When you think of a “blogger”, what actually comes to your mind? I’ve ever heard of this criticism, “People nowadays consider themselves a model because they pose in front of camera, and a photographer because they own a DSLR” And then, “A blogger shouldn’t be classified as a blogger just because he/she owns a blog”
I’m not sure how people define “blogger” nowadays. I guess you are a blogger if you share content with your readers regularly and really DO own a blog.
The only difference is whether you consider yourself to be a “celebrity blogger”. That’s a different story.. (Which is also happening in a heated debate between 2 bloggers and their fans..)
Now there is another group of people who thinks that blogging is the easy way out to earn big money.
NOT TRUE.
Read more to find out the top 10 Myths of a Blogger. Never be a victim of these myths if you ever want to start a blog and be successful.
These are just my personal opinions and may not be 100% applicable to all.
BLOGGING MAKES YOU RICH
Uh-oh. You just landed yourself at the wrong starting line from the moment you got that in your head. Just because celebrity bloggers like Xiaxue and Qiu Qiu exists, it does not imply that blogging can help you earn big bucks. Those famous bloggers probably had their unique and interesting content, together with years of hard work and opportunities to reach this far. Blogging takes a lot of hard work to become successful, it could take months or even years just to see some results. You won’t get paid unless you really hit a certain influential level or blog traffic.
If you start off blogging with the mindset that you will definitely get rich with it, (sad to say but) it will be hard to get far.
BLOGGER = FULL-TIME JOB
This is similar to the previous point. No doubt blogging has very attractive benefits which cause people to take up blogging as a job. But then again, like what I’ve said, it is not easy to earn money from blogging. In fact, even many popular bloggers who are earning a lot from paid advertorials, have their own stable job apart from blogging. But of course, being a full-time blogger is quite shiok. Imagine working from home in front of your laptop.
(I mean no insults to any professional bloggers)
BLOGGERS GET FREE STUFF ALL THE TIME
Just because bloggers get sponsored for “this” and “that”, doesn’t mean they are free. There is no free lunch in this world. You can see it as “free” just because we don’t pay in terms of monetary value. But it is an exchange of deal (see it as a business). As a blogger, we receive complimentary products/ services so that we can write a review/ advertorial on our blog. It is not free because there is a lot of effort put in into just one blog post. Just so you know, one can possibly take a few hours just to churn out a decent blog post.
That brings me to the next point.
BEING A BLOGGER IS EASY
Or so you thought. Being a blogger is never as easy as you thought. It requires a lot of hard work, patience, and dedication to build up a blog and write quality content. You have to spend time attending events, marketing yourself, and building connections with others. It’s almost impossible to get popular overnight, unless your post went viral. And then again, you have to remain “active” because blog traffic doesn’t stay permanent.
I am neither complaining, nor am I discouraging people to start a blog. In fact, I enjoy blogging and of course the perks that come along with it. I just hope bloggers are given more recognition for their effort and work, and blogging don’t come off as an easy job in others’ eyes.
If it was really easy, every blogger would be successful and rich by now.
BLOGGERS SHOULD BE SKILLED WRITERS
Nope, a blogger do not have to be very skilful in writing, neither is it necessary to have all those “flowery” and chim language in your blog posts. As long as you can write decently, get your point across to your readers, and of course able to capture the readers’ attention, then it is absolutely fine. It’s not a magazine or essay you’re writing on anyway. To be honest, I’m not very good at writing, but I’m trying to improve on that.
Having a flair in writing is beneficial, but it isn’t a necessity.
BLOGGERS SHOULD LOOK GOOD
Yes there are many good-looking bloggers out there. But I don’t think it is fair to say that you cannot be a blogger if you don’t look pretty/ handsome. After all, blogging is about having your own “voice” on an open platform. No doubt that the best-looking ones are likely to get a lot of followers. If you’re a fashion or beauty blogger, then it might be an advantage if you look attractive. But if you really have good quality content, people will eventually enjoy reading it.
BLOGGERS HAVE THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH
When people get scolded for some controversial opinion they posted on their blog, many will reply: “This is my blog, I can write anything and everything I want.” Hmmm. Yes and no. I respect that many bloggers dare to voice out their opinions and have a say in something that they disagree with. After all, not everyone has the courage to do that. But if your statement has crossed the line (either legally or ethically), I don’t think it is acceptable to say that you have the right to post anything you like, especially if you are a public figure. Again, it’s just my personal opinion.
BLOGGING IS DANGEROUS
I think most of us, especially the younger generations are not aware of the potential dangers of the Internet. Posting your feelings and personal life updates on your blog openly is so common nowadays. Cyberbullying becomes so prevalent because anyone can access your data so easily and use that as a tool of criticism or personal attack. Photos of your past can be dug out with just a few clicks on Google.
I agree that blogging has its risks. As a blogger, one has to embrace both the love and hatred comments from readers. But I don’t think that being a blogger is dangerous if you can achieve a balance and not go around to offend anyone with your malicious comments online. Beware of what you post on the internet.
NICHE BLOGGERS ATTRACT MORE READERS
Niche means that you only blog about a specific topic or category for e.g. beauty, food, technology. Some people feel that niche bloggers are more successful because they can target a certain group of readers. Others might think otherwise because they feel that niche blogs limit their potential due to the narrow topic. I guess it’s really up to your comfort level, and whichever way makes you feel good about blogging, just follow your instinct. I prefer to blog about different things and I am sticking to that.
BLOGGERS NEED TO BLOG EVERYDAY
Blogging used to be the popular trend whereby teenagers blog about their daily life. Some people feel that blogs have to be updated regularly to keep the traffic coming in. But that isn’t always true. Blogging every single day without fail might be possible for the first 2 weeks. Subsequently, you will probably tire yourself out and those daily blog posts are created at the expense of good quality.
After all, consistency is all you need.
This list probably doesn’t says it all, if you know about any myths of a blogger, feel free to comment below and let me know! If you like this post, please share it!
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