What Is Your Blog Story?

“I like this theme” *few days later* “I need to change my theme”

I am pretty sure that we all have been in this kind of dilemma and it is completely normal. There always seems to be something wrong with a theme that makes the whole concept of it awful or cringey or meh. No, I did not get a paid domain to have the premium themes (or did I?) but I can say that I love it. No, I did not get a paid domain to monetize but I can say, why not?

I started my blog in 2014 just because I want to. I mean, you too have probably been into Blogger and Tumblr. I have accounts there as well. In my previous work though, the only site that was accessible was WordPress. I just had to make an account to blog in the office. Hahaha! I just got out of college, the real world was pretty scary (let alone me growing up in the countryside all my life then I suddenly got thrown into the city). Overwhelming. I had to write my thoughts down. That was the sole reason. It was fun. I was still pretty anonymous then.

My first URL was adailysliceoflife.wordpress.com and my first post was Between the Pages. Nostalgic. I have been on and off here since I started.

I also have been to a lot of rebranding. You probably have gone through the same thing. I think that is the most crucial change that your blog can experience. I don’t know what urged me to change and revamped the whole thing. It was in September 2016 when I finally switched to viennanoreen.wordpress.com – I called myself then, The Wanderess. Hahaha! If I remember it correctly, my blog’s tagline was “an old soul stuck in a fucked up modern era.” It was really like going through identity crisis.

Now, going back to the domain, I only paid for this blog because I want to omit “wordpress” from my URL. I’m sorry, WordPress. I know you want us to get rid of it, anyway.! This will make me sound dumb, like really. I realized that I could go for the Personal Plan if I only want to get my damn URL. Maybe I really got entice by “Unlimited Premium Themes” because I love customizing. WordPress’ Happiness Engineers do their job so well. I love the live support chat!

This time last year, I got my own viennanoreen.com and I couldn’t be anymore happy about it. Though, my pocket really did cry a lot. It is another year, meaning I need to fund this again.

They say it is best to have a niche but with my fickle personality, I do not think I can keep up with it. I can’t even maintain my Instagram feed! I think I played it safe that I go for a personal blog. However, it is still challenging because I feel like I keep talking about myself in this blog instead of being informative or helpful with those tips, reviews and whatnot. Who wants to listen to someone who always talks about himself anyway, right? So, thank you if you have always been a reader of vienna noreen; and you are still here.

Do you think it sounds conceited to name your blog after your own name? I was talking to a friend about it the other day and it got me thinking. 😅 I really like my name and I couldn’t think of anything else that will somehow match my character. I mean vienna noreen is me. Hehe Have you noticed the semi-colon (;) after my blog name?

This blog helped me be more open about my feelings and mental state, so a semi colon. I will keep going. It was only this year (I think) when I came up with “when words blend.” I wanted to keep my coffee theme (at least the color, it’s #DAC189) so I thought of a tagline that will emulate that concept. When words blend, these thoughts are formed. Something like that. I mean, coffee blends plus my words? Does it make sense? 😄

I really want to keep my blog this way and keep my domain. But, we have to admit that the one time payment is not a small sum. I tried monetizing through WordAds last year, around May. Of course, I haven’t got anything yet because I do not have that much traffic in this site.

 

HAHAHAHAHA! 3 freaking USD in 11 months??? I really feel dejected to think that I am paying for $8 monthly for this blog and that is $96 in total. ONE. TIME. PAYMENT. 😭😭

So I tried other ways to keep my domain. I do not want to lose it so I need to work hard to pay for it. 😅

Ko-Fi

I thought it is the easiest way to ask people to help you since each coffee only cost $3. But of course, it is still not easy. 🤣

See this button on my sidebar? Yes, it will help me a lot 🙂

When this blog started to gain more views, I tried applying to different brands as an affiliate. But the thing with affiliates is your readers need to use the links and purchase something from those sites/brands so you can get a little commission. It hasn’t happened yet. 🤣 So far, I got three:

Book Depository

I choose my affiliates carefully because I do not want to fill my site with brands and companies that I do not care about at all. BD should be on the list because I love reading and they really offer a great service. My Daddy Long Legs and The Return of the Young Prince was delivered to me fast and they answer to queries immediately.

Zaful

It is an online brand that sells different fashion items from dresses to swimwear to sports. Their items look really good.

Style Korean

Of course, I have to include anything that is Korean. Hehe I am so in love with Korean Dramas and Bangtan Sonyeondan. Watching these Koreans without pores or anything make you want to have a clear skin, too! #ClearSkin2018 😆

 

They say that if you only blog to monetize, you are doing it for all the wrong reasons. I couldn’t agree more to that. But, a little help won’t hurt 🙂

If you will use my links, I would really appreciate it. Whatever amount I’ll get from your charity will help this blog run a little longer ✨

---

So, how did you come up with your blog name? Do you monetize, too? Blogging is really fun but it is not easy and definitely not cheap. Monetizing is probably as hard as building your audience.

Here is to hoping that we can help each other grow as we write our way to whichever path we are taking.

to better blog contents,

 

---

「DISCLAIMER: semi colon, featured image」