Misconceptions About Blogging & Bloggers

I don't think people outside of the blogging world really understand what blogging actually includes and what bloggers are like behind their screens. I feel like there's some sort of stereotype or even an immediate judgement associated with bloggers and blogging from those who aren't in this field. For me personally, before I started my blog I had no idea the real hard work, effort and time it takes to run a blog. I guess I had that first thought of it perhaps being easy and didn't really understand. Even now after over a year of running this blog, I'm still learning different parts of being a blogger and how running a blog actually works.

I wanted to share with you some of the 'typical' misconceptions surrounding bloggers and blogging that I've seen on the internet or heard in the outside world the past couple of years, as well as the realities of these misconceptions to hopefully educate anyone who doesn't understand the blogging world, or for any fellow bloggers to have a little chuckle and eye roll at some of the things people say about us. Please don't take this too seriously. It's suppose to be light hearted.

'Blogging is just writing and a few photos' - Umm, it's actually a lot more than that. There's the design of our blogs, the layout, the marketing and promotion through social media, there's building your audience, working with  brands, generating ideas, admin side of things like emails, etc. A lot of hard work and dedication goes into running a blog. It isn't just about writing a few paragraphs and taking a couple of photos. It's so much more than that and I love putting lot's of effort into it!!

'Bloggers who have ads and sponsored posts are doing it for the money and freebies' - To some people, blogging is their full time job. It's how they get by everyday and earn a living. They need the money from sponsored posts to continue on not only with everyday life, but also to continue producing the content they do. You don't understand how long it takes to actually put together a post and promote it. There's also things like hosting fees, services, design, props, tools, etc. So yes, some of us do charge for that time and effort that's gone into it, because we bloody well deserve it! Plus not everyone blogs for 'freebies'. Yes, getting sent things for free are an amazing bonus of the job and one I'll personally be forever grateful for. But not the reason I blog. I blog because I love it, which I'm sure a lot of you do too.

'Bloggers laze around the house all day' - Most bloggers actually have full time jobs or study along side running their blogs. So these people do not sit around the house all day being lazy, they get up and they get out to carry out their day. Most then come home to blog throughout the evenings and spend the weekends working on it. Some even spend their breaks during the week doing what they can to keep up to date. Not all of us want to or get the chance to blog full time, so you can see why we still have to go about our everyday lives. But you'll find that those who even do get to blog full time and earn a living this way, still don't just sit around the house. They could have other hobbies, go to blog meetings and blogger events, they might look after the children or any pets etc.

'Bloggings so easy though' - Is it? Is it really though? Like I've mentioned many times above, there are SO many aspects of blogging that the readers do not get to see go on behind the scenes. Although some things may come more naturally to some people like writing or photography, it still doesn't mean that it's all super easy. There will be problems and issues that come up that we have to deal with and work through. But also a lot of the time there's a lot of skills that come into play. We spend an awful lot of time on our blogs, from the planning stages to the producing and to the finished product, which we then have to spend time promoting. None of it is easy at all. But it's definitely a lot of fun and very rewarding!

'Bloggers are self obsessed' - Here comes the judgement. I actually hate this one a lot. Apparently if you post a lot about your own experiences and then promote your hard work to an audience, you're called self obsessed. I think this is mainly because we have the courage to actually post about our own thoughts and feelings to the online world for others to view and share. In my opinion, I think that's bloody well brave! For me, it's given me that voice I feel I never got to speak when I was at school. The quiet girl who was just screaming out for someone to hear her and so she could share her interests with like minded people. I don't think that's self obsessed at all. Plus our blogs are our own, so why would we talk about about someone else all the time? What would be the point in that?

'Bloggers are perfect' - Annoyingly I think this stereotype comes from that people online can sugar coat their lives. They can make everything out to be perfect, when reality is that no one's life is perfect and if you're going to strive for perfection, then it will sadly never happen. This is something I've learnt the past couple of years. No one is perfect. Nothing is perfect. This includes bloggers too. They're real people. Please don't compare your life to someones highlight reel you see on their Instagram theme or Snapchat story. Embrace the bloggers who can share their highs and their lows, who can make you laugh, but also make you cry too. Bloggers are like your friend. They not perfect.