Not everyone needs to be Pioneer Woman

[marbel]

Oh yes, I forgot about the subscription pop-ups!  

 

When I was blogging regularly, people who really wanted to subscribe had to hunt for the RSS button somewhere in my sidebar.  Those pop-ups are beyond irritating.

 

I loved blogging, but I was doing it when it was genuine and not just a job.  It was a fun little hobby and the people who read and commented on my blogs were genuine.  I keep thinking about getting back into it, but I feel like food blogging is kind of beyond saturated and nothing I would post would be unique anymore.  Though, my ad-free, pop-up free format might be revolutionary in its own way. 

 

I liked blogging when it was mostly text.    And, I prefer reading blogs that are mostly text.  (I'm not talking about recipe blogs, but all of them.)  A few photos are nice, but I liked to actually read stuff.   Now it seems like they are all photos and snark and bloggers talking about what rebels they are, or what geeks they are, or otherwise how unique and off-beat they are, when really they are not. 

[Lady Florida.]

I really like Budget Bytes. She has step by step photos, but usually AFTER the recipe. So it's easy to avoid them and only use them if you want to clarify some instruction. The only time she does it differently is when she is blogging about a process (like she just did one on how to brown butter) and the photos are kind of the point. 

 

I also find her ingredients and recipes are ones I can use everyday. Typically stuff we have or I can adapt easily. Typically fairly easy to prepare. And I don't think I've made anything from her site that was not good. 

 

I love Budget Bytes!

[Audrey]

Those of us who remember Ree from these boards probably get the impression that she herself would laugh at a comparison to June Cleaver. She was pretty down to earth while she was here and I kinda miss her spark. I too have abandoned reading the blog because it became too time consuming and now everything seems to be filtered through the marketing analyst.

I remember her when she was here, too. The Ree who used to post here was funny and down-to-earth. The Ree that is marketed and is presenting shows and books is not the same Ree who posted here. They share the same body, but it's not the same person(a). That's just my observation.

[sarasue7272]

I'm pretty much over blogs. I used to like them, but now it's all monetized BS. So many words without saying a dadgum thing. I especially hate when I'm looking for something and I get a list of links in paragraph form. I already googled!!!!

 

 

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[Lady Florida.]

I'm pretty much over blogs. I used to like them, but now it's all monetized BS. So many words without saying a dadgum thing. I especially hate when I'm looking for something and I get a list of links in paragraph form. I already googled!!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

There were some craft blogs I used to love until they monetized and did just that. It seemed like every other word was a link to a sponsor. Ugh.

[PinkTulip]

I found a new one that I'm really loving: Kiwi & Carrot It's a cute mom & daughter duo that have a short intro, one or two quality photos, and most importantly, all of their recipes I have tried have been really good!

 

The website is Kiwiandcarrot.com

[Mimm]

Even PW annoys me! I don't hate her or anything, but goodness just get to the point! I just wanted the pie crust recipe, not this long story about your neighbor getting stuck in the snow!

 

The pie crust was delicious though. :)

 

I usually scroll to the bottom looking for the actual recipe on these blogs. If they don't have it, I won't make it. I made that mistake once. She (not PW- a different food blogger) didn't have a printable recipe, but she had a list of ingredients at the beginning, then all the instructions with pictures. Why so many pictures? I don't need to see a picture of you dumping a teaspoon of salt in the bowl! That's so weird. I can just picture it, I have a very good imagination. I always just picture the blogger holding the camera and taking a picture of her hand as she's carefully not tilting the spoon too much and it seems laughable, not helpful. Anyway, I had to keep scrolling up and down for ingredient measurements up top and instructions buried among the pictures that I missed important steps and it was a disaster. So yeah, never again making a recipe that doesn't have everything I need in one place.

Edited November 21, 2016 by Mimm

[KrissiK]

I notice a big difference between when blogs first come out and when they monetize. I loved PW years ago when she just wrote about.... whatever. I still remember laughing till I cried at one of her posts.... I think it was when she accidentally broke the glass in the donut case at a convenience store. But then she started getting famous and her posts started getting very bland. It's been ages since I've visited her blog. And I used to read every day. And a Christian blogger I used to read did that, too. Her first year or so of blogging was awesome. She was real and honest and her writing was beautiful. I e-mailed a lot with her, actually. Then, she got monetized and her blogs became "Three steps to..... whatever" or "Five easy ways to..... whatever" and I stopped reading.

[fairfarmhand]

I notice a big difference between when blogs first come out and when they monetize. I loved PW years ago when she just wrote about.... whatever. I still remember laughing till I cried at one of her posts.... I think it was when she accidentally broke the glass in the donut case at a convenience store. But then she started getting famous and her posts started getting very bland. It's been ages since I've visited her blog. And I used to read every day. And a Christian blogger I used to read did that, too. Her first year or so of blogging was awesome. She was real and honest and her writing was beautiful. I e-mailed a lot with her, actually. Then, she got monetized and her blogs became "Three steps to..... whatever" or "Five easy ways to..... whatever" and I stopped reading.

I'll tell you a secret.

 

sometimes, it's not the same blogger.

 

It's very easy to hire a freelancer to create posts like that.

 

And, once you've written for awhile, and you feel like you're obligated to post frequently, it's hard to stay interesting.

 

I don't monetize my blog. It's purely for fun and to express myself. \

 

As a freelancer, I can churn out boring 5 steps to... or 10 ways to... posts all day long. And people pay me to do it.

 

But for my personal blogs, I like to be more unique and interesting. I like my voice to stand out. So I avoid the types of posts that people pay me to write.