I am not, by most measures, a successful blogger.
My stats are on the lowish side. My blog makes me exactly 10% of f*** all. I’m not inundated with offers to review exciting products or go on holidays. I’m a very small fish in a very big pond of parent bloggers, just kind of swimming around in circles and bumping into everyone else.
Yet I consider my blog to be successful. Why? Because I’m writing exactly the kind of content I want to be writing.
I decided not to go down the paid reviews/sponsored posts route that many of my bloggy friends have taken. I don’t do giveaways or host advertising. It’s not only that my blog doesn’t make me any money, it’s that between commissioning a logo and going self-hosted, it’s actually cost me money, the bastard.
I have so much respect for the bloggers out there who turn their blog into a business and make it work, but I knew from the start that wasn’t going to be for me. I didn’t want to have to write about other people’s stuff. I wanted to write about MY stuff. I wanted to write about tantrums and feminism and weird children’s books. I wanted to write whenever it suited me without having to worry about deadlines. I wanted to be flippant and funny-ish and swear sometimes.
My blog had no business being a business.
So here I am, over a year down the line. My followers have grown VERY slowly but steadily. My writing has, I hope, gotten better. I’ve made loads of virtual mummy friends. I still love my little blog, with all its quirks and references to cheese.
I recently received a lovely compliment from The Mum Reviews, who said, “It’s probably because in her day job she’s an expert at writing stuff for the web, but everything about her blog makes me want to keep reading it.” That’s all I never wanted to do – get people to keep reading. If I’ve done that, then I’ve succeeded in my own small fish kind of way.
Katie writes over at The Squirmy Popple!
You can also find her over on Twitter and Facebook
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32 Comments
I love your blog popple. It’s great that you write just your stuff! xx
yay me next week! xx
Thanks Rachel!
I love this! Katie your blog is amazing, it’s always so funny and refreshing and I love hearing about the adventures of the Popple.
Great idea for a series Katie! xx
Thanks – I love sharing the Popple’s adventures!
Love that! It’s not all about being paid and this is not the main reason we start blogging at all. It’s because we want to write about our stuff, the stuff we are passionate about, and our blogs give us the freedom to do it. 🙂 xx
Good to see you featured, Katie. I’m happy you’re happy with your writing and that you’re putting out content you want and not just doing it for pennies.
Awww I love Katie’s blog and I too make 10% off fuck all. Haha. Thanks for linking up with #FridayFrolics
Love the idea behind this series and I really admire your determination Squirmy, it’s really easy to get carried away and diversify when you’ve not really considered how or if you even want to do that. Your blog is perfect as it is, even if it is costing you an arm and a leg ?
Love the way you’ve forged your own groove in blogging, a brilliant guest post 🙂 #fridayfrolics
A great idea for a post! I love posts featuring bloggers! #ablogginggodtime
Thanks lovely x
You have a wonderful blog and that feedback you received is amazing. This is a great series. #ablogginggoodtime
You have wonderful writing style! Thanks for sharing #ablogginggoodtime
I love your blog and love that you love it too! In the end, that is what matters most I suppose.
#ablogginggoodtime
This is great! I’m a few months into blogging now but it feels like there’s so much pressure to work with brands, with the mountain of posts out there about “how to work with brands” and “how to monetise your blog”. It’s actually really refreshing to hear someone say that it’s OK to just write how, when, why you want. It takes the pressure off a bit. Thank you for that. #ABloggingGoodTime
Aw I love this! You are a success and a great writer!
I love this and I love that you just write whatever you want and have no pressure on yourself to make many from your blog. I’ve done a few reviews and paid for blog posts but I’m starting to be more picky when it comes to writing about other people’s stuff on my blog. I started so I would have a collection of memories to look back on with my family..none of us will care about all the sponsored stuff in we years time. I love The Squirmy Poppleton blog and I would say your reason for being a blogging success is completely valid 🙂 xx #ablogginggoodtime
Awwww this is so amazing. I love that people are still following passions these days and not jut ‘in it for the money’ I started blogging as my day job is mundane and not ME at all and I have always loved to write! If it gets me to a place where I can give up the day job then so be it… but al least Im writing! I am definitely going to pop over to The Squirmy Popple and give a little *wave*. #ablogginggoodtime
Here here. Your enjoyment for it shows in your writing. I am pretty new to mummy blogs and yours is great 🙂 #ablogginggoodtime
Love this. I love Popple’s blog and writing, and I admire the way she doesn’t compare herself to others or worry about stats and blogging opportunities. Really refreshing to read. #ablogginggoodtime
Such a nice post, and a great way to look at success. Thanks for sharing at #ablogginggoodtime
Love this – very similar to my outlook!
Sorry for my lateness – having technological issues this week! Thanks so much for joining us on #FridayFrolics
Katie, I love this. You seem to know exactly what you want from your blog and I love your confidence, which then shows in your engaging writing. ‘Swimming around in circles, bumping into everyone else’ – what a brilliant description of what we all do! Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed reading them. Alison x #ablogginggoodtime
It’s good to know that I am not the only blogger tapping away for no economic reward…. I’m writing because I want to raise some awareness about autism in a fairly light hearted kind of a way. Keep writing – you never know where these things lead on to…..! #ablogginggoodtime
Loving this series, success really is subjective. As long as you are accomplishing what you want to then you’re a success
#Ablogginggoodtime
Totally agree xx
Good for you, sticking to your guns and doing what’s right for you. I’ve had a look at your blog and you really are a great writer. Love this series! #ablogginggoodtime
Thanks lovely – hope to have you on it at some point xx
Great way to see success. #ablogginggoodtime
Love this, everyone has their own version of success. I aspire to be like you, however, I find myself being jealous of the bigger bloggers. All in due time. I just need to remind myself I started blogging to me, not for anyone else. #ablogginggoodtime
Oh you certainly are a blogging success I absolutely love the way you write and the The Mum Reviews is spot on you always make me want to read more. It’s do engaging and makes chuckle. so here’s to you and your blogging success my lovey xx #ablogginggoodtime
Lovely of you to mention me! I totally meant my compliment and still really enjoy your writing. I also relate to what you’re saying about wanting your blog to be all yours. Sometimes working to hard to make it a business can take some of the joy out of it. Keep on doing just what you’re doing – it’s great!