In the world of blogging, there are a lot of places to find advice, and a lot of varied advice that goes along with it. I'm always being told to grow my email list and invest in a domain name, and ugh, do we need anymore advice gracing our screens?
I've handed out a lot of advice in the past. I've talked about how you can (and probably could do with) protecting yourself online, how you recognise signs that your blog direction has changed, why you should ditch Blogger Stats and use Google Analytics and so much more, but really, those posts are all about making you aware of things you might not have been aware of, and putting the decisions into your hands.
There's already so much of advice out there, and there's so many bloggers specialising in so many different elements of blogging, what advice should we really be listening to? What advice is the best advice available, and how do I know it's good enough for me?
Want to know the only advice you'll ever need to hear?
It took me a long time to realise that, sure, advice can be helpful, but you don't need to listen to it all, and you definitely don't have to act on it either. You can absorb advice and chose to ignore it completely because it's just not for you, or you can choose to consider.
Stop letting other people tell you how to blog! YOU call the shots!
If you want to do something to your blog, then do it.
If you want to switch up content/graphics, then do it.
If you don't want to listen to any advice, then do it.
In the end, your blog is yours, and you don't need anybody else to tell you what to do, how to do it, or why you're going to fail if you don't. Whether you've been blogging for weeks, for months, or for years, you're going to achieve great things whether I teach you how to, somebody else advises you, or you learn it all by your own credit, and good on you for doing so.
When you see that next post advising you to do something, take a step back and ask yourself: does this advice apply to me? Is this something I really want to listen to and take action on, or am I happy doing exactly what I'm doing? You are the brain behind your blog, and what you say hunny, goes, so call the shots and take control. It's your blog after all.
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I think the big problem is that some people see advice as pushy, as if people are saying it's "law". Unless the blogger actually says those exact words, then that's not how the advice should be interpreted.
ReplyDeleteAdvice is meant to be helpful. It's the blogger's job to provide helpful information (that they consider helpful, at least).
It's the reader's job to read that advice, absorb it, and decide for themselves if they want to apply it.
Not all advice will be relevant to you. Even if it is, you don't have to accept it. It's on YOU - the reader - to sit back and decide if you want to take it.
I think sometimes people forget that. They complain about everyone saying "blog this way, blog that way," but they forget that it's up to THEM to just ignore that advice if they don't want it. It's not that hard. :P
I do think that's the problem. All advice is subjective, it's all about whether it fits you. If it's not really something that's relative to you, ignore it, or at least don't let it bug you too much. We should all spend more time figuring out what we want, how we want to blog and why, it'd allow us to know what advise we want or need better, saving so much complaining :)
DeleteYESSS I AGREE SO SO MUCH!! :D When I started really getting into the book blogger swing, I thought I had to do EVERYTHING like everyone else did it, too. Like I even got into a major fret because I didn't format my reviews like everyone else. In fact, I formatted them backwards with the review first and info about the book last. >_> Oops? hehe. But I've slowly learned that you should blog in a way that makes you happy first. And I particularly like only posting things I personally, would want to click on. It makes blogging more exciting and happy. *nods*
ReplyDeleteI think I love how you do things your way though, it's how a blogger stands out on their own in the wilderness of other blogs. It's definitely about happiness for one, and it's also about what you want to read, so stick at it Cait, you're happy with things, and so am I! :D
DeleteI love this post so much! There are tutorials out there that say things such as "don't have a cluttered sidebar" or "make sure your design has lots of white space" - yeah, that might look nice, but that's only the author's opinion. I always enjoy writing tutorials and advice, but I always worry that people think I'm telling them HOW to blog. That's not what the purpose of these posts are. The purpose of these posts are to share my knowledge - people can listen to me if they want to.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to blog how YOU want, not how everyone is doing. There'd be no point in blogging if everybody was exactly the same!
That's the thing, those tutorials on 'how to' something, it's up to you if you follow it, and nobody is telling you must do something, just whether it's worked, or why it's a good idea, it's all subjective. It is all about blogging how you want Harvey, and that's super important!
DeleteHmm... this has never been a problem to me. I read "advice" as something I can chose to apply to me if I agree with it. Not a law or something that has to be done. I have never felt like a blog advising me to do something was trying to push me into doing it, nor have I ever felt that I chose to do something because of someone else. What I'm doing, I'm doing because I believe/want/agree with.
ReplyDeleteYou as well - the advice you've given out on your blog are never something you are saying YOU MUST DO THIS! You're offering your opinions and experiences in the hopes of helping others, but you're not saying that if they disagree / don't want to do it they're wrong...
So I guess it's all up to how you read "advice"?
It's completely down to how people see advice. You can accept it and deal with it, or ignore it and pretend you never read it. Personally, I'm subjective, I'll try something sometimes, but that's it :)
DeleteGreat post. You really couldn't have timed it better. (In fact, all of your recent posts are wonderful.) I'm at that point where I need to ignore some of the unhelpful advice out there and focus more on me. For the past few years I've been scraping along trying to follow all the blogging advice to get me where I thought I should be by now. (3 years) But it's not working because it's like I'm trying to be someone else. It's easy to recognize when something is wrong for you right away, but sometimes it's a little harder when you're trying something new for the first time. Definitely going to work on blogging for me.
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Aw, thank you lovely! You've just got to do what feels right, what feels you, and what works best for you and your blog. Take the advice you want, ignore all the rest, it's not law :)
DeleteI love reading advice because it helps me form my own direction. That's why I kinda agree and disagree with you. Yes, how to run a blog is up to the blogger. Nobody else can impose themselves on how it should be run. At the same time, I think "stop" is a strong word in this context. I'd rather think, be open to the advice of others but decide for yourself what to apply, what to consider and what to ignore.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not stop to listening to other people's advice, never stop that, but definitely stop letting other people tell you how you should or should not be blogging. Advice is out there, and it's up to the blogging if they listen, that's the important part. It's taking that advice and still calling the shots that matter :)
DeleteHear hear! YOUR BLOG IS YOUR OWN. There is an abundance of advice out there, but what may work for one person may not work for another. I think lots of people are putting too much pressure on themselves to deliver everything and to be everything and that's taking the fun out of blogging. I like how you've found a great new direction that works for you, because that's what's important!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely agree there Jeann! The pressure to do things 'right' takes away from you being the blogger, nobody else. Do what feels right for you, take the advice you want, the rest will follow. Thanks Jeann! :D
DeleteIt's good that I came across your blog. It's good to read such things.
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