The nine stages of blogging

There are around 65 million bloggers on WordPress – and god knows how many more that use other platforms. But no matter which one you use, it’s most likely that every single one of you go through the following nine stages (and if you don’t I bow down to you oh holy one):

1. Imagining your future as a famous, influential blogger #chuckwendig

famous-cat

2. Trying to design your blog and going through 50 templates before you find the one you like

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3. Publishing your introduction post and waiting for your very first comment

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4. Researching ‘how to blog’ and ‘why does everyone blog about cats’

checking response cat

5. When it hits you that attempting to blog three times a day could be an unrealistic expectation if you still want to #netflix & #chill

cat-computer

6. Accidentally publishing a half-finished post and hoping no one saw it

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7. Taking a short break from blogging only to come back 2 years later

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8.Telling your friends and family that you have a blog and then getting embarrassed when they quickly find it

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9. Reaching 100 followers and secretly knowing that you’ve finally made an impact on the world

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Gifs sourced from:hilariousgifs.com, 4gifs.com, giphy.com, gifsoup.com, lozgif.com

 

 

 

79 thoughts

  5. Good grief, it looks like I’m one of the 65 million WordPress bloggers! And, yes, I can relate to your post. Still working on finding “followers,” one post at a time. 🙂
    -Stephanie from Alabama, USA.

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  9. I am so glad I stumbled onto your blog. 1. I love that all of your post titles end with …with cats. 2. I love the cat gifs. 3. Your content is totally relatable (beyond adoration of kitties, too). You’ve got yourself a new follower, for sure! 🙂

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    1. Thank you! Omg I do number six all the time! Actually, just this past week I accidentally posted my newest blog early – it was terrible because about 10-15 people saw it before I could take it down, it was soooo unfinished… 🙂

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  11. Oh! This is too funny! I have not gone through many of the stages you describe. My blog saves me time. This way my recipes are more organized and I can find everything more easily. I am always awed by the friendliness and the comradery of blogging. I am so happy to have been directed to your blog.🐈

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    1. That’s what I absolutely love about blogging here on wordpress, everyone is so lovely and friendly! The main reason I decided to start blogging was to find other people interested in self-publishing (so I could learn as much as I could from others) and to also share my publishing journey 🙂 I’m having so much fun connecting on here, so happy you could stop by 🙂

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      1. Yes I did mean the ‘real and original’ Norfolk. The one that gave its name to the second one, in Virginia. I moved here from London, when I retired from work. We live 18 miles west of Norwich, close to Dereham, and I have taken my dog for walks around the lake in the UEA. Small world!
        (It’s all on my About page.)
        Best wishes, Pete.

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        1. That’s fantastic! Very small world. Oh the lake!! Man I miss Norwich 😦 Wasn’t sure if you were American or not – not as many poms & Aussies around here! I had no idea there was a Norfolk in Virginia, but had a feeling there was probably one in the US – they’ve adopted most of the English names it seems. Cool, I’ll be checking out your about page 🙂

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          1. I think that places in America were given English names because of all the settlers that went there from England. There are too many to list, but you will find many examples in New England (there’s one!) and the original thirteen states. South and North Carolina were named after King Charles I (Carolus is Charles in Latin)
            Virginia after Queen Elizabeth I, Pennsylvania after the Englishman William Penn, and so on…I could go on all night…
            Not sure where you live now, but I have never been to America myself.
            Best wishes, Pete.

            Liked by 1 person

  23. I actually laughed out loud! hahaha I just recently started blogging and I can definitely relate to some of these. Others I’m looking forward to in the future ahah 🙂

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  24. Pingback: ReBlog – The nine stages of blogging – with cats | Brickley Jules Writes

  26. Love this. I felt like I’ve used every single template available in my first week and even posted about it. I did make my first post a year ago and became active only the past four months and none in my family knows that I blog (or at least none that I know of). So far, the best thing about blogging are the connections I’ve made with other bloggers through our stories and the great support from everyone. Hurray for WP! 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

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  28. LMAO!!

    Wait, what? Blogging THREE times a day? Is that a real thing? Is it a requirement? Is anyone checking?

    Never thought about being famous – I’m just trying to stay out of trouble.

    It’s not working.

