The bloggers's support and blathering thread

[DillyTante]

I thought I would start off a new thread based on a comment by Queen Maeve on another thread, which I completely agree with. In the beginning, the bloggers' chat thread was just that, we chatted, shared links, tips and exchanged views on each others' blogs. Now it has become a bit 'post and run' sort of a one way street really.

While I think that has it's place, as I like to have somewhere to go to pick out new blog posts, I miss the chat and the community, so I am deeming this a chat/support/blather thread. Posts and running will only be tolerated in extremis from regular contributors. Otherwise we shall glare at you via our screens.

So, I'll kick off: how's your blogging going? I hit 101 posts today! That's since July. What sort of numbers are you averaging?

I was really inspired by Latte Lady's post here, and have decided I need to make my blog more instructive, rather than just bumbling around going "oh look, I made this, it's really easy, I bet you could do it too" and sticking a couple of instagrammed photos in. And I want to be more passionate and more interesting. I want to branch out a little, but I'm worried about putting off any followers I do have who follow me for my niche which is mainly crafting.

Blogging has also made me think a bit more seriously about writing. I have always enjoyed writing but never pursued it in anger. I did NaNoWriMo and loved it, but I think that blogging has shown me that if I am going to give writing ago, I don't think fiction is my thing. I'd like to write features. I currently have complete career envy of Perri Lewis. She craft blogs for the Guardian and writes on Mollie Makes and Psychologies. She get to write about craft and psychology, that is what I want to do!

I can't believe nobody joined in the valentine's yarn bomb thingamy either.

I've been wondering about making labels to sew into my things with a possibility of selling them on Folksy or something later on, but the nicest cheap ones I can find end up costing about £2 per label - which is often more than the materials themselves. Can't really justify it.

Anyone know of a decent label place? Or is it not worth it?

Hi everyone - Great idea for a thread - I wanted to join in ages ago but I often only seem to have enough time to read a thread but not post anything. I've been blogging since last September - I try to blog about once a week but recently it's been less than that. I wanted to ask everyone when do you blog? How do you find the time to do it? How do you find the time to read other people's blogs? And how do you find the time to tweet and FB too? I'm on both but I so rarely do either that I'm not sure it's worth it. I just find with juggling work and kids and household stuff there doesn't seem to be any time left in the day, so I'm usually blogging either when I should be working, or when I'm too tired to make any coherent sense! Does anyone have any top tips? Also, can someone explain bloghops and memes to me - it may be really obvious, and I'd love to join in, but I don't quite understand what I'm meant to do!

Hi ATOmum I've only started recently, and usually I blog in the evenign, or whenever I get a moment. Just added a post now because my baby was down for his afternoon sleep, and my DD2 was taking an unscheduled nap in her teepee! :o

I read others' blogs at night. Shameful to say that I sit on the sofa watching telly and surfing the web in the evenings. Occasionally DH and I wave to each other

I haven't got into Twitter at all, and I Don't Do Facebook. It's like Tesco's to me, and I just can't bring myself to use it :o

'I read others' blogs at night. Shameful to say that I sit on the sofa watching telly and surfing the web in the evenings. Occasionally DH and I wave to each other'

Yep us too! Except usually West Wing or Big Bang Theory. I read a lot on my iPhone. My house is a mess and my children are very self sufficient! I do neglect other things I enjoy though like reading books.

Confusedpixie I am actually thinking of doing stitched versions of psychology models like Maslow's Hierachy of Needs - very geek craft, very niche!

Sweetestthing, following on from what you are saying about your blog, the one downside is you are using quite a common theme, so it does stand out visually. Mine is a really simple theme with a banner which you can make anything you want. Requires v little technical skill! I think it would be good if you could personalise the look.

Thanks for all the kind words about my blog. I wouldnt have done have half what I have done without mumsnet support.

Flubba, the people who run my knitting group sell stuff and they use school style name labels for their stuff.

Ago mum a meme is like a theme for a post that gets passed around bloggers. People sometimes tag someone else who they want to take up the theme and write a post.
A blog 'hop' or link is when a blogger sets up a list for people to enter their blog URL address into and they are then added to a list of other blogs taking part. They can 'hop' in and out of other blogs. These usually have a theme. There is a reasons to be cheerful one I do mummy from the heart or there is the gallery

Sorry posted too soon! The gallery is a photograph blog link which has a different theme each week. You don't have to be invited to join these just link up. They are definitely a good way to find other blogs and share your own

flubba I labels too - I've set up an Etsy shop and want to link it to my blog (somehow?). all I need now is stock!!!
I've read that you can print your own labels on your printer - but haven't looked into it any more yet. It sounds like I'd need fabric transfer paper or something?

Re everyone's comments about when to do it all - I have GOT to find some happy balance. This blogging thing is so much fun I just want to do that. House is a mess, kids going a bit bonkers and meals whipped up...

Trying to catch up on all that is going on, slightly stressed out at the moment due to house move but will get back into the swing of things soon.

Hope you are all well, and enjoying blogging.

What about using luggage tags and having a stamp made to make your own labels?

That's a nice idea Dilly I might look into getting a stamp made. I've just done some mock-up business cards which I'm waiting for DH to print at work and bring home (we have no printer at home), so would be good to have something to go with them.

