We often talk about being authentic with our blogging. You know, do your own thing, don’t follow the crowd, write from the heart, etc…
But sometimes when we’re blogging we come up with ideas that just don’t make the grade.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my share of ideas that went bust, as well as mistakes I willingly admit to.
Today’s Lesson
When I first started using affiliate ads, I signed up for dozen of companies. Some were companies I had heard of, some not. As I wrote in the Pick Your Advertisers Carefully post, I had chosen an advertiser based on their name. I thought they sold classy wedding favors, when in fact, they sell kinky brides and bridesmaids gifts – not the best choice for my blogs which are rated PG.
Four months after I started blogging I was having problems with my blog. Long story short, I decided to “clean up” my WordPress FTP files. Don’t ask “why”, but I deleted my “wp-config.php” file and crashed my blog. Thankfully I had done complete backups and my host was able to restore it for me.
In the early days of blogging I had the mentality, “if you build it, they will come”. They didn’t. It wasn’t until I got out there, started commenting on other blogs that I began to get noticed.
As I wrote in an earlier post, I was too stubborn to ask for help with my blogs. Instead of posting a question on another blog or forum, I would struggle to learn how to do it on my own. Although I eventually learned enough to get by, by not asking for help kept me from actual blogging.
Early on I decided I would start a page and call it “Blogging Buddies”. On that page I would record a link to every person who commented on either of my blogs. I kept it going for almost a year, but due to the excessive amount of time I was spending on keeping it updated, I took the page down.
And then there was the time I didn’t check my spelling close enough. In a post titled, I Can’t Believe I Said That I detail how instead of typing “publically” I typed “pubically”. One missing letter changed the whole meaning of the word. To top it off, I had done this when I commented on a corporate blog. Oops! Fortunately it was on a blog that belongs to a blogging buddy and everyone had a good laugh.
So there you have it; my confession to some of the things I did wrong.
How about you?
Today’s Assignment
What has been your biggest blogging mistake?
Have you tried an idea only to have it bomb?
Raise your hand and share a blooper or two.
~Barbara.
P.S. Have you seen John Hoff’s blogging blooper post? In his article titled, How To Install WordPress – Outtakes & Deleted Scenes, he shares a video of how his video takes don’t always work as planned.
Biggest mistake? I thought another blogger, who was writing under an online username, was a woman. He was not.
.-= Check out Lori Hoeck´s awesome post: What you can do about a shooter in the building, part 2 =-.
Hi Lori,
That is funny, but it happens a lot when people use nondescript online names.
Shortly after I started blogging I showcased a blogger named “Nez” whom I believed was a guy. Catherine Lawson emailed me and said she thought it was a girl. We ended up asking Nez, and he confirmed he was a he, but in the meantime I was doubting myself.
One of my ‘mistakes’ is to feel that promoting my blog is somehow dirty like hard selling. I still find it extremely hard to even feel okay about responding to requests for guest postings or accepting your generous offer to put my link on your site registry. I really struggle with not wanting to be seen as pushing my blog and having the readers come to my site, hmm.
A technical mistake was to think I would speed things up by removing my photos from my wordpress library. You should have seen my face when I realized that by doing that the photos disappeared from the blogpost as well. I did however manage to stay calm during the 2 hours it took me to put them all back into wordpress.
.-= Check out Wilma Ham´s awesome post: The unknown got to me; what is next with our Garden of Eden? =-.
Hi Wilma,
You’re not alone when it comes to self promotion. Unfortunately , a lot of blogs don’t get found for that simple reason. That’s one of the benefits the CommentLuv plugin has. A blog author gets a link back to their current blog post and doesn’t have to “sell”. All they have to do is leave a comment.
With self promotion, we walk a fine line. It’s one thing to announce (on Twitter, for instance) “new on the blog….”, but if we were to overdo it, other bloggers would begin to get irritated. With that said, oftentimes if we don’t let others know we have a new blog post up, our fans have no way of knowing unless they subscribe to our feed.
Oh Wilma, you also did the ‘ole clean up the photo trick. Yup! Me, too. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why the photos were missing off of my posts. Duh!
