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This is kind of a hard post to write but I have a feeling I’m not the only one feeling this sentiment. This isn’t a post that’s ‘woe is me.’ This is basically how I view blogging these days. It’s quite simply: The State of Blogging.

I’m sure a lot of seasoned and long-time bloggers can agree with me. Food blogging, and blogging in general, is not like what it was 10 years ago. Everything has shifted towards fighting algorithms, writing for SEO, and how to make money fast. We all have hired virtual assistants. If you had told me ten years ago that I’d be hiring an assistant to help me with social media and managing my blog; there’s no way I’d believe you.

There is barely any authenticity anymore. It’s all writing robotically to make sure your content gets seen. It’s all so over-saturated. I miss the fun in blogging.

It’s a double-edge sword. You want to be creative and you want to create beautiful, unique content and why? Because you want to share that with everyone. You want to inspire people. How can you share that with everyone with algorithm shifts and Google updates strewn in, what seems like, every other week?

I’m not gonna lie. It’s deflating. I often feel I’m in an uphill battle with social media and the rest of the blogging world.

Because of this, I have lost all passion in blogging and creating content. Things have sometimes been awfully quiet around here (you may not even have noticed, it’s okay…NBD, honestly). I don’t know if calling it a “rut” is a good description because I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s the passion that has dissipated. It has gotten to the point that I have even considered hiring a ghostwriter to write for me. YES. You read that right.

Call me a pessimist but it’s deflating when you devote so much time and effort into something and you’re constantly pushed back — sometimes even further than where you started. At some point, you just give in. Throw your hands in the air and take a break.

I started this blog as a creative outlet from my full-time job and while it definitely has been that way for the past seven or so years, lately it’s becoming more of a second job. Trying to keep up with all the technological changes (hello, GDPR and SSL), hashtagging and videos on Pinterest, constant SEO changes, Instagram (looking at you IG Reels) and Facebook struggles, everyone doing video and having to hire out for video or be left behind, introduction of TikTok, and brand work coming to a halt and/or not worth my time anymore because of the insane demands from clients. Like, beyond the scope of what is in the contract and quick turnarounds and little to no pay. Or what’s worse is the fact brands just give you a script these days and think you’re a walking advertisement for you. Or they micromanage the shit out of you because they don’t trust you. And yet they came to you (the creative) for work because that’s what drew them to you in the first place. There’s just a disconnect and it’s just all too much. There’s no FUN in it anymore. It’s keeping up now.

Hey, brands. You want exposure? Pay for it.

Gone are the days that influencers accept product for payment.

I know this may shock some of you but a box of pasta doesn’t pay Wells Fargo my mortgage. And a bag of granola doesn’t pay for my electric bill. I know, what is that shit? People should love food instead of money! /sarcasm

I might be fooling myself but one thing I’m doing is getting a big redesign of this blog that’s supposed to launch at the end of September. I’m hoping with a brand new site, I’ll get reenergized again? I hope so. Or maybe I’m completely fooling myself — like couples who think having a baby will solve their marriage woes.

This is definitely one of those posts that I don’t think many people will read or care for because of its “negativity,” but it’s the damn truth. I know some who are reading this right now are probably nodding and sighing and reminiscing of better days. I can look on the bright side and be all positive but there’s no point in trying to fool myself or be fake about it. This is the world of blogging as we know it now. I could own it and ride it in stride but right now, in this season, I’m choosing this route.

Oversaturated.

A part of me thinks that the blogging world has gotten oversaturated because of all the, “I made over six figures in six months” type of posts. I’m sorry, but that shit takes time. Those that did hit six figures in blogging in six months — good for them. It took me four years before I hit that and it was hard work. I’m not saying those that did it in six months or a shorter amount of time didn’t work; they probably hustled and worked their asses off and had a way better business strategy than I did…but a part of all that is also luck and networking.

Ah, networking. I miss the days of Twitter chats with friends. I miss real conversations with “Internet friends.”