Hello! I've been blogging for about 3 months now but still feel rather clueless. Ostensibly I blog about chldren's reading and working in children publishing but I also blog about all sorts of stuff to with motherhood and what we've been up to. I knit a lot but tend not to blog about it as I usually work on fairly large projects that take me ages to complete.

My main problem is lack of time - I work part-time in two jobs, three small children, soon to start studying as well blah blah blah - I would love to research blogging more, how to up my stats, use Google analytics etc but I just never seem to find that extra hour in the day.

I confess, I don't even know what a 'bloghop' is or how to go about doing it! I do read a lot on the internet though - I have my regular blogs that I read religiously. MN has helped my stats lots, as has using Twitter & FB - I have become somewhat of a Twitter addict, another way to waste time!

I would love to learn people's top tips for improving stats and/or improving your blog!

waves shyly Hi all,
Love the idea for somewhere to chat and have a [cuppa] and a . Have posted my blog for tonight on the other thread so can now chill out.

I have been blogging for 3 years now, but only joined mumsnet in November (and now Britmums and Netmums too (sorry!))
With that, a new facebook page for the blog, and this month joining twitter, my stats have taken a lovely slope upwards. I had never had 1000 page views a month before December. But in February nearly got 2000.

I am loving blogging.. But am slightly worried that my husband is less and less of a fan, particularly as I ordered a "Teach yourself html" book from the library. I think he thinks I've gone slightly mad!

Twitter is completely addictive. Once you learn to ignore the pornstar followers that you inevitably get (I figured they may also be mums - so what the heck). And realise you don't 'have' to follow everyone that follows you. Oh, and learn how to use the 'lists' so you can organise what you are following easily. It's really useful. I am actually a lot more 'uptodate' on current affairs than I ever was, as I get the BBCwordnews updates.

I'm at @ymummyreally.

Looking forward to coming back later for more chat - but hubby is hinting at wanting to watch The Wire now - so I'm off for some non-laptop time in front of the tv. (normally we sit with laptops and wave too!)

Keep blogging everyone!

Yummymummy, talk to me about Twitter lists. How do they work?

So I read an article the other day, can't even remember where, praising the virtues of su.pr stumbledupon's url shortener. By using it to shorten your urls you can increase traffic via stumbledupon. You can use it to send and schedule tweets too. Not sure how much it helps, I just started using it tonight, but worth a try.

I've got a lot of interest in my latest post on glossy magazines. Really pleased with it actually. I didn't even proof read it as I was so desperate to get it out there!

I haven't got a clue about bloghopping or tweety-pie lists or anything :o but I have made a 'Grab my Button' button! Really rather pleased with myself, even if nobody uses it, it makes me a happy bunny.

Have been a bit busy trying to sort out whether or not I try and sell my stuff and so have been playing about with getting a folksy shop etc, so maybe I should take my dinosaur head out of the sand (or some other such mixed metaphor :o) and get my head round all the twittery facebollocks :o

My wordpress blog is playing silly buggers with me tonight - the formatting's gone all weird and I've lost all my sidebars even though they're still supposedly there when I check on my dashboard. Harrumph.

Thanks for the info guys - I will attempt to join in a bloghop sometime soon! I'm still struggling to find time to tweet/blog/fb - but hearing everyone's tips, I think that probably having a computer that takes about 5 minutes to get going and not having set things up on my phone probably doesn't help - it means I don't really have the chance to grab a few minutes here and there, which seems to be how most people do it - (along with the not cleaning/tidying/cooking - which I'm already pretty good at!!). So that's my next job then...

Completely forgot about this thread!

Shoot, small boy needs me, be back soon!!

Hi everyone it's been a while. How is everyone?

Hi dilly I made it back v good post re manky mags btw - completely agree. I'm weaning myself off mags except crafty digital ones.

Popping head in to mark my place! Back soon!

I have been learning about not posting and running. Have been doing lots of reading and commenting, and am getting a small (well, tiny for now, truth be told) amount of reciprocal feedback, so hopefully that's OK. Hope I'm not breaking any of the unspoken rules that might exist and which I don't understand as a newbie blogger...

Anyway, came back to this thread to pick your more experienced brains about setting up a facebook page for my blog. I have my own personal fb account and I do share my blog posts to that about once a week (with consequent peak in hits), but I was wondering about setting up a Facebook page just for the blog, because I usually post more than once a week (i'm getting pretty addicted even though I hardly get any feedback - maybe it's crap, maybe not), and I don't necessarily want to bombard my personal FB friends with the links every time I post, but want to have an outlet to 'get it out there' as well as putting it on the 'new posts' thread on mumsnet. I tried to set up a FB account in the name 'recipe junkie' but FB wasn't having any of it, so I logged on to my normal account and saw that I can 'create a page' - is that what others have done?

Yes, RecipeJunkie, you need to create a page. You can then use Facebook as that page to send out links etc.

I don't actually have a page for my blog because it's not that kind of blog, but lots of people do.

I'm looking to do that too recipejunkie. Not really sure about the ins and outs of it all tbh. I was thinking of setting up a new profile and page for my blog - want to use it for a small business eventually - craft things and patterns.
What have others done??