After 2 Years Of Blogging Here’s What I Learned
Blogging is a waste of time. Well at least for me it was.
Why?
It wasn’t getting me anywhere near my end goal of creating a fashion label.
Two years ago I had started a men’s style blog because I had seen someone else doing it and they had huge success. But that was a mistake.
Rule number 1; never try something just because you see other people are successful at it.
The purpose of my blog was “To inspire individuality so that students can find their own style” by “Aiding in solving style problems of millennials with fresh and useful weekly tips that are quick, easy to incorporate into a man’s wardrobe bringing out confidence and originality on campus through the clothes”.
The thing is everyone has a blog. Why? Because it’s easy. Buy a domain, buy hosting, set up your site, write a few articles and post some pictures. Done.
Sounds easy right? Yea, if you want it to be an average blogger.
But after two years I didn’t want to be an average blogger, I didn’t want to be like everyone else, I didn’t want to try my hand at something just because I saw a few people having major success at it.
So I dropped it. And after two years of blogging to no end here’s what I learned:
Everyone is creating content
Just about everywhere you turn someone has a YouTube channel, blog or podcast.
Most likely you know someone who's a blogger. Hell, I bet your mother is at her computer right now Googling how to make money blogging with Squarespace opened on another tab only a click away from launch.
You’re probably sitting next to a blogger, YouTuber, or podcaster right now.
When I launched my site, probably just like the rest of you content creators, I thought I was doing something different. I thought I was outside the box.
Little did I know I was no different from everyone else.
Soon as I launched my blog I saw other people who were doing the same thing and many of them before me. Other bloggers had started to follow me, various bloggers would show up on the explore page of my Instagram, even my friends started their own blogs and podcasts.
As a matter of fact, I’m helping my friend with her YouTube channel right now.
But the key to a successful content isn’t a cute face, nice pictures, or a good looking site. If you really want to start a successful blog the key is to make art.
What do I mean by that?
You have to create something meaningful. You have to separate yourself from everyone else on the world wide web. You have to about more than just fashion, more than makeup, more than lifestyle, more than fitness.
If you want to grow and reach the masses you can’t simply just overload people with content you have to provide valuable content and a lot of it.
Understand what your goal is
When I first started blogging my initial goal was to become an influencer and work with various brands but later my attention shifted to creating my own fashion label and turning my blog followers into consumers of the brand.
I kept calling it a long term goal. But what my friend had revealed to me, is that it doesn’t have to be a long term goal — I can start my brand right now.
The blog I created that I thought was a means to an end was really distracting me from my end goal.
It wasn’t getting me anywhere near my end goal so there was no point of starting it in the first place.
If I wanted to be a fashion designer I didn’t need a blog. What I needed was to draw designs and get clothes made.
If you’re getting ready to start a YouTube channel, launch a website, or start a podcast figure out what your goal is and make sure whatever you do after gets you closer and closer to that goal.
People just want attention
I never realized how much people were into themselves until I started a blog.
Friends would suggest to me all the time, “We should do a shoot together”, “When are we going to do a photoshoot?”, and my favorite “Let’s collab” as if they had their own blog or clothing company.
I soon realized that all most people wanted was attention. They were addicted to likes and comments instead of putting out great content.
They saw how much engagement my Instagram was getting and wanted in on what I was doing.
However, they didn’t realize that taking a quality picture takes more than a nice outfit and a great camera.
More important they failed to realize that I wasn’t on social media to look good or show off how well I could dress.
They didn’t understand that my photoshoots were meant to inspire collegiate men to dress better. All they could see was likes and comments. The only thing they were concerned about was the attention.
What most people fail to realize is that doing something for personal attention won’t get you anywhere. Posting a nice picture may get you a few hundred likes and maybe a few follows but it won’t really do you any good in the end.
If you’re looking to create content make sure what you put on social media has a purpose. Make should what you share to the world has value. When people come to your page they should know exactly what they’re getting and enjoy getting it.
While posting a great looking picture and watching your notifications pile up on likes may feel good in actuality you’ll just be another pretty face on social media.
Over the past two years, I’ve learned if you really want to build a following you have to provide value. The people who view your page should be able to leave it knowing that they’ve gained something useful.
Closing
Since starting my blog I discovered that the influencer market is very much oversaturated. While it works for some for other it serves no purpose. Everyone wants to be a social media mogul but not everyone should be.
If you’re launching a podcast, YouTube channel, or blog just to voice your opinion, look good, or simply be able to say you’re a content creator you’re doing it for all the wrong reasons.
If you’re going to create content figure out what your end goal is and ask yourself,
“Is what I’m doing helping me get any closer to my goal”
Don’t create content for attention, do it because you have something of value to give. The internet is noisy and social media is overcrowded.
We don’t need another Instagram model taking endless selfies, makeup channel, or self-help podcast.
What we need is for you to do is add value to our lives, to inspire us, and to provide us with the tools we need to be better people. What we need isn’t entertainment what we need is impact.
Thanks for reading.
