Saturday, January 3, 2009

Blog Questions

I have heard about blogs for a few years, but I sort of thought the idea of a web log sounded lame. So I never looked at any unless they showed up in a search and then they usually were lame. I had no way to find where any of the good ones were at the time so I ignored the whole thing. Now I find I do not know the etiquette for blog related things, not that I am a great follower of etiquette anyway, but if I were to try it would be nice to know what I should be doing.
When I first started this blog, I thought that people would appear from nowhere. See, I heard people say things like, ''oh I wrote about that on my blog'' and '' I just blogged my vacation'' and so I thought if it was blogged, someone was reading in the air somewhere. Very quickly I noticed that did not seem to be happening. I installed a visitor counter which confirmed that yes indeed, I was writing to myself. This seemed pointless. I went looking for tips and hints and put my link out there on a few list-serves that I had been on all along. It worked in that a good many people came to look and a discouraging lot of them never came back. A few did, and I really was quite grateful! Then I came across some of the good blogs and I commented and some of the writers came to visit me, and some of the other commenter's came to look too! AHA!
Back to the etiquette thing, I did not know what I should do in regards to listing blogs I like. At first I just started plugging them in. Then it occurred to me that I probably should ask the writers, being as they might not want to be associated with me, for permission to list them (I am fine if someone does not want my blog associated with theirs, I use bad words and say rude and sarcastic things, my humor is not for everyone!). Everyone said, okay sure! And then like, TWO, listed me back. Fortunately those 2 totally rock, Kids Special Needs and Parenting the Hoovers.
Along comes this following business and I do not really get that either. I have a blog list, and I have this subscription dealy up (does anyone use those?) and now followers? I have been embarrassed to say that for the longest time I only had ONE follower. ONE! Mind you I have always been very proud of my follower and I very much appreciate her and you should know immediately who you are. Just last week some one else joined to be a follower so now I have TWO! Still, 2 does not sound like a lot, there is no getting around that fact, and I will feel kind of silly putting up a follower list with 2 stickers on it. Especially because there is a blogger whose little kid put up a blog and like in 10 minutes had 900 followers! I do not really know either, should I just sticker myself onto other peoples blogs? Is that polite? I went searching yesterday and got myself a pretty sticker, different color stairs going up with a white background. Appropriate as my blog description ends with..." and things have gone uphill from there". It is sure to be complimentary to anyones color scheme.

So, I guess this is partly a warning. I am tired of trying to find people all the time going back through comments and into my saved favorites etc. I am going to put you on my blog list if I read you and I am going to sticker myself on you, like it or not (with the exception of aforementioned child, whose wonderful mother probably does not need her daughter reading my sassy language).

AND I WOULD BE REALLY HAPPY IF YOU WANT TO PUT ME ON YOUR BLOG LIST AND PUT YOUR STICKER ON MY BLOG AND I WILL SHOW THEM ALL.
AND FEEL FREE TO SPREAD ME AROUND TO ALL THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW TOO!
LIKE A REGIFTED FRUIT CAKE!

And if I miss anyone, feel free to speak up!!!!
And a little housekeeping, I did rearrange the furniture in here, not sure yet if I will keep it. I also added my title onto my signature to be Essie the Accidental Mommy. There is another blogger who travels in the same circles with the same name, so I decided to be more specific as to avoid potential pitfalls.

14 comments:

  1. You never cease to crack me up!
    I am a following you where ever you go so you better watch out!

    I did the same exact things when I was a bloggy virgin and felt the same too. Whew! I feel so much better now that I'm not the only one.

    Seriously can you believe J has that many followers? I've been working hard for those suckers for months and she passed me in 24 hours. Dang!

    You are welcome to put your "sticker" on J's blog. I'm not letting her read other folks blogs. Someday....but now I can control that so I will. Control issues????

    ReplyDelete
  2. P.S. I have discovered that faithful commenting is the key. Oh...and yeah I love google reader. Now that I've gotten used to it it's made my life so much easier.

