Top

kimbermoose

Changes To My Blog: Confessions of a Bad Blogger

You know I’ve consistently been a bad blogger, when I started writing this post in March 2022, but am just posting it now. I have been saying for almost a year how much of a bad blogger I am, but my friends (who I complain about this to) always say things like: “no, you’re not” or “you’re just really busy” or “wait, you have a blog?”. I was tempted to name this blog after that Kourtney Kardashian quote that was circulating the clock app that goes “I was just out there, living life”, because I truly feel like that is why I have been dropping the ball on posting regular content. But then I thought this may be a good chance to reintroduce myself and the blog, since a lot has changed since I first started this blog in 2017. So hello there! I’m Kim, and I’m a bad blogger.

Blogging: In or Out?

Let me kick off this post by saying, I am my own biggest critic! No one is asking me to make consistent content. No one is sitting in front of their computer just waiting for me to hit “publish” on a WordPress post that probably has a spelling error or five. It seems that in the last few years, many bloggers have stopped posting to their own websites and have since switched to other mediums that are way more popular. Especially with the rise in video.

I have been saying for years that social media platforms will continue to come and go with the trends. Before the pandemic, IG was the absolute must-have social media platform, until the clock app swooped in and now they are actively trying to be each other. Trying to master algorithms and conduct an entire social media strategy when you work 9-5 and want to have a social life is exhausting. And I have a fear of popular social media platforms eventually shutting down, resulting in losing all my content. Which is why I am glad to own my own website. If you had said in 2009 that Facebook would be mainly used now by our parents, I wouldn’t have believed you. And if you had told me when I created my website that some of my favorite bloggers would have thrown in the towel and no longer post to their own websites in 2023, I would’ve called BS too.

That being said: here are the blogs I still actively check on and absolutely adore:

Despite written blogs and personal websites lacking in popularity, and my general lack of success in capturing an engaged audience, I will continue to blog until it stops being fun.

Why I Do This

I’ve always called my blog my little ‘passion project”. Its probably considered more of a hobby than a side-hustle, considering I am a brand ambassador for only one brand (shoutout thredUP) and only occasionally make a few bucks with my affiliate links. Let me be clear: I don’t do this for the money. I do this because I like oversharing, documenting my every waking moment, and taking bomb-a$$ photos of myself.

I deflect to saying all of my harden effort I put into Kimbermoose to just being a hobby, also because I often become frustrated at myself for having been blogging for almost 6 years and not having the numbers to prove it. But I guess I can’t even be mad that my numbers have not skyrocketed, because I am not consistent and I have no strategy. (We’re just raw-doggin’ it y’all).

I have definitely changed my approach to blogging and I find myself lacking the self-discipline to keep up with it at times. But that is not because I hate it! In the last few years I have prioritized what I want to do in the moment, rather than forcing myself to do something that I will probably be proud that I did later. That’s right folks – I am lacking discipline.

There have been so many days in the last year where the last thing I want to do is spend hours in front of a computer when I could be reading or hanging out with my friends. Or sleeping. Think of the moments after an exhausting trip where you just want to curl up on your couch with a book, or just sleep for a thousand years. Would you want to edit hundreds of photos and type out every single thing you did on vacation? There have been times where this blog has felt like a chore. And at risk of burning out or completely abandoning this website, I opt to just take a step back and wait for inspiration to strike. In 2022, those moments were far and between.

I sometimes forget the reasons I started this blog, especially in those moments where I lack inspiration and discipline. My goal wasn’t to make a ton of money or even to ‘influence’ people. I often fight against the narrative that I am an ‘influencer’, mainly because I think that blogging and influencing have become two totally different verbs. I find myself using this public domain as a diary and photo album. But saying I just made this website for myself defeats the purpose of it being public in the first place.

Truthfully, I hope my blog can inspire others. I hope I can help someone find a really cool article of clothing, or perfect gift, or a really neat restaurant. I hope my stories resonate with others and make people feel like they are not alone in whatever they are experiencing. I hope my friends can look back at all of our adventures and smile. (I don’t actually know how many of my friends or family members read my blog. So if you are reading this, text or message me “mashed potatoes” and I’ll know you actually do.) I also hope that I can continue to look back on my own journey as a fumbling twenty-something who hardly ever knows what she is doing.

All of that being said, my blog has changed so much in the last few years, and I’d like to be transparent about my intentions with it moving forward.

