redpinemountain.com

An Interview With One of My Readers

First, Homestay Mama had a question about whether or not we have oak around here. The answer is not much. There is oak along the Connecticut River Valley and over towards the Champlain Valley and points further south but not here.

Lin asked if Mountain Man really came up with the answer to Robynn’s question and the answer is yes, he did.

On to today’s post. A while back I asked for suggestions to help me improve my blog and make you, my readers, feel more included. Everyone had fantastic suggestions. I wanted to implement one before we moved to our own domain. Lady Fi had the idea to interview my readers so we can all learn more about each other.

I decided to start with Chris, who is the author of two wonderful blogs, The cat/dog log and Living Well. I have know Chris for a long time now and she has been helpful to me in so many different ways as I’ve learned to blog.

The Interview:

Mountain Woman: Chris, could you tell my readers a little bit about you?

Chris: My husband and I own a business, and share our home with 2 dogs, Abby and Rosie, and 3 cats, Angel, Gidget and Lola. All of our pets were rescues except for Abby.

I started my first blog, The cat/dog log in August of 2007 after my disgust with the pet food industry’s petfood recall and tragic pet deaths that year, as well as the dramatic improvement in Abby’s severe skin and ear allergies after changing her diet.

In the early days my blog was totally dedicated to pet allergies, but has since evolved into all areas of pet ownership as well as pet rescue.

I eventually started another blog “Living Well Naturally” because my husband and I believe so strongly in the effect chemicals have on all of our lives, and to pass along what we’ve learned over the years as far as diet, alternative personal care products, home cleaners, garden products, etc.

Mountain Woman: Chris, is there any advice you can give to those of us who are new to blogging?

Chris: I’m by no means an expert, but my best advice to a beginner blogger is not to give up. I read somewhere when I first started that most bloggers fail because they give up after a few months. It takes a lot of time and dedication, approximately 10% actual blog posting and 90% marketing to get readers to your blog.

Secondly, pick a niche you have some knowledge or interest in, and post frequently at first, at least 3 to 5 times a week to build up your blog posts so the search engines find you.

Third, join social networking sites like Blog Catalog, MyBlogLog, Entrecard, Blog Explosion, etc. to get readers to your blog.

Fourth, do a Google search for forums in your niche, join them and become an active member.

Fifth, read all you can find by successful bloggers. You may find a lot of it is duplication, but every so often you’ll run across a new nugget of information you didn’t read about before.

Sixth, if you feel yourself getting burned out, and you will, take a break. Do the bare minimum to keep your blog updated, but get out and do something you enjoy away from the computer for a week or even two or three if needed. You’ll come back refreshed and ready to get back into the swing of things with your blog.

And last, don’t be afraid to experiment. If something isn’t working for your particular blog, move the widget or remove it entirely and try something else. It’s your blog and let it represent who you are.

Mountain Woman: Chris, thanks for the great advice. Can you tell us your most unusual experience blogging?

Chris: Shortly after I started blogging, I encountered a lady who also had a pet blog. I began leaving comments on her blog, and she in turn commented back. I eventually donated a small amount through Paypal to help care for rescued animals that she was promoting. We were also both members of MyBloglog etc and interacted there.

I suppose she wanted to thank me in her own way for the pet donation, so she began leaving messages on the social sites asking people to click on her ads, and she included my site along with hers. As soon as I saw it, I asked her to stop doing so because it was in violation of Google’s Adsense terms of service.

Well, soon after that I got “Google Smacked” as they say – I lost my Adsense account. I contacted them to see why and all they would say is “illegal click activity.” Since I had never clicked on my own ads, the only explanation I could think of was the lady asking people to click on my ads. And once you’ve been “smacked” there’s no recourse. It was unfortunate that I lost my Adsense account so early in my blogging.

I tried some Adsense alternatives like Adbrite and WidgitBucks, but wasn’t happy with the type of ads from Adbrite, and the widgit for WidgitBucks seemed to really slow my blog’s load time. I eventually discovered Chitika as an alternative – the ads are matched to your content and it works well for me, especially on my pet blog.

Mountain Woman: Chris, can you share your favorite photo?

Chris: I have a lot of “favorites” but this one of Abby tearing up a tissue makes me smile every time I look at it. Since she was a puppy and got tall enough to reach the toilet paper roll, we’ve had to keep the roll up high. If we put it on the roller, within hours she’ll spot it and grab the end and run through the house with it, head held high just daring us to play. Waste baskets have to be kept inside the cupboard out of her reach or she has a field day. If someone leaves their purse on the floor, she’ll go snooping through to see if there’s a tissue in there somewhere.

I know, she doesn’t sound very well trained. But cockers love their tissues – my vet explained that it has something to do with them being soft-mouthed dogs and bred to retrieve game without puncturing the bird’s skin so they just can’t resist tissues and toilet paper.

And it doesn’t stop at tissues – she also loves cardboard. When she was a puppy and cutting teeth, my husband gave her a cardboard box to chew on and expend some of her energy. Instead of chewing on it, she held the box down with her paws, bit into the loose edge of the box and pulled with all her might straight up, working on it until it was all in nice small pieces. She broke down a lot of boxes for us that first year.

At 11 1/2 years old, those days are pretty much behind her, but she still loves a good paper shredding opportunity when it presents itself. The day when we can put the toilet paper back on the roll will be when Abby’s no longer with us, and I dread that day.