Southern Belle in Training

Fashion, Travel & Lifestyle Blog || Est. 2012 || Virginia Beach, VA

April 1, 2015

My Blogging Pet Peeves.

      I have been blogging now in total for over four years, and blogging here on Southern Belle in Training for two and a half years. In that time, blogging has become so much more than just a hobby for me. It is turning into a business at times, a way to make amazing friendships, a place to share my passions, and also a part of my life that I could not imagine not doing.




      Four years is a long time in the digital world, and in that time I have certainly seen lots of trends in blogging (and the way that bloggers interact) come and go during that time. (Anyone remember the panic of when Google Reader disappeared and everyone thought Google Friend Connect was going down with it?! #TBT) While there is so much that I do love about the blogging community, there are a few things that are definitely "pet peeves," of mine. Some of these things I have noticed have started to form more just in the past year or so, and others have been around longer. I am curious if any fellow bloggers also share with me in these pet peeves, or maybe you have some of your own?


    1. Bloggers not having e-mail replies set up for comments. It literally makes my day when someone leaves a sweet comment on a blog post of mine!! But it always makes me so sad when I have no way to respond to the comment! Blogger has this handy-dandy feature where you can enter your e-mail and have replies to your comments on people's blogs sent to your e-mail (like a personal message back just for you!), but so many bloggers don't have this feature set up. I use this to respond to comments here on my blog, but if you don't have your e-mail signed up then you will never see my responses back. :-(

     2. The "on repeat" phrase with fashion bloggers. I think y'all will know what I mean here. This happens with almost too many fashion bloggers for me to count. (I'm probably guilty of it myself- but when I do say this about an item I usually do actually mean it!) So many bloggers say in their blog or Instagram posts when they get a new fashion item- be it a pair of jeans, a dress, earrings... etc, something along the lines of "Loving my new (insert item here)! This will definitely be on repeat!" or "Obsessed with my new (insert item here)! Not taking this off and you'll see this on the blog all the time!" First off- there is nothing wrong at all with buying something that you love and wearing it all the time! In fact- I support that! And when I do myself use the phrase "on repeat" about an outfit or fashion item, I literally do mean that I bought something and love it enough to be wearing it a lot. And y'all have seen me re-style things like dresses or certain tops here on the blog before. But what I am referring to is that a lot of the "bigger" fashion bloggers have such huge wardrobes, and say things like that about all of their outfits and new purchases... and then you never actually do see them wearing the items again! There is nothing wrong with having a big wardrobe or a lot of clothes (that is a lot of girls' dreams!), but when there are people out there who are on tight budgets and actually do re-wear or re-style the same things a lot, I don't quite see the need for bloggers to always say that every item is their favorite item and they will be wearing it non-stop, when oftentimes they wear something once and then re-sell it.

     3. Bloggers' Instagram accounts becoming filled with all blog content. It's no secret that I love Instagram. It is my favorite form of social media and I will admit that I'm 100% obsessed. I love Instagram especially because I can follow all of my friends in my personal life as well as all of my favorite bloggers- best of both worlds! But one of the reasons that I have always loved following bloggers on Instagram is because I get special look into their personal lives that they might not share on their blogs. Apparently there are studies that show that people are less likely to follow you on Instagram with the more pictures that you post of you personal life (such as pictures of you and friends or family, or just like random pictures of your daily life), but I actually love seeing bloggers share things like that! I think that a great balance between Instagramming pictures of outfits and/or blog related content and looks into your personal life is so important. (And by looks into your personal life... I don't always mean the perfectly arranged shot of the latte at your favorite coffee shop either. ;-) )


     But despite having a few pet peeves, there are also a few things that have happened in the blogging community more recently that I am loving! For example, a very recent trend is bloggers making their Snapchat stories public- LOVE this! (I recently joined in on the fun and made my story public- follow me @miss_alk!) I also love all of the incredible blogging networks that have gained popularity in the past few years. I am a proud member of both the Southern Blog Society and the Her Campus Blogging Network, as well as some smaller blogging networks, and all of these have brought me so many great networking opportunities for the business side of blogging, allowed me to learn more about blogging, and introduced me to so many more great bloggers than I would have just found on my own!