Speaking of adding photos to blog posts. That is something that took me forever to learn how to do. For some reason I just couldn’t “get it”.
I’m sitting here chuckling cuz it took me months to get up the courage to put my photo on Twitter. The reason – the danged thing is 20 years old.
I just don’t have a current pic. You have no idea what happens to you between the ages of 47 and 67. (It ain’t a pretty sight) LOL
Yes, I’ll get someone to take a picture someday. But maybe I can keep it in dim light so the wrinkles won’t show so much!
Linny
Oh heavens…. Mistakes? Let me count the ways…
My biggest one was when I started my blog, thinking it would be for friends/family only. Do you even want to know how many photo files/posts I had to go through and change file names, identifying factors, etc.? And thankfully, my last name is a VERY common one, so although I’m still a bit uneasy that I used it for my domain (now that I’m definitely more than visible beyond friends/family), it doesn’t haunt my dreams quite as much as it once did. (Especially when I realized a lot of my online friends are fairly open about their full names.)
If you blog in a personal way, especially as a parent, there are some extra steps that should be taken to keep your own peace of mind when it comes to the safety and security of your family. Those files I renamed and posts I had to edit were nothing compared to finding out my full name, address and phone number were public knowledge once I registered my own domain. I’m masked now, but I so wish I had asked a lot of questions prior to beginning the blogging journey.
.-= Check out RC – Rambling Along…´s awesome post: Twitter changes and other ramblings =-.
Hi RC,
You’ve hit on a subject some bloggers do not think about. We can keep our blogs “private” and only share the URL with family and friends, but once we go “public”, the game changes as the search engines begin indexing our pages. It sounds like you had your hand full renaming files and editing out identifying information.
You’re right about registering our domain name. We do have that choice to keep our personal information private, but if we don’t take that extra step, it’s out there for everyone to see.
Barbara — I’m so excited. I’m the third person here! Usually I have to scroll and scroll and scroll down to get to the comment box:~)
My biggest blog mistake was when I took text directly from Word and put it up on my site without putting it in an HTML compatible format first. I crashed my site.
It was such a stupid mistake, but I DEFINITELY learned my lesson. I guess that’s what mistakes are for:~)
.-= Check out Sara B. Healy´s awesome post: Book Review: If… Questions for the Game of Life =-.
I’m happy to hear you didn’t have to scroll too far, Sara. 🙂
That is how we learn, isn’t it? Trial and error. And, by sharing with others what we did, they can learn from our mistakes, as well. I like how that happens.
My biggest mistakes were mispelled words, formatting, everthing!
I didn’t realize for a month almost all comments come from other bloggers. Only 1 of my 4 daughters read what I write. Silly me for thinking they would they’ve heard my stuff forever!
.-= Check out Tess The Bold Life´s awesome post: Have you dealt with your shadow? =-.
Hi Tess,
You’re right. When we start blogging we assume our friends and family are dying to read our every thought/word. Wrong! Like you said, it’s other bloggers who enjoy what we write. Friends and family, unless they’re bloggers, often just don’t “get it”.
I laughed out loud at Lori’s comment!
Thanks for sharing your pubically humiliating moment (!!). It’s refreshing to know that I’m not the only one who just shrugs my shoulders at certain blog stuff thinking, “I’ll either figure it out, or it’s not important.” I’m like the person who doesn’t stop and ask for directions in the blogosphere. Someday, maybe.
The biggest blooper I made wasn’t necessarily my fault, but I wish I’d caught it sooner. I had three commenters on my old WordPress blog – one “female” and two male – that my gut told me I knew. They masqueraded as if they were just loyal followers, although the two male personalities could be rather caustic at times. Seven or eight months later I had an epiphany and realized all three (even the “female”) were an ex-boyfriend who apparently had an axe to grind. THAT was fun! (not really)
I enjoyed reading this tonight, and I’ll probably laugh about Lori’s comment once or twice more.
.-= Check out Megan “JoyGirl!” Bord´s awesome post: The Earth: Teacher of Unconditional Love (Quote from Byron Katie) =-.
