Category: Bloggy Stuff

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Blogging Police Sit Back

I love my blog

Every so often in blogland we see lots of posts around the best way to blog and the top tips of what to do and what not to do.  In reality, there are very few real things to avoid.

All we have to do is remember to keep the legal aspects of things in check, disclose where we need to show we’ve received products or payment and avoid libellous content.  There’s a reason newspapers and the TV use the word allegedly a lot.   Take a cue from them.

Apart from that, it’s everyone for themselves.  Yes, it would be lovely in a ideal world to never take any adverts or product placements, but if they’re slotted into a post that would have been written already, then what harm is it doing?   There are some people who dislike blog adverts and that’s fine for them if they don’t want to read a blog.  Yes, it’s a bit of an inconvenience to filter through some of the paid posts, but there are times when it is just too tempting to not take advantage of if money is short and an extra income is appreciated.

I’ve read about a few bloggers with steam coming out of their ears and a new blogger haughtily told me recently that she doesn’t do it for money, but because she likes it.  I got the distinct impression that she was very anti my blog because it carried some review and paid for content.  That’s fine for her, but it’s not good to intimate that other bloggers are doing it wrong just because they aren’t doing it the same was as they are.

Very new bloggers often also get really annoyed with those of us who’ve been going longer and get more offers.   The offers come in because of the length of time other blogs have been on the go and can show consistency in content, fairness and how well they liaise with the clients.

Those who blog just to get some freebies will find it hard to do that as it does take time to build up.  The ones who fake their following stats on their blogs and stats are easily found out so it’s a pointless exercise in the long run.   They may have started for the wrong reason, but they’ll mostly have to wait their time to prove themselves just like everyone else does.

Blogging changes – a lot.  When we start, we meet new people, who are very enthusiastic and create big comment circles.  Some comment circles diminish as bloggers drop off, move on, or just stop commenting.  It’s not wrong or selfish, or anything untoward, it’s just the changing world with young enthusiastic bloggers beginning to make their mark on the blogging world, and that’s how it should be.

A couple of years ago, I decided I wouldn’t enter myself for the blog award circles.  I’ve been nominated for some, but this is my blog, it’s my hobby and I enjoy it.  The pressure of finding people to vote for me is just not something that I enjoy as a blogger, but it’s fine for those who do enjoy it.   It’s all each to our own.  I’m happy to vote for others who want to enter, and it’s nice to see them happy if they get an award, but perhaps I’m just not that competitive.  Maybe it’s my age and having special needs kids that means I’m just happy to have a blog, have an audience who read and for some lovely brands and PR’s who send us some lovely things.

Love your blog and others too.   Nobody knows what other people are going through and why they might need the extra money.  Some bloggers will take sponsored content and other won’t.

I love my blog and my blog pays for itself.  That’s a fabulous hobby to have.  Some of us have been going longer than others and there are some great blogs that provide fab tips for others.  It’s sensible to use them as they save us all time and effort in finding things out for ourselves.

Live and let live.

I’m on holiday so I won’t be promoting this, but I did feel like I needed to splurge.

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Are Scottish Bloggers Just Shy?

Update 2024. Hahahahahahaha. I am laughing at myself with this post. I wrote it so long ago, that the whole online landscape has done a backflip, forwardflip and backflip again. Bloggers aren’t young adults to middle age people any more and youngsters think they invented the world. I think I’ll be chuckling to myself the rest of the day. Scottish bloggers shy – bwahaha. They’d think I’m a dinosaur nowadays… They’d be right.

This is the question that has bothered me for a while now.  Are Scottish bloggers just shy?  Could it be how we are brought up?  I think it has something to do with the lack of regular female bloggers living and working here in the cold frozen wastes of Scottish Heathen Hinterlands, hiding under their family tartan, mud huts and cave dwellings.

Look at England, Wales and the US.  Bloggers are confidently marketing, self-promoting and selling their blogs to the world.

They display little in the way of embarrassment at any sign of success for their blogs and proudly hold their heads up and announce their success to the outside world.

Head to Scotland, and at times, I also think Ireland, we sit in our pooky wee holes and pretend that we don’t really exist to the outside world.  Yes, there are times when we have to stand up and be counted, and there is absolutely NO denying the work it takes to get to the point where Google sends you a few hundred or more visitors daily,  so why do we play down the amount of work it takes to get there?

In London, I saw the English and US bloggers sit proudly with their heads held high when they talked about their blogs.  I sat and wondered why there are so few of us in Scotland.  Perhaps the Scots are just late to the party and lots more will catch up with the blogging machine, but we’re not anywhere near matching our English compatriots yet.  It could also be a population numbers things, so bear with me.

It does have to be said, that for a group of supposedly loner bloggers who spend their isolated lives living at keyboards interacting with each other, we all have plenty to say when we meet.

I’ve gone off track, so back to the bloggers in Scotland.

In my blogging community, the majority who promote themselves in our neck of the woods are almost all either former US or English citizens with a smattering of us Scots in-between.

Is it how we’re brought up in this neck of the woods?

Are we taught to celebrate the success of others, but be eternally damned handicapped when it comes to our own?

Who knows why our humility can send us packing into the wild white yonder of icy mush while others accept their praise graciously.

Up to now, I’ve always been one of those who couldn’t accept the popularity contest thing for blogging, especially since I sometimes blog about issues that regular parenting circles just don’t want to have to listen to, but it is actually quite nice to have been nominated for something.  Instead of barring the hashtag and pretending it doesn’t matter at all, I’m going to be gracious.

The Mads is now run yearly by Sally from the Tots, in conjunction with Parentdish and a couple of people have contacted me to say they have nominated me in the food blogger category.  There are some bloggers in there who are serious foodies, unlike me, but I’d like to thank those who voted for me.

For this time round, I am going to wear my badge with pride on the blog.

I’m never one that is going to be able to put out loads of tweets, posts or messages asking people to vote for me, and neither will many other Scottish born bloggers I suspect.  I wouldn’t say no to any other nominations either, so if you’d like to give me a boost, there are still a couple more weeks to go on this round, just click on the picture.  I don’t know what happens after this, so I guess it’s a wait and see.

Thank you to all who read my blog.  I really appreciate you all.