5 Years Of Part Time Blogging
You will often see bloggers sharing how they quit their job to blog full time, and steps to take to pursue a career like this. Some of the bloggers I know and follow are hugely successful at this and hats off to them because I know how hard they’ll have worked to get there. I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I just don’t desire that for myself and my own blog. Over many years of my life, school, university and career my love of photos and going places turned into a blog, and one day I might do a post on how that happened, but today I’m looking back at the five years since I launched properly.
So we’re clear that going full time has never been the goal for me, and for the first few years of blogging I didnt really have a goal at all. In hindsight what a waste of time those years were. But I cant let myself think of where I’d be if I’d bothered to put more effort in back then. I’ve wrote a few posts on blogging with a full time job, and shared positive opinions on having a 9-5 and it’s benefits if you want to read more about my thoughts on it.
The Early Years
The first year or so of blogging I think I was just finding my feet. I felt like I had so many things to share on places I had already been, that I spent a lot of time hap hazardly sharing posts on those places, to get a backlog of content. I had no structure to it, I dabbled with a few series of posts, and shared a lot on things in the past with no real purpose to it.
Initially I only used my site to share photos, but I quickly realised that was just pointless. I had instagram for that and I was getting a lot of messages asking for more information than just photos. So I began to share information too, and the proper blog posts were formed.
It was after only about a month that I got my first two brand/blogger event invites, and from there I’m lucky to say that I’ve had a pretty consistent stream of invites, work and collaborations since. Despite this I’ve never made them the only focus. I used to hate reading blogs where every post was an ad, and I have a lot more to share than just those posts. I think they’re seen as a lot less negative now, because it’s become a more popular method of marketing and a normal part of blogging, but I hope to always keep the personal, non paid posts too.
So after those first couple of years I basically got my act together. I took a blogger course, I made a proper plan, I invested a lot of time into learning SEO and in general tried to improve overall. It paid off and I suddenly had a focus and it reflected in my traffic.
Events, Brand Collaborations and Press Trips
Although they’re a perk, events, brand collaborations and press trips definitely aren’t the reason why I blog, and I really believe if you’re interested in blogging you shouldn’t ever do it for these reasons. There is a misconception that they are ‘freebies’. I can’t stress enough that nothing comes for free, so nothing is a ‘freebie’. Even if you don’t physically pay for something, the work, time and effort is a lot and it can be really hard work. Not mention the value of what you’re doing.
As your blog and social channels grow so does the value of what you do and I think it’s really important to remember that and not short change yourself. For me, the events and brand work I did at first were very Newcastle based, but over time they evolved into further afield and travel related.
Over the last two years I’ve grown enough to a point where I can now charge a fee for most of what I do, but that doesn’t mean I always will. A lot of blogging is a balancing act of judging the value of what is being asked of you and what you deliver.
I genuinely enjoy doing both and I can honestly say I haven’t ever worked with, recommended or shared anything I don’t personally think is worth it. That’s one of the best things about not being a full time blogger – you can be more picky without the pressure of needing to make money.
Blogging Highlights
These come in different ways, including breaking monthly page view records, having posts go viral and exciting opportunities. I always feel bad for sharing some of these in case it looks like I’m bragging, but really why should I? I’ve worked hard on everything I’ve done and I’m proud of it too.
So some of my highlights from the last few years include press trips to Mallorca, Scotland, and Germany,
I’ve stayed in a lot of beautiful hotels, notably the Principle in Manchester, Schloss Roxburghe and Posada Terra Santa in Palma.
And I’ve done a lot of unique stays that included a few firsts, such as glamping at the Shepherd Huts in Northumberland.
Lastly I’ve had some really good food, and as someone who loves to eat out these are some of my favourite reviews to do because they fit with exactly what I do every week.
Job Satisfaction
How many of us really enjoy our job? It might not be my full time job but it is a part time one, and one thing I’m certain of for all bloggers is how much they love it. It can be one of the most frustrating, difficult, time consuming, never able to switch off jobs but the benefits are huge. I’ve learned skills in a whole range of areas that I would never have been exposed to previously, and all have helped me in both my full time job and life in general.
As a hobby I love all of it. While the highlights I mentioned above are great things to have done, one of the biggest satisfactions isn’t the actual experience of them, it’s knowing that you’ve helped these businesses especially if they’re local or independent, and also helped other people find them and enjoy them too. Blogging is not dead and the value this type of content can provide shouldn’t be scorned at. This year has only cemented the fact that life is moving online.
