In this self-reflective phase I’ve been going through, I’ve been thinking a ton about my blogging niche – my “brand” – and paying attention to some of the advice floating out there. So much of the blogging and social media expertise makes me roll my eyes, since we’re really all just figuring it out together, but there are definitely areas I can improve (ahem *dealing with comments* ahem). I am inspired by so many great bloggers out there, and I watch as many other bloggers are just another version of the biggest names. It can be so easy to ape the stars, whether it’s out of flattery or just trying to follow a successful formula. But I don’t think the world needs another Dooce, another Pioneer Woman, another Soulemama, another Design Mom. Those women all have their spheres handled. What do I have to offer that’s unique?
The blogging advice that frustrates me the most is that you’re “supposed” to narrow your topics so that you have a hook. I see this a ton in the craft blog world where sometimes people get so specific that they have one blog for their knitting and another for their sewing, or where they just create with one medium so they’re known as the go-to person who works with popsicle sticks or something, or, most troubling to me, leave all traces of a real personal life off the screen. That advice often gets results, but I can’t bring myself to follow it. There has always been too much in this world that I’ve been interested in, and I don’t want to have to choose one part of myself at the expense of anything else.
In small moments I get frustrated that some other blogs, especially those that compile the work of others, get so much more traffic than I do. Many blogs, often in the craft or design world, offer nothing more than links to another blogger’s efforts. It can be tempting to rely on someone else’s beautiful pictures or good ideas. It’s easy, the ideas are plentiful, traffic increases, but there are so many blogs that do that, the world does not need another one from me.
Before I sound too critical, let me say here that some of the blogs that compile content are exquisite and the first ones I check every morning. Some of those bloggers are excellent networkers and curators and spend valuable time in research. Some of those bloggers have featured my work and been supportive and promoted me and my blog. But then there are other bloggers, and some of those bloggers are skating by on borrowed work without offering much value in return.
I love to listen to interviews with artists and writers and performers to gain some insight into what they do, and this issue comes up a lot. Do you follow a personal, artistic vision, even if it means you stay a little obscure? Or do you do whatever it takes to make it big? If those two things happen to overlap, then that’s the dream come true. But for most of us, they won’t. So do I keep plugging away for another ten years, recording my strife and my projects for a wonderfully supportive readership that is a fraction of what the biggest bloggers get, or do I obey the experts, toss in some blogging tricks, some things guaranteed to up the page views, at the expense of my content?
I don’t mean to sound like some moody teenager prattling on about “selling out,” I don’t think it’s anywhere near as simple as that. It’s more like, following standard practices that are more or less proven to work, or staying true to my particular voice which resists those practices. The people only interested in working with popsicle sticks won’t face this dilemma because their voice happens to fit with the standard practices.
But for me, I have those two forces fighting it out in my head. The ambitious part of me that wants to be The Most Successful at anything I try, and the Rugged Individualist part of me that wants to break every rule. Even the ones that work.
So, if that’s what I’m trying to avoid, what am I trying to be? After years of trying to describe my blog as a “personal blog,” or a “mommy blog,” or a “craft blog” and being unsatisfied, I finally decided that what I am is a “Creative Living blog.” I started paying a lot of attention to what inspires me, where I get my ideas, what I want to write about, and I realized that it always comes from finding a solution to a problem. Sometimes those problems are a decorating need, trying to stick to a budget, a need to express myself, or to create the kind of life I want for my family and develop into the kind of person I want to be.
What I want to offer is a creative approach to every aspect of my life. How I parent, how I express myself, how I make a home, how I connect to the world. I want everything I make to be fully integrated into my life, and through that fully integrate my creativity into my life. I want to come up with creative solutions to problems mundane and complex, and tap into my best self by using my talents to live a thoughtful life.
If all that means that I never gain a ridiculous following or get rich off the blog, then I’m going to learn to be just fine with that. Because I think my life will be pretty dang great anyway.
