Looking Back, Blogging Then and Now

I mentioned that one of the things I did over my break was go through several of my old, old posts.  It would surprise some of you to realized that this blog is actually almost 11 years old. 

That’s right, I’ve been blogging off and on for over ten years now.  There have been a lot of changes over the years with blogging both big and little.  I won’t dwell much on the big changes, since we’ve all heard them.  It’s the little changes though, the ones I didn’t quite notice myself until I went though my old posts.  Things I started doing or not doing in my own blogging. 

Daily Posting?

When I first started blogging, I posted something everyday, whether it was necessary or not.  Mostly because blogging was so new and fun and I couldn’t hold back my enthusiasm.  That kind of went down hill though. 

Life gets in the way, and going to school was higher priority.  I was constantly going several days without posting anything, something I do now too.  But I kept on apologizing for it as if I thought there was something wrong with not posting something almost daily.  I saw many blogs doing just that, and many still today. 

In fact, I used to follow a few blogs that posted multiple times a day.  The keywords there is “used to”.  Some of those blogs disappeared, possibly because the author couldn’t keep up their daily schedule. 

As for the ones that still exist, I stopped following them because I couldn’t keep up.  Too many posts to read, and not all of them were ones I was interested in reading.  I have since learned that you don’t have to read absolutely every post written by your favorite blogger. 

Anyway, it’s difficult to read the posts you are interested in if they get lost in the sea of everything else going up on a blog every single day.  So, the daily posting thing is definitely not mandatory.

Commenting

It’s funny how back then people left comments on blog posts more often even if some of them seemed a little more “spam-y” then intended.  It’s also funny that despite receiving more comments on posts back then compared to now, I still managed to reply to most of them.  Nowadays, it sometimes takes me weeks and even months to reply to some comments.  If I reply at all.  Why was it easier before? 

It wasn’t, I just felt like I had to, like replying was mandatory just like with daily posting.  It’s not, just like how it isn’t mandatory for people to leave comments on blogs.  It’s just a nice way of showing appreciation (I wrote a whole other post about that).  It’s one of many ways to do so now. 

Over the years, more and more social media sites have popped up, meaning more and more ways to show your favorite blogger that you like their stuff.  And it works both ways.  For example, when someone pins one of my posts or videos on Pinterest, I can check out their boards and re-pin their stuff too.

Spam?

Just a bit of a rant.  Way back when, many commenters were pretty borderline spam-y, but unintentionally so.  Just many innocent people who got it in their head that commenting on other blogs is a great way to get traffic back to their blogs, etc. 

However, lately the spam comments make no sense at all.  Many don’t bother to leave a link, so what’s the point?  I have receive spam comments that were several paragraphs long about topics like Game of Thrones or random tech stuff.  Stuff that never appears on any of my blogs.  If the point is to make me laugh before I delete them, thanks.

Photography

Good news! I’ve notice that my photos, though not exactly perfect have definitely improved over the years. 

Many photos from my older posts are so blurry or way too small.  I’m surprised people could see what I was trying to share at all.  Many years of practice and checking out tips on other blogs have paid off.  So if you think your photos stink, check out one of my old photos and know, things will get better.  You will improve. 

Another problem was most of my posts only had one photo, which is fine for posts that are mostly rants and such.  But craft and sewing projects should have more pics to show off the projects.  People like seeing little details, the cute lace on the edge of a hem and beading on a neckline.  The more photos the better.

Formatting

See all that nice space between the sections and paragraphs on this current post?  See the cool looking headings?  That’s proper formatting, it breaks up the post to make it easier to read.  Now compare it to the one in the photo.

In my early days, I didn’t do much in the way of formatting at all.  My post were huge blocks of text, sort of like high school essays and we all know how much fun those are to read.

I also had issue with my photos, not just in how they looked, but where they were placed.  They cut off sentences and squeezed those blocky paragraphs in odd ways.  I surprised people could read my posts at all.  And if people can’t read your posts they aren’t likely to come back for more.

Thankfully my newer posts are a bit easier on reader eyes.

Post Titles

The first few years, I liked to be “creative” when writing titles for my posts, titles that by today’s standards would look a little too vague.

As in they were sometimes a little hard for readers to even understand. 

Enter SEO or search engine optimization which requires titles with relevant keywords.  Harder to get “creative” titles, but easier for readers to know what your post is about and to find a post they actually need when they need it. Easier for me too, since I frequently have to look up my own blog posts too.

These are just a few of the changes I noticed.  Veteran bloggers, how many of these applied to you?  And what other things have you seen over the years.  Please share.