Anyway, back to the “I made over six figures in six months,” talk. I feel that gave everyone the false sense of hope that it’s easy to blog and make money. That it was quick money. It’s super unrealistic.

And now all I’m reading is, “I have been blogging for over a year and I still have yet to have the traffic and money that was promised to me.”

Yeahhhh….

Why is it always a numbers game?

I’m so sick of the numbers game.

“How many pageviews did you get today?”

“How many sessions did you get last month?”

“How many Instagram followers do you have?”

“How many likes did you get on your last post?”

Your success isn’t measured by numbers. Brands like to make you think that it does. In fact, everyone seems to make it seem that way. “Omg you have one million pageviews a month?! You are such a big blogger.”

It’s just like your weight on a scale doesn’t matter. It’s how you PERCEIVE yourself and how you love yourself.

Which is why I’m choosing now to just love my blog no matter which direction it goes because you know what? I’m pretty sure that is what is going to make the blog shine even more. You can tell when someone isn’t into something. Their writing, their creativity…everything is just lacking.

Shorter attention spans.

Another very frustrating part of blogging these days is the attention span battle. Blogging has always, in my eyes, been a collection of memories and stories but the shift towards getting content as fast as you can now has reduced blogging about life to a rubble.

I get so many comments about, “I don’t care about your life, just give me the recipe.” Scrolling has become such a HARD task for people that bloggers have started to implement “jump to recipe” buttons at the top of their posts.

Dude, that’s bad. I don’t even think it’s an attention span thing. I think it’s a lazy thing and everything being handed to you.

If you’re interested, this article from the NY Times is a great read. The Tyranny of Convenience — basically that everyone expects convenience now.

“The growing expectation of convenience exerts a pressure on everything else to be easy or get left behind.”

Convenience vs. lazy. Very fine line these days. I can see the convenience in ‘jump to recipe’ but I can also see the laziness in it especially when you have the audacity to write to me and offend me and yet still get the recipe for FREE.

Turn that frown upside down.

Some of you reading this may be thinking, well you can do something about it and stop your bitching. Turn it around.

Yeah, I could.

But at the same time, I am not sure I want to? That’s my internal debate. It’s not my full-time job. It started out as a passion project. A hobby. People can drop hobbies, right?

Looking back, I am proud of myself for understanding the business side of things and not quitting my full-time to blog full-time. You have no idea how many people (and still today) ask me, “when are you going to quit and blog full time?”

I can’t even imagine the stress with that, especially given my current mindset on blogging — although, some may argue that if this were my full-time…would I be feeling like this? Hard to say. I guess if this is your bread and butter, you would definitely be trying to climb that hill no matter where it takes you. So I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.

I will say…the fact that blogging has changed so much has forced a lot of us to dabble in different niches; which I don’t think is a bad thing. I think it opens up the creative outlet more and not everything has to be about your niche that you started out as just because you’re primarily a food blog or fashion blog or whatever. People change. Interests change. I’m definitely not the same person I was when I first started blogging and I don’t necessarily love the same things I used to.

I do think that experimenting is fun and it makes it less “robotic” and more “real” — which is what I strive for on a daily basis. So, I will say that even though there is this negativity going on with me and blogging…there is also an opportunity for me to dabble in other niches and give the blog the chance to figure out its direction.

In conclusion…

All this to say…I’m not stepping away from the blog. I’m trying to regroup. Social media gets me nowhere now; it’s not somewhere I can really promote my new posts so I suggest signing up for my email updates where I send out emails every time I have a new post.

I’ll still be around on Instagram Stories (come say hi and see my uncurated life), if Instagram decides to show you. Oh, and if you haven’t joined my private Facebook group set up for a sense of community; you def. want to join us!

One beautiful thing that blogging did gift to me is friendship. I have met so many amazing boss ladies through this little space on the web and I can’t take that for granted. This was a predominantly negative post but I’ll end it on a positive note: I’m not alone in this sentiment and I have a set of really good friends from when blogging was more about conversations and interactions.

I also have cake. Always cake.

Your thoughts?

