Dear friends. Blogging is the topic of this month's Tell Us About challenge, chosen by Debbie of Deb's World.
Tell Us About sees 9 bloggers from the UK, US, Australia and Portugal responding to a different prompt each month. All bloggers are welcome to join the link-up with their own posts on the topic.
I've been blogging since 2006. My first blog was A Curious Girl's Guide to Life, which I no longer update, although it will presumably always be "out there" in the ether.
It has mostly whimsical ramblings. I'm quite proud of it, even though it had hardly any readers, because it's a perfect snapshot of my life from 2006 to 2016. It's quite amusing at times (or is that just to me?!).WHY I STARTED BLOGGING
The reason I started blogging was twofold.
In 2006 I was a pioneer in the world of digital marketing, a time when seismic change was happening. Brands were scrabbling to have a good web presence and shopping experience, and to create online ads instead of their usual TV, outdoor posters or brochures.
Social media was just starting to arrive. Facebook launched in the UK in Oct 2005 and Twitter in July 2006. Having my own blog was a great way of experimenting, and spotting early adopters.
Working in semiconductors, I often felt that my creativity was not fully utilised. The blog gave me free rein to explore all the weird and wonderful things I'm interested in, among them stench pipes, Morris dancing and the story behind things such as rock salt on our roads, Christmas traditions and so on.
Plus I blogged about politics and reviewed ballet, theatre visits and TV. The blog looks very dated now. The old Blogger template and bandwidth limitations meant photos had to be low-res.
I was surprised to see my first ever post, in August 2006, was about a ballet I'd just seen with Mum.
In 2017, having taken voluntary redundancy, I decided to relaunch a blog I'd started in 2013, Is This Mutton.
I was actively looking for another job in marketing and the blog gave me a sense of purpose, as job hunting at 56 is not for the faint hearted.
I set up my own domain and decided early on I would not monetise the blog, or use ads or popups. I would instead try to offer the best reader experience.
The first post in March 2013:
It takes a long time to get a blog established and successful. I've spent hours on the dark arts of search engine optimisation. The latest Google algorithm shift in March 2024 has seen my reward. I'm about to hit 100k viewers a month. My all time figure for Is This Mutton is currently 2,277,233.
With search engine marketing you aim to come up as one of the top pages for a particular query. It's highly competitive, and big brands will always outperform blogs. I try to find less commonly used key words, particularly those with a long tail ("older women in skirts") to rank higher.
AN UNEXPECTED SIDE BENEFIT OF BLOGGING!
There's a whole community of female bloggers and Instagrammers over the age of 50, and we're very supportive of each other. Several lovely friendships have resulted. I regularly see Penny (pictured), one of the bloggers in this challenge, as well as Annemarie who can be found now on YouTube. I met Jill, also a participant in this challenge, when she visited from Australia, and also hope to meet Debbie from Deb's World when she is next over.
WHERE NEXT?
One thing that fascinates me is the future of blogging. People are always saying it's doomed, or on the way out. The reverse is true. New platforms like Medium and Substack make it easier to start a blog. The figures for those still seeking out and reading blogs are still impressive.
A lot of people of our age aren't as keen on video content as young people. They still prefer "long form content" rather than the soundbites of Instagram or long videos on YouTube.
A few successful bloggers are now charging subscribers a fee to read their content. There are still plenty of young people starting blogs. The fastest growing niches are currently food/recipes and travel.
The other thing I often wonder is "what happened to?" Looking at my weekly link-up, I can see that several blogs have fallen by the wayside. Sometimes the owner switches to YouTube or Instagram, but in some cases they became bored with it, or life took over.
I sometimes think about giving up blogging but then I shudder. Life without Mutton? I'll probably be writing about what to wear in your 90s (probably a lot of purple) if I'm fortunate enough to still be here.
Next month's topic is the happy subject of Holidays/Vacations, the choice of Mary Katherine from MK's Adventures. Any bloggers are welcome to join us with a post on the topic which will be recorded for posterity in the dedicated link-up.
If you're a blog reader, I'd be interested to know why. So many of my family and friends still think blogging is a bizarre thing to do, and surely no one reads them. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Scroll down below the link-up to find the comments box.
LET'S SEE HOW OUR BLOGGER FRIENDS GOT ON....
How do bloggers decide what to write about? Are there certain topics off limits to you? Debbie from Deb's World (AUS) discusses these issues, and blogging in general, in her Tell Us About post.
Yorkshire lass Suzy, who lives in Portugal, takes us through her extensive and colourful journey in the world of blogging, from her early days to her current passions. Find her at Suzy Turner.
UK blogger Penny from Frugal Fashion Shopper has been blogging for over 11 years now. She takes us back to those early years and some of her clunky photographs! She also tells you why she has two blogs on the go at the same time.
Jill from Grownup Glamour (AUS) is looking back over my last ten years of blogging and wondering what the future of the blog will be.
Marsha from Marsha in the Middle (US) is probably the newest blogger in the group. She recently celebrated her third blogoversary on July 8th. Her goal was to learn something new. Did she?
Leslie from Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After (US) began blogging 10 years ago as an outlet for her writing. In this month's edition of Tell Us About, she talks about her fair-weather friendship with blogging and her various take aways from her half-hearted efforts.
Mary Katherine from MK's Adventures (US) looks back on how she got started in blogging, and who her influences were then and now.
JOIN THE BLOGGING LINK-UP
If you have an evergreen, or new post, on the topic of Blogging, please add it to our link up. It's open until July 26.
Looking for the Wow on Wednesday link-up? Please visit my previous post.
How interesting to read about how you started out and developed this blog! I also think the blogging world will continue on for a long time to come, although I'm sure the landscape will continue to shift with new technology and changing interests. But there are so many niche audiences and ways those audiences and writers can intersect too! I've never learned much about SEO so that part of blogging remains a mystery to me. Thanks for hosting!
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