For the Newbie Bloggers...

I am a newbie to mom blogging, but I am not a newbie to blogging in general. I started blogging in January 2007, so right now I'm at about 3 1/2 years of blogging. The ins & outs of mom blogging does tend to be a little different than just general blogging. It's more of a specific niche kind of group - understandably. And I actually just started regularly posting & marketing this blog about a month ago when I got my new design! But when Adriel at The Mommyhood Memos posted this on her blog today, I got really excited because I actually do have advice or experience for all of her questions! She may not use all my advice (or any of it), but it's still my experience & what has worked for me! I thought it was at least worth a share - especially since she asked! So I started posting it as a comment, but I tend to be rather long-winded when I'm writing about something I am passionate about - & I am passionate about blogging! I decided it might be less overwhelming as a blog post. It's still pretty overwhelming because oh my gosh I can talk!!  

If you have answers to these same questions, post them on your blog & link back to Adriel! Maybe it could be like a mini-meme!

• How do you read the blogs your subscribed to? - Google Reader! Check out How to Efficiently Read Blogs!
• How do you keep them organized? - Folders! Check out How to Create/Add to Folders in Google Reader!
• How many (on average) a day do you visit? - Probably 10 that I actually go to their site from my Google Reader. It all originates in the Reader.
• How many (on average) a day do you read? - I probably read about 200 posts per day in my reader on a week day. On the weekend, I read more because I have more time.
• When you read a post, do you always comment? - If I like it & read through the whole thing & have something to say. I'm not a comment-spammer. I comment if I have something to say or if I particularly liked the post for some reason. I try to be specific & thoughtful.
• When you comment on someone else's blog, do you "expect" them to comment back on yours? - To a certain extent, yes. Not every time, but for example, there is one blog that I have been reading & it isn't that big - just a few more followers than mine - & I've left some comments (see above - thoughtful, sincere comments) about 7 or 8 times & she has yet to even acknowledge my comments, visit my blog or respond to me in any way. Since my blog philosophy includes building community & it appears she is not interested in community with me, I'm probably going to stop visiting & commenting on her blog. But at the same time, I don't expect a reply to every single comment, but I do try to reply to the majority of my comments that are thoughtful responses to what I have to say. If they're just "hey, I'm stopping by" then I reciprocate by stopping by their blog, following & probably leaving a comment!
• When someone comments on your blog, do you always then visit theirs? - Yes, if I haven't visited it before. (see last answer) If I have visited before, then I'm already following theirs & will visit from time to time - or daily - anyway.
• Can someone please tell me what the deal is with these Follow Me Fridays please? (And does it take up a lot of time? Is it worth it?) - Follow Me Friday, Twitterhop Thursday, Follow Me Back Tuesdays, etc are all just blog hops where you link up your blog & then are expected to visit a few of the blogs already linked. The idea is that you visit & follow them & they in return follow you. I participate in just a few of these, but I try to not make it a big spammy deal on my blog. I may mention that I'm doing it, I may not. I'm not trying to be rude to the people hosting, I just do think that it can be annoying for readers of my blog to see all these posts about the blog hops. As far as being worth it, for me, these do take a lot of time so my blog time Tuesdays & Fridays are pretty much dedicated just to these. I try to follow 20+ new blogs each day. They generally all follow me back & I probably get about 5 dedicated followers who regularly come back & visit. So just because you get 20 new followers doesn't mean you get 20 new regular readers. But I still find that it's worth it for those 5 new regular readers.
• What sites do you feel are most helpful to register your blog with? - Mom Bloggers Club, Bloggy Moms, Lady Bloggers Society, BlogFrog, The Secret is in the Sauce, Theta Mom Community - these are the ones that I regularly get new followers from. People will mention them when they visit my blog.
• Are you selective about what blogs you follow or will you follow anyone's? - You'd have to read my How to Efficiently Read Blogs to get this one. I Google Friend Connect follow everyone who comments, visits, follows my blog. But I have to actually like your last 5-10 posts in order for you to be added to my Google Reader.
