Over the past few months I have considered moving my blog to the self hosted Wordpress.org {meaning I would host and own my own site and pay someone to host it which is different from Wordpress.com}. I have learned a lot over the past few months about this process and have come to a better understanding and different stance on this whole process. Thanks to my friend Angela, who counseled me through the whole process, and some emails with Christina, finding there are many others out there feeling my same pain, I decided to write this post:
You have probably noticed many big bloggers make the move to Wordpress. They talk about how fantastic it is {which I am sure they are completely correct} but they often leave out the information about what it really entails and what it all means. We just hear they made the move and feel left out we have yet to make the move. Now for bloggers who are looking to make their blog a full time job, I believe this is a good investment and a step in the right direction. But from the little I know, it takes a lot of time and energy to get to a place where blogging is actually paying like a full time job. You either have to spend a ton of time online, create an awesome and unique product to sell, or be so fabulously amazing that people are running to your blog every time you post. Personally, I am none of these things.
I do make money blogging but it is not a lot. I work with BlogHer and I have some independent advertisers...but do not let this fool you. The small amount of money I am making is paying for our internet and a couple buckets of paint. It is by far not putting food on the table.
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I recently read another post about the benefits of moving to Wordpress. Again, if you are looking to be a serious full time blogger, go for it. But I think the problem is that it often puts pressure on bloggers that their blog is not good enough. That their blog is not going to be respected because their url ends with blogspot.com. This is not true at all! I know many big bloggers who are creating a success for themselves while still using blogger {Thrifty Decor Chick, Tater Tots and Jello, just to name a few}.
At the end of the day, I can not have financial ties to my blog. Sometimes the house is a mess, I need to tend to my husband, and life just happens. I do not want to feel tied to my blog in a way that I am choosing it over other things that have priority in my life. I talk about putting family first, being frugal, and slowing down. In order to live up to this choice of living, I have to consider where my blog comes in to play. There have been many times where I have considered walking away from my blog because I was not being responsible with my time at home or I was letting the internet get in the way of time I needed to be giving to my husband. But I was able to be okay with not walking away because I could be away for a season {whether it be a week or the month I was gone after I got married} and somehow you are all still here.
All I want to say is that before allowing yourself to fall into the pressure of making money to blog, getting more followers, moving to Wordpress, etc...really consider the priority blogging has in your life. There are so many resources out there on how to grow your blog into a business. But before we all jump on the bandwagon, I question whether we all are ready to do what it takes to push our blog in that direction.
I often feel guilty about sacrificing other things for my blog. At the end of the day, I love blogging, and have to be okay with how I spent my day. But it is a constant challenge to find a balance of my time so that I can keep my blog up and running but still be true to the person I want to be.
What are your thoughts on this? Have you felt this pressure for your own blog?
