Ingenue Mom

I'm going to be honest. I've been nervous about posting this because I know a lot of times people post something like this & just lose a bunch of followers because people aren't interested. But I'm at a place in my life right now where I'm just burnt out on blogging & I have been for a while. I think it all began when I started my student teaching last fall and basically went back to work. Then this summer I thought I'd get all back into blogging like I did last year when I was staying home with Isis, but the opposite has happened. I'm even less interested.  I think part of the problem is that I'm hugely intimidated by people like Melissa from Dear Baby , Kelle from Enjoying the Small Things and even Adriel from The Mommyhood Memos (although this will be the first she's heard of it). I just don't have the time to put into my blog to create wonderful posts with great pictures and thoughtful commentary on my life or things I notice in Is...

2010 was a huge year for my family! The whole year was truly about Isis. I woke up 9am New Years Day with my first real contraction, so she was the first thing I thought about in 2010 and I'm sure she will also be the last thing I think about this year. It's also the year I graduated college. It's the year Lewis and I both were stretched to the limits of our love, patience, understanding, humility and perseverance. I can say with all honesty that this was one of the best years of my life. I never knew I would hurt so bad, be so scared, cry so much, but ultimately love so deeply. The struggles have been incredibly challenging, but they have also been what have produced in me an honesty and sincerity about who I am and who I want to be. I am confident in my role as a mom and I'm proud of myself and my family for how far we have come! What wonderful memories I will carry with me now from 2010! It was also the first year that I really took blogging seriously and made some ...

I am officially finished with student teaching. I am so excited, it is unbelievable! I had the most incredible experience. While I don't think it would be appropriate to say too much on a blog about my specific experiences, I can tell you that I had the most wonderful group of 23 kids to join me in my journey this past semester. I was in a 4th grade classroom and I was nervous about it at first, but I ended up just loving it! I'm not sure now whether I love Kindergarten or 4th grade better! I have also been given the opportunity to do a long term substitute position in a 5th grade classroom at my school. A teacher is going on maternity leave for 12 weeks and I will get to sub in her class for the duration of her leave. I am really excited about this as well! Not only will it be a great experience for me before I start my first year of actually teaching in my own classroom, but it will be so fun to get to know another group of students! Not to mention, the paycheck will be a wo...

Blogging pet peeves are obviously going to be different depending on the blogger or blog reader. I am not an expert, but I have been blogging for more than 3 years between this blog & my other one. So I've seen a lot of blogs & read a lot of tips. Here are 5 things from my perspective that will really help you as a blogger &  me as a reader. 1. Offer a full RSS feed Oh my goodness this gets on my nerves!! I don't know if people think that offering a partial feed will get people to click on their page more or something? But really all it does it gets most people from what I've seen to NOT subscribe or visit your blog at all. There are maybe 2 bloggers that I subscribe to their feed even if they don't offer a full feed & that's only because they email & converse with me regularly & in some way make up for the fact that I can't see their feed in my reader. So just offer a full feed.  There is some debate about the issue, but in every debate...

I believe I already have a few sneeze pages. The 31DBBB task today emphasized the importance of sneeze pages to highlight posts on your blog that users may not see on the front page when they visit. I knew of sneeze pages, but I had never thought of some of the specific kinds.  I love the idea of themed sneeze pages & I plan on doing one on blogging tips, pregnancy posts, cloth diaper posts, etc. I believe having a sneeze page for all my different main themes would be a great thing! I also love the idea of doing a weekly or monthly sneeze page highlighting your best posts from the past time period. I would also like to do a yearly one every year.  Things like this give new readers a chance to catch up & learn a little more about me & also allows regular readers to just remember some of your great posts - especially on days when what I may be posting is not so great. Some days you're on top of your game & some days you're just not. Here are links to 2 sne...

