Are you a blogger or an advertiser?

A couple of months back I decided to try see if I could earn a decent income from my blog.

I started my research by posting questions in blogging groups and asking people directly how they made an income from their blog.

I found a lot of useful information out there, but when I looked at the actual income v's the hours invested and some of the methods used, I decided that my time would be better spent looking for a part time job and to continue blogging a hobby.

I also don't want to be seen as the person who in the real world walks into a room and within 5 minutes of introducing themselves is trying to sell you a product, which is what I feel happens on social media when you click on a link to an article with a catchy title, that turns out to be nothing else other than advertising.

Now I know what I discovered, doesn't and won't apply to EVERY blogger out there making a living from blogging, but I suspect it applies to quite a few. I'm NOT judging either, I'm just saying it's not for me and here are the reasons why:

• The world of blogging is very competitive. I left several blogging groups and eventually deactivated my face book account. I didn't like what I was witnessing in many groups, bitching, back slapping and obvious exclusion of others who didn't agree with them.

• Blogs that were nothing but sponsored posts and always gushing. I've never read a negative post about a product or a service, like ever. What I did see in some groups was people complaining that customer service with a company was dire and receiving information from other bloggers just not to mention it in their review/post.

• Sponsored posts that aren't declared are so obvious and as everyone seems to be very hot on telling others what to do and what not to do with their blog, I was quite surprised to find these with some high profile bloggers. Also blog posts that are written in the style of a sponsored post without payment or goods being received. Just why would anyone do that and then pay for the face book tools so they're not in breach of any regulations? 

• Too many people claiming to give professional advice. Now while being a mum is hard work and there are many roles that one juggles, it does not make people experts in that field, but due to the nature of the blog post titles, or back slapping from other bloggers, these blog posts were being used as professional advice and IMO, that is very dangerous.

• The time and money spent on headers, self hosting, plug ins, designs, as well as paying for services for scheduling posts etc. I've also seen many blog posts especially related to travel where it's been discussed in groups about costs incurred, such as flights, then the post not mentioning what was paid for and what was received for review or declaring they'd received additional payment for the post.

• Purchasing of followers, using BOTS to comment and like on your behalf. Which is really evident when posts appear in the early hours of the morning or comments and likes are received in the middle of the night. I also don't have the time, energy or desire to build up followers on Social Media, playing the follow/unfollow game. Ok it makes your stats look good.

• joining PODS and private groups to drop links with rules to comment, like, follow and share. Some of the rules are really strict and regardless of the rules, some are blatantly ignored, even by the hosts. Certain bloggers will leave gushing comments, yet on other peoples posts, comments left are 'nice work' 'well done' The most annoying ones though are linky drops and never returning comments or replying to the 'in crowd' bloggers and ignoring the lesser knowns.

• Advertising and affiliate links seem to be the biggest income for the majority of bloggers and they aren't actually earning an income from writing (again I'm not saying EVERYONE) A lot of people make money from writing sponsored posts, copy writing and I've seen quite regularly many selling products after they've reviewed them and advertising them for sale on their Facebook, where they've actually posted a link to the reviewed product.

Now I don't actually have issues with anyone doing any of the above, I'm free to scroll on past, unfollow, remove myself from groups and delete social media accounts. But I do find a lot of it misleading that everyone is capable of making money through blogging to bring in a living wage. I have a relatively small following on twitter, instagram and on my face book pages. I love the linkys I currently join in with and have met some amazing people and had some amazing experiences also. 

Trying to grow my social media audience, increasing my DA and PA score, writing media packs, contacting companies for review opportunities etc has been very tiring, I've not enjoyed it, I've never run with the in crowd, I've never been part of the in crowd. I found it demoralising just not to hear back from companies, to be ignored in groups when I contributed to discussions. I've often felt left out and excluded, back in the school playground.

I've no marketing experience & I've no proven writing experience. Trying to make a living off my blog would be similar to me applying for a job as a life guard when I couldn't swim. So I'm going to stick with what I enjoy and not worry about what others are doing, I don't need an income, I don't need the stress and I certainly don't want to mislead my family and friends who read my blog, like, comment and tell me they enjoy reading to be fooled that I'm doing something more than I'm actually doing. If I can make a bit of pocket money from time to time, I'm more than happy with that. I just don't have the energy or the skills to take my blog further.

i will carry on looking for opportunities to write for other blogs, I enjoy that and I'm chasing up some more copywriting, but my blog? Nope, it's my online diary and nothing more.