The very lovely Simply HomeMade Mum has tagged me in her “Blogger Interview” post, so as a bit of fun I’ve decided to join in. So without further ado, if you’ve ever wondered these questions about me, you’re about to find out some new fun facts (disclaimer: may not be fun.)
How Did You Get Into Blogging?
This is not my first blog, not by a long shot, but it is definitely my first foray into blogging proper – the previous ones were more like diaries, seen by nobody, no nice pictures, just word vomit up on the screen. I’ve always liked writing and finding different outlets. While I was pregnant in February 2014, I was housebound thanks to crazy weather (walls were falling down around the country, roofs blowing off and I nearly got taken off by the wind on my one escape to the shop across the road), very bored and feeling like I needed to get some things off my chest. I wasn’t a fan of the rain, as you can probably guess. I started this blog to vent, and having gotten into some rather fantastic parenting blogs from Irish bloggers, was inspired to let it take off and here we are 18 months later.
What Advice Would You Give To A Blogger Starting Out?
Take it one step at a time. Write for you, not for who you think might be reading – there is no surer way to give yourself writers block than to do something you’re really not able to put your heart into. Make sure you back up your blog – I like to use a WordPress Plugin which backs mine up to Dropbox – you don’t want all of your hard work to go down the drain thanks to a rogue update or an internet mess up. Do read lots of other blogs, don’t copy other bloggers style but do use them as inspiration – and talk to them, through social media and their comments, everyone loves to interact with their readers.
How Has Your Blog Changed Since You Started Writing It?
This blog wasn’t initially going to be seen by other people. It certainly wasn’t going to ever be seen by anyone who knew me. Initially it served as a diary, documenting the later days of my pregnancy, the early days of parenthood and everything going on in my head at the time (albeit slightly censored). As time has gone on, it has developed into a much fuller record of life as I know it – reviews of things we do, things we use, advice I would have liked to have had on hand, rants and ramblings about things which affect me – I now refer to it as a parenting and lifestyle blog instead of my mind-dump on the internet. I moved to self hosting just over a year ago and went with my own domain name, which is nice, as well as being able to add more to the site it also feels a lot more like something I own (with its own address).
What advice would you give to PR’s approaching you for a campaign?
Please read my blog, even just skim it, before emailing me. There are certain emails I’ve received that are as much of a waste of their time sending it as my time opening it. That said, I’m willing to work around a lot of things, as long as it is genuinely something I feel that I would use or be part of. Please be realistic with what you’re asking for – if you are a large well established company who has a large advertising budget, do not ask the blogger who will likely have to put hours of work into a post/photos/review to contribute time and energy to essentially advertise your company for no compensation (and in some cases, not even a guaranteed social media mention). I’m not asking for huge advertising fees like you’d have to pay other media forms such as newspapers, television, or radio – merely reasonable compensation (product/small fee/giveaway prize) for a great advertising opportunity. I’m open to negotiating as long as it is fair to both sides – and definitely open to working with a variety of brands and companies that would make my life and my reader’s lives easier/happier/better. Just drop me an email at [email protected]
Do you have a plan for your blog?
I’ve not got a steady plan, but I’ve got an idea of where I would like it to go. At the moment, it is serving a dual purpose as both my sounding board for life and my online portfolio of writing. I’d love to be able to write full time, such is the dream, but it will take a major leap to get there – working on it bit by bit. In the mean time, I’m working on my skills with graphics and image editing software, developing my writing, SEO skills and finding my way around social media marketing.
What Do You Think About Rankings?
It can be fantastic to see how my blog increases in ratings as time goes by, as readership goes up and as different things happen. However, there are days when ratings do dip, for different reasons, and I try not to notice those quite as much because it doesn’t do anyone any good! I get my thrills more so from interacting with people who read and not the numbers themselves – I love getting comments and seeing people are actually interested in what I’m writing and finding out their thoughts on what I’ve said. Blogging has been a great way for me to meet new incredible people – it has definitely opened a lot of doors for me and introduced me to some of the best people I know – but in the bigger picture, at the moment it is my side-hobby and so I don’t pay too much attention to the ratings.
Thanks again to Simply HomeMade Mum for tagging me. I hope you’ve enjoyed and learned something from this post, or that it hasn’t bored you too much! If you’d like to join in the fun, please do and let me know in the comments so I can check yours out – I am going to pass the baton on to:
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Like finding out more about the girl behind the blog? You can find out more here – or check me out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to get a fuller flavour. Come say hello!
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