Ever hear of the phrase, Jack of All Trades…master of none?
Well, Grandy is starting to feel like that in the blogosphere folks. The other day I got a message from the very nice today.com folks. They indicated they were changing some things about my blog until I can get more traffic. I responded with a very quick…Ummmm…I don’t get it…I’m trying… and they pointed me in the direction of their forums on how to generate traffic.
Maybe I’m the slowest blogger in the universe at catching on, but I thought I was making some progress. Maybe I’m just kidding myself. I work 60-80 hours a week, am the committee chair in my son’s boy scout troop, on the school site council, and oh yeah…wife, mother and hobby blogger. Get that? HOBBY!!
I obviously don’t make money off the blogging thing, and know that others do. Mine are more creative outlets. This blog in particular was designed to either help those that struggle like me, to make them feel less crazy (I’m as crazy as they come with this stuff) and maybe give the really smart ones something to laugh at. I’m certainly laughing at myself because let’s face it…if you can’t, what’s the point?
My posts may be a little less frequent here for a little while. I have some learning….some re-assessing…and some projects to do. I hope to be able to bring this blog up to the quality of standards that Today.com requires. But if I cannot, I may have to consider dropping this blog entirely.
The hobby becomes less fun…when there becomes stress involved.
When this pic came into my email, it depicted how I look and feel sometimes when I’m staring at my screen. Yep, even the cute little fluffy socks, and bloated belly, that is how I feel when I’m reading blogs, trying to learn, and getting entertained.
I really want to learn to grow my sense of community at both my blogs. I’m proud that my Stalker list has grown to almost 50 over there. I love the features I do here because I learn so much about the bloggers…as opposed to just the blogs. There is so much to each blogger out there.
I do feel bad sometimes that, although I truly love the features, and so do some of my followers, it seems the interviews don’t get much traffic. I want the featured bloggers to have as many new visitors as I can send them, and yet I get hardly any comments.
I see that some blogs that have about 3000 hits per day. 3000? Folks, how do you do that? What is your secret? I see one that averages 1200 visits per day (and I’m currently only talking in the today.com arena) and yet the last post was from FEBRUARY 26th.
Who does that? Who gets 1200 hits per day, on average, for a blog that hasn’t been updated in almost 2 months?
I know that some of it has to do with SEO words (or something like that) but seriously. Is someone out there just doing advertising somewhere? I’m considering trying the Today.com Advertising offer they have. But I haven’t seen where the ads run yet.
Has anyone else tried them? What else are you trying?
Until then…I better get back to my fuzzy slippers and wipe the drool off my chin. I have some serious work to do if I’m going to try and get to more than 100 unique visits per day. *sigh*
Ever since I posted about having to end my relationship with Entrecard, at this site, I have been inundated with ad requests. In the last few days I have literally rejected 22 ads. I don’t think I ever had that many requests BEFORE my announcement, and I’m not assuming that anyone even read my announcement, but WOW!
Because I am always trying to be polite, and never want to hurt anyone’s feelings, I am sending the following message to everyone who tries to purchase an ad:
Hello;
I’m afraid I’m not able to accept your ad.
Although I truly appreciate it, we will no longer be able to run Entrecard on our today.com blogs. I do still have my Functional Shmunctional site (http://functionalshmunctional.blogspot.com) at blogspot, if you’re interested. But I understand if not.
I can’t get a message to you through the regular decline, so I wanted to send you this note so you understood why I was declining the ad.
Thanks again!!
Grandy
For some reason, I’m NOT able to put a polite message in the actual rejection, but I thought sending this little note to all my potential advertisers was the right thing to do. Let’s face it, I don’t want to turn anyone OFF of this blog.
The cyber world is a small place. Everyone should consider how their actions, or interactions, can affect them in the future.
I DO appreciate your interest in placing an ad here. I’m sorry I cannot accept it.
Many of you in the blogging world are aware of the changes happening over at Entrecard. It’s really unfortunate that we are not able to continue our relationship at our today.com sites, but I still don’t get it totally understand. No really! Grandy thoroughly understands a business need to part ways. What I don’t really understand is…what everyone is saying.
I’m not one of those “power droppers”, I’m afraid. As a matter of fact, I was more of a “power dripper”.
Really! I would read blogs about their drops, and could never figure out HOW people could possibly drop 300 EC a day, for each blog. When I started this blog, I wasn’t even dripping 300 cards from my original site. Have you ever noticed that when I post my “Top Droppers”, Functional Shmunctional, has never even been in the top 5?
*sigh*
I have discovered many bloggy buddies through Entrecard. This blog has only been around since January, but my relationship with Entrecard began before that. I will continue my account there from my original site, for now, and see where it gets me.
Oh well. Maybe now I should focus my efforts on how to generate some real traffic to my sites.
Until then…I’m afraid I will no longer be accepting any new ads here at this site. I will let the ads run their course, and then remove my widget. Thanks to all the sites that have purchased ads from here. And thank you to all my top droppers here:
When I started out this blog, I intended to post about my daily challenges and obstacles I face with the world of technology.
As I was perusing my site earlier I noticed this section:
I try to keep the number of categories to a relatively small number, simply for the fact that too many gets too complicated to narrow it down. That being said, I noticed that there is obviously one category that leaps ahead of the rest of the pack.