You’re welcome Megan,
Wow. I never thought of that scenario, but can see how it could happen. As bloggers we often just trust, whereas others knowing that can take advantage. So, I have to ask. After you had the epiphany, did you confront the ex, and did the comments stop?
Hi, Barbara!
Oh, I confronted him alright! The whole thing took less than five minutes, and we did it in a public place so I could just get up and leave when I was done. I told him I knew what he’d been doing, that I never needed an explanation and didn’t want to hear his excuses, and that from that point on the blog comments and our connection would stop. With that, I got up and walked out the door.
It was one of the proudest days of my life, as it felt like i was saying “NO” to a lifetime of jerks and junk I’d somehow gathered along the way.
Thanks for asking!
.-= Check out Megan “JoyGirl!” Bord´s awesome post: The Earth: Teacher of Unconditional Love (Quote from Byron Katie) =-.
***smiles*** Megan,
Woman to woman, I’m proud of you, too. That was a giant step you took and I’m guessing after that, your self esteem went through the roof.
Making changes to code without backup. I usually make it a point to keep taking regular back ups of working code while making changes. One time I forgot and had to start from scratch – that was painful!
.-= Check out Avani Mehta´s awesome post: Enrich Your Life – Part 1 =-.
Hi Avani,
Oh yes. Not backing up our blogs before we start working on them can cause a lot of pain.
What I’ve started doing is experimenting with coding by inserting it in my “test blog” (another domain). If I crash that, I’m not too worried. Although it costs to re-register each year, the cost is small compared to the benefits.
Barbara,
That’s a great idea. Except I usually want to test on live data. Plus, I think I have programming in my blood – I can’t stop fiddling with code 🙂
I recently read about some plugins with which you can preview a theme without making it go live.
Here are the links:
Theme Preview Plugin
Preview Theme
If you want to still have test site, create a sub domain or install wordpress on a sub-folder, you will be able to do the same without paying yearly fee.
.-= Check out Avani Mehta´s awesome post: Enrich Your Life – Part 1 =-.
Hi-
For me, it has been misspelling a word or leaving out a word in a comment- then not reading it back before pressing the share button.
I usually read while having tea and waking up in the morning.
With my blog. It has been rushing to edit and hitting publish instead of save draft- I find the buttons are too close together any ways. Delete and Publish next to each other is too easy to hit the wrong button if you are tired.
.-= Check out Bunnygot blog´s awesome post: Eleanor Roosevelt: Speaking Volumes, Part 2 =-.
Hi Bunny,
Hitting the wrong button is easy to do. The bad this is, as soon as we hit the publish button, the post is sent to our reader and to the search engines.
Being tired when we work on our blogs, or visit others, often accounts for the minor mistakes. I’ve learned if I have something major to do behind the scenes, I need to wait until I’m rested and alert.
Hi Barbara
I’m totally up for mistakes and hope I keep making them… otherwise this whole blogging thing may become dull 🙂
Mostly mistakes = learning… if and when I recognise the mistakes.
I often recognise other peoples… especially when it comes to comments. I often wonder if we’re all reading the same post 🙂
best wishes
Ribbon
Hi Ribbon,
That is true. If we were perfect, blogging would become mighty boring.
I hear you with regard to comments. If you read a lot of comments on a post you can usually tell who skimmed the post and who read it.
Hi Barbara. Crashing your blog would have been quite the experience! You’ve sure learned a lot though, after all of these. I can’t think of too many mistakes I’ve made while blogging (I haven’t experimented enough I guess). One that I can remember is leaving a comment on someone’s blog but using the wrong name — was pretty embarrassing. And there are always typos that sneak in too.
.-= Check out Davina´s awesome post: Group Writing Project: The Yogi Blogger =-.
Hi Davina,
That would be embarrassing – leaving a comment and using the wrong name. Maybe that’s why some commenters don’t even say a name – better safe than sorry?
However, sometimes that’s easy to do when the blog author has a guest poster and the introduction is rather vague or “buried” in the first paragraph. For those who skim, it could easily be missed.
