Blog Evaluation Day

I visited Eclectically Vintage's blog today and read about her blog goals. Her blog is three months old (and isn't it big for its age?).    It made me think back to when I first started my blog back in 2006.  I just started writing my thoughts down for the public to read.  Oh, my!    If you were to read every entry you can see it ebb and flow just as my life's challenges have.  

When I started writing I didn't know anything about keywords or search engine optimization (SEO).   Truthfully,  I think you can ruin a blog worrying about that stuff too much.  Not that you shouldn't pay attention, but your writing can become stilted and your blog read like a manual if you're too focused on it.  

This blog is about my art so I don't have ads on it.   But I do feature other people's work.  I really like doing that.   I have had ads for a short time on a couple of my other blogs focused on the topic of antique dolls.  It was fine, but not really worth the amount of work that went into it.  


Did I say my other blogs?  Yes, yes, I did.   I have a lot of blogs, but don't post on a lot of them regularly.    When I looked at the list, it was a bit astonishing.  But if I think of them as a wheel, I can see the purpose.   It also shows me some things I need to do with some of the off-shoot blogs. 
Northdixie Designs - my main blog, my art blog, the life blog.  It's the hub of my wheel. The other blogs are spokes of my life.   
Izannah Walker Chronicles - for 5 years I've been studying this type of antique doll intensely.  I write it to share with other doll makers and lovers of Izannah Walker dolls what I've been able to learn and what's going on in the Izaannah world.  Yes, there IS an Izannah world.  
Maida Today - focused on studying antique dolls and making antique inspired dolls.  I started it because I was able to see other antique dolls to write about that didn't fit on the Izannah Walker Chronicles 
Izannah Walker Workshop - the blog that focuses on my Izannah Walker Workshop pattern and how to make an Izannah Walker inspired doll.  
Some Sargents of Maine - a family genealogy blog 
Our House in Pictures - my home improvements "to-do" list.  Not business related, but can lead traffic to my business blog. 
Round World Flat Map - a blog I set up to write about autism.  I pulled the shade on that one, though.  It's too personal.  
Maida Dolls Group - while not a blog, I also lead this group, which is a spin-off from the Maida Today blog.  
I actually have a few more completely inactive blogs which I'm not listing.  Oh, my!

It's important for me to remember my blog is not my business.  Some DIY blogs ARE their business, and they make an income from the ads that are there.  But they didn't all start off as businesses.  Many of them just started off as on-line journals and morphed over time into businesses.

My goals for my blog?

Simplify the design and function. 

Do more focused series.

Keep making art and writing about it.

Keep living life and writing about it.




Wheel and pie charts are great for evaluating all kinds of things. 

2 comments:

Susan At Glen Oaks Primitives said...

I too write about my life and my love of folk art. I never cared about SEO and I don't use
ads either. But I also promote others' work as
you do. I'm happy with my blog, and I know it
isn't many followers but I have 122 and I didn't
entice anyone with giveaways. I don't know if
everyone reads every day but I enjoy what I do
and the comments I get to read.
I enjoy your blogs because they are simple, uncluttered and are about you and what they are called, i.e., Maida Dolls, Izannah Walker, etc.
Hugs,
Susan

Dixie Redmond said...

Thanks, Susan. :-) I don't think paying attention to SEO is bad. I just think my blog can't be all about that.


"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden