Olivia Lucie Blake

Musings of a Millennial. Life, The World and Everything In Between.

The Real Cost of Running a Blog

Running a blog comes at a cost, whether thats financial, physical or mental. There is a cost. It’s alot of work, and I don’t think alot of people realise how hard it can be. When you run a blog alot of things go through your mind. I’m sure many other bloggers can relate to this. I have so many drafted posts that I’ve never published because I think they’re not good enough. I’ve trashed perfectly fine posts too because I felt like my audience won’t enjoy them. Sometimes it’s a battle with self, and nothing more.

It takes alot of courage to start a blog, and there are many people out there who hide this from their friends and families because they worry about their reactions. I thought today we could talk about the real cost of running a blog, and everything that comes with it. The good, the bad and the ugly. In hopes that this will give my readers a-bit of an open door into the reality of blogging.

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4 Things Bloggers Need To Stop Worrying About

It’s a natural thing to worry about things that you care about. My mom always told me that nerves and worry were always a good thing, because it means you care. But there is a fine line between worrying and over worrying/becoming obsessive. As a blogger there are many things that run through our minds at all times. Will they read my content, will I get comments and follows, will people like me? Those are just some of the questions I have asked myself in the past. I understand its hard to not think about those things, you are putting your work out there! It can be scary because its the unknown.

Today I thought I’d outline four things that we as bloggers need to care less about. In hopes this helps a struggling blogger out there who is finding themselves worrying about their blog alot. We have all been there, and some of us might be right there with you now.

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How I Gained 2k Blog Followers in 4 Months

Running a blog is hard work, but with hard work comes results. I gained 2k blog followers in 4 months, and today I’m going to share my strategy on how I achieved it. I truly did not expect to gain 2k followers in 4 months, I had no idea this would happen. But I was thinking back to when I came back to blogging in July of this year (2020) and how I would have really appreciated a post like this. As some sort of motivation and guidance.

If you are here because you think I’m going to give you some secret code that gives you those followers overnight, you are looking in the wrong place. This happened from hard work and dedication and nothing more. It wont happen overnight and it didn’t for me. The tips I share are the things I did to make this happen. It’s up to you to put in the hard work to see the results.

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Let’s Talk About Why We Blog

One thing you’ve probably noticed I do every now and then on my blog is creating conversation style posts, which is why you see posts such as my ‘Today I am Thankful For‘ post a few weeks ago.

It’s such a great thing to have conversations with people online, it’s not only great to make friends and connections but its great to talk to people you normally wouldn’t be able to. I have made so many blogger friends who live thousands and thousands of miles away from me, and none of that would have been possible without my blog & technology of course.

We all blog for various different reasons, some for hobbies, some for money, some just because. I thought for this weeks topic conversation we could all discuss our reasons why we blog. I’m sure all of our reasons vary and I cant wait to see what the responses are. I’ll start out by talking about why I blog and then in the comments I’d love to see your responses, no matter what it is.

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Benefits I’ve Seen From Using Instagram For Blogging

I know alot of people don’t like Instagram much, and I know why. Just like many other social media platforms, they have changed their algorithm, and it’s made it even harder for creators for their work to be seen. I started my blog instagram page in September, previous to starting it I was using my own personal Instagram. It didn’t take me long to realise this was a bad idea. I think for me it’s important to have some sort of separation from personal and blog, which is the main reason why I started the separate account.

A lot of people don’t realise the work that goes into running a blog full time, there’s so much more to it than just writing and posting content. Theres the interaction side of it, and making sure that you are supporting other people as much as they are supporting you. Theres the upkeep, making sure that all of the links are working on your site, and making sure you are staying ontop of post ideas and emails and sticking to your blogging schedule. I could go on and on.

Since starting my Instagram account I have personally seen many benefits of having the account for my blog, and today I’ll be going through those benefits today.

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How I Balance Blogging Around a Full Schedule

It can be so hard balancing the things that come with life, some things we choose to do and some things we have to do. When I restarted my blog this year I didn’t realise that it would be like a full time job and I already have a full time job. I know some fellow blogging friends of mine have families and kids they have to look after too, so I cant even image running a blog and having to juggle all of that.

I often get asked how I post so much and how I manage to balance everything to stay afloat. So this is why this post is here! I want to share what I personally do to keep onto of my blog whilst having a full time job and other commitments. It’s not easy, but I hope these tips can help to take some weight off of your shoulders.

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Blogging Q&A: You Ask, I Answer

I would never consider myself established or a subject matter expert on blogging, but I do get DM’s and questions about blogging, especially from newbies. As many of you already know my blogging story, I wont bore you with a repeat. But I would have found it so helpful if a fellow blogger at the time had an open discussion with their readers and answered as many blogging questions as they could. So I thought I’d give it a try today.

As I have already said, I’m by no means an expert at this. But I really want to help new and or established bloggers, with any helpful advice I can give.

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Blogging Advice I’ve Learnt Whilst Blogging

Before I started a blog I didn’t really look or research what goes into it and didn’t seek much blogging advice. I just saw others doing it and thought “I want to do this too!”. Of course if you are considering starting a blog or have just started one, I’d recommend doing the opposite of what I did. Its always good to research anything before you do it, especially when it involves the internet.

Blogging advice can vary, what I think works for me and my blog might not be the same case for you or another blogger. We don’t all have the same audiences, we don’t all have the same opinions and preferences in style and colours. Everybody has different thoughts and processes they follow.

Today I wanted to share the blogging advice I have learnt whilst blogging, in hopes it helps you on your blogging journey too!

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