Day 143: Trying to figure this out…
Let me preface this by saying that my purpose for blogging is mostly to share with the family who live 3000 miles away, as well as a way to process all my thoughts/emotions that go along with being a new mom and being 30, which really go hand in hand. What has come out of this experience, though, are all the amazing connections I’ve made with other mommy bloggers. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but seriously, I’ve made some really good mommy blogging friends and that has transpired into another purpose for me to blog since I live so far away from family and friends. (EDIT: Ok, I have to admit, after thinking about this post, another reason why blogging has become so important to me is my deep down desire to one day be a published author. And well, this blog is like publishing something everyday.)
So, there is this tool that I can use to see my blog traffic. I first decided to look into it when a company of a product I really wanted to do a review for was interested in my stats. At first when I signed up, I checked it like all the time. (I wasn’t back to work yet.) It gave me great pleasure to see how many hits I was getting and where those people were coming from. Like there are people in Australia who continuously check my blog out. Isn’t that pretty rad?
And now with being back to work, I maybe remember to check it once a week. And lately, I’ve noticed something. Well, I will let the picture speak for itself:
What I see is a decline in visits since I’ve been back to work. Several things have happened since then and am wondering if they are to cause:
1. Going back to work has meant that I don’t have time to socialize on the interweb as much. I used to do a really good job of reading most of the blogs I followed and commented a bunch. This was always helpful to get people interested in checking out my blog. (To read more about the benefits of commenting and how to go about it, check out my blogging neighbor here.) As well, I can’t tweet until about 9pm West Coast time during the week, and most nights I don’t even have time for that. And this is b/c my school district blocks tweets so on my down time of planning and lunch, I can’t access it.
2. I’ve finally stopped caring about my ranks on several sites that rank bloggers by constantly asking for people to click to vote for me. This has resulted in a drop in my ranks…but I keep myself posted, in the hopes that I can gain new readers, b/c some of my avid followers have come from finding me there. (Again, my mommy blogging neighbor had some great things to say about this issue here.)
3. I have no time to participate in blogger parties and connect with other bloggers by linking up. It’s just too time consuming and too much work right now.
3. I don’t do as many giveaways. This is for so many reasons beyond not having time…I could have written this on the matter, but she beat me to it. I mean at the start of blogging, giveaways did help entice readers to my blog, but I feel that I got a little carried away feeling all popular and stuff and accepting to do everything that came my way and feeling the need to do one a week. If I come across something I think my readers would love, then I’m down, but mostly, I click DELETE when I get solicitation emails…like the one I got about mentioning a computer program to monitor kids on the internet. HELLO! Abby is only 6.5 months old lady!
4. Going back to work has led to some whiny posts…Exhibit A and Exhibit B. I’m wondering if said whiny-ness has caused some readers to not want to come back. And I’m wondering if this post is going to be considered to be within the whiny genre.
5. I don’t feel I have much time to put in as much thought into my posts as before, and wonder if I’m just not enticing enough anymore. And on the topic of being enticing, I don’t consider myself one who stirs the pot and wonder if I was more controversial if more would be into reading what I have to say.
So the purpose of this post is not to get all sorts of “don’t be down…I still like you” types of comments. I really and truly want some help on how to revive this blog. So I guess for those of you who do read my blog, what do you like/don’t like? What do you want more of? What do you want less of? What are other ways this working momma can network that aren’t so time consuming?
And the ironic thing about even posting this is that it’s not like those who have stopped reading will be reading this. But my stats do say Monday seems to be a high traffic day, hence picking today to write this.
(Oh, and don ‘t forget to leave a comment for @emmie_bee as to what she should blog about next week as a guest blogger for me. )
9 Comments to “Day 143: Trying to figure this out…”
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I know. It is really tough to see your stats drop. I saw a big drop in readers after I couldn’t keep up with TMB for whatever reason.
I think the way I keep my blog afloat is to comment on other blogs, pimp myself out on twitter and facebook and just generally hope that the people who do read my blog enjoy it.
You may have a more difficult time doing what I do simply because of time. If I am not at home I do my blog pimping from my iPhone.
Not sure if any of this helps…but I still read your blog
I’m going to be totally honest here and only because my interest in your blog perked up when you went back to work (because I too am going back to work as a teacher in Sept). I found for me when I blogged about going back to work I got the most comments and mostly people saying how sorry they were that I was going back (FYI I’m not all that sad about it – it’s my choice to go back) But I think it was telling that many bloggers/blog readers are SAHM and maybe it’s a feeling of disconnect to someone who’s working…just a thought
I love reading about you being at work and trying to balance it all. You’re very honest and upfront so I wouldn’t change that a bit. It is about networking, not that I’m the best at it but that’s how I remember about other blogs and link to them – they promote themselves through Twitter/FB/comments. I know it’s been a rough past few weeks.
