I read a post this week written by the lovely From Fun To Mum and she mentioned her reasons why she began blogging, and asked for other people to do the same. So I thought I would!
How my blog began
I started my blog back in April 2010, after seeing that several people on twitter who I followed had one.i had no idea what one was really until twitter. I remember thinking to myself that I would like to have one of my own as they looked like not only a record of my life and that of my baby, but it would give me a hobby. Being a SAHM I found it a little lonely at times and I hoped that by writing a blog it would not only keep my poor baby brain active and allow me to write my thoughts and feelings down, but it would also lead to making some fellow Mummy blogging friends.
For the first year really I mostly blogged about Burton, Burton and Burton!
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| Burton in April 2010 the 1st photo I posted of him and Burton now the last photo I posted of him |
I did also write some reviews, posted some recipes and took part in The Gallery and some meme’s. I also wrote some other more personnel posts, but back in the early days those type of posts didn’t get many views or comments – not that it’s about stats – but I guess when you don’t get any comments it doesn’t give you that little boost; that bit of confidence needed to encourage you to penn more heartfelt posts based on past or current experiences. Mind you, back then (and even to a degree now) I didn’t ‘pimp’ my blog and it’s posts enough which may be why I didn’t get many readers for some time. I didn’t know if my posts were good enough to ‘advertise’ on twitter alongside more established blogs. Daft wasn’t I?
Once I joined in with The Gallery I found new twitter and blogging friends and I always got good visits and comments with these posts. Obviously, once I was offered reviews and competitions to run alongside them, I took advantage of a few I must admit. This is because not only was I being sent some fab products to trial, but I also hoped that by running some give aways it would encourage visitors to my blog. Imagine my initial disappointment when the first one or two I hosted were a bit of a let down and I wasn’t getting any entrants! Luckily, I tweeted a billy no mates kind of tweet and a couple of lovely ladies RT my competition and I at last got some entries hurrah!!
I didn’t set out to do reviews on my blog and I was gobsmacked when I was sent requests offering me the chance to do some. I think in the beginning I probably did say yes to a couple I shouldn’t have , not that they were products that were not decent as such, but I was worried that if I refused a PR email I wouldn’t get offered any more! However, I soon learnt that I could be choosy and only accept reviews which are in keeping with what my blog is about. I realised that I could have integrity and say ‘no’ and it was ok to do so. I actually took on a lot less once Jenson was born because it does take time reviewing a product and then writing up a post, especially when you put a lot of time and effort into doing so. There is no point accepting a product to review if you are not going to do a thorough write up and trial on it in my opinion.
So why do I blog?
I think that certainly in the last 6 months I have discovered my blog for what it actually is and indeed what I want it to be – I feel it has an identity at last and I understand what I want it to reflect. Some new blogs appear and they seem to be part of a certain blogging genre straight away or they are themed, I didn’t really know which direction I wanted my blog to head in. I kind of went with the flow for a while and slowly built up its content as I have my blogging confidence.
Slowly my stats have increased and they are now pretty good ( I think anyway – I have no idea really!), and ‘those rankings’ *groans* well,they are just up and down and that is fine – I don’t really understand all of that anyway I find it confusing! What I am more chuffed about is getting regular comments and the occasional RT on twitter – these little ‘accolades’, as I like to think of them as, mean much more to me because it shows me that people have actually enjoyed reading my posts and have had something to say about them. That feedback is awesome and makes my day and makes me want to keep writing. Knowing what it’s like to not really get any or very, very few for a while I really appreciate any comments I get and I always try to leave one myself when I read other blogs.
I haven’t told my family that I have a blog. Its not that I am ashamed of it and obviously they could quite easily stumble across it on one day if they typed a specific key word into an internet search engine, and Mummy Mishaps popped up! Its just that if they read it, I don’t know if I could write as freely as I want to because I may feel worried that I might offend someone or reveal something I would rather they didn’t know?! Also I don’t know if they would ‘get it’ and understand why I do it. Not really sure if I know why it might feel strange – but eventually, one day, I think my secret hobby will be revealed.
Regrets?
I have a few…..so the song goes! The only thing I regret is not blogging more about my pregnancy with Jenson because I could have kept a diary of those 9 months, but I didn’t have enough blogging confidence to really write what I was feeling at that time!
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| 7 months pregnant with Jenson Jenson now aged 7 months! |
and finally…….
I feel like I have finally found my blogging mojo and I really hope it lasts because I am really enjoying it at the moment. I enjoy reading other blogs and only wish I had more time to be able to read more of them as there are so many, its impossible to visit all of them regularly. I feel I have made some wonderful friends now aswell, and have met some of them from some ‘tweet ups’ I have attended, and I look forward to meeting many more in the future too.
And do you know what? Even if no one ever read my blog again, I think I would be ok with that now, because my blog is a reflection of me and my family and therefore I am proud of it. That is what counts; that is what I am at last comfortable and happy knowing.
DAY 18
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Thank you xx
Thank you xx
Lovely post! I also regret not blogging through my pregnancy and first year of G’s life (but that first year is a mess, isn’t it?), but at least one day she’ll have more than a few scraps of paper detailing her height, weight and when she started to crawl.
Pimping yourself on twitter is a bit cringy sometimes, but when people do and I read their posts, I generally discover new things so I am hoping my followers do the same with my tweets. I also love the feeling of a retweet or mention, it feels like a recognition especially through this hard months of NaBloPoMo when I wish I had more time to read all the other beautiful blogs that are out there.
Thanks for doing this and keep it up.
x
what a lovely intresting post 🙂 I think when you are happy with your blog and blog the way you want to then your stats and comments n what not will naturally rise 🙂 and comments are always lovely although no real guarentee that your post is great, as long as your happy with your blog then thats the main thing 🙂
Ahhh, what a lovely post! It’s so nice to see how you have grown in confidence. And there was me thinking you were always full of confidence anyway! I didn’t realise you were so ‘new’ when I started reading your blog, but it is one of my favourites and since I’ve moved from the UK, one of only a few UK Mum blogs I still follow :/ (shhhh, don’t tell the others!). x
Great post, I may have to ‘borrow’ this idea myself 😉
It’s good to take time to reflect. I enjoyed this post and agreed with so much of it. I think it takes time to find your blogging feet, direction, confidence – call it whatever. It has been and I’ve enjoyed learning and growing. To a point where I am probably as a similar point to you and yes, I am still secret too.
Love the comparative photos. I’m glad you blog, I love it!