I've had a change of heart lately, about where this blog is going and whether it's any use keeping it alive. I've worked to keep this blog updated every other day for the past year and four months, but recently I've reduced it down because I just didn't feel like all the hard work was worth the effort. I've unintentionally alienated friends and family because my blog has become a central element of my life, and my university work has also faltered because of it. Despite all this, I've been watching my follower numbers decreasing a lot lately, and it's really unsettled me. People keep telling me 'it's fine, GFC doesn't stand for anything anymore', but the point is it's not that the follower numbers are stagnating, it's that they're reducing. People are actively unfollowing the blog for some reason. Perhaps I've upset you? Perhaps I've offended some readers? I'd love some feedback if so, because I'd like to change that. I'm not an offensive person, and I don't seek to upset people, and it's upset me that it appears I've done that completely unintentionally through the blog.
I'm aware I reach a very narrow niche in the blogging world. Alternative blogs don't always reach the heady heights of more popular, mainstream blogs, and I've been aware of that since I started. But who can say they're not a bit upset when they see blogs established a matter of weeks ago gaining 10x the number of followers they have? It's not to say that I'm ungrateful for the 160 followers I have that have stood by me, some of which have been here since day one, for which I would hug you all if I could reach that far.
So while I figure out what to do with this blog, whether I just leave it to waste away like the zombie it is, or whether I keep it going until I snap out of it, I'll be reducing the frequency of posts to twice a week - one on Mondays and one on Fridays. This should give me time to break out of the vicious cycle of 'buy shit > photograph it > blog about it', get some uni work done and return to earth a bit.
Thank you for bearing with me!
I can understand how you feel! It can be disheartening to work so hard on your blog and not gain any or even lose followers, especially when some people seem to gain followers so quickly! But don't give up, I really enjoy reading your blog! :) xx
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel to some extent... I have been gaining one follower and losing two lately! But getting followers is mainly about advertising sadly. The more you can share your blog on other forms of social media, the more people will follow.... but it is a small trickle. I find that I get most of my followers when I have a giveaway sadly!
ReplyDeleteI have hardly any follwers but I don't mind! I started my blog due to my love of writing and want to meet like minded people (like yourself)! More followers would be lovely, but overall I just really enjoy planning & writing my posts!
ReplyDeleteI love your posts, but do whatever feels right for you :)
Also, great song choice!
Jade xx
Do the follower numbers correlate with page views? I've seen that even at times when I'm getting no new followers, the page views can still rise. You should also have a look at the widget that let's you link similar posts (the one that creates little pictures with links below the post, with a text like "You might also like:"), it will help give your readers a much better view of the whole blog and encourage browsing more.
ReplyDeleteSweetie, I've been reading this blog for over year now and I love it! I may not comment all the time but I still read it and love the way you write. GFC is fickle unfortunately - my followers have increased recently but for a long time they stagnated and I lost a fair few too. Giveaways increase follower counts but they're compers that don't actually read the rest of the content at all the majority of the time. Accounts on GFC also get deleted all of the time too so please don't take it personally. There is a group of hardcore followers that love you and like that you're not 'mainstream' (if I see one more 'floral/cupcake blog I may well just scream). Take some time, reload and make other things your priority - especially if like you say, other things are suffering. You'll get back into it I promise xxx
ReplyDeleteP.S. I've grabbed your button :)
Please don't go anywhere, this is one of my favourite blogs. I understand if you want to post less but please don't go.
ReplyDeleteIt can be disheartening when you have very few followers and no comments on a blog that you try to work hard on, but I really enjoy your blog! I don't always comment because I can't always think of something to say, but I always read your posts, and I'd miss you if you left.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you're coming from and have felt the same :3 I'm not great with commenting on blogs. My GFC followers haven't been growing but my pageviews have definitely improved compared to a couple of months ago which is great. Point is, people do read. Before I even had a blog I used to lurk on a lot of my favorite blogs but never commented. You never know, it can be the same with you :)
ReplyDeleteI would hug you but my arms don't stretch that far either. Do what's right for you. I'd miss this blog if it were gone [sorry for my comment failing of late!] but there's no point making yourself unhappy over it.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand where you are coming from. I went through a stage a couple of months ago where I lost six followers in a week and it was so incredibly disheartening. I think you need to what you want to do regardless of followers, I can assure that the ones who love your blog (like me!) will be around forever! Also, when people delete their Google accounts it unfollows all the blogs they're following and I suspect people may have been doing that because they thought GFC was going? Anyway, you need to do whatever will make you happy.
ReplyDelete