It seems like everyone and their cousin is on YouTube today and people who started out as bloggers have neglected or fully abandoned their blogs for the more visual platform.
YouTube is certainly more appealing than blogging in the sense that you are immediately visible to millions more people, brands and companies and can guage your actual growth or how well you are doing by the number of views on a video or the amount of subscribers you get. If you can command a large audience and keep them, then companies want to do business with you. It has become such a powerful viable form of marketing and PR that needless to say is the reason why so many people today are starting their own channels as opposed to those who did 4 or 5 years ago as just a hobby. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money from anything you enjoy doing but chances are you will quickly get frustrated if that is the sole motivation and end up comparing your channel and content to other more established influencers.
When I was making the decision on whether to blog or start a YouTube channel, I had to consider a bunch of different factors like what I was more comfortable doing and what I was actually going to be good at. The general concern with blogging today is that people don't read blog posts any longer and prefer to watch videos so they can see actual demos, try-ons, product reviews, guage authenticity and relatability. I feel like anyone can talk and express themselves but not everyone can write and effectively convey thought or emotion. I personally feel like I write better than I talk and that was the premise behind choosing to be a blogger. I have time to process and edit what I want to communicate and do not feel pressured to express anything I'm not feeling. I'm one of those people that is always late to the party in the sense that I only ever really get interested in stuff after it must have been around for a while. I've been reading blogs for years but it never occured to me that I could even start one myself. I've been doing this just 6 moths now and I am legit very proud of myself for staying motivated and being consistent with my posts. It may have been different if I chose YouTube over blogging.
At first I didn't even really know what I wanted to blog about and considered so many topics from fashion (which I love) to makeup to lifestyle. I googled ideas on what I wanted to call my blog after learning that it needed to be something that reflected everything I wanted my platform to be about. Eventually I came up with my blog name (it was called ibogirlmafiathebrand in the beginning...too long I know) and it captured for me all that I wanted to express: my fashion style, makeup style, my thoughts, my interests and my realities with sickle cell.
I thoroughly enjoy blogging and still read a ton of blogs today even with the advent of YouTube. I know I've still got plenty to learn and I'm patiently allowing myself to do that at a pace I'm comfortable with which is why I still read blogs because there are still so many doing it who are wildly successful and didn't need to join YouTube. Don't get me wrong, you know I watch videos all the time, am subscribed to a handful of channels and enjoy all of the content these fellow creatives put out. Blogger or YouTuber, it's all still a lot of hardwork that goes into it so salute to all of us who have genuinely found what we love to do and are steady putting in the work.
At this point, I've got to shout out my kid sister who has been my long suffering photographer since I started and keeps asking wen she will get paid for all her work (LOL)...soon sis, soon!😊 I haven't started making money from blogging yet but I honestly don't mind; I'm just enjoying reconnecting with my love for writing for now, coming up with content and trying to brush up on my picture editing skills in the meantime. My other sister got me a Canon Power Shot ELPH 180 camera for my birthday so I hope my picture editing should see some improvement soon.
I also need to become more comfortable with location shoots so my backgrounds can be more colourful and diverse. I'm excited about where I could possibly be a year from now. Who knows maybe I will get an awesome offer to be a travel blogger (even though I have a ridiculous fear of flying) but I'm looking forward to growing this platform to bigger and better things.
Apologies for not bringing you my fortnightly target finds series today, I felt it was more significant to mark my 6 month blogger-versary instead. The series will return next month and will now only be every first Saturday of the month. This will allow me time to purchase more items to show you so please bear with me guys.
Till Tuesday my loves. Have a great weekend and welcome officially to Fabulous Fall💋💋
Always Love 💖
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