Myths of the Blogging Universe

Myths are something most of us find interesting to read about. I find them absolutely fascinating and at times humorous when they’re so creatively fabricated and don’t really seem to hold any truth.

 

But it isn’t so funny when myths appear in real life because more often than not it is very difficult to discern them from true facts.

 

So today I’m going to decode some of the myths that have been plaguing the blogging universe for a while now and driving everyone nuts. But I’m not alone! I’m here with Shruti from her blog This Is Lit to help me out with this massive task of educating you all.

 

Shruti is a very good friend of mine and has a very aesthetic and informative blog that she has been running for about two years now. She is a very friendly Potterhead who’s always ready to help others out. Do go and check her blog out!

 

Thanks for that intro, Charvi! And hi, everyone! Like Charvi said, I’ve had a blog for almost two years now. In these two years, I’ve observed a LOT of “Here’s what you should do to make your blog successful” posts that actually give really bad advice. Today, Charvi and I are going to debunk some of the most popular myths of the blogverse.

 

So let’s get down to business! Here’s a list of some of the most popular myths of the blogging universe and why they’re completely twisted and misguiding.

 

1. BLOGGING = MAKING MONEY

 

Blogging doesn’t help you make money. I mean you would think we get payed for dealing with all the PTSD from the books we review and all the sleep we give up to post consistently but nope.

 

I’ll admit I’ve been at this for only 3 months now but I don’t think this is something that changes…

 

 

I’ve been blogging for almost two years now and I’m still broke af. Seriously. My barrel has been scraped so much, there IS no bottom left.

 

 

Repeat after me: Blogging. Does. Not. Mean. More. Money.

 

 

Sure, there are bloggers who say they make a ton of money just through affiliate marketing and AdWords, but we’re all not that lucky. They’re the exception, not the rule. Don’t get into this thinking you’ll make money out of this. You may get free books, but money? Nope. Not happening. At least not for everyone.

 

 

2. YOU HAVE TO POST EVERYDAY

 

Wow, whoever came up with this is clearly hooked up on something.

 

Agreed, this is utter nonsense. So is the popular theory that you need to post at least three times a week. My narcissistic ass has just one example–my own blog. I don’t post as regularly as other bloggers. I try to squeeze in a post a week and my follower count is good enough.

 

 

It all boils back down to the famous saying: quality over quantity. Write an amazing post. And let it sit for a while. It’ll help you too, because you get time to think of what your next post could be.

 

 

I would recommend posting everyday only if you can write bomb posts every single day, with no dip in your amazing writing style. But I highly doubt anyone can keep that up.

 

 

There’s the added fact that posting so frequently is almost certainly going to drive you crazy over time. Not to mention that most people hate being spammed by so many continuous posts. You might even lose some of your followers! Try to put it in perspective: Do you have the time or will to read someone’s writings every single day? I highly doubt that.

 

 

And if you don’t, others don’t either.

 

So stop with this craziness.

 

3. YOU NEED TO REVIEW YA BOOKS

 

I get how this myth might have started. YA is a very popular and upcoming genre these days and almost all book bloggers are avidly devouring and reviewing YA books. You probably saw some of the famous book bloggers reviewing a shit ton of YA books and thought oh, so to become popular I need to review YA books.

 

 

People are reviewing YA books because they want to. They like reading in that genre. The genre of books you review does not determine the success of your blog or your follower count. Read whatever the hell you want! Review what you feel like reviewing! So what if the book you just read isn’t YA? It’s out there in the market so somebody has to have read it or maybe someone just purchased it and needs an insight on it. Don’t be afraid to do whatever the hell you want to. In the end, that’s what blogging is all about.

 

Well said, Charvi! Read the books you like. You don’t need to go through the pain of reading a book of a genre you don’t like, just based on a myth that it would help. It so doesn’t. Can I shamelessly tout my blog as an example again? I don’t review YA books. I have more than 1000 followers.

 

 

So, you can do it. Don’t do something just because all the popular people are doing it. Blogging ain’t high school.

 

4. PURCHASE A DOMAIN OR WEBSITE FOR A SUCCESSFUL BLOG

 

Lies, lies, and more lies!