I’d love to hear what you guys think — both from readers and bloggers. It’d be interesting to hear from both sides.

As readers, have you seen the shift? Where more personal blogging has taken a shift and it’s sounding more ‘robotic’ and repeating the same stuff over and over again? What about blogs in general? Are they “just another website” to you now?

As bloggers, are you drowning or swimming with the tide? What are your feelings on blogging these days? Am I just jaded?

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178 Comments

  1. Julie, I’m sending you a big and tight hug! I love reading your blog and completely understand where you’re coming from. Isn’t it amazing that mortgage, electric, and cell companies don’t take love checks? What’s up with that? lol I will read whatever/whenever you blog. You’re a superstar!!!

  2. So sorry to hear this from you! I’ve always loved reading your blog AND getting a free recipe!! But I totally understand. Why keep devoting time to something that gives you no joy? I have seen with other bloggers where they have pimped themselves out to the products. It’s sickening. I shut them down. I understand the need to be compensated in order to continue, but seems like some of them will agree to all advertising. So sad. Anyway, I hope you become re-energized. I will continue to read your blog and look forward to each one. Thank you also for the amazing recipes. Too bad some people feel the need to ruin someone else’s hard work with careless comments. SMH…

    1. Thank you so much, Uta! I don’t think I’ll be “shutting down” — just getting refocused and come back stronger and with less structure than before? I feel like I put the pressure on myself (due to outside influences) to have a rigid schedule of posting and all this stuff that it just gets to be too much. Anyway, thanks so much for your insight! I definitely don’t agree with blogs that have turned into an advertorial site. It’s terrible.

  3. Thanks so much for posting, Julie! I’ve been following your blog for a while, I’m in your FB group, and religiously watch your IG stories for Winston (I LOVE HIM!).

    I love food blogs, but definitely see how it’s changed a bunch over time. I love the personal feel from bloggers, and I also really like seeing what beauty products you’re using, what people’s kids are up to, etc. Because then I feel like I’m learning other little life lessons that can be useful. I think as a reader, the wierdest/most interesting shift has been IG stories. It’s the only platform that lets you see what the blogger you started reading for food recipes is doing all day/every day. Plus then you get to know their voice, etc. Now I feel like some of the bloggers are my friends even though they have no idea who I am? (That seems creepy but that’s what the stories are for, I guess?)

    On another note – I have wanted to start a blog for a few years, simply to share recipes with my friends and family. I live across the country from my family, and I’d love to share what’s going on and what I’m making with them. But I’m so intimidated by the idea of learning good food photography, figuring out ads, SEO optimization, etc. I recently decided to drop the fantasy of having a perfect blog like the ones I read, and just create content that’s real and me, even if it’s only read by my mom and dad. Reading your post just now makes me feel even more encouraged to just make my little baby blog my own, and let it be what it is vs. trying to force myself into making it a part time job or something competing with people who have been out there busting ass on their blogs for a decade.

    Anyways, you do you! I bet people will keep following and appreciate whatever direction you take. There’s no point in wasting precious time doing something you don’t love. Can’t wait to see what comes next and till then I’ll keep posting on your FB page whenever I make one of your fabulous recipes :)

    1. No no, it’s not creepy. IG stories is what I love too because it’s totally uncurated and just LIFE as a REGULAR person — because bloggers ARE regular people! We just curate our lives on blogs to make it seem like we have everything together and it’s perfect. I mean, that is what gets people, right? The visual part…we can’t just throw food on a plate and throw the photo up. So in a sense, we maybe are at fault for an unrealistic view and maybe we did this to ourselves and now we’re just trying to “get it back” by being more real and open on Instagram Stories? Not sure!

      Yes, let it be your own. Do what you want to do with it and don’t let the pressure of it get the best of you. Thank you so much for writing!

  4. Amazing post. I had a successful blog from 2007-2011, and I’m glad I stopped when I did. Blogging was FUN back then – ask anyone who used to blog back then and maybe still blogs. I obviously still enjoy reading blogs (like yours!), but I do feel bad for bloggers nowadays.

