I got my hair cut off!
I have been blogging for quite a while. When I started blogging there were not a HUGE amount of Craft and Mummy bloggers in Australia. Things were a bit quieter and a bit less polished back then. It was pretty nice. I started my blog in late 2006. I was so happy to be able to self publish, I just kind of diddled along and posted cute stuff and people started to read my blog and my readership began to grow. Just like that. Pretty simple. Mission accomplished.
Since then, things have changed a lot. There are a lot more fantastic blogs out there. A lot more. There is also a lot more dialogue about social media platforms (like blogs, Twitter and Facebook) and their power to market people and product. In the fairly olden days of blogging, there was a lot less talk about authority, audience and success. Perhaps it was going on, but it was not as widespread, in my opinion. Now, in 2010, some people are blogging as a marketing tool, some people are blogging as a creative outlet, some people are combining both, and I am sure there are other reasons too. Whatever a blogger's motivation, there is certainly more focus now on attaining and measuring blog success.
There are a lot of blogging experts out there in Internet Land ready to lead you down the path to Blog-Cess (that is Blogging Success). You will find a bounty of articles suggesting you try things like aligning yourself with high profile bloggers, writing as though you are an authority to gain authority, linking prolifically to other bloggers and yourself, sending people presents, washing their dog for them, that kinda stuff. Okay. Good.
I totally understand that blogging can make you rich and famous and very powerful. In fact I have heard you can drive a speedy red car with flames down the side all the way to financial freedom, a cloud of smoke settling behind said car to reveal the license plate BLOGG. Cool. Ace. Rad. Do a donut for me and good luck to you, BLOGG.
Me? Well. I do not really like fast cars. I have my own idea of what a great blog is. Personally, I like to follow a more Pip-powered route to blog success. I don't really do the flames and the smoke. I don't even know how to do a donut. I like to keep it simple. If my blog is the way I want it to be, then I feel successful.
Here are some of my loose rules ::
- I try and make my blog look cute.
- I only blog about things that are meaningful to me.
- I don't take things too seriously.
- I blog regularly, even if it is just blogging something ace from Flickr.
- I talk to my readers a lot and learn stuff about them and from them.
- I only link to people I am totally exited about.
- I try and use a lot of my own images, without letting my blog be only about me.
- I change my blog around often.
- I blog about a wide variety of topics.
- I try not to over-commercialize my posts.
- I write in my own voice.
- I try and describe events and excitement from my own real life.
- I blog about myself but always blog about the work of others often too.
- I blog this way because this is my blogging style.
- I blog this way because it is fun and because I like it.
If I manage to keep some of those things covered most of the time, I feel like a successful blogger, I guess because I am staying true to myself and keeping my blog as my own.
I was wondering what blogging success means to you? Is it about the number of readers you have? Is it about how lovely your blog looks? Is it about calm you feel after you've expressed yourself and hit the publish button? Is it about your Mum commenting on your blog? Is it about traffic that you send to your other websites via your blog? Is it about the number of hits you get or the number of people who link back to you? When do you feel like the best blogger?! Do you want the flames? Or the smoke? Do you like fast cars?
xx Pip
One more thing :: Look at this video! It is me on Saturday... when I got to see my book for the first time... and before I cut my hair off, too!! Look how BIG my book turned out... that is mostly because there are so many full sized patterns in the front pocket. I am EXCITED! It is released in Australia on October 25th. Eep! UK will follow later and not sure when for elsewhere, but I will keep you posted!