I had the usual formatting and spelling mistakes. I have also made a fair amount of mistakes in my blogging journey. I have in the past published embarrassing photos of myself. I thought I have also revealed too much in my earlier posts. When I read them again, I just cringe over the things I have said.
.-= Check out Evelyn Lim´s awesome post: Align with Abundance =-.
Hi Evelyn,
I think that’s easy for us to do – reveal too much of ourselves and not think of the future. Often we don’t think many people will be reading what we write, so we ramble and/or divulge too much information. Fortunately we can always take those posts down, however the search engines may still have them cached.
My biggest mistake in blogging was that I change topics too fast, too often in my blog. Like one day it would be about blogging, the other day its something random. More or less the website that bears my name seems to still be in ‘sandbox’ mode, although apart from those mistakes, I did get to make many new friends in the blogosphere! 🙂
.-= Check out Daniel Richard´s awesome post: The Essential Motivation Handbook Now Gets Its Own Site! =-.
Hi Richard,
Although your blogging can vary from post to post, an easy fix for that would be to change your tag line to reflect your varied topics. I’ve seen some where they say “ramblings from ….” or something similar. That way when a new reader lands on your site they’ll know each post will be pleasant surprise.
Fretting too much when I didn’t receive many comments in the early days, even asking real life friends to comment.
.-= Check out Vered – Blogger for Hire´s awesome post: Sin City Pictures =-.
Hi Vered,
Those early days are tough, aren’t they? Especially when we visit other blogs and their comment sections are thriving. Even just one comment makes a difference. Like you, I would tell friends and family, “if you read my blog, you CAN leave a comment” – thankfully a few did (on my other blog).
“Even just one comment makes a difference”. Yeah, I agree, which is why I like leaving comments on blogs that don’t get many comments. But if they already get a lot of comments (like you, Barbara), then I don’t comment if someone else already said what I wanted to say.
.-= Check out Kelvin Kao´s awesome post: Friendster Messages from Quintuplets! =-.
This is not necessarily my fault, but one time I upgraded my WordPress, and then all the categories went missing. At least internally they are still stored in the database, but just as a bunch of numbers. Good thing I am a programmer and I know my way around a database. I had to look through my posts to find out what category each category stands for, but at least there weren’t that many categories to start with. Well, it was an interesting project and learning experience anyway, but I don’t like the feeling of not knowing how long it’s going to look messed up like that.
.-= Check out Kelvin Kao´s awesome post: Friendster Messages from Quintuplets! =-.
Hi Kelvin,
You’re fortunate to know about the technical side of blogging, but like you said, it was still stressful since you didn’t know how long it would take to correct the problem. Often bloggers don’t upgrade because they worry something like that might go wrong, but yet not upgrading can put them at risk for security breaches.
My biggest blogging mistake: sanitizing my posts. I stripped my earliest posts of every trace of “me”. As a result, my posts were cold and impersonal… not exactly great “blog” material. I was still in the “web 1.0” mentality.
Have I tried anything that’s bombed? Um – too many to count. Let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t make ALL of my blogging mistakes on my “main” blog! 🙂
Isn’t it amazing the havoc a single file can wreck on your blog? Still smiling about that one!
.-= Check out Kathy | Virtual Impax´s awesome post: What Michael Jackson can teach business about social media… =-.
Hi Kathy,
Sanitizing our posts of our personality sure makes them seem sterile – kinda like reading a text book. I’m so happy you’re now showing your personality as it makes your blog all that much more special. And I’m guessing your clients like to see that as well. By reading your posts they can easily see you care about what you do.
Yes, it is amazing how one file can make such a huge difference. Live and learn. 🙂
Mine has been spelling and formatting. Another is that an article I wrote had a mistake about the vendor and I was lashed with a wet noodle about it. Good thing I have thick skin as the noodle did not hurt. As we grow, mistakes happen. We just need not to take it personally.
BTW, Tick tock, Tick tock ! tomorrow is the big day!
.-= Check out Linda´s awesome post: VAST Green Pavers =-.
Hi Linda,
You’re right. Mistakes do happen and taking them personally only hampers our growth.
