10 Stresses of a Newbie Blogger

I am a new to the blogging scene and can honestly say I feel like a rabbit in headlights. The blogging community is ace and there are some real lovelies out there, but as a newbie I often find myself a bit flummoxed by the whole thing. It’s exciting to finally have an outlet, but on the other hand it’s a bit bloody terrifying. There are oodles of things to think about and sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by it. I’m not long into it and there are lots of new blogs popping up all the time so I can imagine there are quite a lot of you out their that feel the same, maybe? So if you’re anything like me you  may be experiencing a few of these newbie blogger stresses;

1. Getting a website WordPress or BlogSpot? Self hosted? After you’ve figured this one out you will spend ages and I mean f***ing ages, trying to create a website. Taking lots of photos for your header image, playing around with themes, fiddling with your sidebar, worrying about widgets (after spending hours trying to figure out what a widget is, see point 2). Hoping that you are ‘visually appealing’ you feel ready to publish, or not because you will probably stress that it looks crap and then change it again and again and again… until you just can’t take anymore and just sodding publish it.
2. What the f*** is a widget… and other confusing terminology?  If you are like me then the last time you heard the word ‘widget’ it came out of Jack Dee’s mouth on the John Smith advert, yes nearly twenty years ago. You feel completely out of your depth because you have no idea what a widget is, let alone figure out what widgets you want. Aha I see a Twitter one – I know that one so I’ll add that. Winner! Feel like I’m getting somewhere. Hold on, what are Gravatars, Favicons – do I need one? They say I do if I don’t want to look like a Newbie, but I am a Newbie. Head explodes.
3. Whats you brand? ‘Think about your brand’- is something I’ve read about. What are you and what do your stand for? Where do you see this going? I struggle to figure out what to feed the kids for tea most days so these are questions I just cant answer at the minute! I know what I want to talk about but I have no end goals or a schedule? Do I need them? Can I just potter along blogging about whatever takes my fancy? Again, lots to overthink and stress about. For me the easiest thing to do is to start to write and then maybe one day I’ll figure it out.
4. First post sweats. Just do it, push the button, publish. You read it again. ‘It’s rubbish, do I sound like a knob, will they think I’m a knob?’ I actually deleted my original first post because I hated it and I think only one person read it so I didn’t think the blogging community would be too devastated. I was way too eager to get a post out and it really wasn’t how I wanted to start, so I came up with the idea of thanking my favourite bloggers for making me feel NORMAL. Bit cheesy I know, and I did link them into the post (please don’t vomit),  but I am genuinely grateful for the immense sense of relief they gave me so I went with it.
5. If you build it, will they come? So you’ve put it out there, you’re proud of your little space in the virtual world. You’ve posted your first post. You sit and stare at your stats page and wait for people to visit, hit the refresh button and wait some more. S**t I didn’t think about this, what if no one reads it? Ok, let’s have a look out how to get it out there…SEO. Ay? There is so much info on Search Engine Optimisation, from using words and phrases that can generate traffic to your site to paying SEO companies to bring them over for you. So kind of like Kevin Costner paying someone to go out into his corn field and bring the baseball players onto his pitch. Many bloggers seem to getting their Blogs out there by Twitter so I started there. Which brings me to….
6. Being a twitter pest; trying not to be a twatter. Not a bad place to start joining in with your chosen blogging field crowd (all things parenty in my case). So I started following some of the authors of my favourite blogs. I immediately felt like Alan Partridge trying to catch the attention of an acquaintance; his repeated shouts ‘Dan, Dan, DAN’, made him look like an arse. Hey, look at me everyone I’m trying to be funny and join the popular blogger crowd. ‘PLEASE READ MY BLOG’ you cry. I feel like a knob every time I post and I obsess about how it will be viewed. I suppose it’s down to confidence which I’m hoping will improve the more I twatter …. er, I mean twitter!
7. Keeping up with all social media; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest are just a few of the social media platforms out there. How are you meant to manage these things? Everyone seems to have them so should I get involved? I don’t think I have the brain space to cope with them at the minute. I can definitely see how they can bring attention to your Blog,  but there’s only so much I can digest at the minute. One step at a time for me, starting with Twitter!
8. Blogging etiquette Reading other blog posts and twitter conversations may give you inspiration for your own blog. But is this a bit knobbish, is it like stealing ideas? Is there a blogging etiquette to help us all Blog along together. There are obvious ways to be polite, Retweeting, leaving each other comments and complimenting good posts. But if there are pro blogger pet hates then I don’t want to p*** anyone off! Help!
9. Being boring and so last year. I am a mummy blogger and a mere drop in the Blogging ocean. Being unique gets the interest of readers, they say. This can wreck your head. How can I be unique in a crowd that has already discussed the hideousness that is Potty training or how crappy we feel after weeks of no sleep. Point is that I will have my own stories to tell. It will be my view on the common parenting trials and tribulations.
10. Stats obsessing. You really get sucked into how many views, likes, re-tweets you get and it can start ruling your life very quickly. You check your phone constantly to see if your views have gone up. In the midst of the chaos of having three kids I find myself wondering if it’s worth it. I have become a little disheartened by it, but they say Rome wasn’t built in a day. So one day at a time.

The best thing about this is that your trying to do it all while looking after the kids. As we all know the most basic of tasks are sometimes impossible so add in a blog and you are probably on your way to a meltdown. So you question what’s the point.

The point is that its yours and yours only, you created this for you.

It’s your own creative outlet; poems, drawings, comedy photos, little stories, videos; it’s your own.

If people find you and they like what you do then great, but if they don’t well that’s fine to.

You enjoy it so sod it and go for it!