What Has Changed:

When I first started this blog, I had just endured a major surgery and had a lot of time on my hands. Then I was a broke college student just trying to graduate on time and make memories with her friends. I wasn’t an intense blogger, but I still put in the time and effort. When I started my first “big girl” job, I was living at home with my parents. That created a huge change for the blog since I had a lot more disposable income to put into new clothes, travel and elaborate photoshoots. Even during the pandemic and lockdown, I was still spending a lot of money on material items and creative projects (now that gas money and travel funds were put on hold). When lockdown ended, I was definitely over compensating for having been stuck in the house with my parents and Oma, so I was eager to travel and live independently. That is probably where my “just living life” mindset started and my content started becoming more inconsistent.

Here is how I break up the years of my blog in my mind:

  • 2017: Just getting started. Jaw Surgery focused content and no clue how to run a website.
  • 2018: Getting the hang of it. Sharing the life of a college student and recent graduate, but not regularly posting.
  • 2019: Travel + Shopping + Fitness + Photoshoots. Lots of regular posts, trying to be sustainable and starting my #Kimberkopy’s.
  • 2020: Pandemic strikes and my content takes a twist. I stop sharing a lot of my day-to-day life, but create many intricate photoshoots.
  • 2021: Just glad to be out of the house, but still unsure of what I want to share. There is a new focus on thrifting and living on my own for the first time. Since I pay rent now, there isn’t a whole lot of shopping or curated photoshoots
  • 2022: Sharing lots of affiliate links and photo dumps, and just to try to organize and document my life via the blog. Just living life, but not posting about it until weeks later.

So what’s next for 2023 you might ask?

New Year, New Blog

Since early 2020, I started making it a priority to shop more sustainably. Up until 2019, I was shopping mainly on fast fashion websites and ordering whatever I could off of Amazon. These days, I probably get 70% of new clothes from thrifting and have ended my Amazon Prime account. I care very much about being a conscious consumer, so I have a hard time wanting to push a ton of products or items your way, unless I would genuinely buy them for myself.

I already mentioned above that I don’t consider myself “an influencer”. Perhaps that is because they get a bad rap, but also because there are only a handful of people I think I have ever actually convinced to buy or do anything. I don’t have that kind of power! I definitely try to share what I buy, use and do. But I do not have brands knocking down my door to work with me. Since moving out on my own, I am not shopping every single day for new stuff. I am very intrigued by the idea of “un-influencing” especially at a time where I worry we are about to go into a recession and the job market is not at its best. So I imagine there will be posts centered on that this year.

I try to make do with what I have or get what I need locally or secondhand. It’s hard (or downright impossible) to hyperlink that for the entire internet to do it too. That being said, my posts this year will mainly revolve around “inspiration” and “spilled ink”. I want to share more of my Kim Thoughts (trust me, I got a lot of them) and inspire you to do what I am doing, since I can’t link everything I do. It’s a weird thing to say “I want to be inspiring”, but I hope if I use examples such as “sharing a bunch of thrift finds I got from thredUP” or “cooking from food I only got from my local farmers market”, you understand what I’m trying to do.

This blog will still include affiliate links, but definitely not at the pace or consistency of 2019. If you couldn’t tell already, there are two main types of posts that include affiliate links from me are “What’s In My Shopping Cart” and “Gift Guides”. I am always happy to share where I got something or share a link to something similar, but those links are not what my blog is about. I’m trying this new “experiences over material things”… thing. And I hope that resonates with you.

A comeback I was not expecting with the blog in 2023 is the return of jaw surgery talk. In the last year, I have noticed that I have been clicking my jaw a lot. I thought it was normal. Spoiler: it’s not. So I am looking into solutions with the help of my old friends at the University of Maryland Medical Center. That may involve acupuncture, Botox or physical therapy. If you’re one of the thousands of people who found my blog because you wanted more information on double jaw surgery, I am not only surprised you’ve stuck around, but also glad. Having complete strangers reach out to me about my jaw surgery experience and ask questions has been one of the most fulfilling parts of starting this website and I hope it continues.

I’ve always had this goal of getting more followers and more visitors to my IG and website. But now, I just want to get back to the core of why I started blogging in the first place. I want share what is going on in my life. I want to be the big sister telling you all about her dating woes and every lesson she has ever learned the hard way. I want to be the little sister who just learned how to make a dirty martini and is so proud of herself she has to share it with the world. I don’t want to care about the number of followers I have or who is reading what I write, but it’s hard not to! So if it seems like I am just posting willy-nilly this year, that is probably why. In 2023, we post what we want because we don’t care what people think! (But if you do like what I’m posting, please don’t be shy and please share with me. I am a people pleaser who loves attention and praise).

So is this a rebrand? It might be! It’s going to take a lot more time and effort to update things. I definitely need to edit my “about me” page, since I no longer live with my parents and am in my late twenties now. Wow. Late Twenties. Where has the time gone!?

To anyone who read through this extremely long post, thank you. I hope you stick around. And I love you. And please don’t forget to text me the secret phrase hidden in this blog.

xx

Social

Archives