BTW: I was on your blog and saw your big announcement. Congratulations!
@Kathy – Hip Hip Ho-ray for no sanitizing. I also used to hold back for fear of offending. I used to ask friends before posting more controversial ideas. Of course then I got what I asked for in advice – caution. Screw that! My blog is not PG. It’s me and that’s sometimes rough and sometime a tad crude but it feels so much more natural to be my bad ass self – all the way.
I think I have to be extremely challenging to lead my mission of self-employment.
Yes, I’ve made many of those other typos, and technical bloops as well and I forgive myself and all of you for mistakes. Mistakes are ripe with opportunities.
.-= Check out Tom Volkar / Delightful Work´s awesome post: Why Rock The Boat? =-.
Hi Tom,
I’m happy to hear you didn’t take your friends advice. Your blog just wouldn’t be the same if you feared offending some of your readers. What I like about you leading the self-employed is you tell it like it is and squash the excuses. Whomever wants to make it on their own needs to know it’s not a cake walk, nor will it be void of challenges. Self employment can be rewarding, but like you teach, we need to have a backbone. I commend you for taking on the mission and am always excited to read your bad ass advice.
And, you’re right. Our mistakes are opportunities from which we can grow.
I’ve done the usual beginner’s daft things, like experimenting with the box that says ‘Excerpts’ in Thesis and not realising that’s what would end up in the email that Feedburner subscribers would get; like not realising that putting things in multiple categories would give me permalinks fifteen miles long; like not realising that the first time you press submit on a comment, the subscribe to comments readers get the first version, not the edited one! My commonest sob-inducing stupid mistake is to write a long comment that’s passionate or honest or practical then press submit and realise I haven’t filled in my address or email. The amount of comments I’ve lost that way is unreal.
I’m still not sure if having three overlapping niches is wise. It feels authentic and makes it easier to know who I’m writing for, but I worry that folk might see me as a jack of all trades, master of none.
Great springboard article, Barbara! It was a relief to read that folk I admire have done daft things at the start of their blogs too!
.-= Check out janice´s awesome post: Attacking Anchors in the Attic =-.
LOL Janice,
I don’t know about anyone else, but even after almost two and half years, I’m still making mistakes, and learning something new everyday.
I agree. Writing a value filled comment and then losing it can be maddening – whether it’s on another blog, or our own. When we’re in the zone and then have to try and recreate our words, it just doesn’t come out the same.
Having overlapping niches shouldn’t hurt you if you’re being authentic in each one. I think our readers understand we have other interests we may enjoy writing about.
Hi Barbara,
I loved this post and so much appreciate the honesty. I have done numerous errors in terms of grammar. I used to read my posts at least twenty times before publishing it and I always overlooked something because I had read the post too much. So I solved the problem by having my husband read over each post to make sure it is okay. That made my part so much easier.
I guess blogging is a work in progress….we learn as we continue to blog. 🙂
.-= Check out Nadia – Happy Lotus´s awesome post: Happy Lotus and The Big Apple =-.
That’s true, Nadia,
We do continue to learn. With blogging it seems like there’s never a dull moment. Whether we’re learning more about blogging, or learning from reading other blogs, we continue to expand our knowledge base.
How lucky you are to have a husband who’ll work with you to proofread your posts. Like you said, we’re so close to our own writing, we often overlook our mistakes.
Probably the worst mistake I made was writing so much for other people that I lost interest in my blog at various points, or I got pulled in different directions by mixed feedback.
I’ve gone back to my rule of thumb of have your own internal bar, impress yourself first, and write the blog you want to read. I think it’s the key to staying in it for the long haul.
.-= Check out J.D. Meier´s awesome post: 3 Take Aways =-.
Hi J.D,
What you mentioned can easily happen. As we read the comments on our blog, we may begin to think our readers what more of a topic we don’t want to explore further (at that point in time).
I like your rule of thumb. If our blog continues to be something we would want to read, we’re being authentic and are more apt to stay on track.
I am sure I make so many mistakes blogging that I can not count them – it is more important to me that I keep making mistakes and then learning how to correct them.