If you really want the blog thing to work, and it’s not just for your own fun and to update your family, then you may have to consider it as a second, part time job. Carve out time during the day where you send a few tweets with what you’re doing. Before bed, sit down and comment on a certain number of sites – even if it’s just 5. The next day hit different ones.
As much as I love the 365 days thing, you may have had a point a while ago when you were talking about not updating every day. You may have to change that, and spend the time you would be writing up a blog post – networking instead. It’s your blog, you do what feels comfortable for you. I’m here, I love it, but I understand if you make changes. We all do. <3
You are not alone in this dilemma. As a working out of the home mom, it is almost impossible for me to find the time I need to “network” in the blogosphere. And that’s where the numbers come in.
I just read a great reminder from another blogger about why she blogs, which are similar to my reasons. It’s not FOR the audience, even though you know they are there. It’s for YOU and we are just lucky enough to read about what you have to say. Sure, it’s easy to see the numbers and get caught up in that. I think about that all of time. But I don’t have the hours in the day to tweet, visit/read blogs and comment, and write a fabulous post for myself every single day. And there isn’t much I can do to change it. Like Diana said, it’s like a part time job.
Keeping the numbers up is A LOT of work. Tons.
I haven’t been making rounds like I used to. I’ve picked up babysitting two days a week and now that it’s summer, we’re a lot busier.
I have google reader, which helps, when I get to it, but right now, I tend to hit the posts that get pimped out on Twitter. Simply because it’s there and it’s accessible. I can always get to twitter, and I’ll see “New post: xyz” and I can click and bam. I’m there.
At some point, I really hope to get caught up to a point where I can actually address reader, but until then, it’s a little more challenging.
And from the SAHM angle, I don’t feel a disconnect at all. I don’t need to have the same or similar experiences as someone to appreciate their writing or stories.
However, as has been said before, you can’t do this for the numbers. It’s a labor of love. I was just remarking to MacGyver this morning that I was so excited that my comments were hitting high teens and low 20s, and then today, I got not one single comment. It happens. While I love the audience. I also love the writing behind it. The stats are a bonus for me.
It is very hard when you do not have the time to read other people’s blogs and network. I do not really have any good advice as I have a small blog and do not know my traffic, etc… a couple things I do: I do not post on the weekends, this is my time to catch up reading and commenting if that, maybe picking a couple different people per night and leave comments for them, the next night new people, etc (I always hit my commenters then I choose a couple other people per night…. and leaving one day a week to not post and to catch up again… It is hard working and managing everything for sure…I do 2 days a week working (and I still can not keep up on my writing)… Good luck, your blog is great.
I’ve noticed a big drop in comments and activity on my blog as well. After looking around, I noticed the same thing on a few other sites I visit. I was actually starting to wonder if the whole mommy blogging was starting to die out and people aren’t pushing as hard anymore. Then again, some of the big blogs are still going… so maybe most of the traffic was coming from the bump community or the Top Mommy Blog wars. I know I lost a lot of traffic when I slowed down on the FF and other blog parties. Then again, I enjoy comments from people who actually read my blog instead of the “visiting from… please follow me” responses.
Anyways, what I’m getting at is the lack of networking might be hurting the numbers but people are still reading. Maybe someone out there should create a “comment Friday” or something like that. Where you comment on your favorite blogs instead of following blogs you will never read (or comment on). It’s nice to know that others are out there. Now I’m just blah, blah, blah again… Your blog is still great. You are doing a wonderful job. Try not to get stuck on the numbers.
Hey lady!!
I’ll be honest and say I haven’t stopped by in a while.
It’s not you, it’s me. For REAL!
I’ve just been so swamped and I was sick so I haven’t by anyones blogs a lot lately. Sometimes we all just need a break. Maybe everyone has been like me and on a computer/blog hiatus?
I still love your blog though!!
See, I’m stopping by.
Hi. I don’t usually leave many comments on blogs that I read, and I don’t blog myself, but I wanted to say that I enjoy reading your blog. I didn’t even realize that stats were that big of a deal (or that they were even tracked – naive, i know). I read your blog because I like it and it’s fun to know what other mom’s do with their little ones that are around the same age as my son. Just keep being yourself and you’ll do great.