Lifestyle: The Blogger Guilt

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You may have noticed that I haven't been much active on my blog lately. It's not that I'm giving up on blogging - no, no, never! I'm on a break. For once. Since I started back in February 2014, there hasn't been a single day going by without me thinking about my blog. The design needs improvement, my photography needs training, my writing has to be tighter, I've got so much to do and so little time. Sounds familiar? Well then you do understand that a break was much needed. 

What have I done since I started my break though? I've been thinking about blogging. Like literally every day. I drafted new ideas, I did an entire blog maintainance for SEO, installed Analytics and updated links. I've been so active on my blog (in the background though). Can't win can I? This week I started a new job in London and whilst I'm trying to settle in finding my place in the big smoke, I couldn't entirely switch off my mind from Style Lingua. 

Whilst I wanted a break away from the pressure and focus on my new life in London, a massive guilt has crept in. I feel like I've abandoned the community with my sudden disappearance (though I doubt anyone has recognised it). Have you ever felt guilty of not blogging? Or thought about what might happen if you'd stopped blogging? Suddenly I'm confronted with a whole lot of questions such as will the break affect my following? Will readers return? Is the break damaging my DA? Are people going to forget about me? You know aka 'out of sight is out of mind'?!? 

This 'blogger guilt' has bothered me for a while now and a close observation on Social Media has revealed that bloggers who aren't constantly present get simply forgotten. My Twitter Analytics have dropped massively and I did notice that my tweets received less RTs and outreach. Because I don't want this to be a permanent state, something has had to happen. So I started to develop a new strategy to get me save through my blogging break - just because my schedule is a bit mixed up and I don't blast out post after post it doesn't mean I'm completely gone.

The Blogger Guilt and how to keep in Touch with your Audience

As I've said I worked on my SEO profile, edited a few things and made changes to enhance the usability. I'm still available on my Social Media accounts and try to support the community as much as possible. I usually comment a lot on blogs but this is at the moment not very convenient for me. That's why I do other things to interact: 

1) RT and share. If I see a new post from my blogging friends, I RT and share their content on my timeline. Most of my blogging friends have same interests and it is a nice gesture to show appreciation. Furthermore I find it interesting what other bloggers in my niche have to say and I hope by sharing their content I can show you which blogs I personally enjoy reading. 

2) Shout Outs. My friend Kirstie recently hit a massive milestone and I gave her a shout out on my Twitter which gained over 1000 impressions and triggered more than 12 engagements. I feel very proud of my friend so why not share their achievements? Like a post, share their content on your timeline, make it clear you're there to support and reward their hard work. When was your last time you've shared the happiness of a friend? 

3) Instagram comments and likes. Let's be honest, everyone likes some attention and it doesn't take much time to like a picture or leave a quick comment to let the other person know their posts won't go unnoticed. It can make people really happy even though the comment might just be a quick 'love your outfit, hope you're well'. People share content to get reassurance and attention, and as I said everyone loves a bit of appreciation and love.

4) Refer blogger friends to PRs. Yes, I did that recently. I did get a lot of requests and I had to decline a few opportunities lately because the products weren't a good fit for my blog or I didn't want to commit to a review due to my move and limited time. However, I referred some of my close blogging friends to the brands and pointed them to bloggers which I feel were a better fit. Also from first hand PR experience I know that this can safe the PR a lot of time and also it shows how well we bloggers are connected with each other. I don't see my blogging friends as competition so I'm happy if they get involved in awesome opportunities. If there's the chance and I see something that could be of interest to a blogging friend then I link them up and point them in the direction.

5) Share old content. This has less to do with supporting the community but more contributing content to it. Who says you can't re-share some of your best posts? First of all you still show presence, it drives traffic to your blog and you may rediscover a post you were extremely proud of. Let your content work for you even though you're not producing new one at the moment. 

I'm a firm believer that a blogging community lives of respect for each other and can only be successful, if bloggers support and work with each other (I'm looking at you German community!). Without the support, engagement and interaction bloggers can't survive in this industry which is highly oversaturated. By following these steps, I feel much more relaxed and I'm positive that my blog is still active and contributing to the community. The blogger guilt is still there but it is less present. 

Have you ever felt blogger guilt? How do you stay in touch with the community if you're on a blogging break? Let me know in the comment section and thank you so much for reading today's post. Happy Weekend. 

Till next time,

Xx Caz xX

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