    Thanks for the follow – looking forward to your posts. (Will there be three a day?) 😄

    Liked by 2 people

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  32. Thanks for the follow. I thought I’d check out your blog and yes, while you’ve followed me on rockpriestesswrites.wordpress.com, I do have another blog. You’ll never believe it, but it’s called, lifewithlunacat.wordpress.com. So I loved this post and wanted to return the favor and follow you as well. Happy Blogging and enjoy your kitty(s). 😉

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  34. Fun! I will add you to my list of places to go to combat writer’s block. Sometimes I just need to laugh at myself. But I am also thinking, as I browse your blog, that maybe the best strategy would be to move to Australia. 🙂

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    1. Thank you!! Argh writers block is the worst. Yes move to Australia! You’ll love it here. I just checked out your about page and saw you’re from Colorado! That’s awesome – to me Denver sounds pretty far-flung and exciting ☺️

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  41. I’ve been at 3, 4, 5 and a couple others, this post is so relatable to a perfect T 😂 Thanks for the follow, by the way – I’ve been sweeping through your posts and they’re full of cuddly cats ❤

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  43. I’m perpetually puzzled as to why I’m not a blogosphere star. You will often see me refer to myself as an International Author, Literary Genius, or Internet Sensation. I figure that if I write it enough times, people will begin to believe it. But when my confidence starts to flag, Lulu.com inform me that I’ve sold a couple of books, and the whole rigmarole starts over again. For the most part blogging is fun though. It’s good to entertain people.

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      1. Right now I settle for “hey, I remembered to blog this week!” and my cat, who is not concerned with being a star settles a claw in my knee and says “Stop that computer cr*p and feed me already!”

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  45. Hahaha. I’m kinda at stage 7, but it’s only been 4 months and I went from Blogger to WordPress. I can already tell WordPress is way more where I belong. And, my cat totally does that compawlsive grabby thing like in stage 3. This post is truth! 🙂

    Liked by 5 people

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  46. Haha, so true.
    When I first received 100, 200 visitors I wanted to make a post telling the world how happy I am but then I realised that in the grand scheme 250 followers 50 views a day is nothing – and i got super depressed about it. For all of us who stick through it, we all go through these stages.

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        1. Oh really! Wow they must have some great content or strategies haha. I’m just not SEO minded enough to do that. Do you still get 50 views a day? I get about 150 a day (about 5o on weekends lol) and I’ve been blogging for about 10 months – I post 2-3 times a month

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          1. No, I dropped to about 35, and I blog 8 times a month.

            I don’t think I can increase it more unless I change the direction of my blog entirely.

            As you can tell, the only interaction on my blog is fiction (which is slow and focuses more on niche loyalty than numbers).

            I lack images and videos (lacks better forms of audience interaction).

            Liked by 3 people

  47. Well, number 1 doesn’t do it for me. I remember announcing to friends at a liquid lunch in October 2014 (it’s engraved upon my heart) that I was about to start blogging the memoirs of a Tudor cat. Their eyes promptly glazed over. But, Tudors and Cats – what could possibly go wrong? Well, first I had to learn how to set up a blog (a lunch member recommended WordPress) and then I had to pluck up the courage to make it live: that took months and months!

    Number 2, yes! I’ll never forget the first Follow I got from someone who wasn’t already a friend. As far as I’m concerned, that man can do no wrong.

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  48. I laughed!! Of course I want to be “a staaaaaar”; I mean, really, who doesn’t? Will my blog be the key? Who knows; but if hope and sheer “will” have any part in it, I shall rule the world! (Okay, no – I don’t want THAT kind of responsibility; as a matter of fact, I don’t want responsibility AT ALL! I want freedom to write, and pet my cats, and chill and watch Netflix! Day jobs and “adulting” be damned!)
    For now, though, I guess I have to be complacent with my 10 meager blog posts, and my 50 page “likes” – no “ummm, it’s been (gulp) three years??” hiatus just yet…
    Loving the cat-love! The purrrrrr-fect end to a scratchy week! Thanks!

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  49. Oh my gosh. I stared at stage #2 for way too long. It’s just so mesmerizing in its claustrophobia-inducing crazy cat ladyness. And I think that the black and white cat in the background is doing unfortunate things to that wall. 😦 Or maybe not. It’s hard to really tell with all the other cats flying around.

    But I love stage #8. I’ll just pick up that little kitten and “accidently” take it home with me. 😆 I don’t think anyone would notice. Right?

    Liked by 5 people

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