When I first started this blog, it was to keep in touch with remote friends. Lots of us started blogs around the same time, some of us are even still blogging 😉
My concern for safety and privacy for my children meant that I didn’t use their real names online (no, it doesn’t say Big, Small and Smallest-of-all on their birth certificates, although I do call them that as well as a variety of other things from time to time) but I didn’t really worry about what I talked about about them. I didn’t post any more than I would tell my friends, as at the time, it felt like I was only talking to my friends.
That was 6 years ago. I suspect back then my readership was probably around 10 – 20 ppl. Now feedburner tells me there are over a hundred subscribed to my feed, and I’m guessing more ppl read every now and then via fb and twitter, where I do tend to post the posts. I’m guessing these are mainly either home educators or ppl who know/ have known me irl, but I don’t know. I don’t know who is out there. I don’t know why they read. I don’t know who comes by and decides it’s too boring for words and never clicks on the url again, or who avidly clicks on the refresh in the reader hoping that I might have spilled words of wisdom across the screen again. (Or for the first time, which would be more possible 😉 )
What draws you back? Why do I want you here? I’ve stopped talking about every little thing my children do – Small in particular doesn’t even like it when I blog his library book choices. He certainly wouldn’t be happy if I blogged every last detail of his life, although I am sure that if I were more open about our trials and tribulations there would be more ppl queueing up to read.
It’s a peculiar peeping tom relationship, that of reader to blogger. I would like to be able to earn a little money through the blog so as not to have to consider working at a real job, but I suspect that not blogging in glorious technicolour about our lives means I will never build up the kind of readership that will let that happen. Although other blogs I like, like renegadeparent don’t go into details about their children’s lives. Hm. So could I get all political? I do from time to time, would that be enough to generate a larger readership?
I’m not sure I could just do political. I like to whiffle about the larger picture from time to time, I do like to share little aspects of our lives, what I can without upsetting the boy, and I love to tell you how cute and adorable the baby has been recently.
I’m not even sure why I want to be building up a readership. (Apart from the potential money spinning thing, which we’ve already covered.) Except that when I fell lots of places last month in the tots100 it really depressed me for a couple of days. I guess we all do somewhere have a desire to be popular. And I do have a competitive streak, although usually it’s overcome by my inherent laziness 😉 It hurt to slip down to 74 when I’d been at 55 the month before. Which is silly, as like Sally says, it’s just an index. A way of finding blogs. Not that anyone seems to come over here from there, I guess I’m just too far down the list for that to happen.
Once upon a time, I blogged about why I blogged, and ppl really liked the post. I’ve been back and read it again, and it does still summarise why I blog. So I guess I need to remember my reasons, and accept that I’m never going to be as provocative or interesting as some of the other blogs out there, that I’m never going to have a huge readership, and that I’m hardly ever going to get any of you to delurk that aren’t already delurked.
But if you would, just to let me know why you read, what you like to read, and what if anything you’d like to read more of, I’d love to know 🙂
(And Michelle, please don’t feel under any pressure to comment. I love it when you do, but I’d never make you!)
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