THE BLOGGING MISCONCEPTION

Although blogging has been around since the dawn of time, in a variety of forms, it's still incredibly new in terms of careers. Bloggers are forging new ways and setting new standards every single day and it can be really difficult for anyone outside of blogging to actually understand what it is we do. I couldn't tell you the amount of times I've heard 'So you just get sent free stuff to write about?' I'm not exactly great at responding to it, I usually just agree because most of the time, people aren't actually demeaning what I do, they just don't understand it. Who can blame them, the world wide web hasn't even been around for thirty years so it's an extremely new path.

In my eyes and I'm sure many others, blogging has huge perks if it is your full time job. Firstly, for most people I know it's usually something that derived from a hobby meaning you actually quite enjoy it. Your home is your office so it's incredibly convenient, if you need to pop the tea on you can, wash loads can be done in between and you can work your career around other aspects of life such as in my case, the children. You do get sent items, and the pay can be better than a lot of other 9-5 jobs. But, that's the huge misconception, people only see the highlights of blogging. You aren't sent 'free stuff', it's work. You can't culminate a review without actually using the item (although you probably could but that's a whole other type of blogger) even though items may be of high monetary value you have to remember that it's in exchange for time and work put into curating blog posts. A simple post requires planning time, taking photos, editing photos, writing and scheduling to social media - dependant upon how much of a perfectionist you are this can take a serious amount of time. Quite often the item itself might not be of high value, and therefore a lot of bloggers put in a lot of work in comparison to the compensation you're getting back.

I think personally for me, who is an avid blog reader, I'd like blogs to modern day magazines as I think it's pretty fair to say print is slowly dying, especially when it comes to mags as a lot have switched up and now gone online. They understand that people just don't go to a shop anymore and like to walk around with a physical copy, we want instant and we want it in our hand, plus blogs are entirely free to read and for me they feel that bit more personal. I love reading not just about products or places, I like to know the blogger and honestly sometimes feel invested in their life. When you compare adverts on blogs too vs the amount of adverts you get in any print these days be it magazines or newspapers, the difference is vast, a lot of bloggers do produce content that they're controlling entirely as it isn't an advert or paid for. I can assure you most blogs that I read and my own, have way more original and organic content compared to advertisements.

Then it comes into sponsored posts, a simple case of writing a post and receiving money for doing so. Something a lot of bloggers or 'insta-mums' have come under fire for if you read that internet thread. It's a little bit ludicrous that bloggers can be branded dishonest for doing such things, I work on sponsored content every month and it's a large source of my income for my blog. But in comparison to every other form of advertising, blogging is an extremely honest form, everything is declared and adhered to along with the guidelines. Advertising is everywhere, on bus wraps, billboards, television programmes, intervals, everything. You wouldn't complain about it there, when you're almost force fed the adverts, so why berate a blogger you've chosen to read or listen to, talking about what they love? Most bloggers I know are pretty stringent on what they'll promote, only promoting the products they actually know and love - if they can bring in a little money from that I'm all for it. It's not selling your soul, it's simply earning an income just the same way many leave the house to head to the office or sit behind a till at your local supermarket. Would you really nag at the lady in Asda after all, she doesn't really want to scan your shopping, she's only there because she's being paid to be? It's odd isn't it? The misconception that bloggers are super dishonest and sneaky, we're really not.

Blogging isn't always a garden of roses, we stay up into the early hours, often working for very little in return. We receive criticism and anger from some communities of mums *cough* tattle *cough*. And we have to deal with everyone who thinks we just sit at home all day doing nothing. I half wonder if as a blogger, you left the house to a specific office every day to carry out the work you do at home - would you face the same niggling taunts? Or would it be a different kettle of fish, would it be seen as a 'proper' job then?