The Joys and Trials of Being a Mom Blogger (Changes Ahead!)

Sharing my heart and my thoughts on being a mom blogger

I’ve been thinking a lot about my blogging goals and what I want to be doing with this blog right now.  It is HARD to know what to do sometimes.  Over the past couple of years, I’ve followed some wonderful blogs myself and I have an idea of how I want things to change so that I’ll be more like my favorite blogs.  Blogs that obviously care about their followers, use their blog for good and to help others, and aren’t just one huge toy commercial.  ;-)  The changes ahead will be good, and I’m hoping for your feedback on ways to improve!

My Story

When I first started my blog, it was right after Emma was born (May 2008) and I loooved it.  It was just a simple blog then, with very few followers and a free .blogspot.com address.  I knew nothing.  But still, I linked to a few Wordless Wednesdays and began to gain readers, other great moms who took an interest in my little family and self – from my birth story and my daughter’s first interest in books to just random thoughts on new mommyhood.  It was a wonderful way to connect with other moms and share all my hopes, fears, and mommy moments – and know that someone out there would understand me.  It was (and still is) awesome.

Then I got started doing product reviews – which I love as well… but I had no idea that there is so much pressure once you get going!   It wasn’t long before I began to feel pressure to make my blog prettier with a new and unique design, purchase my own domain, move to WordPress (and those were all good decisions, I must admit), and, of course, post something new and exciting that would fascinate my readers every day.   No pressure, right?

The Lightbulb over My Head

At some point, I began to lose some of my excitement for blogging – it became another thing I had to do.  Not that I don’t enjoy it – I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t!  But even things you love can become burdensome if you lose your focus.  I have no time to visit other loved blogs, stay connected with my readers, and take the time to visit a few of those Wordless Wednesday posts (unless you post a comment and I see it on my blog).

Isn’t that why I started blogging?

I really do love testing products, taking photos, and being able to offer products to my readers for free.  It’s really a lot of fun – unless you take on too much, that is.  And that I definitely have done in the past  – remember everything going on at Christmastime?  I had noooo idea what I was getting into, lol.  Don’t get me wrong, we had a fantastic Christmas.  But I found myself surrounded by all of this cool stuff that I didn’t need.  And honestly, although Emma really likes a few of the toys (mainly the wooden kitchen and Melissa and Doug rocking horse), she doesn’t need all of those toys. 

And I don’t want to send the message that your kids won’t be happy unless they have all the new toys and gadgets out there.

It’s so not true.  Emma is most happy with a coloring book and crayons (from the dollar store), measuring cups and pots and pans, and boxes that the packages come in. And a few choice wooden toys and special stuffed animals that I’ve come across.  But honestly, she doesn’t need everything she has and I’ve sort of overdone it in the past.  The nice part is that I’ve been able to share toys with friends and people who have children.

Oh, the trials of being a mom blogger and trying to keep up with the crowd.

Really, it can be easy to fall into the vicious circle of trying to get more page views and readers so that your ads and reviews get clicked on, and so that PR will contact you about reviewing products.  And if you want the bigger, better products you have to have a lot more page views.  Can you see how this can get crazy?  It’s not easy to be a mom blogger if you’re going to get competitive.  It can be done, of course, and many bloggers do it brilliantly!  But I’ve recently discovered that I don’t want to do it.  I’m tired of worrying about what everyone will think, losing followers, getting my page views up so that PR will be more likely to work with me, etc.  I think the keyword here is tired.  lol  I’m tired!  I have a toddler going through the terrible twos and she’s wearing me out, too.

Changes!

So there will be some small changes around here.  I’ve already been winding things down, you may have noticed.   I’ll be doing maybe two to five reviews/giveaways a month instead of … 20.  lol  And that’s just a goal, there will probably be more or less some months depending on my energy level and whether or not I think you’ll love the product.

Don’t worry though, there won’t be less content!

I’m just trying to free up time for the things I love to do and blog about like crafting, entertainment, cooking, and more things like that. And I still want to review things that we love and need like children’s shoes, clothing, and some of the nice toys out there, but I won’t be saying yes to everything anymore.  I’m going to be a little more picky. Which is good for you because then I’ll have nicer reviews for you to read and products for you to win!  And it won’t be all sponsored reviews, either.  I have a pretty big list of things I’ve purchased in the past that I want to share thoughts on and recommend/warn you about.  It just hasn’t been at the top of my list of priorities.  But that will be changing soon.  :-)

Okay, I’m going to end this here because it has gotten pretty long.

I will be posting later, though, with some questions for you. If you have a moment and can think of something you want to see more of or less of, or if there are any problems with ads, etc – let me know!  I’m really interested. But there will be a dedicated post for that later in the week, too.  And I’ll be finishing up some of my reviews in the next two weeks, too – so there will be quite a few.  But then things should slow down on the product review end.

I’m really excited about getting to know you all better and being able to post some things that really interest us mommies!  And I want to say that  I really appreciate all of you and your comments and faithful following.  You rock!