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Monday, June 11, 2007

My Blogging Story

Chilihead is hosting a carnival today about our blogging stories. It's realy interesting seeing how some people got into blogging!



How did you start blogging?

My friend Joy has a blog that she uses to keep family and friends informed. I thought it was a good idea, and signed up for a blogger account. And then didn't do anything with it. I was completely uninspired. So then I signed up for Yahoo360. Same thing. Then I signed up for a HomeschoolBlogger account and was inspired with the "After a cup of coffee" idea. I figured it would be just homeschool stuff, but it quickly became an outlet for me, and I saw all of the friendships to be made. Then I got tired of thier limitations and entertained the idea of trying to sell scrapbook items, and moved to blogger.



Did you intend to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?

Nope. I thought I'd use it to keep in touch with friends and family. But then I started thinking that maybe I wanted it for me, to be an outlet and to develop new relationships- always a plus when you're a military family and move a lot, so while it's not a secret, I also haven't told a lot of people about it. Then I added a little map statcounter to my site and LOVED seeing how people were reading my blog from all over the world. I got hooked on comments and reading other blogs, and started thinking maybe I wanted to try and make some money off it, and I ended up joining several blog rings and participating in the 5 Minutes for Mom Ultimate Blog Party. I definitely don't have a large following, but I really love getting comments from people, especially new readers!



What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?

My main intent is for it to be an outlet for me, and also to build some new relationships. Both have been accomplished! I even had a friend from blogdom, Bethany, in my city when I moved. I am so thankful for her! I might use ads at some point, but I don't know yet.



Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?

It's changed a couple times! I originally thought it would be for family and friends specifically, then about homeschool specifically.



What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?

I thought I was protecting my privacy, but at some point I relaized that it would be pretty easy for someone to figure out where we live if they read closely enough. I would have been even more careful than I was.



Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?

My husband knows and supports me, but rarely reads unless I happen to leave the browser open to my blog. The rest of my family doesn't know about this one, yet, but it's not a secret. I send them the posts that I think would interet them, mostly about the kids.



What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

Don't use your full name or last name on your site, or even in the email address that you use on your blog.


Also, don't be afraid to leave comments, even if you don't know the blogger at all. I think we all love them!



So that's it! That's my blogging story. Head on over to Chilihead's to read more or leave a link to your own!

7 comments:

Kelly said...

Thanks for sharing your story. My sister's husband is in the Navy and they are just getting ready for another move. I know hard that can be.

Blessings~

Anonymous said...

Love the name and look of your blog. It would be cool to meet some of my blogging buddies..
blessings.

Megan@SortaCrunchy said...

I have loved reading everyone's blogging stories today, too!

Hey, just out of curiosity - did you have a bad experience with an invasion of privacy or something along those lines? The reason I ask is because I stupidly signed up for Blogger with my gmail address which is my first and last name. I don't know how to change it, and I keep hoping that surely it can't be that bad. But now I'm wondering.

Donnetta said...

Just letting you know I stopped by to read your story! I also wanted to say "thanks" for your family's service to our country!!

I have the utmost respect for those serving our country and willing to protect our freedoms so we can go on living our lives!

Anytime I see or hear of anyone in the service I want to be sure they know of my appreciation. So often we take it for granted and forget to show our appreciation... so thanks!

Cyndi said...

Well, I am so glad you started blogging and I am glad I've recently found your site. I love your honesty, and your "voice." Thank you for sharing this. :)

Laura said...

You've got a lovely site! And as I've been reading through some more established bloggers via Chilihead's carnival, I'm really getting the message about anonymity. Thanks for sharing your story!

Le Butterfly said...

Nice to meet you.

Please accept my cyber handshake.