     Fellow bloggers- do you have any pet peeves with the blogging community? Or on the other hand- what are some new developments in blogging that you are loving?


     P.S. Happy April Fools Day! This is always one of my favorite weird little holidays.... I love surprising people or coming up with tricky plans for things! Back when I was in 9th grade I remember that everyone in my high school youth group at church tried to plan April Fools jokes on each other... goodness that was quite something haha! This year sadly I don't have anything planned, but maybe someone will try and get me?! 


     xoxo Miss ALK
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9 comments

  1. Biggest pet peeve - digitally "friends" but not real life friends .. meaning sometimes I interact a lot with a fellow blogger online and then when we see each other at an event in person they "don't know" me .. does that ever happen to you?
    Favorite trend - I think from a new blogger perspective it's being about a season ahead of the trends! It's been cool wearing certain things on my blog and then realizing a couple of months later I see it everywhere! Obviously I'm not the start of the trend but it's cool knowing what is to come!!

    Loved this post!

    -Morgan
    How 2 Wear It ...

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  2. I agree on the Instagram pet peeve! I would much rather see personal content that isn't already being shown on the blog.

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  3. It's funny what you said about Instagram! I use it for my blog, but I pretty much just post whatever I like (new necklace I got, an outfit I wore doing digging, etc.)

    I LOVE facebook modest fashion communities. Last night they were having a discussion on tank tops and eve tribe just shared their personal convictions. It's awesome to have a safe place to be like "Is this super ugly?"
    Natasha
    A modest fashion blog:
    www.natashaatkerson.blogspot.con

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  4. These are all so true! Especially bigger bloggers who you never see repeat anything, not even a pair of shoes, yet say "omg never taking this off" or "you'll be seeing a ton of this bag" and never see it again!

    I'm glad about what that study says about Instagram because I keep mine open and it's for both my blog and my personal life, which I love.. but sometimes I get nervous that my friends/family don't want to see all my blog posts or my readers don't want to see my personal posts. The daily struggle!

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  5. My big pet peeves are when bloggers post nothing but sponsored content. I also can't stand when bloggers get "big" and they forget about their friends.

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  6. My biggest pet peeve is an insincere blog comment! I hate when people leave generic things like "Great post! Come check out my blog!" It drives me insane!

    XX, SS || A Little Seersucker Sass

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  7. I will have been blogging for six years come August, so I've seen a lot of blogging trends [and bloggers] come and go.

    My biggest pet peeve will have to still be the insincere blog comment, oh, and bloggers who won't answer my question.

    ~Ashley, xx
    Bramblewood Fashion

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  8. I agree with you so much on all of this, however the "on repeat" thing isn't something I see often. But it does bother me when bigger bloggers say this & never repeat the outfit or item again!

    The pet peeve I identify most with is the Instagram one. I actually hate when bloggers post primarily blog stuff, especially if it is not very good quality backgrounds with just text on it. I feel like if you are going to post a blog-related photo, please have it be a good quality one with a caption to match that quality! I like posting about my personal life on Instagram as well because I see Instagram as an extension of my blog/brand and not solely for it. The same goes for Twitter since I use my personal Twitter as well. And I think that many celebrities/journalists/many kinds of influencers do the same thing--mixing both brand & personal things on social media.

    Now if you have a business or if your blog isn't meant to be a "personal" blog and is solely on a certain topic, like fashion, I understand if that is separate from your personal account and posts primarily about that because that's most likely why people followed you. And if they want to follow your personal, they can search for that either through your bio or if they stalk you. Haha. Great post, Annaliese! I may just post my pet peeves on this as well!

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  9. #1! Biggest pet peeve of my life.....CAN'T stand it!

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If you have a question in regards to one of my posts, or just want to say hi, the best way to get ahold of me is by e-mailing me directly at: rainbowflash94@yahoo.com. I am better about responding to e-mails than blog comments sometimes!
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