How Can I Help You Get More Eyes on Your Blog? Let Me Count the Ways

Don't worry, I haven't written a sonnet for you today.

I am, however, going to use my blog experience to try and help you get some more eyes on your blog - if you have one. If not, well, maybe one day when you start one? 

But first, here's a token picture of Dewi that I took earlier today:

He was in this position for exactly 14.2 seconds. :)

And now: the part where I spill my guts

For the last month or so, beginning with the impending one-year anniversary of this blog coupled with the start of a new calendar year and culminating, last week, with the Pet Blogger Challenge, I've been more introspective than usual, prompting a whole slew of personal questions about the future of the blog: Can I (and why should I) keep up the grueling five-day-a-week pace (of posting and keeping up with way too many other blogs)? If it's too much, how do I cut back? How do I keep it fun without becoming redundant? Who the heck really cares - other than me - anyway? 

Can you say "too much introspection can make 'Jane' a very anxious girl"? 

Wanna know what I say?

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, IF YOU'RE PRONE TO BOUTS OF OVER-THINKING, DON'T START YOUR BLOG RIGHT BEFORE THE NEW YEAR!

Okay, joking aside, I've been struggling with "my purpose" so much lately that I'm having trouble mustering the will to write anything, and that's bad. So I'm resorting to the one tried and true way I know to divert my eyes off of myself, and that's to help someone else. In this case, "someone else" would be all the new or inexperienced (relative to me) bloggers who are reading this post. 

Some Statistics

(because although I'm far from an industry "expert," I do have a little street cred) 

• I have 163 Google feed (RSS) subscribers* (to my blog posts).
• 16 people subscribe to posts by e-mail.
• I've had over 52,000 page views as of this writing.
• My daily page view count doubled from September to October, about the same time I started using Twitter.
• My Google Page Rank is 3.
• Alexa says this (as of today - updated daily) about The Chronicles of Cardigan:
  "Chroniclesofcardigan.blogspot.com is ranked #535,721 in the world according to the three-month Alexa traffic rankings. Its visitors view 2.7 unique pages each day on average, and almost all visitors to this site come from the US, where it has attained a traffic rank of 76,023. The time spent in a typical visit to Chroniclesofcardigan.blogspot.com is about sixteen minutes, with two minutes spent on each pageview. It is relatively popular among users in the cities of Richmond-Petersburg (where it is ranked #543) and Seattle-Tacoma (#12,504)."
• My #1 referring site and URL is Google.com.
• My #2 referring site is Facebook.com.
• My #2 referring URL is a virtual tie between thedailycorgi.blogspot.com and elyancardigans.blogspot.com.
• I have 2,699 published comments.

*RSS subscribers include, but are not limited to, Google Friend Connect "followers." I obtained my subscriber information from Google Reader and Google Webmaster.

Okay, now that you know where the blog stands statistically, I'd like to share the ways in which I intentionally tried to increase traffic (I hate that word, by the way, it's so impersonal) to this blog, starting with the very first day. (I'm going to write in the present tense, though, since I'm writing this for you, not me.)

• Make sure your blog feed is public (not private), which means search engines can crawl it.
• Post something.
• Add "searchable" labels to all your posts. This will not only help people search your archives, but can help search engines find your content, too. 
• Send someone you know your blog address and beg ask them to read it.
• Find, read and comment on other similar blogs (in my case, it was other Cardigan Corgi blogs, namely one, Life with The Horde, in which case, upon the author stumbling upon this site, I had the supreme fortune of having my blog name and address broadcast to her entire readership and added to her blogroll).
• Post quality content often (in my case, back then, it was every day).
• Encourage commenting on your posts. By encourage I mean: ask open-ended questions, write about something thought-provoking, incredibly shocking ridiculous (okay maybe not that) and reply to commenters when possible.
• Leave thoughtful comments on other blogs and add these blogs to your blogroll.
• Make blog friends. (If you're leaving thoughtful comments on blogs you enjoy reading, this should be easy. Note, however, that some of your comments on other blogs might not be reciprocated, and when this happens, it does not mean that you are a blogging loser. You have no idea what's going on with that other blogger. Just suck it up and move on.)
• Join a blog hop(s). I linked up to the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop for the first time in mid-February. I met LOTS of new people on my first few "hops." This is also when my readership grew from a mainly Cardigan Corgi niche to a more encompassing dog blog niche.
• In spite of how much you might hate it, create a Facebook fan page and install a widget on your blog. Mine was born on March 3. I wanted to make it easy for people - who might prefer Facebook to blog comments - to interact with me. I have been rewarded with 146 "people" and 20 "page" fans. I love my Facebook friends.
• Post quality content often. (In late March, after several Saturday blog hops, I decided to quit posting on weekends because my family time was suffering. I still post every weekday, unless I announce a break in advance.)
• If someone asks you to, write a guest post for her (or his) blog. I've done it four times, on three blogs.
• Share the link love and link up to some of your favorite blogs from within your blog posts, particularly if you've been inspired by another's work.
• The summer is a natural time to hit a posting rut. Push though it anyway.
• Leave thoughtful comments on other blogs and add blogs to your blogroll.
• Go to the pet blogging conference, BlogPaws, if you can. There is nothing more rewarding than to meet your blog friends (and make new blog friends) in person. 
• In spite of how much you hate the thought of it (even more than Facebook), get a Twitter handle (related to your blog), install a widget on your blog and start tweeting - even if it's only to tweet your blog posts. And if you've been posting quality content all along, you might even get invited to join Triberr, where your tribemates will even tweet your blog posts, and before you know it, you've doubled your blog's monthly page views. (I have 157 Twitter followers, belong to two Triberr tribes and since October, when I started tweeting, have seen my monthly blog page views double.)
• Post quality content often.
• Leave thoughtful comments on other blogs and add blogs to your blogroll.

