7 Blogging things which give me 'the ick'.

I love blogging. I still find it wild that I get to make money doing something I love. After working in retail the idea of actually enjoying a job seemed so unachievable! Since going full time with my blog, I've learnt a lot. I've picked up a variety of tips and tricks to help me along the way. But I've also got an internal list of things I don't like about the blogging world & things that quite frankly give me the ick!

Today my internal list is going external!

_{[Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash]}

What is the ick?

The ick is a feeling you get when you're becoming more and more turned off by something. It's frequently used when it comes to dating and relationships. If you're a regular watcher of Love Island or other new age dating shows I'm sure you'll all be aware of the ick.

In my case, my ick is with blogging. I love it, but I wanted to bring a bit of humour to your screens today and give you a list of things which ruffle my feathers.

7 Blogging things which give me the ick.

1. ADs not being declared correctly

As bloggers we have a duty of care when it comes to our audiences. Our audiences deserve to know when we are being compensated to promote a product or service. This comes in the form of declaring blog posts or social posts as ADs.

ASA guidelines have been around for a long time now, and although they've often been described as being 'clear as mud' I'd like to think it only takes a small amount of common sense to know how to declare your AD. And even if you're not sure (I've been there before) you're better off over declaring than not at all.

I also don't understand the mentality that you wouldn't want to declare something as being an AD incase it seems disingenuous or braggy. Get those AD's girl! I love seeing bloggers securing collaborations with fantastic brands! I'll be your biggest cheerleader. Get those partnerships & get those pennies!

PS. For those at the back... AD needs to go at the beginning of your post! Not hidden away in the comments or at the end. *Insert icky eye roll here*

2. Apologising for being away

Good lord, this one gives me the ick like no other. Please, please, please don't apologise for living your life away from social media! Bloggers don't need to apologise for being away. You don't owe anyone an explanation, nor an apology.

I follow someone on Instagram, who's content I love, but who takes breaks from Friday to Sunday. Every week this person announces their departure from the app and every week it bugs me even more. I don't understand why this has to be announced. Just go and enjoy your weekend.

Maybe it's because I'm a small fry in the world on Instagram, that I have this opinion. Maybe it's controversial? I'm not sure, but it really gets on my nerves.

3. Scheduling promo

I'm too much of a cheapskate to pay for a scheduling tool, yet I'm too lazy to manually schedule a months worth of tweets / facebook posts in one go. Do you see my problem?

I hate scheduling promo. It's the most boring job when it comes to blogging. But it really works. A lot of my traffic comes through social media posts and I can definitely tell when I've not been as on it with scheduling.

If only there was a way to make scheduling promo more fun? Do let me know in the comments what you do, because it's the absolute bane of my life.

4. 'I've got something exciting coming up, but I can't tell you yet'

Not only is this annoying in the blogging world, but it's also really annoying in real life too. My sister used to do this thing when we were younger where she'd hold her hand out to give me something and then instantly pull away when I'd go to take it. She'd say 'do you want it? Can't have it' over and over and over again. When someone says they've got something exciting coming up, but they can't tell us about it, it feels exactly like that!

With that being said, I do understand why people do it. It ramps up excitement and gets audiences chomping at the bit. My only request is that you tease the day before perhaps? Teasing weeks in advance is not only annoying, but I've got the worst memory in the world. If it's not happening iminently, there's no way it's going to stay on my radar.

_{[Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash]}

5. 'Hi Dear'

You know when an email starts with 'hi dear' it's going to be a load of old rubbish. These sort of emails expect you to work for $5 or for free (I don't know what's worse). They're a complete p**s take and go straight into my email trash bin.

Please don't work for free. What you put out there has to be beneficial for you.

6. Guru's

There are plenty of people out there nowadays acting as social media guru's or blogging experts. Some people are, some people out there know everything there is to know about their field of expertise. But there are also plenty of people (or guru's) that don't.

There are blogging and Instagram guru's out there charging a small fortune for their knowledge. When in reality, they can't teach you very much at all. I understand it's daunting when you don't know something, or want to excel and get better, but there are plenty of other ways you can do so without giving your money away.

Remember, google is great! You don't need to spend £X when google is at your very fingertips.

7. #BloggersRequired #BloggersWanted

The hashtags #bloggersrequired and #bloggerswanted is supposed to be used by brands searching for bloggers to work with on upcoming projects. Nowadays the hashtags are used by bloggers searching for other bloggers to advertise with them.

I get it! I send out promotional tweets about my advertising services, but those two specific hashtags aren't for that. Offer your services, get that dollar, but do it in a way that's not obtrusive to others. I quite regularly job search on twitter and having to sift though other bloggers promoting their services can be really quite frustrating.

I'm sure there's many more blogging things which give me the ick, but it was these seven which first came to mind. You might find me updating this post as time goes by and I become more frustrated by things!

What blogging things give you the ick? I'd love to know in the comments below. Or if you have any differing opinions to myself, I'd love to hear them.