Is Familial Ramblings Dull? Taking a Deeper Look
I’ve been writing for Familial Ramblings about a year now and I have to admit that I never thought that I would make it as far as I have. I thought that it would end up like one of my other projects—I would enjoy it at first, get really into it and then get depressed because I wasn’t seeing the numbers I wanted to see, I’d get burned out and become bored with it before quitting. I’m happy to say that, thus far, I’m still here, writing and enjoying Familial Ramblings as much as I did in the beginning. At times though I do get a bit “down” because I’m not getting the responses I wanted to get, which leads me to ask the question:
“What am I doing wrong?”
One of my favorite blogs to read and learn from is Traffic Generation Café which is written by Ana Hoffman. Ana writes tips and tricks about gaining traffic to your blog and/or website in addition to providing a number of helpful resources. On Thursday, Ana posted “Conduct Unbecoming a Dull Writer” which has a great exercise that helped me to take a closer look at Familial Ramblings so that I could improve it—if you’re looking to liven up your blog, I’d highly recommend reading over this post and doing the exercise she provides.
Scenario 2:
Ana lists three scenarios in which one could potentially fall under. I decided that I fall into the second scenario that she described. I get traffic/comments/shares, but they’re mostly from the same people. Not saying that this is at all a bad thing, but every now and then it would be nice to see some new faces and opinions on topics that are posted about.
My Shortcomings:
After taking a closer look at my blog and consulting with my husband, I quickly came to the realization that I need to focus more so on my content. Not saying that all my content is bad because if it was, I doubt I would have any readers/commenters at all, but my shortcomings are that I don’t always write about what people want to read and know more about. I also have tendency to give more information rather than how to solve the problems I discuss. Additionally, I have to confess that I often have a hard time sticking to a schedule and often post more sporadically than I should.
On the Bright Side:
It’s always good to look on the bright side of things even when it seems dim. I think that there are a lot of great things going on here on Familial Ramblings. I do write some posts that people seem to be really interested in and want to learn more about. I also think that I show a lot of my personality and really let my readers see who I am. I’m passionate about the subject that I write about and like to think that I write relatively well; I have a writing style all of my own and I don’t try to be someone else when I write. I’m also brave enough to write about subjects that people often seem to shy away from such as bullying, domestic abuse and so on. I can and do give readers my honest opinion on what I write about without ever holding anything back. I think my strengths are what keep people coming back to Familial Ramblings and what keeps them reading.
So What?
I know that you’re probably asking, “So what? What was the point to this post?” because this post seems to have come completely out of nowhere. I am more than happy to tell you the point of this post! I plan to make some changes to Familial Ramblings in hopes of reaching more people, to educate and help others that may be looking for the information I can share. After looking at Familial Ramblings a bit closer, I definitely have a lot of plans and ideas to improve it such as writing more on the “tough” stuff like abuse, violence and so on, which seems to be a subject that people are interested in reading about. I furthermore will be making sure that I write down a schedule and stick to it so that I’m not just posting willy-nilly, whenever I want.
In the End:
I have to take a moment to thank Ana for her post that really got me thinking about what I could do to improve Familial Ramblings. I’ve looked at my blog, decided what needs to be done and what I want to accomplish.
I look forward to what’s to come on Familial Ramblings and I am optimistic that current readers will continue to learn and grow from what I have to share alongside future readers. More than anything I want to help others and Familial Ramblings is just one way that I hope to achieve that goal.
Let’s Chat:
What are some topics that you would be interested in reading more about here on Familial Ramblings?
Before you go! Do me a big favor and share this post by clicking one (or more!) of the share buttons below. Remember, sharing is caring!
Posted on August 24, 2012 by Felicia
I’ve been one of the loyal readers that haven’t been commenting like I should be, to acknowledge to you that you’re doing a great job.
Ana did mention some good points about making it easier to engage if you’re a first time reader.
Either way, I love reading your posts and find it humorous!
You really have been a loyal reader since the very beginning, which I’ve always appreciated. You’re also not shy about sharing your opinions of my blog and letting me know how I can improve.
I’m glad that you enjoy my blog and hope that you enjoy what’s to come in its future.
Self-examination can be a difficult thing. Since blogs are often an extension of ourselves, it can be frightening. Congratulations on diving in and taking chances. Best wishes as your blog continues to grow and change.
Happy Sharefest!
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Thank you for coming by and commenting, Robin. I agree with you, it can be very difficult and frightening to self-examine not only yourself, but also your blog as you said.
Felicia you are doing a great job with your blog. This is the problem with a personal blog however, you have to write about yourself but keep it interesting for people to read. I am not bothered if I get comments or not because I enjoy the actual writing of articles. However I know comments can make people feel like there was a point of writing about what you wrote. Keep up with everything and just remember that people are interested in reading what you have to say. Maybe you could try and post about some more happy and joyful topics since I have seen a fair majority? has been depressing or dull ones and maybe happy articles will lead to happy owner and happy commenters?
All the best.
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Thanks for the comment, Roach and thank you for the compliment! It’s interesting that you bring up the “happier” posts because those actually have tendency to get the least views and comments. People, from what I’ve noticed, are actually more interested in the “tough” stuff. I’m working on finding a happy medium and hoping it does the trick.
Am stopping by from SITS Saturday Sharefest and am so glad I did! It has certainly given me food for thought, and I am heading right now to read Ana’s article. I think we all have room for improvement in our blogs, and I for one, love to learn ways to get better. Audience engagement is definitely the key. Great job here, and I look forward to seeing your changes!
