BLOGGING TIP OF THE WEEK- DON’T BE INSECURE

I started working on the ‘Blogging Tips’ series in December’17 but couldn’t be regular with it because of all the traveling. Well, I’m back at it and hope to bring a blogging tip to you every week.

One question that I get asked a lot is if the fact that there are so many new people coming up in the blogging space makes me insecure. While it is definitely easy to let this worry you, my answer is always an easy no. It is true that a lot of new blogs have come up in the food space recently and I tend to look at it as a positive development. It reflects the growth of the blogging industry and the fact that more people are looking at it as an attractive career option.

It definitely also means more competition but I need you to understand two things-

• The world wide web is their’s as much as it is your’s or mine. You cant’ stop anyone from starting a blog on the internet ( and I think that’s the beauty of it- that anyone from anywhere can get into it). At a recent panel discussion that I was a part of at Hindu college, someone asked me- they’re just too many people starting a blog and they’re not even passionate about it.  I do agree that there is a major chunk of people who start a blog with only ‘money and fame’ in mind. There is nothing we can do about it. What I can tell you, though, is that these blogs should be the last ones to make you insecure- if they’re not fueled by passion, they’re not going to be around for too long.
• There is space and audience for everyone. I’ve always wanted blogging to be a very positive space where creative people co-exist and also aid each other’s existence and help each other grow. I truly believe that is possible because there is an audience for everyone. There is so much content going out on the web but there is also a huge huge audience on the other end that is waiting to consume all that content.

Looking at other people in the same space do great work, get positive feedback from the audience, work with brands you’d love to work with and have an x number of followers can be worrying for some. However, you need to realize that their numbers or followers do not affect your’s at all. It is always helpful to understand their strategies, get inspired by their content and analyse what they’re doing right or wrong ( remember- what works for them may not work for you and vice-versa) but the moment you begin to take this negatively, the only harm you’ll do is to yourself.

Self doubt is okay but being insecure of other’s work is not- it hampers your own creativity and pulls you back from achieving your potential. If I’m channeling all my energy and time into being worried about what others are doing, where will I find the time to actually work on my blog- think of ideas that will help me grow, analyse what my audience wants to see, create content that will increase my reach and engage with readers who’re interested in my work.
I’ll be honest- I’ve spent hours looking at the likes a few other people in the food space get, trying to figure out what is that is working for them but let me tell you- you can not figure out what is working for someone else. There is no formula that you can copy-paste and expect it to work wonders for you.  What you can do is figure out what works for you- what kind of content you like creating and what is that your audience likes to see. Focus on your own blog and work on making it grow, irrespective of the other blogs that are coming up and doing well. If you’re passionate about the content you’re creating, you’ll find an audience for yourself.

Happy blogging!