    ReplyDelete
  3. wow, I did not know how time-intensive it would be to try to do 6 months worth of stuff in one sitting.
    Ok, so now I am PLANNING to add and such in the next FEW DAYS.
    LIsa, that makes all the difference- I am gonna stick J and I think I already stickered you...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here's you a sassy blog to check out. I'm loving it!
    http://spotteddogturn.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't really get the "follower" thing either. I don't really use it for anything. But, it's nice to see that little collage sitting over there, so why not, I guess. (I primarily use Bloglines to keep up with the stuff I read.) My blogroll is horribly outdated and incomplete.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, do count me in as a follower. You are on my igoogle page, so I get a list of your entries on my homepage every time I sign on. Don't ask me how I did that. I'm not really sure.

    One way I got a lot of hits on mine was to submit something to a blogging carnival (I think that's what it's called). It is like an online magazine that publishes blog entries on a certain topic (e.g. parenting) and you get listed on there and it drives traffic to your blog. Here's a link to my listing on there. http://motherwise.us/cracks/carnival-time/august-family-funnies/

    I don't comment much on your blog, but I read it religiously!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, do count me in as a follower. You are on my igoogle page, so I get a list of your entries on my homepage every time I sign on. Don't ask me how I did that. I'm not really sure.

    One way I got a lot of hits on mine was to submit something to a blogging carnival (I think that's what it's called). It is like an online magazine that publishes blog entries on a certain topic (e.g. parenting) and you get listed on there and it drives traffic to your blog. Here's a link to my listing on there. http://motherwise.us/cracks/carnival-time/august-family-funnies/

    I don't comment much on your blog, but I read it religiously!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I read faithfully but have not subscribed b/c I'm not sure how to go about it efficiently. Once I tackle Google Reader but that day has not yet come. I'd comment more often, too, if I could always remember my Google username and password.

    *off to see if I can hit on the right one now*

    ReplyDelete
  9. hmmm, brenda you are the person with the secret blog!
    If you just click on the thing that says 'follow this blog' it will put you in. I don't like any of the readers I have tried. So far anyway.
    I am up to 9 stickers now!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Essie,

    I found you on I think on Smiles and Trials and love your writing style and stories. Thank you for adding me to your list. I spent the 1st few months "talking" to myself on my blog, but once I stopped "lurking" and made comments, I now have 3 WHOLE READERS!!!! LOL!!

    Peace,
    :)De

    ReplyDelete
  11. Essie, you know I follow you :) I found that commenting got more people reading me, too. My sense of self-worth is definitely based on the number of comments I receive :) LOL

    ReplyDelete
  12. oh my! lol
    i am just sorry i haven't had time to read this sooner...
    blog etiquette...i need to write a blog post about that to get some ideas.
    Really i don't have a clue. like how to reply to comments/questions that another blogger asks you? i never even though about the fact that someone might not want me to click to add as a follower...i mean if you have that option on display then surely you don't mind if people follow you right?
    I hope that more people say that they are reading as i am sure that there are a lot. Your very funny and good at writing. Plus pretty much all the blogs i now read are due to you reading them first, so i thank you for that.
    and i will copy your idea and do a small piece on blog etiquette...well my lack of it! (if you don't mind that is??)

    ReplyDelete
  13. You are funny! I found you through J's blog.

    Actually, a counter isn't really accurate because it only counts those who click and come to your blog.

    A lot of us read posts in our readers like google reader and bloglines and those don't count as hits.

    If you use google reader, followers is like subscribing to a blogs feed reader because it adds it to your google reader feeds which makes it way more convenient then using bloglines where you have to find the blog or cut and paste the url.

    I like followers because it's easy to click on them and visit others blogs who most likely have the same interest since we are reading and following the same blog. lol

    I hope I make sense. I am sooo behind on my blog reading because I keep finding great blogs to add to my reading list. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. ooooh, I did not know those things, other Accidental Mommy! Huh, I don't like those reader things because I dont get to see the writers ''home decorations'' and other stuff. Although chances are good I am not using it right!
    I am very happpy to be up to a second row of followers now! I think I probably have a lot of quiet followers judging by my hit counter being over 2000. That is cool too!
    And thanks for all the lovely compliments, I really do appreciate them!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments! If you agree or disagree, comment away! However if you are a butthead about it, you may be excised.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...