An Open Apology

Dear Bloggers and Blog Readers,

I am sorry for the way I've blogged over the past year or so.

When I first started writing this blog it was mainly for my wedding party. I was a newly engaged twenty something and I wanted a place to put all of my wedding ideas. My goal was to have all of my bridesmaids read the blog and be on the same page when it came to wedding preparations. I quickly found out that I really enjoyed blogging and other people were actually reading. It made me excited and made me want to keep going.

As my followers grew so did my head. I wanted more, more, more. Let's be honest, reading comments from readers gives you a sort of high. It lets you know that people support you, people like you and that feels good. You're lying if you say that's not true. While I'm not saying that was the sole purpose of my writing it always helped to know that the comments would come flowing in with each new blog post.

I branched out into the sponsorship and advertising world. The first month I accepted sponsors I got 10 paid spots immediately {they like me, they really like me!} and I saw the potential to make some money on this "hobby". I joined Blogher and started accepting product reviews and got paid to promote products which opened up a whole new world of making money. Throw in social media touts which were super easy and paid pretty decent. They were annoying, they clogged up people's feed but they were an easy way to make $50 so I did them.

Did I like writing those posts? Not really. I always put them off till the absolute last minute. Was I good at them? Not at all. Some people have a way with words where they can sort of conceal a sponsored post and make it readable. I am not one of them. Mine always read "sponsored, sponsored, sponsored". Annoying, annoying, annoying.

I would get comments here and there, "oh, surprise, another sponsored post..." and I would scoff and say something like, "if you don't like it, don't read it" in my head. I still think that people should just click that little red X in the corner of their screen if they don't like something they are reading BUT I get it. I got lost in why I started this blog in the first place.

I started seeing it as an opportunity to make money rather than keeping my heart and soul in it. I liked getting the extra little bit of money each month and at one point I made over $1,000.00 in one month and thought I was the bees knees. At that point I didn't really care that I was putting unworthy content out there. I didn't care that I was clogging up people's news feed. I saw that money go up and up each month and it made me feel good. Call me delusional but to me, at that time, I thought I had "made it" in the blog world.

What can I say, money is the biggest motivator especially when you don't have much of it.

I have the Timehop app on my phone, as many of you do, and one year ago, two years ago I was sponsoring, touting, clogging up feeds left and right. It's annoying for ME to see in my Timehop app so I can only imagine how annoying it had to be for YOU to see at the time. Hard to believe that it took seeing my "one year ago..." history to realize how annoying I had become.

I am sorry.

I got caught up in the business part of my blog and started to lose focus of why I really wanted to be a blogger in the first place. My intentions got lost and I saw green. I kind of turned into a blog slut. That's now how I want this blog to be. I want this to be a place where I share my life, my thoughts, my likes, my dislikes, like it used to be. Back to basics blogging. Not to say that there will never be a sponsored post or product review ever again BUT I am going to be MUCH more selective about what I chose to share and get paid for.

For those of you who stuck it out through the horribly written blatantly obvious sponsored posts. For those of you who didn't "hide" me on your news feed. For those of you who are still reading after all that garbage. THANK YOU. I wasn't a good blogger to you but you stuck it out and are still supporting me.

I know I'm not the only blogger who has gotten off track and let the money making part take priority over the real content. I know there are other bloggers out there who think that that is the way to "make it" in the blog world too. That's why I'm OK with sharing my faults and failures. For some people they can have a healthy balance of both and hats off to those who can. I am not one of them.

So back to basics blogging for this girl. Back to sharing my life and what I like. A little bit of recipes, a little momming, a little fashion, a little fitness, maybe some celebrity gossip here and there. I hope you're OK with that.

Sincerely,

A Formerly Money Hungry Blogger Who Lost Sight Of Her Real Passion But Promises To Get Back There, Mrs. Dew.