Recently a someone asked me how I recommended they increase their traffic as, “My stats have only gone up, like 5% in the last year.” Heh. And you’re coming to me…WHY? I am constantly caught off guard when people assume I know about successful blogging. I dont make money of my site, I’m not on any sort of A-list of SUPER ENTERTAINING BLOGGERS. And I’m most certainly NOT an expert in traffic. Especially since my numbers have been consistently declining since I signed up for Sitemeter in 2006.

August 2006 thru March 2007

This was my first few months of stats reported from Sitemeter when I signed up in 2006. I had been blogging since January 2004, but I had only kept up with the stats that came on my server. Since they don’t keep “archive” stats, I decided to sign up at Sitemeter just so I could compare over time. But I’m going to be very honest with you – I don’t look at my stats anymore. I used to. Just like all bloggers I went through phases where I would obsessed over them and critiqued my entries based on how they affected my traffic. And then, one day, I just stopped caring. Maybe because I just was happy with where I was, maybe because I didn’t like what it did to my content. Either way – I swear to all that is holy – I stopped checking my stats.

Every few months I log in just to make sure everything is still working, but other than that? The only gauge I have on my traffic is the comments I get on entries. And while I’ve noticed that declining over the years, I just stopped fretting over it. I felt like I knew the cause anyway. Some of it was that my traffic was only high originally because bigger bloggers than I had linked to me a few times and people started reading me because of the association. However, I’m not as funny or as entertaining as those other bloggers so after awhile, those new readers stopped reading. I knew that, and I wasn’t going to stress over it. I’m well aware I’m not as entertaining as many who link to me, I read those same women daily because they crack me up. I only crack myself up once in awhile.

I also was aware of what many infertile bloggers are aware of, blogging about infertility tends to increase traffic. Women struggling with the same problems seek solace in our stories. Therefore, the Google searches that make my heart hurt (“Multiple Miscarriages,” “Can’t Stay Pregnant,” “Why Does My Uterus Hate Babies?”) – usually lead people to my site. I enjoyed that for awhile, a community of shared struggles. But I knew when I stopped writing about Trying To Conceive or Trying To Stay Pregnant, my traffic would drop. Since I knew the cause of the decline, I didn’t need to put numbers on the actual drop. I was afraid it might depress me. I was happier not knowing.

But – I wanted to prove how little I knew about increasing traffic so I pulled up the past 12 months to compare to the first year on Sitemeter.

March 2009 thru March 2010

First glance it doesn’t look like that huge of a drop. Then you have to pay attention to the TOP of each graph. Sitemeter is kind enough to adjust the range of the graph so that your highest traffic month sets the limit. This is the comparison ADJUSTED to match quantities.

Went from 60K to 20K in 44 months

I’ll be honest. I’m not exactly sure what those numbers on the side mean. Does that include repeat visitors? Spam bots? Unique hits? Who knows. Doesn’t matter anyway because I’m just focusing on the relationship between the two charts. The change. I went from 60K to 20K in 44 months. That’s a HUGE drop. I guess that’s about a 66% decline in traffic over a few years? Aren’t you supposed to go UP in traffic the longer you blog? Heh.

Anyway – my point? I’m happy with my blog. I have never felt more at peace with my online life. I have many good friends and many loyal readers and many times? Those two are one and the same. I get good comments that make me smile and I find new blogs constantly to add to my own Google Reader. After time sometimes I remove blogs that no longer intrigue me, so if people have done that with my RSS feeds? Grown apart from my writings? I’m okay with that. If we just added to the blogs we read and never removed any, we’d all have grown into our desk chairs by now.

Now, if my decline continues and I only have 12 readers over a month in March 2015? Then maybe I’ll rethink my strategy. But for now? I’m completely at peace with where I’m at. And I think – in honor of that? I want us to share some of our favorite “new” blogs we’ve discovered. I’m going to give you a few Newbies (To my Feed Reader, not necessarily to blogging itself) to check out. And then I want you to tell ME about someone new. Try to recommend someone who gets lets than 10 comments on their entries so we can spread the love to people who will notice our affection. These are three from my own Google Reader list that I don’t think I’ve ever linked to before (outside, maybe, my sidebar) – so they’re “new” to you guys. I also probably don’t comment on their sites enough (Because I don’t comment on ANY sites enough) so this makes me feel less stalkerish by linking to them here.

