Nov. 11: “My Turn”—Blogging

Y’know how you can find yourself in the strangest places on the Internet, with no clue as to how you got there? Occasionally I’ll be telling Victor about something I saw on a web site and try to explain how I found it; most the time I just give up. You keep clicking links, and you’re bound to end up worlds away (almost literally).

Well, it’s that way with blogs too, of course. Lots of people list other blogs they enjoy in the sidebar of their own blogs. For some bloggers, this increases ad revenue. For those of us that don’t put ads on our sites because we are looking for fame, not fortune, this simply allows more readers to find us. We are desperate for attention. Recognition. Comments.

The difference? Blogs will often introduce you to incredibly interesting people that you would otherwise never meet. If I visit a blog I’ve never read before, I might read a post or two, and then I read the blogger’s profile. If I like what I read, I bookmark the blog. Here’s what will keep me from bookmarking or ever reading you again:

• Poor spelling/punctuation. I’m sorry, but if you can’t use spell check, you should not be writing for publication, even on the Internet. The occasional error is acceptable. The constant errors... bye-bye.
  
• Obvious indicators that you’re unaware you’re a complete Jesus freak. Your beliefs are your own; I can respect that. But I don’t have to agree with you and I don’t have to read you. I will also turn away if you regularly write about worshiping Satan or reading Danielle Steel novels. It ain’t just Jesus.
  
• Unwavering support of George W. Bush. Come on! He’s an idiot and you know it.

On the other hand, if you have a great sense of humor, I love you. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

What brought on all this blog talk, you ask? I’m fighting another headache--right now it’s mild enough that it could quietly go away or turn into a big ol’ beeyotch--and have spent the last hour following blog links in an attempt to fool my head into thinking it’s too busy to hurt. So far my head has not been fooled. I hate my head.

This morning I found a blog called Every, every minute. The name comes from part of a quote from the play Our Town, which I love, so it appealed to me from the very start. The author has a regular My Turn/Your Turn entry, and this week I’m playing along (though this is actually his My Turn post from last week).

My Turn/Your Turn

1. What motivated or inspired you to start blogging and how long have you been doing it?
   I’ve been blogging since 1999, though it wasn’t widely called “blogging” at the time. I created a web site to share family pictures when I was pregnant with my first child. It has become an excellent way for me to communicate with family and friends. A couple years ago I started using blogger software and that made it a lot easier to blog, which made my blog a lot more active.
   
2. What are your goals, purposes, or reasons for blogging?
   Communication. Pride (um, have you seen Presley???). Humor. And I love writing, so there ya go.
   
3. In your opinion, is your blog “successful?”
   If “successful” means “handful of regular visitors” then I guess I’m successful.
   
4. If you pay attention to your blog statistics, rankings, number of comments, number of visitors, etc., share some of your significant numbers.
   The search statistics (how people get here) are interesting to me, but the other stuff doesn’t change much. Here are some numbers for the past 30 days:
   376 visits from 21 countries/territories
   532 page views
   46.01% new visits
   1:09 average time on site
   194 unique visitors
   

Any fabulous blogs to recommend? Leave them in a comment. Thanks!