Since I’ve been blogging for over 6 years now, I just wanted to write a fun post about some of the struggles that bloggers go through. I thought it was fitting with the words on our graphic tees. Blogging for me is a part-time job, but sometimes can feel like a full-time job with all of the time it takes and the daily struggles. It’s definitely become a big part of my life and I especially enjoy the community of friends and support that I have made from it! But, just like with any occupation, the blogger struggles are real… and although some of these might make sense only for bloggers, hopefully if you are a non-blogger, you will get an appreciation for all that we go through to put out content for you to read! 

**Disclaimer: I have not personally faced every single one of these struggles, but I know other bloggers that have. 

My outfit:

Top: Forever 21
Pants: Hudson
Shoes: Talaria Flats
Earrings: Nickel and Suede

Vivian’s outfit:

Top: Alexander and Sophia
Bloomers: Little Miss Dessa
Shoes c/o Love Winnie James
Headband: Loved By Sophia Claire

Photography by Jill Collier Photography

1. When you come up with an amazing blog name, buy the URL, and then realize that Twitter and Instagram account name are already taken. Do you add a number to the end of your handle? Or how about the year you were born?

2. Blogger or WordPress? If you chose Blogger first, then later down you choose to do the infamous Blogger to WordPress switch and your site is all jacked up for days, you wonder if you should truly stay on WordPress or switch back.

3. Error Database Connection. OMG, my blog is down, panic mode ensues. And when it goes down for days? You might as well just quit.

4. All you want to do is go to bed, but realize your post is still in Draft Mode and needs to be published tomorrow. Or even worse, you haven’t even written the post yet.

5. When you really want a product, but know that you should get paid to post about it, but you take the free product anyways. And then realize it was way more work than it was worth to actually take pictures and post about it.

6. You aren’t cut out for a blogger network because your numbers aren’t high enough. Sorry guys, you didn’t make the popular crowd.

7. When you realize that the home you bought doesn’t have enough natural light or white walls and you need to go buy a whole light box / home studio set up for pictures. Time to move.

8. You shove everything into a pile so you can look like your home is actually tidy for that mirror selfie shot.

8. Fashion blogger to photographer: Can you get a full body photo that fits into a square for Instagram? Oh and can you get this detail shot of my watch? And can you get a vertical picture where I am off-centered but enough space at the bottom so I can overlay text for a Pinterest post? Oh and don’t forget a horizontal photo for Facebook too. And one sec, let me Snapchat us.

9. Speaking of Facebook, when you Boost an Ad and make no affiliate sales, and actually only got like 2% of people clicking on your blog post out of the thousands that viewed the ad.

10. When you go on vacation, and realize you have to bring your laptop as a carry-on that you really didn’t want to bring, because you can’t take a vacation from blogging. YOU DON’T GET PAID IF YOU GO ON VACATION. (Unless you are a travel blogger).

11. When it’s tax time and you realize that a company still hasn’t paid you yet for work done 6 months ago.

12. Seeing other blogs and realizing that you would really like a blog redesign, like every few months.

13. To share or not to share your media kit, rates, stats, tips on growing a blog… with a new blogger that just joined the cult community and has emailed you or sent you an Instagram DM with all those questions. Or how about that friend who is in awe at all the products / money you get from blogging, and says, “All you have to do is take a few pictures of that and post it and you get paid that much? I am going to start a blog too!!”

14. When you get excited to see an email come through with the subject “Collaboration”.

15. To blog or not to blog on the weekend? Oh, but, you have a sponsored post due…

16. When you read every “How To Make Money Blogging” post or “How I Grew 200,000 Pageviews In A Month” post, you do the same things, and it doesn’t work for you. OK, but if you read my post, it should work, promise. 😉

17. That mean and uncalled for comment really ruins your day. Now let’s try and track back to see who this Anonymous person could be.

18. Your “lifestyle pictures” are too posed. If you need tips on perfecting the “blogger laugh”, feel free to email me.

19. When you find out about the wonderful world of Facebook blogger groups and you join so many your notifications are off the hook.

20. You realized you need an in-store photo of a product on a shelf and that store is closed in your time zone, so you go to your Facebook blogger group and ask for a friend on the west coast to head to the store to snap a picture for you. The blogger community is where it’s at.

21. When your stats go off the charts for some reason and you can’t figure out Google Analytics fast enough to realize where that traffic is coming from.

22. Another blogger copied your post, almost verbatim or better yet, steals your picture. Do you contact them? Do you tell them to take their post down? Do you consider it a form of flattery?

23. When you apply for a campaign and don’t get it, and wonder why THAT blogger got it?

24. Having a company email you 6 months after you published a post for them to change all your links over to “no follow” links. Let’s Google how to do that again.

25. How many hashtags should I be using?

26. When you are so busy taking pictures of your dinner, but then realize it’s 8:02PM and you were supposed to post something for that Instagram LOOP giveaway at 8:00PM. Those other bloggers never want to work with you again now. Ouch.

27. Writing an amazing post KNOWING that it has to go viral, and no one reads it. And then when you write a post with crappy pictures that you basically just threw it together, and that GOES VIRAL!!

28. What’s the best posting time with the highest engagement? Evenings to catch the night owls? First thing in the morning to catch the early birds? We’ll never know…

29. When a “small company” agrees to your full sponsored post rate, happy dance! They truly know your worth!

30. ALT tags. SEO. HTML. Com Score. Linky. Bit.ly. UMV. PV. Bounce Rate. Clickbait.

31. Going through a mid-life blog crisis and trying to decide on what your “niche” really should be.

32. Finally got into RewardStyle, woot!

33. When you review a product and a company asks you to edit the pictures or text of your post, a million times.

34. Staying up all night on Sunday night so you can finish scheduling out all of your 5 posts for the week, so that every other night of the week, it’s less work for you, even though you basically just began the week on NO sleep and are spending the rest of the week catching up on sleep. Blog – sleep balance…

35. And sometimes you sit there and wonder what life would be like without a blog, but then you realize that you love getting to work with some awesome brands, you talk to your blogger friends sometimes more than your real life friends, and quite frankly, you are addicted to blogging.

Shop neat products for bloggers:

Are you a blogger? Got any other struggles to add?