Normally, I really love being a blogger. I share a bit of my life with you, and in return, you do the same for me. I have made some amazing friendships due to blogging, and I have learned a lot of lessons from the trials of others as well. but today...well...I'm getting a little annoyed at some of the things that make blogging difficult.
For instance, the bane of my fucking existence as a blogger: Categories
I mean, I understand why they might be useful, but the majority of the blogs I read have no theme whatsoever. They're just the random things that happen to a person throughout the day, or the things that interest them, or the sarcastic and profanity laden rantings of a fellow College student. Take a look at the photo below...
Look at those "categories" you have to choose from to classify everything that you write about. If you're a Mom, well you can pick the "Mommy Blog" option, but what about the rest of us who don't just blog about one thing? Not only is picking a category crucial to getting new people to read your blog, but it also effects the kinds of companies that want to work with you. I was turned down from working with a video game company not too long ago, because my blog wasn't listed as an "entertainment" blog.
Because, we all know, I NEVER post about video games, or my newest electronic toys, or the current obsession I'm having with whatever TV show I'm watching. Yeah...never...
The other big pet peeve I have is blog stats. Well, that's a lie, it's not so much the stats themselves, as the minimum stats glass ceiling that many companies use. If you're looking for an example, check out this gem of of an email I got today: "We have a policy of only doing reviews with sites that have a page rank of 2 or greater, I checked and you currently have a PR of one. So, once you get it at 2 or more, email me and we'll do the review."
Here's the real translation: "Oh, I see that your PR rating isn't higher than a 1, so your blog content must be worthless, even though we never actually visited your site. We're not going to work with you until the new PR rating come out, sometime in the next six months."
It's not like I put a lot of time and effort into my posts, or spent hours staging, photographing, and editing images of the products I review. Hell, having a PR minimum wouldn't even be so bad if bloggers actually KNEW what affected our rating. But we generally don't! There's no set guidelines that tell us what makes our rating fluctuate! How the everloving FUCK am I supposed to work on something when I have no clue about what makes it work?!
Ugh...I just...I just really hate blogging some days...
Love and Lightning Bugs,
For instance, the bane of my fucking existence as a blogger: Categories
I mean, I understand why they might be useful, but the majority of the blogs I read have no theme whatsoever. They're just the random things that happen to a person throughout the day, or the things that interest them, or the sarcastic and profanity laden rantings of a fellow College student. Take a look at the photo below...
Look at those "categories" you have to choose from to classify everything that you write about. If you're a Mom, well you can pick the "Mommy Blog" option, but what about the rest of us who don't just blog about one thing? Not only is picking a category crucial to getting new people to read your blog, but it also effects the kinds of companies that want to work with you. I was turned down from working with a video game company not too long ago, because my blog wasn't listed as an "entertainment" blog.
Because, we all know, I NEVER post about video games, or my newest electronic toys, or the current obsession I'm having with whatever TV show I'm watching. Yeah...never...
The other big pet peeve I have is blog stats. Well, that's a lie, it's not so much the stats themselves, as the minimum stats glass ceiling that many companies use. If you're looking for an example, check out this gem of of an email I got today: "We have a policy of only doing reviews with sites that have a page rank of 2 or greater, I checked and you currently have a PR of one. So, once you get it at 2 or more, email me and we'll do the review."
Here's the real translation: "Oh, I see that your PR rating isn't higher than a 1, so your blog content must be worthless, even though we never actually visited your site. We're not going to work with you until the new PR rating come out, sometime in the next six months."
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| via Shutterstock |
Ugh...I just...I just really hate blogging some days...
Love and Lightning Bugs,
16 comments:
Yeah, the blog rankings can be irrelevant if you ask me. People read your content or they don't, period.
I also hate categories.... I want to redo mine but I keep putting it off as I can never think of the best way to do it, lol
Agree that the glass ceiling is very frustrating. i do wish that we could know some of the rules or metrics for getting page rank. We do write posts worth reading and spend time making them perfect. Frustrating!
I feel the same way. I know i need to redo them...but the more I make my blog fit my personality, the further it gets from any category!
Amen, sister. Those things are annoying to me too! Especially the PR. Mine is still a zero. Yup, a zero. Lame.
I completely understand where you are coming from. We all work hard and it is never recognized which is exactly why I am changing this year. No more dealing with PR reps that expect everything for nothing. I had a few tell me I needed to blog without payment and I decided they are absolutely correct. This year I am doing more free blogging as I have a lot of things I want to share that I enjoy and have not had time to do so my free posts will include my crafts, running, recipes and whatever else gets my attention. However there will be not one single blog post for the big company that just does not respect my profession!
PR is so annoying! Well, I guess it isn't really the PR, but the companies who think it is the only thing to judge blogs by... do they even look at our blogs? Probably not. Too bad, they are missing out on some real gems!
Categories drive me batty! I blog about life - my life as a coffee addict, Army wife turned national guard/ROTC wife and my love of all things crafty and baked. That does not fit into a simple category, especially since we do not have kids.
EXACTLY! Every blogger spends a lot of time working on and honing our particular craft. We're not all going to have the same stuff on our blogs.
Good for you!
Hey, you're blog is AWESOME. It's one of the few that I read on a pretty decent basis. If it were up to me, you would have a 10!
I couldn't agree more! How else are we supposed to make our content better, to up our PR score, if we have no idea what to do?
I understand. Sometimes it feels like just because I'm not a mom, I don't really have a place in the blogging world. :/
Categories bug me as well. I don't consider myself a mommy blogger. I'm a blogger who just happens to be a mom, but that's not what my blogs are about. It's especially frustrating with my giveaway blog. They want to know my niche, but I post giveaways for just about anything! There's no one specific topic for my giveaway blog. My other blog has a series about my kids, but I still don't consider it a mom blog. I don't want to be labeled. I am a mom, I am a woman, I am a blogger, I am a crafter. But I have so many things that I enjoy blogging about. I'm not simply defined by a category.
I so get that! I have too many things I want to blog about: crafts, video games, nerdy moments, giveaways, my pets, etc. Way too much to fit into two or three categories!
That is annoying! I ignore categories all together!
I hate categories! I mean yes I'm a mommy blogger but I'm also a homeschool blogger, book blogger, food blogger, and anything I want to blog about! See I'm no cookie cutter!
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