BLOGGING: THEN VS NOW - Sivan
03.06.17

BLOGGING: THEN VS NOW

Sivan Ayla

As some of you may know, I started blogging in 2010 when fashion blogging was just emerging as a real career option. I looked up to bloggers like Damsel In Dior, Gary Pepper Girl, Man Repeller, among many others, and struggled to find where I fit in. Was I trying to showcase my outfits? Share fun DIY projects? Give relationship advice? I ended up doing all of the above (plus more) and finding that things were a bit stagnant on the growth front.

I was slowly, very slowly, building a readership, but it wasn’t enough to really turn my blog into my day job. I also never felt pressured to elevate my blog since it was just my hobby. I think this is pretty crucial to remain authentic, true to yourself, and not lose steam. In other words, my blog was (and still is) my passion project. It wasn’t until about 2 years ago that things started picking up for me. My wedding in Greece was a pivotal point in my career as a blogger, as there started to be a lot of interest around my wedding. At that point I started focusing more energy on my blog and treating it as a business instead of my creative hobby.

While 2 years ago my wedding gave my blog the “boost” I’d been looking for, I also have come to realize that something else happened. I was older. At 27 years old I had acquired a lot more experience than when I began blogging at 22. I had traveled a bunch, endured Paul in law school, became self-employed, got engaged, bought a house, gained a ton of confidence, and everything in between. Life happened and I grew as a person.

Now, I’m well aware that 27 is still young AF, but there is a pretty drastic difference between 22 & 27. At least for me there was. This year I’m turning 30 and I can’t help but feel that there is a pretty significant difference between 27 & 30, too!

The underlying message here is with experience comes knowledge. And with knowledge comes value. Today I find my blog posts to hold more value than ever. In fact, I’m tempted to redo a ton of posts because honestly what the fuck did I know back then?! To be fair, I think I was on the more mature side of my age, but maturity and experience cannot always be interchanged. In my case experience has given me so much insight and perspective that creating content for my blog has taken on an entirely new process. My posts are lengthy because I have a lot to say. I spend around 2 hours writing each post, because a lot of thought goes into it. I scrape my mind for examples / stories / experiences that will resonate with my readers. For each post that goes live I ask myself, “does this post hold value?”

I challenge anyone who is a blogger to ask yourself this question before posting.