I felt pretty chuffed when I saw The Anxious Dragon nominated me to take part in the Blogger Interview Challenge. Unfortunately, tech problems have meant that it has taken me a week to respond, but hey, better late than never, right? Hopefully you’ll like what you read and follow me some more.
How did you get into blogging?
It’s something I’ve always thought of doing, but I always chucked setting it up in the too hard basket. It was something I thought about some more as I wrote a week-by-week pregnancy diary to my daughter. Then, about six months ago, I started blogging for a website. It was a way for me to purge the thoughts in my head, and it gave me some pocket money while I was on maternity leave. Of course, not every thought in my head is valuable to my publisher so I found myself left with a few pieces with no home. Hence, I started my own blog. Now I put most of my stuff on my own blog – including the pregnancy diary – and send a few nuggets to my publisher to keep my public profile going.
What advice would you give another blogger starting out?
Oh, wow. Tough question. I have two answers to this one. The first is, don’t let any negative feedback get you down. It’s really hard not to, but just shake it off. You’re putting your own thoughts out there, not everyone is going to agree with you. The second would be not to underestimate the power of social networks. Unfortunately, now that I’m back at work I’m not able to spend as much time working on this and it shows. It definitely pays (in the form of traffic) to invest time in building up your following and getting your blog out there.
Related: What I learned from my first negative comment
Has your blog changed since you started it?
It’s still too young to have changed, but I imagine my blog will evolve with me. It’s very mummy-focused at the moment, but as I return to work and enter the “real world” again, I’m hoping to start writing on more issues, probably still relevant to the mummy world, but maybe less baby-focused, more mummy-focused.
What would be your dream campaign?
I would love to work on a travel series. I had grand plans when I got back from a six-week jaunt in Europe with baby, but couldn’t keep the momentum going. I would love to have a series on travel – more specifically, travelling as a family – and the time to do the travel involved to make it truly good. So many people think it can’t be done with kids (I mean travelling in its purest form), but it can, and I want to help by getting that message out there.
What advice would you give PRs wanting to approach you for a campaign.
Contact me! I’m open to working on a campaign as long as it fits in with what I do, and doesn’t compromise the editorial integrity of my site. I’m very eager to start working in this space. I think it’d be fun!
Do you have a plan for your blog?
I read somewhere that to be a successful blogger you need to make it to two years, so that’s my focus at the moment. Along the way I’d like to explore ways of monetising my site, be that through content marketing or paid advertising I’m not sure. To be honest, at the moment I’m just having fun writing more and gathering momentum with my readers.
What do you think about rankings?
Rankings? What rankings? To be honest, I don’t know what my blog is ranked, nor does it really bother me. I’m more focused on creating engaging content. Sure, I look at my traffic numbers to see what’s working and what’s not, but the aim of the game for me is to get people engaging with my content. A lot of the other stuff can be bought, so I don’t hold it in high regard.
So, after more than six months of blogging, that’s me. Hopefully the next six months will be even bigger and better! There sure is of blog material in my future! Following me on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with it all.
Next up, I nominate:
musingmummablog 