On 17th May 2020, I completed 10 years of blogging. A decade. I had started when I was a young girl, not yet married, very impulsive and going through a difficult time personally. Now, 10 years later, I’m the mother of a 4-year-old, married for 9 years to the man I chose and I am much more comfortable in my own skin than I was 10 years back. Also, I’m still blogging, the business of blogging having evolved as have I in this timespan.

As I have grown so has my blog over this decade. So much has changed yet blogging has been one of those things that remains a constant for me. It is perhaps one of those elements which has helped me navigate life and most importantly hold on to being me while I took on so many different roles in life.

Why did I start blogging?

When I started blogging I was this young girl frustrated with society and its idiotic rules. It was one of the most difficult times I had faced until then having always led a sheltered life, never having to fight for anything I wanted. That year it all changed and I think I aged 20 years in only that one. S and I wanted to get married and the hard time we went through in convincing both sides of the family that our decision was well thought out and right, gave birth to this blog. It was my outlet to take out my frustration at the world. 

It seems a rather silly reason now but love marriages tend to be difficult in this country of mine. Yes, it’s far easier now but 10 years back it took a lot more effort especially if you wanted both families happily onboard. While we knew from the outset it wasn’t going to be easy convincing both sides, we didn’t know we had to literally go through emotional hell to finally be able to marry each other. This I say knowing that both our families love us the most and can go to any extent for us. But at that point, we went through a harrowing time convincing all. Maybe that’s why when we see people enjoying their wedding functions, we just can’t identify with those feelings. We just remember the pressure we took, the lengths we went to ensure both our families were content and in the process somewhere we lost all that fun and frolic usually associated with young couples in the days leading up to their wedding. But I digress. The point is I was frustrated when I started blogging. Dejected even and perhaps depressed too. But that was then.

When I started, blogging was something so pure untouched by the commercial side of it all.

Today, S and I share a life together and the tumultuous times that we went through was perhaps the price we had to pay for what we have today. So, no complaints there. That phase helped me start this blog and I can’t be anything but grateful for that. So, when someone asks me why did I start blogging, so many emotions come to the forefront. Maybe without going through the lows that I did that year, I wouldn’t have started blogging and I’m really thankful for that.

The Early Years Of Blogging

I remember in the early years of blogging, most of my posts came from a place of frustration and anger. I don’t think I was very objective at that point. But that was me then. Sometimes I wonder if I should remove those old posts because my thinking has certainly evolved from what it used to be then. Maybe I will one day or just update them with what I feel now but that’s a decision to be taken later.

When I started, blogging was something so pure untouched by the commercial side of it all. There was a joy in hitting the publish button. You wrote what you felt like without worrying about whether the headline would attract an audience. You would write without worrying about the placement of keywords, the number of words, Pinterest worthy images, SEO and whatnot. It was only about the joy of writing and putting it out there. If you look at my posts in the initial years, they were often spur of the moment posts, my thoughts in a paragraph or two. There were some stories too. But gradually as blogging got more structured, things evolved. The changes that happened were all positive certainly but I feel the innocence was somewhere slightly lost. I still try to keep that purity though while I adapt to the new. I don’t put anything on my blog that I don’t feel comfortable with or that I myself am not on board with. I write from a place of truth whether it is about my life as a working mom, a working woman or any post for that matter. 

Today, you can have an Instagram account and call yourself a blogger. While I don’t agree with that and firmly believe you need to have a blog to be called a blogger, the priorities have changed. But for those like me who still love blogging, somewhere the essence is preserved. While Instagram or Tiktok might be new emerging content platforms, platforms eyed by consultancies they don’t have the gravity that comes with a blog. Don’t get me wrong, I love being on Instagram and am quite active on it but I believe that is an influencer platform, not a blogging platform. Maybe I’m old school but we all have to believe in something, right?

Earnings from the blog

Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to earn a decent amount of money from the blog. I worked with some of the most reputed brands over the years in many diverse campaigns. I have also won a fair bit of accolades and a few awards here and there. A lot of the recognition came when I started posting through Indiblogger. I remember the joy of winning the Indian Blogger Award for the best blog from Karnataka. It feels good to be appreciated.

I believe our blog is internet real estate and if an agency wants to rent space for an ad or a post, they need to pay and pay well. 

One of the things that I had always believed in and still do now is to not work for anything less than what I feel I deserve. I see a lot of new bloggers who agree to work for free or very less money for campaigns. I think one needs to take a stand and not let oneself be taken advantage of. There are so many campaigns I have said no to when they have come back saying that they are startups and cannot pay or that they only have a limited budget. I believe our blog is internet real estate and if an agency wants to rent space for an ad or a post, they need to pay and pay well. I think with every passing year, I have realized that I shouldn’t compromise when it comes to collaborations. It should benefit me at the end of the day considering the time and effort I would have to put on it. But again that’s me.

Blogging Today

These days I write mostly about my journey as a mom and my experiences as a working woman. My series of Feminist Mondays was taken quite well. My posts on motherhood or as I like to call them, Mommy Talks have got a good response over the years. Every time someone writes to me that they identify with what I’m writing or they have faced the same, it vindicates my need to write. It even encourages me to write more. There are times when I write about books too and those posts are also well received. Being a reluctant traveller my travel posts are few and far in between but they are from the heart. In fact, they too have a good footfall.

There was a time when I used to write more than 1 blog post a week. These days the frequency has come down but the feeling of pushing that publish button is still as it was a decade ago. The excitement of a comment or a share, it is still the same.

The future of Blogging

I don’t know how long I will continue writing. For the foreseeable future though, it seems I will. But attention spans have reduced and these days content makers are a dime a dozen and with content that rests on the bought audience. Or, the audience gained on the principle of I scratch your back, you scratch mine especially for content makers on Instagram who do not even have a blog but call themselves bloggers. Having said that, good content still trumps all. But that takes hard work and time. I’ll put in as much work as I can and see where it goes. Mostly though I’ll do it for the love of it.

I think more than anything, I like having a space on the Internet where I can put my thoughts that will hopefully still be here once I’m gone. That’s something incredible, right?

10 Years of Blogging has taught me some lessons, given me some important and valuable insights into the world of blogging. Here are 13 lessons from 10 years of blogging as I look back. #blogging #blogginglessons Share on X

Lessons after 10 years of blogging

Your blogging journey is your own.

Don’t confuse someone else’s blogging goals as your own.

It takes time to build an audience.

Blogging is hard work if you want to convert it to a serious source of income.

Be honest in what you write. People look for honesty in posts.

Maintaining a blog needs an investment of time and money.

Be consistent in blogging.

Do not run after every blogging course and subscription out there. If you decide to invest, invest in a good one. My friend Shailaja is someone I can recommend. When I decide to go in for a course, it will be hers.

Do not sell yourself short and do not work for free. Just because it is blogging doesn’t mean your effort doesn’t have to be reimbursed.

Write about what you want and how you want to. Pick a niche if that is what you want. Don’t feel bad if you don’t have a niche. Always remember why you started blogging in the first place.

Think about what you want from your blog and work accordingly.

Your social media channels are for interaction, finding clients too while it is on your blog that you blog.

Do not try to do too many things at once just because everyone else is doing it. Work on your blog the way you want to and when you want to.

Thank You to my Readers

I cannot end this post without thanking my readers. Writing and maintaining a blog for 10 years isn’t possible if you don’t have an audience, big or small. So, thank you for everyone who has read my posts and still do. I wouldn’t have continued writing for so long if it wasn’t for you. Thank you and I hope you keep reading what I have to say.

Until next time!

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