Feet Firmly Planted who has a great photo up right now from a gun shop that made me literally GUFFAW.

Yummy Sushi Pajamas who writes very truthfully about the struggles of motherhood.

Gigglepotamus whose husband I met at a blogger event last year but who also does some amazingly creative projects that make me swoon and want to be adopted by her.

So…who do YOU recommend?

I sit down many times and compose entire entries for the blog…only to delete them and start over. This morning I did one discussing whether other SAHMs feel guilty complaining about their job as a Mom for fear that their spouse may think, “Hey…you CHOSE this. If you don’t like it…get a REAL job.” Then I deleted it because I just didn’t feel like the words really conveyed what I was saying and I worried I sounded like a spoiled bitch. Other times I delete things because I just think: OMG. That is so boring. Then rarely, and I mean rarely because I’m not controversial by nature, I delete something because I don’t want to…start anything.

These are all moments when I realize, Hey. I obviously don’t write this blog just for myself.

I don’t check stats. I don’t look at numbers. I stopped doing that several years ago because I found myself trying to curb my writing in the direction of more traffic. I didn’t like that at all. I keep this blog as a way for me to make friends, and document my family’s history. It’s my cathartic outlet and my social circle. It’s my scrapbook. When I focus too much on numbers, or even focus at all on numbers, I lose the organic feeling of this environment.

Yet still…I delete entries. I think that’s because this is my social circle. I don’t want to disrupt it with something that has the wrong voice, or the wrong message. You are all my friends and if I can’t get my thoughts out in a way that makes sense without boring you to death…then I delete it. And I’m okay with that. It’s just something interesting I thought about this morning. Some entries I just stick in draft mode because I do want to write them some day. But often? I just delete. I feel like the message is off from the first word to the last. Or, I feel like it’s something I wont feel in a few days so why stir the pot now?

But – it got me thinking – so many of you are bloggers. Do you ever delete entries? I’ve even been known to publish something and then take it down a few hours later after letting it sink in because, Crap. That entry does not actually say what I was trying to say. I’m betting hardly anyone goes that far. I just find it funny that I don’t look at my stats, my referrals, my visitor numbers: Yet I censor myself. In my head, the only people reading this are the dozen or so that comment. Why do I worry so much about what you guys think? Most of you know me well enough to read between the lines anyway. Or to just skip over a really boring topic and come back tomorrow. Yet still? I delete. And I’m wondering if you do that. Do you get something written and then delete it, or take it down later? Why? Is there anyone who truly writes their blog just for themselves? Because even if you all stopped reading I would be writing for my family. And I don’t want to bore them either. (Although I often do, they’ll attest to that.)

So: What is your DELETE policy on blog entries? Do you ever delete something you’ve finished writing (or come very close)? Or do you just stick it in your draft folder? Do you publish everything you put even a portion of effort into?

I decided to update my “About Me” page relatively recently. Mainly because I wanted an excuse to post really awesome pictures of the teenage version of myself. Or maybe just because the old one came from such a different voice than I have now. Or maybe because it was just time since I seem to embark on this project every few years no matter what. Either way – I updated it. And let me tell you, it nearly killed me.

I wanted to create a page that would give a first-timer a decent thumbnail picture of who I am and what this blog is like. However, I had a hard time deciding what was important to tell about myself. Well, that’s not exactly true, I had a hard time deciding what was important without writing a novel. My first draft would have printed to be about 50 pages long. I ended up having to debate with myself over what was About Me Page Worthy and what wasn’t. But it’s important everyone knows I have three tattoos and what each of them are! No, it’s not. What about the fact that I don’t like making left turns? Still unimportant. And after reading your blog for a week they’re bound to hear you mention it at least once. It’s a staple of yours. Well then I really must tell them about my addiction to office supplies. Why? Because knowing you’re a pen snob is necessary when reading your day-to-day writings? I don’t think so.

I think there is something to having an About page that never changes. I’ve read Dooce’s About page 100 times. I have no idea why, because it really doesn’t ever change. Maybe I find that comforting? I know that part of me tries with every About Me page rebirth to create a page that is timeless. Then I remember I get bored too easily and I need an excuse to change it because I would change it every few years EITHER WAY. Timeless or not.

So, timeless and never changing About Me pages? Not for me.

