After attending an event with a best Blogger-friend of ours, I was having a conversation with her and we chatted over many topics and issues pertaining to social media and the Blogosphere. When we bade farewell, I drove home and throughout the journey, I started reflecting and as I reflected, I began to thank God for the many wonderful opportunities and blessings that were poured into my life.
In fact, when both Baby and I started A Winsome Life back in December 2011, all we wanted to do was to share information about our latest food finds, how we bred Betta fish [also known as fighting fish] and triops, whether a movie was worth catching, and what was so interesting about the places and events that we visited. Little did we know, the incoming traffic to our blog kept increasing and we started receiving invites to product launches and media conferences.
Today, we are privileged to be blogging for major brands like McDonald’s, LG, Logitech, Nespresso, Panasonic, Ben & Jerry’s and we are also honoured to work with major reputable PR companies like Mileage Communications, Strategic Public Relations Group, Golin Harris, and etc.
With that being said, we aren’t here to brag or anything like that but more often than not, we hear nasty comments from certain bloggers about why we are getting all these opportunities while they aren’t invited and to be honest, we ourselves are sometimes quite surprised when we open up our emails to see that we’re invited to a particular “premium” event.
The truth is, we are not “popular” bloggers and we are not out to steal the limelight or any of that sort. We are just ordinary folks whom are passionate about blogging and would go all the way to make sure that every content or blog post that we publish are of substance and quality. This means that with every blog post that we publish, the blog post would more or less be displayed in the first few pages of search engines like Google or Yahoo! when people search online for information about a particular product, brand, or event.
We have to admit that, yes, having a large fan base may be something admirable; but sometimes, bloggers got to really ask themselves this question, “Are their readers truly reading about the stuffs that they blog about or are their readers merely following them for the sake of getting some benefits in return?” We’re not saying that all our readers are following us for the sake of receiving some benefits because we have in fact received emails from some of our readers whom encouraged and thanked us for addressing certain questions or doubts that they had. However, there are certain bloggers whom have a large fan base and they assumed that as such, they’re bringing value to the companies or brands that they are blogging for. Well, we personally feel that what really matters in social media is the quality of the content that we bring to our readers and the companies/brands that we’re blogging for.
Authenticity is also one other factor that we feel is equally important. Over the last 15 months since we started our journey in the Blogosphere, we have met with fellow bloggers whom shared similar interests as us and some of them eventually became personal friends of ours. On the other end of the spectrum, there were also a few bloggers whom we have met and they had devious plans in mind to gain followers and “likes” so that they can have a large fan base and proclaim that they are influential opinion leaders in the Blogosphere. Whatever the case, we believe that it is important to be real and authentic; not try to shadow someone and become like someone whom we are not meant to be.
As the title of this blog post suggests, we have counted our blessings and will continue to do so because we consider ourselves blessed to have been given tons of wonderful opportunities to not just work with the best brands and PR companies but to have also made real and trustworthy friends in the Blogosphere. We will continue to keep up the good work that we have done and we will continue to strive for the best in all that we do or undertake. Henceforth, we really want to show our gratitude by thanking all those whom have made A Winsome Life impossible possible!
On a separate note, if you’re a non-blogger and you’re always reading our blog or if you’re a blogger/blogger-friend and you have been checking us out very often, may we kindly request that you drop us an email at admin@awinsomelife.org just to let us know that you’ve been visiting our blog because we are in the midst of planning something and we would like you to be a part of it. Even if you know us personally and check us out regularly, do let us know too. As we really want to keep what we’re planning a surprise, do leave us your name and contact number when you send your email to us so that we can get in touch with you and provide more details.
Meanwhile, do stay tuned to our upcoming blog post about a Nespresso Atelier Class that we recently attended and we look forward to sharing more exciting stuffs with all of you.