Doing it all wrong.

I started this blog in January 2010… although that’s a lofty three years ago, at the time, the only thing I had on it was, well, my About Me page. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with this site, nor did I know what it would become.

When I first started, I uploaded all sorts of affiliate links with Beachbody… and having a free WordPress site, it crashed pretty quickly and I had to think of something more long term. I mean, other people had affiliate links, right? Their pages were still up, even on the free site, so why couldn’t I do it too? But ultimately, I couldn’t, so I paid for a new site.

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Then I wondered how to get people to my blog. I mean, how do you randomly stumble over something you know you want, because I knew all of my content was AWESOME! Who didn’t want to learn ALL ABOUT BEACHBODY ALL OF THE TIME. I mean, don’t you dream in terms of your diet and exercise plan? I do don’t. So no one came.

At the time, I didn’t even really read any other personal blogging sites, I had just heard that it was possible. So, I found a few… all that seemed to have plenty of traffic and GIVEAWAYS!

Finding the giveaways were so awesome because when you post the giveaway on your site, you can opt to have people “Like” you on Facebook, “Follow” you on Twitter or Pinterest, or comment on your blog… at the time, that was a sure fire way to get views… which I did.

But then that giveaway ended, and my views dropped. I would have to do another giveaway, just to have people come to my site because I knew the real money was in affiliate links and sponsorships, which they would look to see whether these numbers were enough. So, I would run multiple giveaways at a time to keep people coming back.

Until I realized, no one actually looked at my other blog posts. Some barely read the post that they had to comment on… it was like a race to comment. You pour your heart into a post, only to have most of the people comment “Good job” or “I understand where you’re coming from” or some other generic comment that could be applied to almost every other post in the world. Some people were even bold enough to say “I’m leaving a comment to enter “x” giveaway”!

Then I saw a post where they said you have to make a connection, build a relationship, with other bloggers. By this time I was a stay at home mom, so no biggie right, I’ll do that.

But the bloggers that I found were large, had huge followings. The topics interested me enough to come back daily. I posted comments daily, heartfelt (since that’s what I was told), to no avail! I didn’t even get a response, much less someone coming back to take a look at my site.

I felt lost, wondering how others seemed to get comments on their blogs, and their sponsoring pages showed THOUSANDS of views. What was I doing wrong?

I would join blog hops… TONS of them, follow their directions, still not many people came to look (do other people follow the directions?).

Then I stopped trying to act, and started reading. Who was I? People were able to pour themselves out onto a platter and I couldn’t even write a post that was about more than losing weight. Even that wasn’t going well, because soon after I really started posting, I found out I was pregnant with Miss B and she hated me moving! I mean, walking from the front door to the car had me WINDED! I mean, I couldn’t breathe. I hadn’t gained a pound yet. And every day I sat on the couch and slept after work (Thank goodness my little boy could make his own sandwiches)

But I digress…

How do you blog regularly about something you are not doing? I felt fake for even trying to.

Then I “met” Lanaya and it really changed me. She was so open and honest about her feelings, her opinions and what’s going on. I left a comment and SHE RESPONDED! I was so excited to get a response from a blogger! I completely stalked her. She’s even the first blogger I met in person!

What I learned from her was invaluable. Take your time, don’t expect change overnight, be true to yourself, just to name a few.

So, I was ultimately found guilty of being a number chaser while being content light. What blogging faux pas’ s have you made?

This has been another edition of Finish the Sentence Friday…

I would love to have you support me in my challenge to raise $1000 for children with heart diseases and defects with the Children’s Hospital and the supporting efforts of the Ronald McDonald House for Heart Month! Find out how!