~~ Ronald Reagan ~~
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Celebrating Our First Blogiversary
Today is a big day here at Pal2Pal. It is our FIRST Blogiversary. We are one year old today. As of midnight, we have had 194,246 visitors to the blog, we have posted 1817 posts. We have attracted 48 registered users, with about a 1/2 dozen more in pending status. And we want to say thank you to everyone who has stopped by, linked to us, or left a comment. Why more of you do not comment is a mystery and hopefully we can change that in our next year.
It has been an interesting year. It all started with our friend Alan Kelly talking me into switching from a Typepad blog to Expression Engine. With his invaluable help, I managed to get the blog design completed and published, but then sadness hit with Alan’s sudden and unexpected passing. He was a great friend and mentor and I still miss him each and every day.
In the early months after the birth of Pal2Pal, I was in pretty dire straits. As I’ve mentioned too many times, I suffered a rebreak of my L5 vertebrae. This was a reinjury to my back that was already not in good shape from the first time I fractured that same vertebrae. The first few months of blogging I can only call pain blogging. I blogged in the hopes of forgetting the pain that was so debilitating and so depressing. I would immerse myself in graphics or design work or in looking for articles that could make interesting posts for Pal2Pal in order to take my mind off what was going on with my body. Fortunately, as the months have gone by, the pain has subsided, first to a dull roar, and gradually coming down to a level of a whisper. Today, I’m about 85% pain free and as long as I don’t try to do anything too stupid, can go for days without thinking about my back or any disability it causes. This is a good thing.
Trying to keep up with daily blogging as a single blogger can sometimes be a chore. Finding anywhere from 3 to 10 items to write about can be a full time endeavor. John Hawkins, in a new post about The Top 10 Reasons Bloggers Don’t Succeed says in #9:
9) They don’t post enough each day. On a typical day, there are 6 posts that amount to roughly 2500 words or so of copy on RWN. Most successful blogs churn out at least 1500 words a day and most of them do considerably more.
In other words, you have got to put out enough material each day so that people can find something entertaining on your page that will keep them coming back. Ideally, I’d like it if people enjoy everything I write on RWN, but if they enjoy a post or two, they’ll probably come back tomorrow.
On the other hand, if you only do a post or two each day and someone doesn’t like either of them, they may never be back. That means each day,—not, if you feel like it, not depending on what you are doing, not just if you get enough sleep—each day, you have to commit to churning out these posts.
Personally, I get my posts out no matter what. If it means I get 3 hours sleep today, so be it. If it means I miss a movie I want to go see, I can always go watch it tomorrow.
If you’re not that dedicated, you may not have what it takes.
We all cheat sometimes. I know I do. But I do try hard to have at least three and mostly five or more posts up each and every day. And although I tend to cover alot of politics, I also try to mix it up so that there is something for everyone. I write about the things that interest me at the moment, whether that is politics, science, archeology, space, human interest stories, the military, or sports and hopefully some of what is written appeals to a wider audience than just for my own amusement. There are days when I have nothing much to say or when I do, someone else has already said it better. In those instance, I try to provide you with a balance of coverage from some of those writers and bloggers I consider worthy of my own readers’ time. I hope you agree.
The one thing we have not done enough of is bring you our original content articles. John Hawkins has something to say about that as well and makes it his #1 on the list of blogger mistakes:
1) They’re just not very good. Everybody has different talents and skills and some people just aren’t very good writers. In the blogging world, people who can’t write either tend to pump out dreck or do huge excerpts of other articles with a line or two of their own content attached. That sort of post has its place, of course, but if it’s all you’re doing, it’s not a good sign.
On the upside, if you write every day, you will get better at it over time—but, it’s still a good idea to have a certain minimal level of ability before you start. If you don’t have it, it’s hard to see how you are ever going to build an audience.
We can write, and when we put our mind to it, we can write well, but this takes me back to pain blogging. It is hard to keep your mind concentrated on original writing when your body is rebelling, so my intent for our 2nd year is to bring you more original writing and fewer posts based on cryptic comments on the writings of others. I hope you will stick around and that you’ll comment and let us know how we are doing. And we are always open to suggestions on subjects you are interested in hearing about. If you don’t want to leave us a public comment, then send an email with a link to something you’d like to see. I am especially interested in articles or information helpful to the seasoned citizen.
There are so many fine blogs out there and we owe a debt of gratitude to so many of them. I encourage you to check out some of them from our Blogroll, including Texas Rainmaker, who is also celebrating a Blogiversary today, their 5th. Drop by and give them a congratulations.
I am looking forward to our next year. I hope you are too. And, if you are so inclined, perhaps you could find it in your heart to leave us a tip in the TIP JAR to help a poor struggling fixed-income seasoned citizen pay her server fees for another year.
But today is a day for celebrating. We hoist a glass to you our Pal2Pal readers. Thank you for your support and friendship. Here’s to a long and happy association.
Sara
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