Mommy is in Timeout

I’m throwing a two prompts into one post, so forgive me if it’s a bit long.

If you haven’t checked out Summer Blog Social with Jessica and Liz, be sure to do so.

It’s a great way to get to know other bloggers – especially if you’re unable to attend conferences this summer. Thanks for hosting ladies!

Everything below goes along with the Advice for Others prompts.

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Prompt 2: If a friend approached you and said “I want to start a blog. Can you give me a list of helpful tips?” What would they be?

Be an active participant in different social media outlets, especially Twitter.

Communicate with people in your blogging niche. Spend some time not only getting to know them on their blog, but on social media outlets as well.

Blogging ain’t easy!

Blogging is a lot of work. If you’re serious about growing your blog, it takes up a lot of time. If you don’t enjoy it, you’ll burnout fast.

If you’re doing it solely to make money, don’t even start.

Yes, there are great paid opportunities out there but if I calculated my time spent vs. paid posts and special perks thus far, I think I’ve made about 3.467 cents/hour. Maybe that rate will increase with time, however, you can’t do it just for the money.

Develop a curriculum.

For example, on Sunday’s I always post a recipe and on Friday’s I do a recap of my favorite posts I read that week. People who read my blog regularly know what to expect on various days. If you skip a series day, it’s ok. Just be sure to mention it and tell your readers when it will be back.

Organize yourself.

Have a blogging calendar. My husband was sick of all the blogging to-do’s sticky notes around the house. I now use Evernote (awesome app as well) for ideas and Google Calendar for scheduling to keep things in order.

Good: Start a meme or link-up. Better: Have a partner(s) in it.

I did a link-up on my own and it wasn’t successful. At all. I’ve recently partnered with Jessica and Kate on VlogTalk and it’s done really well so far. It’s fun to own something in the blogosphere. But, even better to have great partners to rely on when life gets in the way of your blogging.

Join in with memes and link-ups.

In the beginning, I used to do a lot of link-ups with prompts. I don’t many anymore, but I met some really great bloggers this way and it helped me find other people in my niche.

Know your blog strategy & goals.

When I started, I had a blog strategy and goals in place. Every couples of months, I take a look at these items and see if I’m on track. If I’m not, I change things up a little bit. If you’re serious about growing your blog, it is like running a business. And every business needs to set out with a goal and reevaluate themselves every now and then.

Read. Learn. Implement. Repeat.

When you first start blogging, there’s a huge learning curve. However, even once you understand your blogging platform and the social media outlets you’re using, there’s always still more to know. You need to be open and willing to learn when it comes to blogging and social media. And that can’t be just in the beginning of your blogging tenure.

Ask questions.

When I first started, I would email people if I didn’t understand something. You’d be surprised how helpful a lot of other bloggers can be. I remember emailing Liz. She answered promptly, gave great information and ended with “…if you have more questions, send them my way.” I warned her she didn’t know what she’d gotten herself into with that statement.

Your life is content, but let it come organically.

As a mommy blogger, I write about myself and my family. A good friend of mine once wrote a post on creating memories vs. content. In the beginning, there were moments when I felt myself doing things strictly for the blog. That really bothered me. My memories now come first. If they happen to make for good or funny content, that’s just an added bonus.

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Prompt 4: When you visit a blog, what areas – besides the main post do you check out?

Blog design is very important to me. You wouldn’t have known it right away because I didn’t come out with a design I truly loved until 5 months in to blogging.

As far as what I look for or check out besides the post – buttons are always my first thing if I don’t know the person. I want to know how to connect with the person on other facets besides their blog.

I love blog buttons that are all together near the top. I get that sometimes you have sponsored ads, so they need to move a bit down the sidebar and that’s fine. But, I hate hunting to find you on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

I also love when people include buttons for all social media aspects – Instagram, Foursquare, YouTube, etc. That reminds me – I need a LinkedIn button.

I also love to see what people have in their sidebar. Ads. Blog buttons for conferences they’re attending. Facebook fan page. Awards. Communities. I love to see what other bloggers are involved in.

The last thing I check out is the about page and blogroll. I love a well written about page. If it makes me laugh, I most likely will come back. Even if the post I read didn’t grab me. I also love to see someones blogroll. It typically shows me that bloggers interests.

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Yes, I’m pretty sure this is my longest post EVER. I apologize for that. I wanted to participate in this section, but also have a few other things going out this week.

What are your best tips? What do you look for in a blog?

Homepage photo credit: Google images

I’d like to introduce you all to my new space. I started this blog 5 months ago today and I figured it was time for a little facelift.

At first, I didn’t put much thought into the design. I used a standard theme, I had Charlie throw up a quick header and I was good to go. Then I started visiting other blogs when I sat in timeout and I came down with a major case of design envy.

I really wanted my space to look more professional, organized and clean. But, I’m known for having a bit of a short attention span, so before I begged Charlie and his team to put some time into a design, I wanted to show that it was something I was going to stick with for a while.

The team at Curve Detroit was the mastermind behind the new logo and site design. Everything they came up with completely exceeded my expectations.

I wanted to tell you about a few of my favorite features. I’m in love with my header. I like that a timeout chair was incorporated in there and that it states how long I have to sit in a timeout. If you’re paying attention, you’ll know I recently turned 34. However, I’m not changing it because I’ve decided that on my blog I don’t age.

In the sidebar, right below my email subscribe tab, you can see a box that shows popular posts, recent posts, recent comments and tags. That was probably my favorite feature of this theme. I thought it gave a good glimpse into what is happening at my blog right there on the homepage.

I have an updated About page written in third person. Can we just talk about how strange it is to write about yourself in third person? Well, it’s odd. But then I started to really like it and I’ve decided to talk about myself in third person all the time. Elena thinks that’s a great idea.

I have a Favorites page that shows you some of my favorite posts in a few different categories, but it also gives you more of a glimpse into things that I like outside of this space. Like the show LOST for example. I’m wondering how many times I have to reference it on my blog to get them to bring it back.

The last thing I’d like to mention is my Features page. I have several different series at my blog and this page gives me a place to give a brief description and allows me to show previous posts tagged in these sections.

Most importantly, I can’t thank Charlie enough for all his help with this transition. Thank you for always supporting my little blog. Thank you for reading my posts and giving me honest feedback. Thank you for listening to my ideas. Above all else, thank you for working so hard to get the new design up and running. I owe you a nice date night in, babe.

Hope you all enjoy it as well.

So, have any of you done a switch over? Was it easy? Difficult?