Is Anyone Reading This?
When I wrote those first posts back in 2008, and as I kept blogging into 2009, I think I had some expectation that the blogosphere would just “become aware of me.” Not because my blog was that amazing, but I just thought if I would write stuff, someone would read it. I know now that it does not work that way. Being a blogger who wants to be read requires some self-promotional capabilities, and that you do your share of interacting with other bloggers. I was fortunate to get some great advice from a friend about using Twitter to promote a blog. Between Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, link-ups, and getting to know other bloggers through patiently commenting and engaging, I got to the point where I could anticipate a few comments with almost every blog. I have also discovered more recently that I had underestimated the role YouTube can play in expanding your social media presence. I would have developed a more systematic strategy for promoting my blog.
Design
I am bored with the design of my blog. I like it better than the template I originally used, but I want pictures of green felt-tip pens! I want pictures of me! I want people to see my blog and know immediately that they are in Big Green Pen territory. I did some barter work with an individual who was helping me with design in exchange for my editing assistance on some of his work, but I never felt completely “in sync” with him and I did not devote the time necessary to tweak his proposed design. Which gets me back to Square One. I would have secured a design resource I trusted and/or taken a full day to patiently work through the process of incorporating my felt tip pens into my blog presence.
Topics
When I first committed to blogging weekly, every week’s topic was going to be a report on how close I was to reaching my running goal of breaking thirty minutes for a 5K run. Then I started expanding on other things, posting Wordless Wednesdays, and writing to Mama Kat prompts. I wrote rather candidly about my teenager and my work. Now that the teenager is sneaking peeks, I find myself backing off of writing about her. Now that my supervisor has counseled me that my blogging about work may be undermining my credibility, I find myself censoring the work-related comments a bit. I am my family’s only breadwinner and the carrier of our health insurance – as much as I like to write about work, as cathartic as it is, and although I stand behind every word I have written and every visual I have used, I can’t jeopardize my family any worse that it already is by writing or videotaping something that would be perceived adversely. It’s not that I would have done anything differently about which topics I chose, but this “topics to avoid” issue keeps rearing its ugly spectre and I am grappling with it weekly.
Step Away from the Keyboard and Talk to Them
When I committed to blogging weekly, after a complimentary “rent Scott’s brain” session with Scott Ginsberg, my main priority was to “flex my writing muscle.” Then I discovered other benefits of blogging: it was therapeutic (and cheaper than therapy!); I am a different, more uninhibited person behind the keyboard than in a face-to-face conversation; I could make peace with things and people that I had not gotten closure with. But the problem with baring your soul to an individual through a blog is that for the blog to do any good they have to read it and you can’t make someone read your blog. As was the case with the people who I used to supervise, writing about them a year later, giving them a copy of the blog in a gift bag along with a memento, was no substitute for the 30 minutes I should have taken along with some a few pizzas. Sometimes you just have to look people in the eyes for what you have to say to matter.
Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
kisatrtle says
I too wrote some blogging tips and i have to agre whole heartedly about the name. I hatemy blog name, butI am too chicken to change it.
Lisa says
I too am considering a name change as well as a domain change. Blogger is difficult to comment from and I want to hear something, praise, rants, whatever. I do a fairly good job of self-censorship but I do frequently embarass my children, after all I am their mother.
lindsey says
Thoughtful post! Great tips! 🙂
SUPAHMAMA! says
“Sometimes you just have to look people in the eyes for what you have to say to matter.”
Amen to that! Great tips!
Jenn says
I don't so much mind my blog name, but I'm regretting my Twitter name…and it seems such a hassle to change it…
I love my blog on WordPress except that I still don't fully understand it – that said, I paid for someone to migrate it and do a redesign, and it was worth every (no so many) penny I paid, especially to have someone to call when there are issues….
Jessica says
Great tips! I started out on Blogger and made the move to WordPress relatively recently. It, or the move, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I am much happier on WordPress.
Tera says
I am a new blogger already considering changing to WordPress, but not sure just yet. Thanks for this post. Helpful!
Alicia says
Love, love, love it! I can definitely relate to the “is anyone reading this?” part. When I started I thought, “Ok, so I just start writing stuff here and people will show up and comment.” Enter crickets chirping here. Having a blogging/commenting/marketing strategy has made a difference for me.
PS: Sorry I haven't been around. Things have been hectic but I'm back:)