Pet Blogger Challenge 2013
1. How long have you been blogging and provide a link to your post from last year’s Pet Blogger Challenge so we can refresh our memories.
I’ve been blogging here at Life by Pets for just a little over 2 years. To find out about why I started the blog, you can read my post for last year’s Pet Blogger Challenge
2. What do you consider the most important goals you set out in last year’s post?
The most important goals were probably growing my relationships with other pet bloggers and being more involved in the pet blogging community. Both of those are once again on my goal list for this year (Primed for the New Year).
3. Have you made progress toward those goals, or have your goals changed over the past year?
I definitely have more and better relationships with other bloggers, though obviously, I’d like to do more. And I certainly wasn’t as involved in the community as I would have liked, but I was somewhat involved and hope to do better this year.
Another semi-goal I had was to make money off of my blogs. A trip to a blogging conference for personal finance bloggers helped me to realize that isn’t actually something that is important to me. I blog for two main reasons- 1) I can’t not write. 2) I love talking with other people about topics that interest me.
4. How often do you post?
On this blog, I post Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I’ve recently started taking part in Wordless Wednesday and Black & White Sunday. In addition, every Saturday I do a blog post round up that includes my favorite posts of the week from both pet bloggers and personal finance bloggers. It appears on Life by Pets every other week.
5. Has your opinion of blogging on a schedule or as the spirit moves you changed?
Not really. I need deadlines to be productive. However, I have started a writing blog this year, and I do only post there as the spirit moves me. That does mean that I think it has less than 10 posts on it.
If you publish on a schedule, why? How strict are you about your publishing deadlines? What do you do for inspiration when it feels like you’ve covered every topic?
As a procrastinator, I really need a schedule, otherwise, I’d rarely post. I try to be pretty strict with myself about deadlines, but sometimes I need the deadline to be VERY close in order for the writing juices to be flowing, so I’ll post a little late. Usually not more than an hour or so later than planned.
Luckily my dogs never stop doing new things, or making me think new things. However, sometimes, I really do just pull a blank. On those occasions I post pictures or try to post links to interesting news about animals, like baby sea otter videos from the local aquarium.
If you don’t publish on a schedule, why? How do you think your decision affects your audience? How do you know when a topic is “post-worthy?”
For the writing blog, it’s because I want to make sure what I say is worth saying. Writing fiction is what I love, but it’s also very hard work. Trying to write about writing on a schedule would likely just frustrate me and put me off writing fiction.
I guess I know something there is post worthy if it’s something I actually want to write about and put there.
6. How much time do you spend writing your blog per week? How much time visiting other blogs? Share your tips for staying on top of it all.
I probably spend about an hour to ninety minutes writing posts for this blog per week.
I spend probably around 10 hours a week reading other blogs, but that’s pet blogs and personal finance blogs.
I stay on top of it by having a job that 75% of the time simply requires me to be there in case something happens. (20% of the time, I have scheduled work and 5% of the time, something actually happens.)
But I also take time as needed in the evenings. I don’t have kids and the husband and roommate cook dinner most nights, so as long as I can convince the dogs that they don’t need to be in my lap, I can get some writing and reading in.
7. How do you measure the success of a post and of your blog in general (comments, shares, traffic)?
I mostly measure it by how good I feel about it once it’s been written. I don’t get a lot of comments or traffic, though I love it when it does happen. But if I depended on that to make me feel like a post was successful, I’d spend most of my time feeling like a loser. :-p
Do you look strictly at the numbers, or do you have a way of assessing the quality of those interactions?
I look at the numbers, but the truth is, quality comments are easy to spot. And it’s that quality, that sense of having a conversation, that makes me feel most successful.
8. If you could ask the pet blogging community for help with one issue you’re having with your blog, what would it be?
I don’t know if it’s necessarily an issue, but I’d love to see more blog round ups in the pet blogger community. I enjoy blog hops, but my favorite way to discover new blogs is for bloggers I already respect and enjoy to point out posts they really like.
9. What goals do you have for your blog in 2013?
I want to write guest posts. I want people to guest post here. I want to do 4 giveaways this year. But mostly, I want to be more present in the pet blogging community.