Every lifestyle blogger has one fear or another. These fears tend to hinder the success of some bloggers but I choose to believe that it is a pivotal part of the journey. When you look back on your fearful beginnings, you might laugh, but you will be thankful. Sometimes, you might wish someone had told you that all those fears were normal. It is normal, every lifestyle blogger has them. If you have trouble pinpointing these fears, here are some fears every lifestyle blogger must overcome.
Blog Topic Ideas
As a lifestyle blogger, it may be hard to think of topic ideas. You’re not in anyone’s mind so what exactly pertaining to your lifestyle would people want to know about. For this exact reason, a lot of bloggers are afraid to put their best foot forward because they fear they may not be able to produce fresh blog topic ideas each time. Also, when you plan your content around your blog topic ideas, there is the fear of not being unique because everybody is doing the same thing.
Lifestyle Blog Names
When deciding on lifestyle blog names, you would want to go for something that translates to you, your personality and your lifestyle. It is understandable that as a lifestyle blogger, you might also want something that is catchy, however, millions of other bloggers want the same. If your preferred name is taken, what do you do? Sometimes, the availability of lifestyle blog names is not the problem, picking the best one is. The fear of not having the right lifestyle blog names as a lifestyle blogger is real and nerve-racking.
Generating Traffic
The idea of generating traffic is the biggest fear of every lifestyle blogger because traffic makes the world wide web go round. The act of generating traffic takes a lot of work, skill and time. As a lifestyle blogger, the full understanding of this process may scare you to the bones, however, it is a challenge you should take on still. You may fear how to generate the traffic, how long it would take, what if it does not work, how will you beat your competition. Simply take each day at a time.
Consistency
Starting a blog sounds easy but it is not. Consistency is one of the key ingredients in making a successful lifestyle blog. Your viewers always want to see updates, they want to be kept on the edge as leaving them for too long will cause them to forget you and move on to the next lifestyle blogger. However, life gets at everybody and consistency is something every lifestyle blogger struggles with at some point in time. The fear of not being consistent for one reason or the other is one fear every blogger experience. The way to overcome it is by creating a schedule.
Acceptance and Followers
In order for your lifestyle blog to grow, you must have traffic which stems from followers, acceptance and people simply subscribing to your content. If you do not have viewers or readers, your blog is more or less dead. As a lifestyle blogger, your content reflects your lifestyle so it is normal to fear that your content will not be widely accepted. This can hold you back from starting your blog in the first place. With this very common fear, all I can say is you’ll never know until you try.
Exposing Yourself
A fear every lifestyle blogger must overcome is the fear of exposure. As ironic as it sounds, every lifestyle blogger wants to be seen and heard. This means exposure is a major need, so how then can they be afraid of the same exposure. I’m here to tell you that it is very possible.
A lot of lifestyle bloggers fear to put themselves out there. By putting yourself out there you are telling the audience to subscribe to your thoughts. This gives them the right to an opinion on you and your lifestyle. These kinds of exposure make you a public figure that has to hold up to certain standards as you influence a good number of people in society. Exposure also gives people the power to criticise you as you have made your endeavour their business.
Picking the Wrong Niche
As much as every blogger in this demographic is tagged a lifestyle blogger, each blogger has his or her own niche. Some delve into fashion and style, while others delve into food, arts and crafts, skin care, hair care, etc. As a content creator, you may have interests in all of the aforementioned categories. However, incorporating all of them into your blog might be messy, therefore it is ideal to pick one or two. Where the fear lies is in not picking the right niche, after all, they are simply interests. Having interests in fashion and style does not guarantee that you will be the most stylish blogger. It also does not guarantee that you can adequately present this fashion and style properly.
Cost
Lifestyle blogging may look like just posting pretty pictures and writing a little paragraph, however, it is more than that. Being a lifestyle blogger requires a lot of investment of which the money may not be on the cheap side. It could be affordable for some, but it is costly. Firstly, you must invest in internet data as a lifestyle blogger, it is inevitable and data is affordable if you can manage your usage. Also, money will go into your web hosting and domain name. It will also go into producing your content, buying materials, going to locations, etc. If you do not have the capital for investment, get started with a saving’s plan until you can monetise from your blog.
How to Start
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure” – Marianne Williamson. Every lifestyle blogger is powerful beyond measure, that is how not knowing how to start becomes your deepest fear. There is so much value you have to give, you do not know where to begin. Start anywhere, introduce yourself, shake a table or two, just start. The failure to overcome this fear will result in a great disservice to yourself and your potential audience.
