Happy Belated Blogaversary To Me

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Funny how time flies when your having FUN! June was a jam packed month for me with my daughters 17th birthday festivities, wedding anniversary, business success training and being a social media ambassador for the Halftime conference that I completely overlooked my four year blog anniversary! It literally was only a day or two ago that I realized we’re almost at the end of July and it slipped right by me. My blogging journey started in June of 2009 and boy have I evolved since then in so many areas. My blog design has changed every year since I started blogging but, I’m at a place where I’m satisfied with it right now and it doesn’t help that I’m a graphic designer. I’m always ready to upgrade and redesign my virtual home.

My content has also changed since I started blogging. Initially my purpose for blogging was keeping track of my journey to entrepreneurship and offering relevant business tips mixed with being a “mommy blogger” posting about married life with children mixed with recipes, product reviews and giveaways. Whoa! That’s a lot! Now I blog about brands, fashion, current events, arts & entertainment, along with Marketing & Social Media. I love how I have grown and all the amazing bloggers I’ve met and became virtual and real life friends with along the way. I’ve been to some of the BEST conferences and I still have others to experience. I’ve been to Bloggy Bootcamp twice, Blogalicious twice, Type A Parent, and the NC Mom Bloggers Conference.

This year I’ve attended Bloggy Bootcamp Charlotte, I’ll attend Power Up Weekend, Fusion Tour Charlotte (I’m Speaking) and Blogalicious. Next year I plan to attend CES, BlogHer, Blogging While Brown, Blogalicious and Mom Biz Retreat (just to name a few). Blog conferences are a great way to connect with the bloggers you speak to online all the time in person, by the time you actually meet it’s like your old friends! The Blogosphere, social media and technology are always evolving so the information we receive at blog conferences is so essential. I can’t forget to mention connecting with the sponsors and brands at the conferences and the SWAG! Amazing things happen when you actually apply what you’ve learned at a blog conference and foster the relationships you’ve gained.

Here are TEN things I’ve learned in my four years of blogging and I’m still learning…

1.) Find your voice and create a blogging and social media strategy that works for you. Don’t be a copy cat, it’s not good blog or social media etiquette. Whatever you do, customize it and make it your own.

2.) Content is King! Quality over quantity. Sometimes you need to take a mini hiatus to get your thoughts together and… Keep a editorial calendar! Don’t just post anything for the sake of posting. I’m going to start scheduling my posts also. I tend to write on the spot!

3.) K.I.S.S – Keep It Simple Stupid (write and make your point, don’t get too complex) This theory can be used in blog design as well. You don’t want a busy and cluttered blog, you want it to be neat and clean!

4.) If you repost someone’s blog post, get permission FIRST or notify them and give them editorial credit with a link back to their original post or blog. Same thing goes for photos! *Copyright

5.) You can’t join every blogger network, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with them all. I started on SITS, Mom Bloggers Club, Social Media Moms, The Motherhood, just to name a few. I’m still a member of a few since 2009 but, I post and engage on them sporadically! My schedule doesn’t permit me to do otherwise.

6.) Clearly define your purpose. Why are you blogging? What do you hope to gain from it. What are your goals and then work towards them.

7.) Be consistent! (I’m still working on this myself) I have a husband, four children, FT Job, Business and I’m a social media correspondent so I’m always at events leaving me less time to write. This is why sleep is rare in my life! I have so many posts in draft right now!

8.) Identify your readers, see what their interests are and what they read on your blog. If you keep giving them what they want, they’ll keep coming back. There’s nothing like loyal readership! Everyone that reads your blog doesn’t comment. I’m guilty of that myself at times too.

9.) Stay on top of your Blog Analytics and SEO. This can enhance your blogs performance. I need to go back and SEO my posts from when I first started blogging.

10.) Build a blogging Tribe/ accountability partners! I have so many supportive blogging sisters and I appreciate them so much. Remember community and collaboration! #NoCliqueZone

My four years of blogging have been a blast and I hope for many more. Next year I’ll celebrate my 5th year by hosting an event of some sort online and offline. Happy Belated Blogaversary to me! I can’t believe it slpped right by me! I’m only about six weeks late. Ha! What have you learned since you started blogging?

A Road To Better Blogging

So, it’s a new year and I’ve shared with you my personal goals that I’ll strive to achieve this year. I also have some goals for my blog that I’d like to achieve. When I first started blogging I shared more business content and sporadically would write a personal post. However, as time progressed I started to slowly add more personal content and less business content, and my readership seemed to rise. I am married, have four children (ages 13, 12, 10 and my baby will be 2 next week), work a FT job, and run a small graphic design firm so I always had my chaotic life to talk about. I tend to be a bit random at times, I have scheduled days to post certain things but, I need participation from other people in order to do in depth features and interviews. Things happen, people don’t always get their stuff to you on time and I improvise. I try to post every other day, Monday. Wednesday, Friday and Sunday’s are the days I have chosen to post. And look here it is Tuesday and I’m posting, I haven’t posted anything since New Year’s Eve. It’s taking me a little time to get back into the swing of things after the long holiday break I just had.


So first on the agenda is to define my blogs content. I showcase my greeting cards, announcements and invitations on the blog. I also have a link to my portfolio, prices and graphic design information. In addition to doing the stationery, I also promote business branding and design logos, business cards and any business promotional item you may need designed. So, I still consider it partially a business blog. I’d like to start showcasing my new designs on Wednesdays for Wordless Wednesday. Whenever I list my blog on social networking sites or a site to build back links, I never know how to classify it. These sites usually have a listing of categories that I never seem to fall under. I guess I could always use “general” but, I don’t solely fall under business or family, or mommy blog because; I’m not completely a business blog or a family or mommy blog. Then the kicker is you can only choose one category. If I were able to choose more than one category I wouldn’t have an issue. So, how should I classify myself?

Next, I’d like to really weigh the pros and cons about blogger vs. wordpress. I may make that transition in the New Year. I just hit 100 posts and before I start adding a whole lot more content if I’m going to transfer over to wordpress, the less content the better. I don’t want to loose anything if I transition over. I’d like to hear from bloggers who have been on blogger and made their way over to wordpress. I’d like to know why? Also, if you feel wordpress is user friendly in comparison to blogger. I’m sure with anything unfamiliar there is a learning curve but, after that are you satisfied with the decision that you made. Your answers will help me make the decision.

Comments, this is going to be a whole other post where I pose the question, what is proper blog conversation etiquette? I have seen many different approaches to people holding conversations on their blog. I may be wrong here but, Ex: If you leave me a comment, I usually visit your blog and answer a question or return a comment. I’ve seen people answer people in their own comments and people talk to other commenter’s on a particular post. I’ve had people email me answering a question or saying hi and thanks for visiting them etc. I’m sure there are tons of widgets to make having a blog conversation in the comments section easier. I never answered people in my comments section because I felt that they were here once already and highly unlikely they return the same day. There are so many bloggers that go blog hopping, I really don’t know how they keep up with where they’ve been, much less return to a particular blog to hold a conversation. So, I won’t get too in depth with this one because it will take away from my next blog post but, I would like to know how you engage in blog conversations on your blog and how you keep up with it all if you are following tons of blogs and networking on a daily basis.

This year I’d like to take my blog to the next level and enhance the way it looks and really communicate effectively with my friends in the blogosphere. Thanks in advance for any light you can shed upon any of these subjects I have spoken about!

error: Ask And You Shall Receive!!