Becoming a Better Blogger

You know that girl in school who moped around cause she only got 97% on her exam? Well that was me. What happened to the other three percent? What if that was the knowledge that would have saved someone’s life?  I’ve been told I have a tendency to be hard on myself.

That trend continued in to my working life and I’ve always put in the hours, made the effort and strived for excellence, doing more than my job description and pay check demanded.

Now I’m a SAH mom, I had hoped that trend would spread in to my housekeeping skills, but sadly, they have not. It seems domestic wasn’t my thing after all.

Instead, that little bit of journaling I used to enjoy doing has become something of an ‘all my spare time’ thing. Which means the dishes tend to pile up and the dust bunnies blow around in the wasteland of my hallway. Or something like that.

So in my search for (ever illusive) perfection and blog world domination  I’ve come across some great articles with advice on how to improve your blog, your blogging and everything that goes with it.

First off, have a look at Michelle from Scribbit’s Blogging in Pink. She deals with everything from picking your platform to focusing your blog, being an efficient writer and commenter, and going pro. In addition, Michelle is highly approachable, and really does respond to emails. She practices what she preaches and is successful in return.

Next, head over to 40 Lessons Learned Over Five Years of Blogging by Deb Ng. She has some great tips that every new or growing blogger would do well to learn without the five year wait!

One of the tips they offer is to join a blogging network.  As a ‘mommy blogger’ I’ve joined:
The Secret is in the Sauce, British Mummy Bloggers and London Bloggers Weblog Explorer because these correspond with my interests, but there are many others. You might have to look around and try some out for a little while and see how they work for you.

In slight contrast, Henrik Edberg has similarly great advice in his article How to Build a Somewhat Successful Blog – 16 Lessons I Have Learned,  but he recommends limiting the time you spend on other blogs and focusing on your writing. I found this very valuable as I sometimes spend my whole online time just reading and playing catchup, so I often don’t have time to do any writing at all.

There are many more sites where you can gain valuable insights and learn so much from the experiences of those who’ve been doing this for longer. It’s just a matter of searching for them, and taking some time to decide what’s important for you and your blog!

If you have great resources you’ve learned from, please add the link in the comment section below!