I did put something on an early post that I had to take back as the source was supposed to be good, but turned out to be imagining those facts.
My IT person does extremely well and helping me, but she is not a good speller and when she translates my word document into the blog space she sometimes leaves off words or letters in her copy and paste process. And both Jannie and Davina have pointed out spelling errors.
I write now less formally – I am writing like a conversation and I love commas – too much, I now pay Davina to edit my kids professional articles because I don’t want to be that formal any more – it is one of the freedoms of blogging I love.
Great topic Thank you Barbara
.-= Check out Patricia´s awesome post: Just Three Things for a Friday Post =-.
You’re welcome Patricia,
That’s a good point. With blogging we can write less formally and not worry as much about commas and/or proper grammar as we would if we were writing professional articles.
The process of learning “how” to correct our blogging mistakes is a great way to become a better blogger. As we all know, there’s much more to blogging than just writing.
My typical, no impact, bloopers are typos and mispellings. This summer I significantly reduced the how much time I comment on other blogs and I am now “shifting blogging tribes”. I hope these decision won’t be booboos in the long run, but instead good strategic decisions for my blog. I’m moving specifically into the world of mommy blogging when I already have an AMAZING blogging tribe filled with AMAZING bloggers…who just so happen to not be mommies. I’m taking a deep breath, taking a big jump, enjoying the ride, and hope my blog will be more valuable than ever.
Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all, right.
.-= Check out Stacey / Create a Balance for Moms´s awesome post: The Balanced Body of a Balanced Mommy =-.
Yes Stacey, life is a daring adventure.
Hearing the passion in your comment, I would have to believe what you’re doing is the right thing – changing your blogging tribe. When we follow our heart I don’t think we are making a mistake. For some, they may lose readers temporarily, but in time a new group will show up.
Probably the biggest thing I’ve tried that kind of bombed was my “Thursday Fiction” It didn’t really get the response I hoped it would so I dropped it. I recently tried to revive it by posting one of my stories again and it still bombed. Oh well. I also tried to get Ability Tuesday going as a meme but it never really took off so I dropped that too. Plus, I stopped blogging on Tuesday and Thursday so they really didn’t fit anymore anyway.
.-= Check out Debbie Yost´s awesome post: Understanding and Preventing Elopement =-.
Hi Debbie,
Trying something and having it bomb can be disheartening . But, how will we know if we don’t try it? That’s one thing about blogging. There really aren’t any “rules” and our blogs are ours so we can experiment to our heart’s content. It’s through trial and error that finally gets us to a place where we feel we’ve nailed it and then begin to see success.
I think many try, fail and then give up. Thankfully you didn’t.
I have made so many mistakes. But all of them taught me something. I am in a new blogging place and it’s good. I am blogging without obligation, which could turn off some folks. But so far so good. I am really trying to find the balance between on-line and off-line.
Again, a great post!
.-= Check out Caroline´s awesome post: True words of wisdom… =-.
Thank you Caroline,
Blogging without obligation is a great way to stay true to ourselves and not let our blogs run our life. It sounds like by making that decision you’re closer to finding balance between your on and offline life.
1. I accidentally deleted and crashed my blog in the FTP. Thankfully, I had my backups, but I had to hire someone to help me get it back online.
2. I approved a commented or two that turned out to be spam.
3. My first self-hosted Green and Chic blog was designed by yours truly – it looked a mess.
4. Having too many widgets up. I learned that less is best.
.-= Check out carla | green and chic´s awesome post: Green and Chic Moving Sale =-.
Hi Carla,
I was reading your booboos and nodded all the way through. We do learn from our mistakes, don’t we? And I also agree, with some things in blogging, less is definitely more.
Oh Barbara,
This is such a fun read and learn post. I actually laughed out loud when i read the pubically line….hearing me…my little daughter started giggling as well….;)
As for mistakes….oh so many mistakes have been made….to start with..when i started blogging not too long ago..i struggled with the right theme….and kept changing it so often….i lost so many widgets..or so i thought….and then one fine day..while i was fidgeting in the wordpress screen…i realized they were all safely stashed down there…and i kept remaking them form scratch….:(
But your blog is such a good learning tool for me. It has helped me tremendously in the technically stuff…which i wasn’t paying that much attention when i started initially. Its a good thing you bring up topics i need to check out….to make my blog better. And with every post you manage to do just that.Thank you.
