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| Design Credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room |
Today's Armchair BEA topic is blogger development.
For me that means
confession time:
confession time:
I have been blogging for almost 5 years and I still have no idea what I'm doing. I started this blog on a whim and I've been flying by the seat of my pants ever since. When I have time to read and review that is what you see here. When I don't have the time or desire to write reviews, you get guest posts from authors (often including giveaways). I've tried to add some non book related posts once in a while as well just to change it up a bit.
I often feel like I don't really fit in with many blogging groups because my blog seems like it has an identity crisis at times. I'm not fully a book blogger anymore, although that is how I started out, yet I don't have enough other content to fit into a lifestyle or mommy blogger category either.
Although I've tried to tame it, my blogging schedule remains completely unpredictable. Other than blog tours which are scheduled in advance much of my blogging depends heavily on how much time and energy I have. My goal is to start some weekly features so visitors can know what to expect if they visit on a certain day. I even have a weekly blogging schedule written out but I haven't stayed true to it yet.
I've met two incredible groups of people who are helping me navigate this crazy blogging landscape in different ways. One is a group of authors and book bloggers who inspire me by introducing me to new books to read and by providing fantastic examples to follow. The other is a group of women bloggers in Indiana who warmly accepted this book blogger into their group. Many of these women run their blogs as businesses and give me something to strive toward. They are pushing me to move beyond my comfort zone and to think about how I can be more intentional in my blogging.
Today seems as good a day as any to set some blogging goals for the rest of the year so here we go:
- Actually stick to my weekly schedule for blog posts. This doesn't mean I have to have a post on every topic every week but that I will keep reviews on review day, guest posts on tour days, etc. This also includes finally getting my children's book feature going.
- Read and implement ideas from two books on blogging. I picked up My Blog Traffic Sucks! 8 Simple Steps to Get 100,000 Blog Visitors without Working 8 Days a Week (Kindle) when it was free a while back but haven't actually started working through it. Another one that I really want to read is The (Real) Truth About How Blogs Make Money: Tips and Tricks to Turn Your Blog Into a Business (without the BS) (Available at Bloggers Earn Bucks.)
I have a feeling that those two books will give me plenty to work on for the rest of the year to become a better blogger. Being part of blogging communities has been a huge support for me during the times when I have wondered if anyone was actually reading what I've been writing. It is amazing that I've managed to continue for as long as I have in such a random fashion.
Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion.
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