[shared by Twins tiaras and tantrums]
Today I had a very interesting conversation on twitter with a few other parenting bloggers. We were debating the blog rankings on one of the parenting networks…
I’m still new to all this because my blog is only 4 1/2 months old. Although I do feel like I have been around FOREVER… In a good way of course! In fact I wonder now what I ever did with my life Pre blog.
I’m not complaining at all, as I absolutely love what I do and find it gives me a purpose in life when the girls are in bed of an evening. But I wonder if we all get a little bit lost and forget the reason we started blogging in the first place!
For those of you who haven’t read my “about me” Like many others I started my blog mainly as a diary to log all the important and funny stories about my girls as they grow up! I’m a single mother with a lot of time on my hands in the evenings and have found my blog has not only been a diary, but a way for me to vent frustrations, gain support and help solve my parenting problems…
When I started I had no idea there were parenting networks and rankings! Neither had I any idea that it would be as addictive as it is. It was a total shock having found these things out. But also shocking to find out how competitive it is out there. I guess thats why it is hard not to get carried away with figures and achievements. Therefore forgetting why we started in the first place!
Luckily I’m quite a strong character and have broad shoulders. Of course it’s great to have a good ranking and to feel your doing well, but I know other mummy bloggers who struggle with their blogging confidence! A ranking knock back can hit them hard and I’ve even heard a few say they don’t know why they bother.
This is a shame! In fact someone only said this morning that there has already been too many bloggers lost due to rankings, and therefore loss of confidence…
So I think as a newbie a few rules of thumb to remember are: There are thousands of parenting blogs out there, but we are all unique! We all have different stories to tell, and we all tell them differently. Blog for yourself, have fun and enjoy it. If you get a great score, review opportunity or anything else along the way, look at it as a bonus and not a necessity! Lets face it, a score is only just a number!
Great advice! I have found blogging to be very competitive these last few years and it’s definitely taken the fun out of it. People get very hung up over dropping in the Tots list and not being in the top 20 or so in another list. It winds me up when people say they blog for themselves yet are always complaining about their ranks. I think it’s good to be competitive however, and I’m quite competitive myself. I openly admit that I don’t just blog for myself but I also blog for an audience. I wish other people would openly admit this also because if they *really* only blog for themselves, why do it online and why keep comments open? And also, why be bothered about being lists and rankings in the first place???
I think that bloggers like rankings because blogging is such a diverse and nuanced phenomenon that none of us really know how if we are doing anything right and it’s nice to have that feedback. The fact that I have a Tots100 ranking, even if it does bounce around a bit, shows me that I am least getting the basics right. I do wonder too about those people who say they don’t know why they bother if they don’t like their score. I would only give up blogging if it became a burden and I didn’t enjoy it any more. If a high ranking is the only thing keeping some bloggers going, then maybe they need to find something else to do instead. Good post with some valid points.