The Who, What, When, Where and Why’s…of Blogging

I’ve been thinking about the “mommy blogging” world a lot lately.

About how some mom’s, whether they ever intend to or not, just make it. They start these blogs, some of them without any decent content, and BAM. They start raking in thousands per month on advertisements and promotions that are visibly evident on every single corner of their blog.

Have you ever Googled the Top 50 Mommy Blogs? If you haven’t, here is the list. I’ll be honest with you…I clicked through each and every blog on this list and scanned their content, took note of their designs, and even analyzed the quality of their photo content. I have to admit…I’m not impressed. At least, not with most of them. Some of the layouts are horrible. Some of them are frustrating to navigate around. Some of the content is crude and poorly written. And some of the mommy blogs I expected to see on this list [like this one or this one or this one] weren’t there.

So what makes these blogs so successful?

As a mom who adores writing, adores photography, and adores graphic design, I sometimes feel that maybe I have enough of the “package deal” to make a successful blog. And then I check my Stat Counter to review my numbers for the week, and they look pathetic. Or I pour my heart into a post and receive four or five comments. Then I glance at my Google Friend Connect counter and it’s flashing that big, beautiful 364 Followers sign at me like it should be written in neon lights; and I get disappointed.

After having a conversation with Mandi this weekend, I realized that I am not the only person who gets frustrated with things like this. We discussed Stat Counter and Page Hits over BBQ while her husband Sean listened and laughed at how worked up and excited we mommy’s get over all things blogging. We rambled on about which blogs are guilty pleasures, which blogs frustrate us, and which blogs we adore. We also talked about our own personal blogging milestones.

Each of us has a different one. A different way that we know we’ve semi “made it” in the blogging world. Maybe it was when we reached a certain number of Followers. Maybe it was when a certain ‘big blogger’ commented on our post. Maybe it was something totally different.

For me, it was all three…and they’ve all happened recently.

I remember when I first started blogging there was a lady I’ll call K* who had a blog that I frequented. I had been blogging probably five or six months and was really digging the idea of being on of the “big bloggers.” I remember reading her blog one day and seeing that she had 80 followers. I couldn’t believe it. I was envious of this woman and her 80 people because I had only ::ahem:: 10. I dreamed of the day that my numbers would look like that. And then at some point down the road, they did…and they surpassed hers. I felt…accomplished. The same way I felt when that little ticker that keeps track of my followers teetered past the 300 mark. And then same way I felt when a certain big blogger-despite the controversy that surrounds her blog-commented on this post.

Blogging has become such a business-y type thing that I’m starting to believe that people are losing sight of why they started writing in the first place. I know for me, I go through spells where the numbers, the stats, the comments and the followers are the only things that seem to matter. And then somehow or another, I manage to find my way back around to why I began this blog in the first place.

So, what am I getting at here? I want to do a little series on how to Blog Effectively with Integrity. Blogging the right way to increase you traffic flow and up your numbers [because let’s just face it…we all love the numbers and the comments…no matter how much we argue that fact] while still maintaining your integrity and your personality. I think it’s easy to get lost in the whole ‘what’s popular with mommy blogging right now

‘ thing and lose our initial purpose behind our blog and our identity in the process. With that being said, it’s time to get some feedback from you!

What draws you to a blog? And I don’t mean that you found them on one of the dozens upon dozens of mommy blogging host sites or anything. I mean, when you find a blog, what keeps you there? Is it the content? The photos? The design? A mix of all three? What is the most important factor you look at when searching for new blogs to read; or what turns a blog into a “must read” for you when you have an already overflowing reader?

Leave me some feedback and check back in on Friday for the first part in this series!