• How many hours on average a day (or week) do you spend blogging (reading and posting)? - I spend 2 nap times per day (if I'm home) doing blog stuff & then about an hour or so at night after Isis is in bed, depending on what my husband is doing. So on a good day, I'd get maybe 5 hours doing blog stuff, but that's really a long day. That means she took a 2 hour nap in the morning, a 1.5 hour nap around lunchtime, then I spent about 1.5 hours after she went to bed. This is not always possible.
• I tend to write a bunch of posts in one day and then predate them for the week... is this normal? - YES. Probably the best thing you can do in order to manage your time. I do the same thing on Sundays usually & then if something just strikes me as really interesting to post about, I may post an extra one during the week.
• How in the world do you manage your time online when you're busy being a mom?!!! - Well, first of all, my daughter is only 6 months old & we do scheduling. So she takes 3 naps per day for a total of about 3.5-4 hours. I also am not working right now, so if I want to be home all day, I can be. My husband & I also pick certain days that we are going to not do our own things at night & rather have mini date nights. So I seriously plan out my weeks. I have certain times of day I blog when Isis is asleep & certain times I do house stuff & certain times I hang out with Lewis, etc. We've found a good routine, but it will all have to be switched up in the fall when I start student teaching. At that point I'll probably have to do a purge of my Google Reader & get it down to the main ones I really want to read & I'll have to focus my blog time on weekends & maybe an hour at night. I also try to do certain things on certain days. Like Tuesdays & Fridays are blog hop days. Other days are post writing days. Other days are blog maintenance days. I'm working on the Problogger 31 days to a better blog thing. (That link is to the one for 2007. He also did one in 2009 & I have all the links for that if someone is interested in them rather than searching through archives on his blog for them.)
• Do you prefer to read blogs where the subject matter is streamlined... or do you like a variety? - I like it all if it's written well & of interest to me.
• What are the top three reasons you will read (and go back to) a particular blog? - I identify with the blogger; The posts are easy to read & organized well; The information is useful to me
• What turns you off from going back to someone's blog? - Nothing but giveaways all the time. I like giveaways as much as the next guy, but I want some substance. Some of the stuff people give away is just plain crap & I feel like they're just giving it away to do a giveaway. I haven't done a giveaway on this blog yet, but when I do, it will be stuff I really WANT to give away. I also won't go back if for whatever reason we just don't mesh well. I also don't tend to like the blogs that are basically just journals for some mom to record the day to day activities of her kid. I think it's fine & wonderful to share information about what's going on with your kid, but make it useful & applicable to me as the reader. What have you learned about this experience with your kid? What could I learn from it?
• Do you think good blogs post everyday? Or does posting every day annoy you? - I think good blogs post good content regardless of how often - but definitely several times a week. I try to post everyday, but only if I think what I'm posting is useful and/or interesting. If I have nothing to say, I don't post just to have a new post up there. But no, posting everyday doesn't annoy me. Not if it's good content.
• What's the best way you've found to boost your readership (and, honestly, do you ever feel like a sell-out for self promotion?!)? - The blog networks, the blog hops & comments! Definitely. I do feel like sometimes self-promotion is just sucky, but at the same time, I feel like it's necessary. You have to put yourself out there & kinda market your blog if you want more readers. It's just the way the game works. The comments are huge, but you have to leave thoughtful, sincere comments. Nobody cares if you just go to their blog & say nothing but "Great post, check out my blog." I might check it out, but it's rare that you'll go on my Google Reader. Not that everyone is just dying to get on my Google Reader, but I bet you'd love to be on somebody's!
• What's one thing you've learned that you wish you knew when you started? - Hmmmmm, probably that comments are a really big deal & that a good blog design really does make a difference. I also wish I'd started with Wordpress. I'm on Blogger right now & I'll move when I feel ok spending the money to have my blog design converted to Wordpress. I'm not there yet. Probably next summer. I loved this post on The Blogger's Concierge about this same question.
• Do you have any blogging regrets? - Not so far. I mean, I think my blog has gotten better with time. I'm embarrassed by some of my really old posts, but I think growth over time is a great thing. If I didn't feel like I'm at a better place now than I was a year ago, then I think there would be something wrong.
• What's your top tip for a rookie blogger? - Be consistent & comment thoughtfully on other blogs!!!