My New Year's Blog Resolution: Full Version

With the new year and the new blog layout, I’ve been thinking throughout the past month about how I want to go forward with my blog.

This blog, like many blogs, started off with a handful of posts per month, often with scattered topics and an inconsistent voice. Let’s face it, I didn’t know what I was doing.

Since then, I learned to narrow my focus to write only certain types of posts (mostly tutorials) on certain topics (food, wine, crafts). A few months in I bought a DSLR, and my first blog redesign (back in the summer of 2010) helped make it look a little more personal. I was able to maintain a steady flow of approximately 2 posts per week following those attributes, and my blog has enjoyed a slow and steady stream of visitors and new followers.

While this voice and focus has served me well, I think it’s time to expand a little. Not only because I’d like to grow my blog, but also because I’m starting to worry a bit. While the food and cooking posts can easily continue as they have, I’m starting to worry that my craft posts are going to reach a point where they begin to trail off. In the past six months (we’ll use that as a timeframe because that’s how long I’ve been in a steady 2 posts per week groove), I moved to a new home, bought a Silhouette, and had Fall (my favorite season), and Christmas. The new home meant plenty of new projects like the headboard, craft desk and chair (desk still not posted…whoops), and the empty frame collage. Fall brought fun new crafts and recaps to decorate. Same with Christmas. The Silhouette was cool to create the glass etched liquor bottles and a few other fall things. My concern going forward is that I’m going to turn into someone who makes things just to have content, not because I actually want to make them. Yes, I want to start using my Silhouette more. It’s a great machine and I hardly have taken full use of it, mostly because of time constraints. But other than decorating for holidays, I’m worried that I won’t have things to fill in the gaps. And even for the holidays, at some point I’ll reach capacity for decorations. There’s only so many walls you can cover in holiday-themed subway art. I don’t want to make things that sit in a drawer because I only made them for my readers, not for me. And I don’t have an Etsy shop (I really couldn’t handle that right now with work), so selling them isn’t an option.

That brings us to exploring new areas of blogging. Unlike the beginning where I posted all sorts of random topics and stories because I didn’t know my voice, I now want to methodically decide how I want this blog to grow. Do I want to do giveaways? Link parties? Guest bloggers? More personal posts? Where do I want to go?

That got me thinking about some of my favorite blogs. Why do I like reading them so much? Why do I get excited each time they have a new post?

* Hyperbole and a Half – This is truly one of my favorite blogs. Allie is witty, sassy, and downright hilarious. Not to mention her drawings are insane. Do I draw well? Not really. Am I funny like that? Not really. Is that the direction I want my blog to go? No.

* Pioneer Woman – I know we all love and adore her. But why? Well, I love her recipe posts. Her photography skills are stellar; they make you feel like you can reach out and eat whatever she’s shooting. And of course, her posts about her life make you chuckle and smile. I’m not big on the homeschooling posts (mostly written by another contributor) pretty much because I don’t have kids so they don’t immediately appeal to me. Then there’s also the series by Miz Booshay that helps us all learn to be better photographers. So what can I learn from this?

----- No, I’m not going to reach Pioneer Woman status anytime soon, or likely ever, and I’m ok with that. That’s not my purpose.
----- I can, and should, work to continually increase the quality of my photography. Though I’ll rarely have the luxury of shooting with natural light since I have a full-time job and thus do most of my stuff (especially cooking) at night, I can still work to make it better, always.
----- If I have a guest poster, I should feel like they really have something to offer my readers, not just do it to boost them up to the detriment of my blog.

* Peer blogs – I’m not calling out any names just because the purpose of this is not to advertise for other blogs, but what I mean here is the bloggers like me. Bloggers that live a life outside of blogging, have jobs and husbands and families, and just like sharing their creations and lives with us all. There are thousands and thousands out there, and I subscribe to many of them. Most of them, I enjoy because they, like me, provide good tutorials and ideas for new things to cook/create. However, there is a small handful that I actually look forward to reading. I’m excited when they post something new, and read the whole thing. What do those blogs have that others, including mine, don’t?



I think the answer to this question is a single thread that runs through all three blogs listed above: I feel like I know the blogger. Through her writing style and the topics of her posts, she has invited me into her life. When a new post goes up, I’m excited to read it as though I just got a letter in the mail from a good friend. Then I even feel compelled to comment just to let her know I read it and thought that her new cat is adorable!

Looking back at my posts and the voice I was hoping to achieve, I see how little I shared about myself. Other than small anecdotes about my cat Simon or mentioning food likes and dislikes of Chris and I, I hardly have ventured out of my safe little food and craft tutorial bubble.

Why?

The answer to that is simple: I never, ever, want this blog to become a LiveJournal. There is a very, very fine line between sharing small parts of your life, and using the blog as your output for every thought and musing you may have. Beyond the blogs I love to read, there are plenty out there that consist of the daily rants from bored or unhappy people, or nonsensical ramblings of people who just feel the need to tell the world everything that happened in their day. For fear of creeping too far into these zones (well maybe not the bored/unhappy zone since I’m generally cool with my life), I have been very careful to strictly follow my craft and food tutorial regime.

So now turning back to the blogs I love to read, how is it that their non-project posts are so interesting to read, and others are so painful? I think it’s because these women are storytellers. The posts they put out there are well-written, witty, and most of all, they tell a story. Some are more like small novels than others - Hyperbole and a Half, for example, only posts once or twice a month, but they’re incredibly long with lots of drawings. Others can be short and sweet but make you smile or laugh or feel some sort of emotion. It’s something worth reading. The content is good, and the style is interesting.

I think it’s time to incorporate some of this into my blog. Maybe it’s sharing the anecdote where I paid $60 for a repairman to tell me I’m a moron. Or it could be telling everyone how Chris and I eat ahi tuna on the living room floor on Sunday nights. And tell it without making it a full-blown recipe. It can just be a story. A little glimpse into my life.

How else am I going to expand my blog?

- I just added two ad buttons on the sidebar. Ideally, I would like to get Etsy shops. I’m done with the big-name corporations that want you to do a whole post on them just to offer your readers a 5% discount. I’ve turned them down in the past, and will continue to. I want to support women like me who just went one step further and followed their passion and are working to create a business out of it. I like how one of my favorite blogs has sponsors and they either do a discount or a giveaway when they become a sponsor. That drives business to them, and generates interest/excitement in my blog. Win-win.

- I would like to have more guest posters. Good bloggers that I respect and recognize. How am I going to do that? Well, offer of course! I recognize that right now I’m not big enough to have people eagerly approaching me. That means that I need to approach them! I need to ASK people to come guest blog.

- I need to be a guest at other blogs. Again with the asking. I did do this just this month, and I need to keep it up. My goal is one every other month. That should keep me busy but not overwhelmed. Also this frequency will ensure that I’m not doing crafts/food that I don’t even like just so that I have new material.

- Highlight crafts/recipes that I enjoy. Maybe do a bi-weekly roundup or something. I like the idea of this being a set scheduled thing. When I was a wee little blog (not that I’m so big now) it meant the world to be featured on a bigger blog. It’s time to repay that generosity.

Now you see why I put this post on a completely different page! If you hopped over from the main blog (and the Reader’s Digest version of this post) I hope you enjoyed my little ramblings. And thank you for your readership! I can’t wait to see how 2011 pans out!