.-= Check out Zeenat{Positive Provocations}´s awesome post: Inspirational Quote/Thought of the Week{15.8.09} =-.
You’re welcome Zeenat,
It’s confusing when we first start, isn’t it? And changing themes is SO much fun. We get to see what our content looks like with different layouts, and then we can fiddle with the sidebars, etc..
I will say this. Have fun with your blog and the stage you’re in now. Change your theme if you find something you like better. Try different colors, headers, widgets, plugins, etc. Blogging should never be taken so serious we are afraid of making mistakes. I always ask myself, “what’s the worse that can happen?” As long as I have my backups, even if I crash my blog, all is not lost.
P.S. I like how your little girl was giggling along with you. 🙂
Hi Barbara .. I consider myself so lucky that I had help with the initial set up – the content is my eclectic style .. but I have to say thinking forward – I would like to have been more thorough checking through content etc for spelling mistakes, and one time I made a hash of the title .. silly – take time now, saves time later.
Still it’s learning and on top of that we need to learn what else we should be doing to help ourselves, and learn from others ..
I’m still not completely on top of it – but at least I appreciate things .. and I am quite careful what I do .. and just hope disaster doesn’t strike – the thought of recreating it all .. would just be too much!!
Thanks – it’s good to learn from others .. and pubically .. is very funny! we can laugh .. laughter is the best medicine .. and it just doesn’t matter in the scheme of things!
Have a good day .. Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories
.-= Check out Hilary´s awesome post: Has the earth’s mantle turned into a bed of ants? Cobblers talk Cobblers. A toddler and his floating car … =-.
You’re welcome Hilary,
I don’t know if we’re ever “on top of it”. It seems like just when we think we have something down pat, there’s a new “thing” to learn, an upgrade, or a better widget or plugin. But, that’s also what makes blogging so fun. The changes keep us on our toes and we certainly don’t get bored.
And yes, laughter is great medicine. 🙂
You can’t beat my mistake from 2 months ago – I had redesigned my Virtual Coach site and left off my
Contact Me
page. Argh.
THat’s one reason that I’ll always try to notify blog owners if I come across oversights on their blog – if only someone had mentioned MY mistake to ME! Wah.
.-= Check out Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s awesome post: The Stark Truth Behind How To Get 47,397 Followers On Twitter – FREE BONUS report =-.
Ouch Barbara, that would hurt.
That’s actually a good point. As blog authors we’re so close to it all, it’s easy to overlook things. Having that “third eye” can make all the difference in the world.
Hi Barbara,
I think the biggest mistake that I have made (so far!) is to start my blog on one site and then switch over to a blog on my own site. Wish that I would’ve done that from the beginning, but I didn’t know how much I would like it when I first started it. My theme seems to have settled a bit since I started, but even a year later that still rambles a bit. Would like to be more steady. I guess that will come in time… Thanks again for a great post.
You’re welcome Cirklagirl (Amy),
What you experienced is very common. We start blogging thinking it will just be a “hobby”, but when it turns out to be more than that, we begin thinking we need to become more serious and have a self hosted blog. Moving a blog is not something I’ve done, but I can imagine it could be nerve wracking.
P.S. I enjoyed the interview you did with Lance. Great job!
Mistakes?
I’ve messed up my comment form, made mistakes with my forum and while editing the PHP in my blog killed the layout, but they’re all little things, they get fixed quickly and they offer me a reason to talk to my “people” like a real person and not a machine.
As for things I could have done better (could still do better) – more self promotion and more guest posting – which is a common theme for many bloggers I think.
.-= Check out Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s awesome post: Seeing Bad Habits as Good Traits =-.
Hi Alex,
You know, I didn’t even think of what we can do better off of our blog, but you’re right. Many of us are so busy working ON our blogs, we forget about things like self promotion. Thank you for bringing that up.