Becoming a Blogger and Hiding Your Blog

Okay, so I was under the impression that I was a total weirdo for becoming a blogger and then wanting to hide my blog from everyone. After all, I made my blog originally to blog about life and hopefully eventually make a little bit of money out of it too. I didn’t want anyone to know about it, thus I even went so far to block people from being able to see anything.

But Why?

I can’t pinpoint the exact reason why this is, but when I mentioned it on a Facebook group I realised that I really wasn’t the only one who felt this way and for some reason, I was surprised. This gave me the idea to write this article about becoming a blogger and then hiding your blog. Not all people hide their blogs though and some can’t understand why we would hide it from the people we care about most.

Our family and friends are there to support us, so many of us jump at the chance to show them our new venture: blogging – like, for real. Why wouldn’t we show them? They are our starter audience, they are honest and care about what we are doing. Especially through social media, you can already be sharing your things to over 1,000 people in some instances. Personally, I think I will share mine when I’m ready and it is picking up more momentum, until then, they may come across it by accident and that’s okay – but I’m not promoting it to them.

Some people’s faces right now…

So, why are so many people like me? Why do people hide their websites away from their family and friends?

1. Fear of Failure

What if your blog is a total flop? Or what if no one reads it? What if you highlight these big grand plans and think that people would actually want to read your stuff? Then what if they laugh at you because of this? This is probably one of the main reasons why I don’t want every single person reading it. I don’t want snide remarks like ‘oh, did you see that she made this pathetic blog that clearly no one read?’ I don’t know, there’s an air of embarrassment about it. There shouldn’t be at all, but there is. When this imposter syndrome starts to rear its ugly head, you start doubting you and your abilities. You don’t want others to realise this too, even if it really just all in your head.

2. You Don’t Want People Knowing Your Business

Sometimes blogs get personal and that’s what makes them so unique from normal articles. They include your take on things and that can make you feel vulnerable. For example, I’ve never really been homesick. When I left home to go to university and then when I moved abroad, I was never truly homesick. I want to publish an article about why I don’t (home is a feeling, not a place and all that), but I worry that my family will take offence to it. It’s things like that where you just want to avoid the animosity. There may not even be any, but you just don’t want to take the risk.

3. You Want to See If You Can Do It on Your Own

Okay, so how will you truly know if people want to read your articles or its just your family and friends wanting to support you? As wonderful as that is, I want to know if complete strangers want to read it, after all, help can only go so far with people you know. Because barely any people I know actually know about my website, when I got over 1,000 visitors in one day once I was absolutely ecstatic. Complete strangers are actually reading my stuff and staying on the page too!> Yup, so some of us want to annoyingly do it the long-way-round and see if we can crack it on our own.

It’s a shame because I know how completely valuable it is to have people you know supporting you – then those views could even double!

4. You’re Afraid of Criticism

This is me in a nutshell and people we know can be our harshest critics. What if someone says something really nasty about our website? What if they say it looks crap? This is probably what we need if it’s being honest, but many of us are afraid of this. If we are passionate about something, we don’t want someone s**ting all over it. It’s natural to feel this way and this is why a lot of us keep it a secret from people.

Like I said before, when you’re becoming a blogger, this criticism can be very valuable and probably needed, but some of us just don’t want to hear it yet.

5. No Reason Because ‘Why Should They Have to See It?’

Sometimes people don’t have a reason to keep it from their family and friends, it just happens. After all, it’s not like there’s a rule that if you start becoming a blogger, you HAVE to share it around. Sometimes the time just isn’t right and it’s not your priority right now and that’s okay. It’s not exactly hiding it but you’re not promoting it to them either. It’s just one of those things and there definitely isn’t a rule that you should let every single person know about it. After all, a lot of us still have Facebook friends that we really don’t know any more. I have friends I met on holiday back in 2008 on mine, so almost 11 years ago (I really should have a clear out, to be honest)!

So there you have it, here are just a few reasons why people choose not to show their blogs to their family and friends. I thought I was alone, but I guess I’m not! How can we overcome it? I’ll get back to you on that one. 😉  

Are you thinking about becoming a blogger? Do you hide your blog from your family and friends? Why? Feel free to share any other ideas I missed in the comments! Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, subscribe and check out my latest blog guide. 

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