If I Could Turn Back Time… (Problogger Group Writing Project)
Posted July 24th, 2006Categories: Writing, Blogging
Time to participate in another Problogger group writing project. With this project Darren is asking everyone what they would do differently if they were to start their blog all over again today.
Since I’ve only been blogging for a couple of months, I have to admit I don’t have much to say on this subject. However, the following is my short list of things I would have probably done differently:
- Spent more time on site appeal and/or branding - I don’t think I would close my eyes and picture the same type of blog as the one I see when I look at my site. I think if I had to start over again, I would have had a much more eye-candy site to look at with custom graphics that relate to my “theme” of hindsight and/or learning from my experiences.
- I would not watch the site’s income so closely this early - I don’t know how many times I’ve refreshed all the monitoring pages to see each and every cent come in over the last couple months. Maybe it’s something I’ll continue to outgrow, since I pretty much just check a couple times a day now. Perhaps it’s just the novelty of watching the pennies roll in that are going to pay for my next year’s hosting expense. I wish I would have just focused on the content and on reading/commenting on other sites instead.
- I would not have told my wife about the site’s ability to make money - she’s got $$$ in her eyes now that she’s realized a site can make some extra money (as little as it is). I told her if she wants money she should get her own blog. I’m interested in using whatever money comes in toward a few other internet projects I’ve had in mind for awhile, not some new purse that just went on sale at the mall. I established my goals for this blog long ago (which was another Problogger group writing project), and I completely intend on sticking with them until they’re no longer applicable.
I really have to admit that there isn’t much else I think I would do different. I didn’t know much about blogging when I started, and still have tons more to learn. This is my first blog, and I have been learning as I go every step of the way as I mentioned in my effective blogging habits post (which was also a group writing project that I summarized into a top 50 list). I thank Darren for being a good role model in how to make blogging more fun and more effective.
For those of you who are also bloggers, what would you do differently if you were to start your blog all over again today? Share your thoughts with us all, I think it’s a great opportunity to learn something about yourself and your experience blogging so you can take a step back and see what you could do better the next time. A perfect example of something I like to do on this site…learn from experience and share it with others.
Tags: blogging, problogger, start+over
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Explore posts in the same categories: Writing, Blogging
July 25th, 2006 at 9:30 am
You know, you can always update the graphics and change your site layout, nothing is set in stone
. I think my site has been redesigned way too many times in the two months I’ve had it up 
.
July 25th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
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July 25th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
[…] If I could Turn Back Time…. by Retrospector […]
July 25th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
Oh, I totally plan on doing just that. I’ve been browsing a number of other sites while writing down the likes/dislikes. I just don’t want to rush into it too much. I have no problem doing things in baby steps while I have most of my focus on the content of the site.
Thanks for stopping by.
July 25th, 2006 at 11:32 pm
Just curious, you mentioned monitoring the amount of money you blog generates. Honestly, how much time do you spend looking at makes money and what doesn’t? Do you have specific criteria?
July 26th, 2006 at 5:59 am
“I would not have told my wife about the site’s ability to make money.” That’s just great and and a really good point…
July 26th, 2006 at 6:56 am
Ha! I like the one about your wife! My wife is keen to get some online earnings happening too, but she’s also got products to sell in mind.
Good idea to formualate likes and dislikes on other sites, too often we end up with something we didn’t really plan on having!
July 26th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
Thom, no specific criteria really. I just found myself refreshing the affiliate sites and google’s site to see the reports for any income generated during all hours of every day. It’s just like buying a new computer that you can’t put down even though you’ve got everything you want installed.
I refuse to give my wife the passwords to any of the accounts though so she can’t check the balances. She has the checkbook at home anyhow…
July 27th, 2006 at 7:05 am
Surely the passwords would be safe wife her, as long as you took away the chequebook and credit cards once she realised that she could spend more!
July 27th, 2006 at 10:28 am
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July 27th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
A few recommendations, larger print. Nothing flashing. I really dislike any sort of flashing except the cursor.
I like the Web 2.0 look where it looks so simple that you can not make a mistake. I wish I could figure out why technorati is not indexing my site. Good Luck!! I love your blog.
July 28th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
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July 29th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
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July 30th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
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