That’s right readers! With an overwhelming 2 to 1 lead ahead of the pack, Grandy’s “Challenges” category is the clear leader.
SHOCKING!!! I know. I NEVER would have guessed it either.
So here’s my question for you all. What is your highest category on your blog? What do you blog about the most? No cheating by summarizing. Peak at your categories, see which one has the most, and report back.
Even though I think of myself as a technology-challenged individual, it never ceases to amaze me that others do not see me that way. I have a friend who has just started a blog. He has followed my other blog here and there, and has decided to finally start one of his own. It’s very exciting to see a new blogger begin their journey.
What I’m not sure of is what is it about me that make others believe I actually know what I’m doing. Really, you smart people that follow my blog know better. Maybe I can be that happy medium for people.
So today I met with my friend, who just started up a blog over at Sports Kingpin, and over lunch we talked about how to do certain things like the strikethrough feature through blogger (there’s no special button for that there, that took months for me to figure out myself). As I was talking with him I thought to myself, “Does he know I’m an idiot?”
Maybe he does…maybe he doesn’t. Either way, he sees me as some sort of a blogging authority.
So do me a favor readers… Go show him some bloggy lovin’ and welcome him to the community.
Oh yeah, and don’t tell him my little secret…that I’m still learning this whole thing too. Let’s let him pretend I’m the smart one for a little while at least. K?
Grandy has been making a concerted effort to get back to her Tuesday Geek Feature. It was kind of easy to post pics while the laptop was on hiatus, and when Grandy’s mom was having surgery, because there was not a whole lot required of me, but to have fun with it.
With my Tuesday Geek Feature I was hoping to focus on one technology blog per week, and highlight them. I have found some that I really like, and seem to offer a lot, but I’m afraid that in order for me do your site justice I can’t do a proper review of your site. I don’t understand what some of the things are you all are talking about.
With that, I am going to switch up my original plan. (hey, it’s my blog and your feature, it will be a win/win)
So, as I come across some blogs I’d like to feature, I am going to send you a list of some interview questions. That way I am sharing what is important to YOU!! That’s right fellow Geeks! Help me HELP YOU!!
If you are coming across this post, and would like me to consider your blog, please let me know in the comments section. I may already be considering it and you don’t know it yet.
I promise, the interview won’t be as painful as this interview was:
the movement of vehicles, ships, persons, etc., in an area, along a street, through an air lane, over a water route, etc.: the heavy traffic on Main Street.
Somehow the blogging community seems split between what is more important to them, traffic or visitors. Both appear to be important to the success of a blog, and each play a very distinctive role.
I envision a visitor as someone who comes by and decides to stay a while, maybe chat a bit, have a drink. Bloggers who use their blog as a diary of sorts, I believe prefer “visitors” as it provides a sense of community. Whereas I envision traffic as those that zoom in and out, without much thought to where they are going or how long they will be there. Bloggers who use their blog to sell things, and want as many people there as possible, seem to want this. They want clicks no matter where they come from.
Through Entrecard, I have slowly been growing this blog (and my other blog) for both. I have a much larger sense of community over there, but it has also been around for about a year and a half. With this blog, I’m working on growing both numbers, but the traffic is definitely higher at this two month stage, more than my other site ever was.
Because both are uniquely important for different reasons, it’s only right that I show my appreciation to those droppers that help me in both arenas. I hope that, whether you stop here as a traffic stop on to your next destination, or you feel compelled to pull up a chair and stay a while, you enjoy your stay and know that I appreciate each and every one of you.
Alright folks. If you have read even one post (or for that matter even the title of this blog) you know that Grandy struggles.
I feel bad when people request even the simplest of things, and I’m afraid to answer them in fear that they will not fully embrace my ignorance, and become rather annoyed with me. I think I’ve posted about this before, and I may seem like a broken record, but I truly think people FORGET that I DON’T GET IT!
When I started this blog, I was so very nervous about whether I was doing this right. Am I following the rules okay? Will “they” like this blog enough to think I’m complying with the rules of the posts? (Bet you didn’t know Grandy was a rule follower, huh?) I do try to be, and in this case I was really trying. In fact I even emailed “them” to see when they were going to review my posts to see if I was in compliance. (Good golly I’m a DORK!!)
Well it’s official folks…so far so good on the blog front. I’ve not been booted off the system…yet. It looks like so far my efforts might be paying off for good.
It’s all in what you learn from the process…right?
What about you reader? Are you a rule-follower? Do you follow directions?
And SPEAKING about following directions…Do you think the pilot followed his instructions here??
I am pleased to announce that I am officially back online. I was able to pick up my laptop late last night.
Grandy is so excited she is doing a happy dance!! I tried to research happy things through YouTube and all I can say is…some people have WAY too much time on their hands. REALLY!!
I can’t do much in visiting you all yet, because I’m in crunch mode for getting my project done by Monday. I promise though, I will be catching up with you all.
OH! Before I forget! If you see Grandy comment on your blog, and it links you back to my other site…please know it’s still me. It just automatically links there.
In the meantime, enjoy the dance folks!!! I know “I LIKE TO MOVE IT! MOVE IT!!“
I know. I NEVER would have guessed it either.
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