Finally the pressure when people ask for recommendations can be big, because you want to give good ones, but it’s pretty rewarding when people say they had a great holiday, loved a hotel, or had the best food they’ve had in a while off the back of one of my suggestions.
The Negatives
Like anything there is a negative side to blogging, and mine is the time consuming element of it, and the never ending to do list. There is ALWAYS something you could be doing so it can be hard to switch off.
I’m quite lucky that I don’t get much negativity or trolling. I’m also pretty thick skinned and have zero time for it anyway so it’s not anything that a quick press of the block button couldn’t fix. It’s worth no more time than that.
The perception of what people think used to always be in the back my mind, but I have got a lot better in recent years of blocking that out too. By this I don’t mean genuine opinions which I’m always open to hearing, but there’s certainly a perception of bloggers, instagrammers, and people who put themselves out there online. Will people laugh at me? Will they screenshot and send straight to a WhatsApp group to pick apart with their friends? Do they think I’m just attention seeking?
I always use the example of the fact it took me 6 months to create a facebook page for my blog because I was worried what people would think. The best advice I can give for that is to just get over it and not let anyone else stop you doing something you want to do. If people have something negative to say over something you enjoy doing and benefit from then feel bad for them. Move on.
Where will I go from here?
This is a question I’ve asked myself a few times this year, as there has obviously been a huge impact on travel so many travel bloggers have been hit really hard. Some have changed direction and some have even quit entirely. Personally I think it’s less of an issue for me for a few reasons.
My traffic has dipped slightly in some months, but in general as I share such a range of local and further afield content the local stuff has become more prominent, and when travel opened those posts became more of a focus. So views wise it didn’t feel too different for me this year and was more of a shift in balance of content, which I suppose overall is a relief.
You may have noticed I did add the ‘lifestyle’ element to ‘Stephanie Fox: Newcastle, Travel & Lifestyle’ in the summer, which came about after a few months of lockdown content the first time round. Being furloughed gave me a lot of time to work on my blog and it’s been a lifesaver for me, for keeping me busy, motivated and my brain alive in keeping up to date with the whole industry.
I can honestly say I haven’t wasted my life away this year when it would have been easy to. That’s not a criticism of anyone who has spent 2020 on the sofa watching Netflix, we’ve all done what we’ve needed to and there’s no shame in that, but blogging has been what I needed this year.
So the lifestyle, general chat content has probably been a lot more present this year and is something I hope to keep going forwards. Writing them can be like therapy sometimes haha. Most of my lockdown posts were just what I was feeling at the time, or what I was thinking about at 4 in the morning worrying about all sorts of things.
This year I’ve still managed a few press trips, as well as a few being cancelled or postponed to next year and I really hope they don’t disappear entirely because I love doing them. They’re very tiring, but so worth it. I think there is a window of time where I will be able to do them before no longer wanting to be away a lot so I hope to make the most of them while I can.
I’ve loved doing the virtual travel content on instagram and that is coming back this winter. While we can’t go anywhere there is no harm in dreaming of where we will go in the future and I don’t think I’ve been alone in that. A lot of travel bloggers were worried to be seen encouraging travel this year when we shouldn’t, or worried it would put people off but I have really needed that escapism and it seemed like others did too. Winter virtual travel is back from this weekend on my instagram.
As I have done historically, I will always continue to share the local stuff on Newcastle and the North East. Shifting between the Newcastle and travel content has never been an issue for me, and although a lot of people will say it’s a crossover of ‘niches’ it’s always worked for me as I treat Newcastle as a destination worth visiting anyway.
I am seeing a lot of travel bloggers switching into local blogging now, so I suppose I do feel lucky that I had that ready made for this year when travel stopped.
More of the same is probably my answer to what comes next. It might sound blasé and not very goal orientated, but that isn’t the case. Gone are the days where I’d post and then nothing for two weeks because I was too busy. I’ve been consistent this year and will be going forwards. But overall I am happy with where my blog is right now, the things I share and the brands I work with on it.
I’m glad I don’t blog full time I can’t imagine how stressful this year would have been if I did, so everything I do really is for the love of it rather than monetary pressure. My social media side is going to come out more though, my instagram guide for small businesses and bloggers is in progress, and I have a few different things coming in the new year too.
And of course thanks to everyone who reads and follows, I appreciate you being here 🙂
Other posts you might like:
How to juggle a blog and a full time job
How to Instagram to organise your life