Today on The Blog Lowdown, I’m delighted to be hosting Sarah, from Boo Roo and Tigger Too
Please Introduce yourself:
Hello everyone I am Sarah, aka Boo from Boo Roo and Tigger Too. I am a working mum to two, Roo who is 7yrs old and Tigger who is 3yrs old. Splitting my time between parenting, being a wife, work, my blog and attempting to have a social life can be challenging to say the least but it’s better to be busy than bored.
When did you start blogging?
I started blogging when I was just about to return to work following maternity leave with Tigger. At the time I wasn’t sure about whether I wanted to return to work, however financially I needed to.
Tell us a little about your blog
My blog has evolved over time, at first I wrote more about family life, the struggles I had (and still do have) with childcare but I have found that once I realised that people were reading I felt less able to share more personal posts. This year however, I am attempting to find my roots and share the good, the bad and the ugly of life raising two children.
Who designed your blog?
I have recently undergone a blog transformation, having made the jump from Blogger to self-hosted WordPress. I have kept my original header and artwork, designed by the very talented Katie from Mummy, Daddy, Me, although I have to thank the amazing Jo from Geek Fairy for my current amazing layout and design
How do you promote your blog posts, and which methods do you find to be most successful?
I have to admit to being a little haphazard when it comes to promoting my posts, I tend to go through phases with using one social media platform over another. I recently attended #BlogOnMOSI and I have come away full of tips and ideas of how I can help promote my blog.
Which linkys do you most enjoy joining in with/reading?
I started 2014 doing really well and attempting to join in with a couple of key linkys; The Theme Game held here on The Reading Residence, Wednesday Wishlist held over on Mummy Alarm and at least one of the weekend photography based linkys for example, My Sunday Photo over on One Dad 3 Girls. I have been very slack with joining in with these linkys of late but I hope to join in again as the community support you receive from linkys is amazing.
When are your busiest days on the blog, and why? (if you know why!)
Busiest in terms of publishing? or visitors?
If it is posts then generally it has to be either Tuesday or Thursdays as Tigger is at pre-school in the mornings which allows me time to catch up (well a little at least) on emails and posts.
In terms of visitors I would have to say either Mondays or Fridays as I try to launch a new giveaway each Monday and as a previous one closes at midnight on a Friday I tend to gain extra visitors from competition sites etc wanting to enter (and hopefully win) my giveaways.
Can you name 3 things that blogging has brought you?
1. Amazing friends – to anyone who doesn’t blog they find it very strange that you can have ‘online’ friends. These friends who I have gain through my computer screen possibly know more about me than some of my ‘real-life’ friends as sometimes it is easier to share something when you do not have to have that face-to-face interaction.
2. Opportunities – I count myself very lucky every time an opportunity arrives in my inbox. It is not just the amazing ones that might mean I get to take my children away for the day but the ones that mean I can offer my family things that we may have wanted but were unable to purchase. I am thankful for everything that has headed my way and if it all stopped tomorrow then I can say I had a good run.
3. A possible career – I always joke with anyone who asks me what I do for a living that I have a job not a career. In many ways that is true, I wanted to have my children earlier in life so that I would be able to enjoy them and still have time to enjoy life once they were grown up. Whilst I love my job (although some days I could easily walk away) there is no progression from it really, there is nobody that I can take over from when they leave or retire so if I want a career I need to look elsewhere and blogging has opened the door to other possibilities. Possibilities outside a generic 9 to 5 job in an office somewhere (although if the money was right, I might just sign up for that instead).
My top five tips are:
1. Be true to yourself, there is and will only ever be one you so be you, don’t try to be like so and so because you feel their blog is better, brighter and shinier than yours. Choose your own path.
2. Always reply to emails, when you first start out blogging you are thankful for every email you receive in your inbox. Somewhere along the line you start deleting the ones that are not relevant to you, instead of deleting a simple reply with ‘Thank you for getting in touch, I am not looking to feature this campaign on my site, kind regards’ goes along way. You never know that by replying to that email what you may be offered instead, plus it’s only polite!
3. There is no such thing as a silly question, just the one you didn’t ask. Questions are a part of life, you will have asked some ‘silly’ questions when you didn’t understand something so please do not ridicule someone else for asking something which may seem obvious or trivial to you.
4. Be social, get involved in Facebook groups or chat to people on Twitter. Not only does it make you a nice friendly person but it gets your name out there so people will remember you and are more likely to visit your blog.
5. When visiting other blogs, read, comment, share. Just as you would hope people would do with your content, read it thoroughly, comment if there is something you feel you can add and share it across one (or more) of your social media channels to encourage others to read that post too.
My Social Media Links:
Google+ Twitter Facebook Pinterest
Thanks very much, Sarah! You make a great point about blogging bringing you amazing friends. I’ve ‘met’ so many wonderful people through this community, and it’s got to be the most important part of it, I think. And I like those tips, especially about sharing and being generous like that. I share all posts joined in with my linkys, but then if I read something else that I love or find really informative, I really like to share it. It takes seconds and provides others will great reading matter!
If you’ve any questions for Sarah, feel free to comment on this post, and she’ll pop by and check in. Next week, we will be hearing from Pam over at Life With Munchers so be sure to pop by for that on Sunday evening. You can catch up the previous posts from other bloggers here, too, if you’ve missed them.
If you’d like to feature on The Blog Lowdown, just get in touch with me at [email protected]. Posts are booked up for the next few weeks, but I’ll be happy to book you in as soon as there’s an available slot 🙂
To ensure you don’t miss any, you can now sign up for my newsletter, and I’ll always include The Blog Lowdown round up in those.
Other posts you might like:
A Blogger’s Guide to Pinterest
10 Tips to Get your Blogging Mojo Back
Www thank you Jocelyn for sharing my blog lowdown on your site. I look forward to reading the comments and answering any questions.
So lovely to have you! Thanks, Sarah x
Great tips! I often delete an email if it isn’t relevant. From now on I will reply thanking them 🙂
Me, too!
Many PR’s/SEO’s work with many brands so often they will come back with something that is more appropriate (it pays to be nice)
Great tips, I think it’s important to be true to yourself and write about what interests you. If you don’t you will get bored and the readers will know.
Absolutely, it is so easy to get sucked into the blogging world and try to be someone you are not