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Thanks for stopping in, Ashley! I hope that you enjoy Ana’s article, it has a lot of useful information and one can learn a lot from it. I agree with you, blogs have room for improvement. Sometimes it just takes a closer look to figure out what it is.:)
I think it’s great that you took a long, hard look at what you think you may not be doing as well. That’s the only way to improve really, to know what weaknesses there are and work on them, as well as capitalize on your strengths. Good luck!
Stopping by from SITS.
You’re absolutely right, Alison! It’s a good thing to take the time to take a look at what you may not be doing as well as other things. Thanks for stopping by!
Great perspective. I’ve been evaluating some of my weekly features to see if they make the dullness cut. Happy Sharefest!
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Happy Sharefest, Emily, thanks for stopping by! It’s always a good thing to take a deeper look at your blog every now and then, in my opinion. It certainly opens your eyes to things you didn’t necessarily see previously.
Felicia, great post and thank you for sharing Ana’s blog as well. I can definitely relate, wondering why I don’t always get the traffic or responses I had been hoping for, Your post has definitely made me think about my own blog. I appreciate your honesty and willingness to share this with us!
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Thank you for commenting and stopping in, Bev. Ana’s post certainly can open up your eyes, so I highly recommend checking it out if you have some questions about your blog. If you follow the advice Ana gives in the post, you’ll certainly learn more about not only yourself, but your blog as well.
Very interesting post! I’m visiting from SITS Saturday Sharefest, and you’ve got me thinking about taking a careful look at my blog, too. I’m afraid I can be kind of boring. And I’m definitely going to check out the blog you recommended!
I enjoyed your writing very much – thanks again!
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Thank you so much for stopping by, Katie! Taking a closer, careful look at your blog can be really scary but it can be beneficial at the same time. If you take a look at Ana’s post, you’ll learn a lot about your blog from it. It’s really helpful. Thank you again fro stopping by!
Hi there. Dropping in from SITS. This week I ended up asking my readers the same thing. I’ll share what some of them told me: if you love to write about what it is you’re writing and your readers can see and read that passion, then it doesn’t matter what It is you write.
It’s funny because the same feeling that I had towards my blog I see here too. We always try to look for a sign that the direction we are headed in is the right one, but on this–you must trust your gut.
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Hi Kalley and thank you for dropping by and leaving a comment. I completely agree with what you said here and really appreciate you taking the time to leave me this comment as it’s brightened up my day. Thank you again for stopping in.
Hi Felicia!
Your post was great! I think it is to help other bloggers- you should change your post title so that other bloggers will know it will be beneficial to them.
For instance- How to generate more traffic to your site
Simple Steps to Shaping Up your Blog
I am in no position to be giving advice beecause I need my own! However, I have been to Bloggy Bootcamp & Blogher and these are some of the tips I have picked up.
Off to read Ana’s tips now!
I’m glad that you found my post to be helpful, Tara! Make sure to let Ana know that I sent you her way.
Headlines are certainly I’m going to be working on big time within the near future. As a matter of fact I’ve been reading posts on creating “hypnotic headlines” this morning to learn how to spruce them up. Feel free to stop by again in the future and let me know how I’m doing improving my headlines. And thank you for stopping by!
Well, you have one new face – me! I actually came here from your comment on commentluv.
I can honestly say I spent years not socializing with other bloggers – no guest posts, no comments etc…I just wrote posts and articles and that was it. I’m amazed I did so well with my blogs by doing that, but I’ve found that building relationships takes it up a notch and gets you mentioned and noticed (just like you did for Anna).
I like your blog and you do write very well!
Aww, well thank you, Bellaisa! You’re too sweet.
Socializing with other bloggers can be hard at times, or so I’ve noticed, but it pays off. It certainly helps get your name and your blog out there.
Thank you again for stopping by Familial Ramblings, I really appreciate it and cannot wait to check out your blog as it looks like it’s right up my alley!
I sent you an email, Felicia, but I also think it’s important for your readers to see this.
I truly think it’s very brave of you to do that kind of analysis, admit that you might not be doing as well as you should in certain areas, and put together a plan to improve.
If I may, I’d like to make a couple of suggestions about your writing:
1. When I am on your home page and look through your recent posts, here are the headlines I see:
“Emergency Room”
“Cold Summer Day”
“End of Summer”
Not very clickable. Not very interesting. Not descriptive enough to make me want to click.
2. As I look through your posts, I see “I, I, I” in all of them.
You are writing about yourself hoping that people can relate and respond.
Our human brain simply doesn’t work that way. We want to see “me, me, me” as we read through a blog.
3. On your home page, the excerpts are one huge paragraph, which makes them LOOK like they are duller than they are.
I’d suggest figuring out how to break them down (like what I do on my home page), or just publish much shorter excerpts.
4. I also would love to see you increase your font size.
5. Within your posts, you do a great job separating your writing into sections, but each section is still one very long paragraph.
6. I think you are definitely right: you do have a great style. You just need to package it in such a way that people take their time to check it out.
Better headlines, better formatting, and definitely less of “I” – that’s the tough one. lol
Thank you so much for your kind words, Felicia, and I look forward to seeing your upcoming posts.
Have a blessed weekend.
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Ana,
I actually just replied to your email, but wanted to reply to your comment as well.
Thank you again for your post and moreover for your suggestions above. You’ve opened my eyes to a lot of changes that can be made to my blog and I really appreciate it. I’ve already gone ahead and increased the font size, so hopefully people will have an easier time of reading my posts.
I will be working toward my goals in my upcoming posts and hope to be able to improve Familial Ramblings.