Have you ever wondered what a first-time reader does when they visit your blog? Today, the 31DBBB task involves finding this out! I went to Twitter to find a new, first-time reader who was involved with the 31DBBB who would be willing to visit my blog & answer some questions related to how they navigate & read things on my blog. Angie at Gnomeangel was the first to reply, although Geek.Girl.Wife. is also going to help me out!! I learned today that my Best of Me post is incredibly important - as well as my About Me page. I'm happy with my About Me page, but I'm wondering if there are any better ways to do a best-of page. Could I organize them differently? Maybe into categories? Is there any way for you all as readers to know which are the most important? One of the ways I plan on doing this is through themed Sneeze Pages, but come back tomorrow for that. Overall, I believe that design & ease of use of your page is really important for a first-time reader. T...

The task for 31DBBB today is to solve a problem for your readers. I chose to help you all find time to blog! I'm not totally great at this yet, but I'm getting better & I'm finding it is easier if I follow these strategies. Not all of these are possible for everyone & I'd love for you to add to the list! Prioritze Content comes first. This is something I'm still learning. Yes, commenting is so important , but unless you're writing great content, there's really not much use in networking because people will come to your blog & never come back. So prioritize your tasks. I try to focus on posting, then commenting or networking, then design or other maintenance things. This doesn't mean that I spend more time posting than I do commenting, but it does mean that I try to make sure I've got posts scheduled before I take the time to comment. Also, by prioritizing, you know that if you only have 10 minutes, you do the most important task first....

The 31DBBB task for today involves connecting with blog buddies. These relationships should be mutually beneficial for both bloggers. It helps build community & give you people you can talk to about blogging. It also helps you make each others blogs better. You can give each other tips & grow together. A lot of people try to connect with blogs that are bigger than them, but Problogger makes the point that it's more beneficial to make buddies with people at a similar level as you. This way you can grow & learn together. I feel really lucky to have several bloggers I would consider buddies! I get emails with tips & ideas on a regular basis! I also really enjoy talking to several of them through my BlogFrog community . Right now I'm most active on my community & my blog buddy Adriel's community ! Forums like these are great places to find blog buddies. Where are you finding blog buddies? How do you think these relationships help you?

I don't usually spend a lot of time thinking about the key pages on my blog. After reading today's task for the 31DBBB , I definitely think this is something I need to keep in mind. Problogger suggests the front page of your blog, the About Me page, Contact page, high traffic pages, recommended reading page & Subscribe page. Home Page I'm pretty happy with my home page. I don't think it's really cluttered & it's got everything on it that I want there.  About Me Page I added my tag line to this page. I think the rest of it is okay, but I'd be happy to hear your feedback! Contact Page This just has my email address. What else do you have on your contact page?? High Traffic Pages Let's Do This, Ladies Dear Baby Analyzed Welcome to the Blog Bash A True, Authentic Mom I added some recommended reading & a link to my Subscribe page at the end of each of these pages. Best of Me Page I updated this with my best recent posts & added a link to ...

I used to do an editorial calendar each week on my other blog , but I never started doing it with this one. After reading today's task for the 31DBBB challenge , I realized that it was going to be a good idea to set it up ASAP. That way I know what's coming & I can prepare in advance. This will help SO much when I start my student teaching in the fall & I try to get everything done. I used some of the topics from yesterday's task & some of the things I just know I'm doing on a regular basis right now, including Mommy's Piggy Tales , A Little Weekend Reading , my CSA share info & the 31DBBB posts ! Since next week is my birth stories guest posts week, I did an editorial calendar for the following week. Next week all you can expect are the guest posts, which are scheduled & my 31DBBB posts, which I'm finishing this weekend & will also be scheduled. August 1-7 : Birth Stories guest posts & 31DBBB challenge posts August 8 : What is a ...

This was probably my favorite task so far for the 31DBBB ! We used 5 of our most recent posts & came up with ideas for new topics! I had never thought to use a method like this & I found it actually worked really well! You can use questions that were asked in the comments, you can take an opposing viewpoint, you can extend to other topics in the same category, you can do a link post on the topic, you can conduct an interview with an expert on the topic & the list goes on & on! I didn't choose my last 5 posts because I do the Mommy's Piggy Tales meme & I've posted several times on the 31DBBB challenge, but I used 5 recent posts. I also really liked the idea of using 5 general categories that your blog could cover & coming up with post ideas under those. Here is what I came up with: A Dad's Perspective on Cloth Diapers -a dad's perspective on breastfeeding -Lew's review of Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters interview with Lewis about being ...