    1. Thank you! Yes, you stopped right before all the blogging changes happened. I want to say it was like 2014 or 2015 where it completely started to shift and become out of hand.

  5. I have noticed a slight shift, but I say do whatever works for you. I don’t regularly check many blogs, but yours has been one that I do lately and the reason is because of Instagram.

    I’m on there more than any other SM site and I really enjoy your stories! It’s made me “get to know you better” even though it’s just through messaging on there. I really like how active you are on there and ask for feedback/comments/messages. Makes me feel more welcome to message you without feeling like an Instagram weirdo. :)

    I agree with the convenience thing for sure. It’s amazing what I’ve noticed myself thinking or feeling with certain things. We’ve come accustomed to things that are totally unnecessary!

    1. Haha, I do feel being more upfront and real and UNCURATED on social media is how you really get to know someone. I mean, in real life…I’m not all glitz and glam and perfect. So I totally agree with you!

  6. I’ve been blogging since MySpace days! I guess in the early days my blog would have been considered a Lifestyle blog. Then when MySpace dried up, I began blogging on WordPress and one day I was looking for some new content and posted a chili recipe I had made. Boom, I was hooked and felt like my blog had direction and purpose. I moved over to WordPress . org and got myself a fancy web host and began food blogging. I never hit the big leagues like some of the other food bloggers.

    If I’m being 100% honest, I felt a lot of the more popular food bloggers were cliquey, but that may just have been some of my own insecurities coming to the surface.

    I too have been frustrated with the SM climb and fall. I really despise SM, but at the same time love it! I do feel that having all the stories like Snapchat, IG, & FB have actually led people away from blogs. As well as food videos. And it’s not just millennial’s, but I think a good majority have a “want it now” mindset.

    Even blog comments have dwindled. If you compare older post comments years ago to what they are now, you can definitely see there is a shift.

    I’ve almost wrote similar post about this subject on my blog and I still may offer my opinion there as it seems I have taken over your comment section with this long post…. Sorry!

    To wrap it up, I almost quit my food blog, but then I had an really horrible accident and was laid up for many months recovering and I began blogging about my recovery. Those posts seem to be doing really well. Go figure. I’m going to continue my blog for the simple reason that I started it. Because I love doing it! Everything else blogging wise can go to hell. I give up on the money part!

    Wish all you bloggers the best!

    P.S. I really enjoy reading your blogs Julie and love your IG stories. I’m very picky about who I follow and watch as there are only so many hours in the day.

    1. Omg, I have been blogging (not on this blog but another) since LiveJournal!!! Gah, ARE WE DATING OURSELVES?! Hahaha

      Yep, 100%. “Big” bloggers only share each other’s stuff. No room for smaller fish. And not all of them are like this but I feel a lot of “big” bloggers only talk to smaller fish when they feel that they can “get” something out of you. I’m a web developer and many “big” bloggers talked to me because I knew what I was doing with coding. Then they disappeared after they got what they wanted. It’s very high school, too. So cliquey. I got into blogging b/c I wanted to share and inspire…not launch myself back into high school.

      Oh yeah, I get ZERO comments anymore (aside from this post haha) and engagement has tanked. People just come for the recipes now and maybe it’s something to embrace but I don’t like it. I’m not a database. Blogs weren’t created to be databases of content. Blogs originally were like diaries, hence LiveJournal.

      Thank you so much for writing and your insight. I’m glad to hear that you are recovering and have found a new reason to blog! Also, I’m glad that I’m one of those few IG stories and blogs that remain on your shortlist. I hope I continue to stay! :)

