The Blogs of Yore
For 20 years I've been blogging off and on. I am a vagabond when it comes to blogging platforms. I fell in love with blogging all those years ago because it allowed me to share my thoughts and my life. It also brought people into my life even if it was only through the internet. They wrote blogs without the worry of search engines or product placement. Advertisements didn't litter the body of content. We weren't bombarded with requests for our location or asked to sign-up for a newsletter.
For those making their living from blogging, kudos. But if your blog bombards me with ads and frivolous paragraphs I won't be a reader. I'm sure you're fine with that. I find that food blogs are the worst. Attempting to read a blog post with a recipe is like listening to symphony played out of time. Nothing flows. If the story about how the author learned the recipe from grandma isn't long enough, they toss in an ad and then begin to "instruct" you on various elements of the recipe...
"Eggs - you can buy eggs from your local grocery store, but grandma always preferred to use eggs layed by her prized red hen on the 3rd Tuesday of months that began with the letter blah blah blah blah blah."
Cut me some slack. Even a beginner home cook/baker knows where to buy an egg. To bypass the 3 sentence "paragraphs" of fluff you scroll and scroll until you find the actual recipe. Again I say, kudos if you're making money from your blog. As for me, I'm in the small group of blog readers that actually enjoy finding a blog to read. But this is only my opinion and that opinion will change as blogs change again and again and again.
I wrote about this today because I came across a "Farewell to Blogging" post by an woman on Blogger. She began her blogging journey in 2007. The farewell post is from late 2018. She walked away from 11 years of blogging because she no longer felt part of a community of humans. After attending a blogging event she became more dismayed. Blogging gatherings centered on earnings, traffic and getting a higher rank with Google. It's sad that she felt the need to end her blog.
I'm thankful for Wordpress and Blogger. At least those of us who prefer the old ways can continue to write and have a decent looking blog to boot. You see we shouldn't walk away from our blogs because we don't like the path blogging has taken. We can choose which direction we drive our blog. If earning a living is what you want then seek advice from blog gurus or specialists. But be sure to work with people that see your vision and are willing to help you get there. Be "you"-nique.
As for me, I'll sit here on my free WP porch and continue to be a blog of yore. Because that suits my style.
Nim
