The Real Reasons Your Blog Should Change With Time

It's been over a year since I shared why it's completely natural, and normal for your blog to change with time, and having been through that experience more times than I can count, I still stand by that statement. In fact, I stand by that statement even more now than I did back when I wrote that post, because every single day we as humans change. We become a new person every single day, due to the cells our body reproduces. We learn new things and gain knowledge in subjects we never knew, and experience things we've never experienced before.

We are forever in a state of adaptation, and change, so it's only right our blogs should be too.

I don't know about you, but I am without a doubt a completely different person than I was a year ago. I'm much lonelier for a start, many of my connections with people severed either by my own hand or by deals of the devil, and I have a much smaller network of people supporting me than I did previously. Alas, it balances out the new experience of getting back into blogging solo after co-blogging, smashing my goals into smithereens, and getting a long awaited furry friend to call my own.

My life has been shaped by experiences, my actions and my emotions, My blog has too. So has yours.

Here's the snag.

Your blog should be changing over time. Here's why..

1 | You've learnt so much more since you started

When you first learnt how to ride a bike, you probably had the whole shabang, the stabilisers, the helmet, Daddy with his hand on your back to help you balance, and your legs were probably shaking like crazy, but over time, you learnt how to nail it yourself, and little by little, your bike riding experience changed. Daddy let you go alone. Your stabilizers retire. The helmet, as foolish as it is, now sits on the shelf in the garage, because over time, you learnt how to ride that bike, and ride it well.

Related: 5 Lessons I've Learnt In Two Years of Blogging

Your blog is exactly the same. Maybe you weren't confident, or sure what the heck you were doing when you got started, but later down the line, it started to click. The content came thick and fast, and with that came the readers, the followers, the subscribers, the buyers, all wrapped up on big gift called learning.

You learnt how to create quality content.
You learnt how to get readers reading it.
You learnt how to turn those into followers.
You learnt how to turn those into subscribers.
You learnt how to encourage those to buy from you.

Every single step of your blogging journey, you're learning, and learning means change.

You're likely to change how to do something so it's more efficient.
You're likely to change why you do something because priorities change.
You're likely to change who you do something for through experience.
You're likely to change where you do something so the result is better.
You're likely to change what you do to something so that it's perfect.

Little by the little, the more you learn, the more you change yourself, and the things you put your time into. In terms of your blog, your voice might change to suit you increased or decreased confidence. Your blogs style, theme or design may change the more you learn about those subjects, and the more experience you gain in those areas. You might drop certain topics because they're not helpful, or focus your attention on one niche subject so as to make a bigger impact.

Whatever the change is, it's change none the less, and it should happen, so let it.

2 | You've got experience in your back pocket

As mentioned earlier, experience plays a big part in your natural change in life, everything from work experience, to relationship experience, to scary experiences, to practical experience, and experience is one of the biggest reasons you change with time.

If we put it into blogging terms..

The more experience you have with blogging, the more you'll find you focus on what works or what you enjoy most, using that experience you gained to shape what you do in the future.

For example, I hosted a read-a-long challenge during my first year of blogging, and while I enjoyed it, it didn't really have the desired effect, and thus I haven't hosted another. I also weakly attempted a small blog graphics business that totally flopped, which hasn't ever resurfaced. Both of these experience were bad experience, and have changed how I blog and what I'll do in the future.

However, on the flipside, some of my most viewed content is related to Google Analytics, working with Blogger, blog graphics, and Picmonkey. Having had extremely positive experiences with this type of content, I spend a lot more time, and focus my efforts into producing that kind of content more, because I know it works out well for me, and everyone reading it.

The experience you have and gained in life shape you and the things you do, good or bad. The experiences you gained through blogging should shape your blog over time, encouraging you to make changes and do what works, so of course your blog can, will and should change with time, it's only logical.

3 | Your achievements alter your expectations

Achieving things feels absolutely amazing, and it's such a positive experience. Adrenaline running wild, your pride and happiness through the roof, and for a while, you're living in bliss, until an unexpected weight sits itself on your shoulders and introduces itself as new expectations.

When I smashed my goal of 3,000 pageviews a month two months into the year, I was in complete awe of myself for quite some time, but once it passed, the expectation that I had to achieve that every month that followed, or I'd fail myself sat uncomfortably on my shoulders, and it eventually started to impact how I blog, and the direction my blog started to go in.

Expectations lead to complications, and complications lead to confusion.

Expectations, whether they be your own or other peoples, can have a heavy impact on your future achievements, or how you perceive those achievements, and eventually leads to changing how you are affected by achievements, and the things you later put your time and effort into. You may start to wonder what the point in blogging is if you're not meeting your expectations for example, and this will without a doubt change your blog with time.

Related: The Big Reason You Need To Be Sharing Your Achievements

However, your blog can change positively over time due to expectations, or a lack of.

You may find your achieve more by lowering your expectations, or cutting them out completely, and that completely changes your blog over time. You may find your smaller, more personal achievements make you feel like your expectations are more manageable, and encourage them to feel more like goals than things you'll fail at.

Your expectations of yourself and your blog should change with time, positively or negatively.

Change comes in all shapes and sizes. I may have dropped my book blogging label a while ago, but that doesn't mean I can't, and don't post about book related content. I have experience that says my readers prefer content on blogging, design and tutorials, but I've also learnt that my following includes a lot of book readers and bloggers, so book content is good for them.

As with everything, you and the things you do will change with time, and they really should be, so stop worrying about what is changing and let them lead you. Who knows, that thing you felt really weird and twitchy about changing might the best thing you ever do.

Don't be afraid to change. You may lose something good, but you could gain something better.

How have your experiences, the things you've learnt, and your expectations changed you & your blog over time?