I think Miss-Britt’s About Page was the one I liked the most when I scoured my blog list for ideas. I like the voice of it and the conciseness of the information. Just a simple but well-written About page. One that puts my final product to shame because OH MY GOD…it’s still way too long. I just couldn’t condense it any more! It’s all very important information! The world must know about my obsession with wizards and vampires! THEY MUST!

Anyway…it’s done. I even updated NikkiZ’s age this morning to account for her being FOUR now. (eek.) And suddenly it occurred to me, maybe I should have written an entry about this first to see what other people think about their own or other blogger’s About pages? THAT would have been GENIUS.

Well, better late than never, right? Your answers may make me totally re-write my page all over again, and I’m okay with that. Feel free to answer any or all of these questions. Also feel free to post a link to your own About Me page, I’d love to check it out!

Do you read About pages on blogs? Am I the only one who does that?

If you do – what do you look for? Is there ever anything consistently missing you wish people would include? Like alias origins or URL background?

Do you have an About page on your own blog? Did you sweat over it like I did or am I a huge dork?

If you do – how often do you change yours? Is it timeless or do you get bored?

For about 4 months, or so, surrounding my Dad’s sickness and death – I was in the blog dumps. For the first time since this blog was born in January 2004. It was a combination of things, but even as those things faded, I still found myself in the dumps. I just couldn’t get motivated to write. Now, for me? That meant instead of twice a day I was posting once every few days, which isn’t a huge deal in blog land. But for me? I felt like I had become the World’s Suckiest Blogger. I told Marilyn that I totally knew where she was coming from when she talked about her own blog flakiness. We’ve all been there, right? It’s just part of the cycle of a blog. Just like the river it has it’s eb and it’s flow.

(Hee. Love the overly-dramatic blog metaphors.)

I thought I’d share with you guys some of the ways I revived my blogself in case you find your blog in the same place. Of course, I’m no professional on blog advice, but these are a few things that worked for me.

• Don’t write. (What? Seems contradictory?) For one night, instead of writing…cruise blogs. Start with a familiar one and start linking to others from there. Read entries everywhere you go. Click through links in the comments of the blog (because that will take you to other active bloggers) and try to choose ones you don’t normally read. Seeing new blogs, no matter how off-topic they are from your own, will open your mind to new blog topics. This will inspire many topics for your own blog, I guarantee it. Even if that topic is, “Why I Don’t Blog About _______.”
• Continue the conversation on your own blog! I started emailing myself links from blog entries or articles around the web that I thought would give me good blog topics. Example? I emailed myself Marilyn’s entry linked above. Sometimes you read something and feel like you could respond with more than just a comment – but you don’t have time at that moment. Email it to yourself. Then, when you do have time, it will be there waiting in your inbox.
• Carry a notebook around. Or maybe a piece of paper. Something small so that when that idea pops in your head throughout the day, you can jot it down. Sometimes, just the fact that we have something to document an idea with, aids in the idea being born. It will have you looking at things with wider eyes, scanning your experience for blog ideas. I’ve been amazed at how many more interesting things I observe now that the back of my mind is waiting for blog material. For example: There are THREE fire hydrants on my street between my house and the end of the road. About .8 miles. THREE. And I never noticed them before. WEIRD. Look on your street today…how many do you see?
• Dig through your archives. Just sit down one afternoon and dig through some of your older entries. You’ll be amazed how inspiring it is because you’ll be reminded that it’s important you write. You’ll need those words later. Either to make you laugh. Or to make you cry. Or maybe just to make you wonder, “What in the hell was I thinking?”
• Remember…unless you’re really trying to make money…this should always be simply: FUN. If it’s stressing you out maybe you need a break. If it’s not bringing you joy, why do you do it? There’s nothing that says you HAVE to do it. Some of the best relationships I’ve made blogging are with someone who no longer blogs. They don’t disappear, they just stopped blogging. No big deal. But remember, if you stop or take a break, backup your blog. You might want to start back and you don’t want to lose all of that hard work. The world would be a smaller place without entries documenting our stupid moments don’t you think?

Love. Love. Love LilZ’s new shoes.

I’m using this rainy weekend to update the design at my blog. Don’t leave the feed reader, however. It’s not that exciting. When it’s all working I’ll post a screen capture so that if you read from a feed reader you can still see what the design looks like. I don’t like to force anyone away from the comfort of their RSS feeds. Unless I can offer them donuts.