 

 

Well, actually, not entirely. There is some amount of truth in this. That is, if you’re trying to have a professional blog. To make you look like you know your shit, yes, it’ll look good if you are self-hosted or have a domain.

 

 

But aren’t we debunking myths here? Yes. So, take a look at the following questions.

 

 

1. Would you like to make your blog a brand?
2. Would you like to run AdWords on your blog?
3. Do you want to unlock any of the features a premium WP account or a self-hosted site provides?

 

If your answer was “yes” to any of these questions, go for it! If you’re just here to write about books and don’t want to spend on getting a domain, you don’t have to. A simple dot-wordpress-dot-com is not going to stop me, Charvi, or any other person from following you.

 

 

Your URL doesn’t determine your blog’s success, your content does.

 

 

I totally agree with Shruti! There are so many examples of successful blogs out there working on a free domain. This cruel world has always taught us that NOTHING IS FREE but here’s where it’s all wrong! Blog domains are absolutely free and are not trying to lure you into a catastrophe so make the best use of it and don’t shower all your money on buying expensive domains when you could be buying books!

 

5. GOOD PHOTOGRAPHY SKILLS ARE A NECESSITY

I was way too much influenced by this one, so much so that I had put off starting a blog for months! I was obsessed with the pictures when I first started. Being a crappy photographer this was absolute hell for me and often required me bribing my sister for good pictures. Even then I never used to be satisfied with them. So I stopped. And guess what, it didn’t matter at all.

 

 

Nobody gasped at the lack of pictures, especially when I reciprocated them with GIFs and in no way did it affect the status of my blog or the followers. I like to think that everybody was spared from the torture of the horrible pictures xD

 

So if you have a knack with cameras then that’s great! But it’s definitely not a necessity. Most people care about the content you’re posting and not the pictures. Go ahead and try it out.

 

I’m totally with Charvi on this one too. Fun fact: Every time I take a photo, an Instagram model dies. Umm, well, not really, but you get how much I suck. Book hauls are the worst because I can never add a proper photo of all the books I bought. And it’s okay! What you write is what matters.

 

 

Now for a successful Instagram account, on the other hand…

 

6. HAVE CONNECTIONS WITH POPULAR BLOGGERS

 

Okay so this one’s a myth because it’s misleading. Make friends with everyone, including popular bloggers! That’s totally cool. But don’t actively seek friendships with popular bloggers just so they can give you/your blog a boost up. That’s not very nice.

 

 

Having connections with popular bloggers alone is not going to help you out, if your blog doesn’t have anything interesting on it. So work on your content and success will follow organically. 

 

Shruti’s right, building up friendships on the basis of business will never lead you anywhere!

 

Even if you get a popular blogger to scream at people, telling them to go follow you, there’s a pretty good chance that they won’t oblige. And the few people that do go and check out your blog will stop scrolling seconds later because your content isn’t worth it and the blog isn’t even designed properly since you’ve been spending all your time buttering the celebs of the blogging universe.

 

 

 

 

When faced with such myths just take a second to think over them. Do you really think they’re true? Most of the times you’ll be able to decode them yourself 🙂

 

In the end, blogging is all about following your heart and doing what you think is the best for your blog. Take advice from others but act on what you feel will work for you.

 

As Charvi says, it’s always good to follow your heart. Unless your heart says “do more tags”. Don’t. Just don’t.

 

 

Soz, I just hate it when a blog just has tags.

 

 

Anyhoo, don’t let any blogger (me and Charvi included) tell you what you should do with your blog. Ultimately, it’s your brainchild, so you need to try out different things on it. Once you keep at it, you’ll eventually figure out what works and what doesn’t.

 

 

Fun fact: For all my hatred for tags, I used to do it a quite a lot when I first started blogging. I then understood that I wasn’t posting anything original and started writing other posts instead.

 

 

So, go forth, Goldilocks! Experiment around and find the method that’s “just right” for you!

 

 

*tries to wink at super-awesome pun but squints at reader instead*

 

I absolutely loved  collaborating with Shruti but what about you? Have you every encountered these myths? Which one of them influenced you the most when you first started blogging? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to share this post so that no bloggers fall into this void of myths!