modern type of blog I have been seeing more and more is called the reverse blog. The owner of the blog, instead or creating original content, has guest writers creating the content. This can work well for both sides, giving many bloggers good exposure.
The most popular blogging these days is video blogging also referred to as vlogging. Bloggers create a video of interesting topics, their point of view and opinions. Creating a youtube channel in a great way to get started.
The last type of blogger is the freelance blogger. They are paid for their content and they cover a variety of topics.
One year into blogging and I wonder where do I go from here? Do I want to continue, do I enjoying blogging? Are there days I feel like throwing in the towel? Are there days I feel down because engagement is low? Does it totally suck to put your personal thoughts and feelings online…wondering if anyone is reading or anyone cares? Do I get discouraged when I only get only a few “Likes” on a post…FUCK YEA I DO!!!
So why do it? It takes an incredible amount of time to come up with good content, take pictures and write. I have never spent less than 3 hours on any post and sometimes up to 12 hours on a single post. My content is original and all my own. You are probably wondering if I am making any money on my blog…FUCK NO I DON’T!
Back to my original question…why do it? So much work for so little return? Because I somehow enjoy it. I like very much meeting other bloggers online, reading their blogs and interacting with them on a personal level. I now see the enjoyment in writing and expressing myself through words. I feel myself growing as a blogger and a home design professional.
It’s been a fun year and I have learned so much. I will continue to blog, continue to meet other awesome bloggers and continue to share my ideas on home design.
My goals for the next year are to grow my Happy Haute Home blog by opening an online shop where I will share my favorite home decor pieces. I also plan to venture into the eDesign business. More about that in a future post.
I am often asked about interior decorating services. I am thinking about offering these services as well in the upcoming year. Seems aggressive right?!
I am very thankful for all my followers of Happy Haute Home. Your support of my blog on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have encouraged me to venture into new territory. Your continued support is very much appreciated.
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Someone is expressing themselves today! I loved the candid attitude you have regarding blogging and I agree that it sometimes feels daunting and overly stressful, but hey, if you enjoy it and you got readers, you are on the right path! Keep creating content, taking pictures and having fun all while doing it :))
Thank you! What a great response! I was feeling a bit sassy when I wrote it 🙂 I have a hard time hiding my feelings..if you cant tell.
Thank you for writing this post. Same here – thinking what I am going to update my blog in 2018, was also thinking if I should be monetizing my blog, which is more the idea of me. And do not be discouraged to stop blogging. Blogging is great. Since that now technology has taken away this kind of aspect of meeting people mostly everyday face to face, I think blogging has made a way to make us be in touch from across the pond, and this is fantastic. But please be careful, it is like becoming a bit sore on wordpress, there are lots of fake website being made and one person alone could are having more than three or four blogs, and trying to manipulate and stalking other bloggers. I was thinking of getting together with some other real bloggers and start making ourselves a team and making guest blogs on our blogs so that our followers can get the chance of seeing all of us. But we have to be careful to do so, we must be like choosy about real bloggers. I wanted to do that with only those who do interior decorative aspects, and I am sure we will gather a good team of original people. If you want to discuss, we can.
You definitely have to be very careful out there, scammers are everywhere for sure! Thanks for visiting Julie!
I just started blogging … Lord help me… 🙏🏻
LOL! It’s tough no doubt, you have to really enjoy it to keep on keeping on.
Happy Belated Anniversary! Keep it up! 😀