Blogging frustrations: Almost ready to quit

Going self-hosted with my blog Words By Gemm has been difficult. I started from scratch and I no longer had the support of the amazing wordpress community finding my blog posts through the reader.

Whenever I check my stats I can’t help but feel disheartened and wonder if I really made the right decision when I started a new self-hosted blog.

But despite everything the one good thing is that I’m loving the content that I’ve been sharing on my new site. I created a Career category where I share my experiences. I’m planning a series about starting full time work and also plan to share posts about being unemployed and figuring out what kind of job you want. Yesterday I published a post about working in a job that I liked on the road to finding my ‘dream job’ and what it taught me.

At the moment my traffic comes from only twitter as far as I know but it’s quite frustrating knowing that I have to rely on constantly promoting my blog posts on social media in the hopes of getting views.

One of the main reasons I haven’t yet quit is because I actually really enjoy blogging, it’s just not as fun when you hardly have any readers.

I’m writing this post just to share how I’ve been feeling lately. Also I’d love to know how you promote your blog posts or if you have any sites or courses that are helpful for someone trying (and failing) to grow their blog.

If you have a blog, leave a link below because I’m always on the lookout for new blogs to read!

 

Distractions and decisions

Hello!

So I’ve got my new site Words by gemm up and running but I’m deflated with it already. I miss you all here in the WordPress community. I miss my regular readers who would like and comment on my blog posts. Things have been pretty slow in terms of growth and my efforts seem to be fruitless. I’ve actually thought about coming back to WordPress but I don’t know whether that would just be me quitting before I’ve given myself a real chance or the best thing for me to do.

Anyway I guess I’d love some advice or inspiration for what to do when you try something new and it seems to be failing. Or maybe what keeps you going when it feels like you’re just running into walls.

I’ve also been thinking about taking time away from instagram and twitter, deleting the apps for a while and focusing my time elsewhere. By elsewhere I mean on my blog. I wonder if maybe I’m just trying way too hard to love blogging the way I used to at 16 and 17 but things have changed to much to ever get back to the way things once were.

I created twitter and instagram as a way to reach more potential readers for my blog but now I spend more time on them than I do on blogging. If I’m completely honest neither of them have ever really benefited me much in terms of gaining new readers. They’ve both just become distractions.

I want to put that time into reading, writing and creating for my online space. Maybe I need a challenge like ‘x amount of blog posts before the year is over’. I’m not 100% on my plan going forward but I’ll keep you updated and if you haven’t seen my new site wordsbygemm.com let me know what you think of it.

Feel free to leave my any advice but also the links to your blogs too!

What distracts you?

Moving forward

Hey!

I know I haven’t written for a long time (3  months to be precise) but I’m back and I have news.

I’ve finally created a self-hosted site called Words by gemm. I published my first post yesterday and I’m really looking forward to continuing my blogging journey on a new site. If you enjoy reading this blog then head on over to my new site and subscribe so you don’t miss out. If you check out my first post be sure to let me know what you think. I’ll be blogging about similar topics that you’ve read on this site but they’ll be a little more polished and I’ll also be sharing a little bit of beauty and fashion too.

Starting afresh is pretty daunting. But I’m learning that sometimes you have to be willing to try something that might not work.

When is the last time you tried something new?

p.s. I might still post here occasionally but for the most part I’ll be on my new site as well as Twitter and Instagram, so join me!

Why I chose not start over

This time last week I was all set to write a farewell post on this blog. I’d gone as far as creating a new account on WordPress with the intentions of starting over completely. However I’ve changed my mind. I’m not ready to give up on this site yet.

Sometimes it is as though I am just going round in circles because I always end up coming to this similar conclusion, that I am just going to stick to my own style of blogging and not try and fit any sort of mould. This is all good and well until I begin to question whether the content I am creating is good enough, if it is something worth sharing.

My mind has been a mix of start over with a brand new blog or just quit blogging altogether. My level of progress has been discouraging at times, making it hard to continue on. Especially when I go online and am surrounded by people who have surpassed me in just a few months or a year. Also, with where I am currently at in my life I’ve realised that blogging doesn’t mean as much to me as it used to. Once upon a time I felt like I needed a blog to be heard and to express myself instead of just doing it in real life. Despite how much blogging has helped (by serving as an outlet) I have come to understand the importance of bringing that aspect of myself offline and allowing people to see that side of me.

The idea to start over was incredibly tempting as it would have given me the chance to do whatever I wanted on a fresh blank state. However, creating a new blog would be the equivalent of running away and people always say that your problems follow you wherever you go. I think I’ve finally realised that if I can’t sort things out here on my current blog, I won’t be able to do it on a new site either.

So, I’ve decided to stick with this blog but I want to push the boat out a little more, steer things in a slightly different direction. I’m somebody that thinks about a lot of different things and I have opinions and thoughts that I’d like to share with you. Perhaps, I haven’t yet had the confidence, to come forth and pour out much of what I’ve had to offer. I think that now, I’m ready.

x

Just a moment #4

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I’ve realised that I cannot go on like this any more.

Going round and round in circles.

Using people and material things to distract me from myself.

I am not okay.

Jimi

Just a moment #1

Hey, so today I have a post unlike anything I’ve done before. I’m going to make it a weekly thing I do every Sunday to give my blog some regularity.

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We were in an almost deserted park at dusk.

We began to dance to beautiful music, allowing euphoria to take over.

 

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To the group on the other side of the park watching us, it probably just looked like an array of flailing limbs.

 

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It didn’t matter to us though, as we were wild and free and nothing felt better.

Jimi

Come as you are

Image via Pinterest

Welcome to ‘Jimi Fuchsia’. I’m Gemela but you can call me Jimi (it’s easier to pronounce).

This is a blog about my life as an old teenager living in England’s wonderful 2nd city. I’ll be posting about my ideas on life, outfits, places I visit, things I’ve learnt and what or who inspires me.

I joined WordPress almost 4 years ago so I’m not a newbie. My goal for this blog is to create a place where I can express myself and you can share your thoughts. What I love about blogging is that you can just come as you are. You could be sharing your fitness journey, outfits or experience of mental health. It doesn’t matter who you are, you have the ability to connect with people and have an effect on them, no matter how small.

Jimi