January 2, 2018
Sweater: Express | Jeans: Paige Similar | Heels: DSW | Clutch: Daisy Faye Designs | Earrings: Kendra Scott
No need for me to get on my soapbox because Ashley Hargrove of DTKAustin.com already has. Her post “The Dirty Truth About Buying Likes” gave me life the other day. She put into words how I’ve been feeling for months now. I have been blogging for about a year now and experiencing slow and steady organic growth from the start. While a bigger following is just clicks and a credit card charge away, I don’t see that as being fair to myself or the people that read my blog.
For the past year it has been a struggle not to fall victim of the comparison game. I’m online every day and I see other bloggers, their big followings, and their interactions, and I wonder why I am not getting similar attention on my blog. I work my ass off on my content and try to put out quality over quantity, and it seems that I get nothing for it. Instagram’s new algorithm sure doesn’t help (don’t we all miss the chronological stuff?!), but bots and fake followers and interactions don’t help either. I’ve been in the blogging game for a solid 11 months now and I have gotten plenty of emails from social media “companies” and “boosters” offering to sell me followers and likes to go with them for a small chunk of change. Yes, you can buy 500 FAKE followers for just $5. These emails try to convince you that you need “social proof” of more followers, and other people will be more likely to follow you. Here’s my thought: if you see my page and don’t like it, keep scrolling.
When I set out to start this blog I told Milton that I want people follow me because they want to, including friends and family. If you don’t like my blog, don’t read it. I’ve never asked a friend to follow me on Instagram or click through my blog. At first I was kind of embarrassed to even talk about the blog! A lot of friends and acquaintances discovered it on their own and then asked me about it later. Almost a year later I’m glad I took that approach. I run into friends that I haven’t seen in a while and they praise me on my efforts. It keeps me going and reminds me that even though my following might seem small, it is a group of people that genuinely enjoy my content.
At the end of the day I am writing this blog and creating this content because it is fun. I also like to talk a lot and this is kind of a way for me to talk to myself and make it normal, haha! Blogging should not be a popularity contest! Blogging is a way of sharing your personal wealth of knowledge and hopefully making others smile when they read it. So, if you are a regular reader or this is your first time on CaitAndCoBlog.com, thank you. I appreciate you and I hope you are having fun exploring my website.
Rant over.
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