Which brings me to the current state of affairs. ;)

So this - at a high level - is how I've helped people find this blog. However, aside from posting quality content often (which is far and away the most important thing of all), making people want to read more than half a post, subscribe and/or keep coming back for more is another story altogether. And lucky for us, one that I'm saving for another day.

Hope this helped...someone...even just a little bit.

I know I feel better. :)

P.S. I will gladly answer any questions!

P.P.S. I've got more parts to show you!

This Is Where I Talk About the Big Honking Ad on My Blog

To monetize or not to monetize the blog. That was the agonizing question.

So you might have noticed that I recently got a big shiny ad in my sidebar. Well, actually, it's a series of rotating ads, including some of a non-paid, public service nature, like Petfinder.

Yes, I have monetized the blog. I am one of many pet bloggers who are now part of the newly launched BlogPaws | BlogHer publishing network. Bloggers in the network earn a small commission per page load (or ad view), whether the ad is clicked or not. It takes lots of page loads to even earn a penny. I knew this up front.

The thing is, I never wanted ads on my blog. I dislike clutter. I need colors to match. I hate waiting for pages to load. And pop-ups getting in my way. I was okay with having a no-income blog. Then, out of the blue, I got an invitation.

An invitation - as an existing BlogPaws member - to apply for membership in the publishing network. My heart went all aflutter. Since I knew my blog met all the joining criteria, my mind was already celebrating the potential income. Something - as a stay-at-home mom - that I hadn't received in over four years. 

And yet, I still hated the idea of seeing an ad on my blog. 

So I did some research and talked it over and decided that being associated with the BlogHer organization might not be so bad. It certainly couldn't hurt to try.

Two days later my blog was approved. The next move was up to me. I'd have to accept or [politely] decline.

To monetize or not to monetize the blog. That was the agonizing question.

Thank goodness I only got 48 hours to make up my mind. I tossed a lot those nights, worrying about things. Like what if:

• people think I'm a money-grubber
• people get mad and stop visiting
• the ad colors clash with my blog background
• people think I'm a shallow money-grubber
• people talk about me being a shallow money-grubber and stop visiting.
  (I might be a worry-wart. :)

And then I remembered that I don't have a paying job. And I accepted the offer.

I was relieved that the network permits bloggers to opt out of certain ad categories, and I promptly did so - except for candy and non-R-rated TV and films. In my mind, those were the least likely to offend anyone. :)

In the first week after I installed my ad code, I was served nothing but public service ads (PSAs). That was great. I earned nothing from them, but it would give me and my readers time to adjust to the prominent new space on my blog.

Another no-paid-ad week and a chat with the BlogHer Help Desk later, I opted back into a few things. And slowly, but surely, they arrived. Paid ads I had once vowed not to place on my site. And I was filled with regret.

Then - in a stroke of perfect timing - there appeared on my blog, a camera ad in an eye-catching sea glass-green and red design. A good, reputable camera, too. An ad like you might see on a site with WAY more readers than mine, or even in a popular ladies' magazine. And all that regret I had felt began to slip away.

What the heck was I thinking?! I thought. I might only earn $25 in a year,* but that's $25 more than I've earned in the last four! Bring it on!

You do realize you have to split that $25 three ways, right?

*To date, I've earned just over $3 (includes two weeks with nothing but PSAs). 

Since that epiphanic moment, I've grown more and more comfortable with the ads. To be honest, they've started to grow on me in unexpected ways. For instance:

• The color schemes are harmonious interesting, mostly.
• Every time I load my page I get a surprise. 
• They can make me feel immature little again (Shrek, anyone?).
• I sometimes yearn to eat cook (with butter and large kitchen appliances).
• Or have an Irish coffee (Irish cream, please). (My favorite brand, too! How did they know?) ;)

Who knows? One day an ad might even inspire a blog post (it could happen).

*****

And that, friends, is the story behind the ad. 

The elephant in the room made me tell it.

Thank you for listening.

Feel free to ask questions.

Have a happy weekend!