I'm just about to switch all my comments to Disqus . I really really hope this doesn't mess up all the comments I already have! I've been told by Disqus that it won't, but Queenie at The Planet Pink lost all her old comments. If it does delete all my old comments, you'll probably be able to hear me cry from wherever you are. We'll see... The reason I'm interested in switching is because I can reply to specific comments & it will email my response & just so you know - if you get an email with a response to your comment, you can just reply back to your email & it will post in my comments section! You don't have to go back to my post to reply! How cool is that?? Anybody else use Disqus? Do you like it??

I can't believe I'm 1/3 of the way through the 31DBBB challenge ! I'm having a blast & really learning a lot as I go! Today's task involved setting up Alerts to monitor what's happening in your niche online! I already had Google Alerts set up for several things like babywise, sleep training, sleeping through the night & natural labor. I set up new ones for Ingenue Mom, ingenuemom, baby recalls, cloth diapers, GroVia & mom blogs. I have all my alerts going to my Google Reader as a feed! That's the easiest way for me to keep up with them. As for Twitter, I used Twitter Search to set up RSS feeds for several words or phrases including mom blog, cloth diapers & GroVia. I already use HootSuite & I've set up a keyword search on my dashboard so that I always get the 31DBBB tweets. I find that really helpful!  My experience so far with the Google Alerts hasn't been that great, mainly because I set it up as email alerts & I got annoye...

(This is her "oh wow mom you have so much to do" face!) I have had people asking me lately how I get all this blogging stuff done in my life. I'm staying home with Isis, but "staying home" is a whole lot different than just sitting on my butt all day playing with my baby. Oh my goodness! I'm doing laundry, cleaning up, feeding her, playing with her, going to the grocery, running errands, finding time to blog, finding time to feed myself, meeting up with friends for lunch sometimes, working sporadically at the company where I used to work - not to mention the fact that I'm watching my best friend's 2 girls every Tuesday & Thursday (along with Isis)!!! That's a lot for me!! Oh and of course I have to somehow find time to fit in time with my husband when he gets home from work!! Yes I'm doing the 31DBBB challenge & yes I'm keeping up with my posts & tasks , but I am not yet able to spend as much time as I'd like checking o...

Partly because I have no other ideas for what to post right this second & partly because I need to make a list of these things anyway, here are all the ways you can find me online: Facebook Twitter BlogFrog Google Reader - Shared Items YouTube StumbleUpon Delicious Bloggy Moms Mom Bloggers Club And you can vote for me on Top Baby Blogs , Top Mommy Blogs & Picket Fence Blogs by just clicking any of those 3 links! No registration required, just a click! Also, since there isn't much to say about this, I also wanted to share that I did interlink some old posts for Day 8 of the 31DBBB challenge !

I scanned through all of the links on the 31DBBB task for today. I found something useful in every one of them! These are the ones I found most helpful: How to Get Traffic for Your Blog First, Ten 21 Tips to Earn Links and Tweets to Your Blog Post A Complete Guide to Finding and Using Incredible Flickr Images 25 Paths to an Insanely Popular Blog How to Write Great Content - The Pillar Article Why Don't Bloggers Understand Email Marketing 6 Fool-Proof Steps to Make More Money With Your Website Rethinking Blog Comments 10 Reasons Readers Don't Leave Comments The Secret to Massive Digg/StumbleUpon Traffic Without Spamming 7 Great Ways to Connect With Other Bloggers While You're Out Reading Blogs 43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid 50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level 40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blog Content 27 Blogging Secrets to Power Your Community The important thing after reading tips like these is to apply it to you . How am I going to use these tips to better...