  7. Yep. That’s it in a nutshell. I have been doing this for over 6 years now. I don’t make 6 figures. Truth be told I barely make 25,000 each year. I always hoped this would be my bread and butter but I think once I had kids I realized it wasn’t going to be the be all end all I imagined. I know I could do more SEO, I could schedule more FB posts ahead of time, I could post more links in IG… but I don’t want to. Like Leslie said, time is precious and it’s just not worth it to worry over which hashtag is the right one or my recipes getting seen by the whole world or going viral.
    I think I told you on stories but I just write for the people I know read on a daily basis like my mom and dad and friends. I write like it’s just an inside story for us to laugh at. Aside from adding a SEO intro to each post now, my writing has not changed. That’s the thing I don’t want to ever change. Read it or don’t. I like to think that’s why I had a publisher contact me to write a book. My voice. So never lose your voice. I like hearing from other sarcastic realists!
    I will say only worry is that My readership at least stays the same so I don’t lose my ad network. Even though it isn’t 6 figures, it sure does help the day to day.
    Omg longest response ever…. but there is so much power and joy in saying no. I do think the blogging community in general needs to get on that. Like I don’t wanna look at an entire IG feed of product placement…. that’s what Kim Kardashian is for. We can all work together to change things. I remember the good old days of blog comments and Foodbuzz. It used to be fun. I still deep down inside hope some of that comes back.
    Sorry for all the rambles. Keep doing what you’re doing and keep being authentic. ?

    1. Yeah, I think the older I get, I’m starting to realize all this scheduling, predicting, hoping for the best just ain’t worth the time anymore. I haven’t developed any new recipes in the kitchen for many weeks and you know what? IT FEELS GOOD TO HAVE A WEEKEND. I hope my writing hasn’t changed..I don’t feel it has. I’m still a snarky, sarcastic girl for all I know. I refuse to change that about myself and that’s why readers started following me in the first place, right? To hear my story.

      I agree, I don’t want to lose the ad network or revenue (because, what money isn’t nice) but I’m okay with traffic dipping and just plateauing. Blogging is just a lot harder these days and it’s SUCH A TIME SUCK.

      I love your long response. As I was reading it, I was nodding and say YES a lot. Thank you for taking the time! Good luck to you too in figuring things out!! I’m glad we aren’t alone in the same sentiment!

  8. I totally understand where you’re coming from – I’m in a (sort of) comparable situation. For what it’s worth: I never use a ‘jump to recipe’-button. I’m not in it for the free recipes, I’m actually interested. So – if you decide to take a break and return with less food and more lifestyle-posts, I’ll still be here reading them.

    1. Thank you for your encouragement and feedback! I definitely think there’s a shift coming for this blog after I return from my break but we’ll see what happens. I appreciate you sticking around! <3

  9. As a reader of blogs for 7 years, I do see how different things are now. It’s sad. I loved reading blogs! But It’s hard to keep up with SO MANY blogs out there now. I generally go back to those I’ve been reading for years. I know those people are authentic and not doing it for the money. But I do enjoy seeing your life in Instagram stories! That’s the upside of Instagram – You really get the blogger’s feelings and personality.

    1. I agree! That’s why I love Instagram Stories. It’s very real and uncurated. I think that’s what people crave. Thank you for your insight as a reader; it’s tough to see that change and not want to follow along, but I’m really sick of it! Thank you for writing!

  10. I’m a long time reader, but not a blogger, and I have definitely noticed the shift. I’ve stopped following a lot of bloggers that stopped blogging about themselves personally. I was initially drawn to their blogs because I could relate in some way. I don’t care about the “10 ways to xxxx” posts they seem to be so fond of now. It sucks!

    Personally, I love your recipes, but I love your personal stories more! I actually read the recipe intro stories and usually skip the recipes unless I’m actually cooking something haha! You introduced me to the 10 step Korean skincare routine (changed my skin!) and lots of other great products. I would love to see more lifestyle stuff on your blog! I hope you stick around, but I get it.

    1. Sigh, thank you for your insight as a reader. Readers who have been around aren’t dumb; they can see the shift. Which is why I’m glad you commented.

      Thank you for your feedback on my lifestyle posts; I definitely am leaning more towards those because I just love sharing with everyone what I’m loving and they could benefit from whatever I’m sharing! I do believe I’ll stick around but a break might be a good thing. To regroup and figure it out again :)