My Blog has an Identity Crisis
Yes my blog has an identity crisis and it’s ok! No really it’s really ok! You see I was prepared for this and as frustrating as it is, it is necessary for me to truly find my niche.
My blogging journey is a new one so I can’t write this post saying I have oodles of experience oozing out onto this page not do I have years of “I told you so” tried and tested knowledge to fall back on. But that’s also ok. I’m not claiming to offer you that sort of advice. What I am offering is an authentic insight into how I am building my business and the hurdles I have to jump over.
The most recent one relates to the recipes I’ve been sharing on my blog. Each one has a unique story attached to it and means so much to me and my family which is why I wanted to share them. But and this is a big “but”. I love to have lots of people around my table enjoying good food, wine and company but I will never be a food blogger with beautifully styled photos of what I have created, calorie counts and professional tricks and tips.
My gut is telling me something is wrong. I am essentially a crafter posting recipes. Hmmmm. I realised my blog is losing focus and I can do 2 things. One, continue to post recipes with marvellous stories but lacking the images which will convince people to cook them. And two, make a change, focus and realign.
I chose the second. And these are the reasons why:
1. This blog has love as its foundation
I don’t mean this in any soppy, romantic sense. What I mean is that I am passionate about building this blog and I love what I do. This is the solid foundation any business needs to be built on in my opinion.
Although in its infancy Serendipity Style is already giving me so much fulfilment. I have conquered so many mountains just to get to this point. I have big plans and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
2. I never ever give up
As tempting as it may sometimes seem, to give up is never an option for me. I have invested time, effort (and sweat) into getting this far and I will invest even more time, effort and sweat into succeeding. I want to show my children by actions what it means to succeed through hard work. It is one thing to tell them to work hard but it is quite another to show them what it means not to be a quitter. As Winston Churchill said:
Never, never, never give up.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
And so I am determined.
3. I knew this was not going to be easy
I did my research and read up endlessly on topics from SEO, to e-mail marketing and commerce to WordPress. Information overload to say the least. Nothing prepares you though for the thrill of seeing your own website live. At some point I needed to take my ideas from dreams to reality and I am so glad I did.
Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.
booker t washington
4. I am finding my tribe
In business we say you have to build the car while it is on the road and this is very true. If we spend all our time in design and meetings and more design and then more meetings we never get to deliver on the car and we don’t get the opportunity to test it out on the road. Tweaks, improvements and changes can be made with the input of those who are buying the car.
In the same way I am competing for visitors along with every other website on the web but I am not looking for all of them. My realisation was that I’m looking for my “tribe”, visitors who enjoy the same things I do and share the same ideas and passions as I do for creating. I want to make a difference to their lives and I want to be an inspiration to them.
5. If at first you don’t succeed…
One of things I needed to do was to add my new email ([email protected]) to my phone so I could always be in touch with my business. I followed the instructions time and time again and it would not work. I was frustrated and irritated. I mean how hard could it be right? Screenshots and step by step instructions and I still couldn’t get it right.
Cursing and muttering about internet service providers, unreliable service and potential hosting issues I put it aside for another day. After a while (a long while) I came back to it and what do you know I tried something a little differently and it worked. What I learnt is that sometimes you need to take a step back, reconsider and then try again.
In conclusion
My blog has an identity crisis but I can do something about it. So the change I am making is to intentionally change my focus from building a catalogue of regular posts of recipes on my blog. I won’t be deleting the posts I have already created but I am going to move them to a different location. I am also going to be focusing on my true passion – crafting. Look out for my upcoming posts!
I’d love to hear from you and hear from any other aspiring bloggers out there. Has your blog had an identity crisis? What are the lessons you’re learning that I can learn from?
