As I have mentioned quite a bit lately, I am in a contest called Blogging Idol where over 100 bloggers are competing to see how many subscribers he/she can attract during the month of July. There are lots of interesting blogs in the competition - most with far more blogging experience than I and most of the blogs are blogging about information of some sort (stocks, blogs, tech stuff, business, hobbies, etc) whereas my blog is simply about my life.
I know I have mentioned this in an earlier post, but I began this blog as a companion to my website - the thought being that if you get to know and like me, you'll hang around my website and become a part of that community. Who knew I would fall in love with blogging and this blog would take on a life of its own?
Can I tell you how warm & fuzzy it made me feel to receive more than a few emails over the past few days from readers asking when I was going to blog about something other than my contest because they miss my writing? Wow - other than my husband (I'm not even sure he reads it all that often. . .) and my friends who read this on an obligatory basis (you never know when I might quiz them on something I said just to make sure they are reading!), I didn't even realize I had "readers". I mean I have stat counter on my blog, I know how many people visit me, but I just didn't get it, you know?
Ok, back to the point. So, one of the blogs I have become acquainted with via Blogging Idol is Protycoon. Quoted directly from his "about" page, this is what he says:
My name is David Shaw, I am 21 and am a Blogger, Web Designer and Student from Bristol, UK. I have been working online for several years now but launched ProTycoon.com in February 2008 with the view to sharing everything I have learned and am learning about the world of blogging.
My aim is to help other bloggers make the most from their blogs and hopefully turn them into a profitable hobby or even to become full time bloggers.
ProTycoon.com will provide you with blogging tips to help you build, promote and monetize your blog and is usually updated on a daily basis.
So, the other day we were exchanging emails and we both subscribe to each other's blog - my thoughts were that it was a great way to help each other out in Blogging Idol AND, I truly do find his tips for blogging useful. I doubted that a 21 year old boy was truly interested in my blog, but I thought it sweet that he subscribed to me and I appreciated it.
Well, imagine my surprise this morning when I open my email and I see the update from his blog - WEBSITE REVIEW: MOMMY MERYL. Holy you-know-what, I'm thinking to myself! What is he reviewing - my content? my style? my competency as a mom? my grammar? And then I say, "what the $#@@ does a 21 year old know about being a Mommy?".
So, I'm a little fit to be tied, and then I read the review - please feel free to click here if you would like to as well! And I instantly felt better (well, kind of. . .). Protycoon was reviewing my blog from his expertise as a blogger - he wasn't reviewing the content so much as he was reviewing the style and function of my blog and you know what, he and the people that comment on his blog know quite a bit more about blogging than I do. . .
So, I read and re-read his review - as well as the comments by his readers and while I didn't agree with everything, I took most of them to heart and realized that he did an absolutely wonderful and fabulous service for me. He gave me honest, non-biased feedback on the style and functionality of my blog (and I do have some work ahead of me), but this was the best quote from his review: I would like to point out at this point that I am not critising Meryls blog, I think Meryl has a great blog and some interesting content for her niche.
The heart of my blog is my writing. I write from my heart and my gut and while the style and functionality have to be addressed for me to be a successful blogger in terms of traffic, monetizing and search engine optimization he ultimately thought I had a great blog and interesting content for my niche - I'll take that and run any day!
And I have one more thing to thank David @ Protycoon for, what do they always say - bad publicity is better than no publicity, right?
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1 comment:
Hi Meryl ~ I followed the image link over from David's blog because I love "girly" and couldn't resist your gorgeous header and "look." It fits your blog perfectly BTW!
I really enjoyed and value the review David did on your blog. I didn't see it as "bad publicity" at all and I can “hear” the playfulness in your response. I did learn quite a bit from his constructive criticism so thanks for being the guinea pig for the rest of us.
In fact, I’ve struggled with my break into the predominately male arena of blogging about blogging and marketing. I too started my blog as an offshoot to my other businesses. Although my readership is mostly women (right now) I don’t want to turn off my male readers by having a feminine look but I don’t want my blog to look masculine either because that’s just not “me.” David’s blog is one of the blogs I follow that gave me the inspiration to look for a new theme. I want to find a layout that will make the best use of my space. In fact, I sent the link to David just to get his opinion before I make the change and I hope to have it up in a week or so.
Keep up the good work on your blog and it’s nice “meeting” you. *hugs* Suzanne
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