Almost a week ago I started a new type of post here at ProBlogger by asking readers – What Were the Best and Worst Blogging Experiences You Had This Week?
The response was fantastic. I actually found quite a bit of inspiration in some of the comments left and think that there were some great ideas and lessons shared. I think that by sharing the things that have gone well as well as the ‘worst’ stuff (mistakes, problems etc) that we can all learn a lot.
So…. I’ve decided to make this a weekly post that I think I’ll run on Saturday my time (Friday for those of you in the US).
My Best and Worst
Worst – This week was a tough one at home. The whole family (including me) has been sick at different times. On top of that I’ve had a few extra things to do outside of blogging (for example this weekend I’m preaching at church – something that takes a lot of preparation). As a result my main struggle this week has been around finding the time and head space to blog. I think I managed to get through it but did have to lessen my load a little by pulling back on some of my normal social media activities like Twitter.
Best – While I struggled to keep putting out new content this week one of the best things about the week was that some of what I did manage to write seemed to resonate with readers. A couple of posts (this one on declining traffic and this one on my ‘sock drawer’)got over 100 comments which is always a level that I look to on this blog to signal a post did well and for some reason this was one of those weeks when the positive feedback emails outweighed the complaints (always a nice thing).
What was your best and worst of the week? Share anything you like as long as it relates to your experience of blogging!
Best – launching my new Article Writing Service membership – a new service that provides bloggers with articles, tips…for those that find it hard to start writing or want to outsource.
Worst – transferring a domain name from one of these ‘free’ type web providers to GoDaddy, for a customer of mine. It has taken over 5 weeks so far. Basically this ‘free’ type web provider don’t know what they are doing and also charging $50 to actually start the transfer…which I think is a big con.
Andrew
Andrew
My worst blogging moment was easy – I checked my google analytics and see that my traffic has been flat at about 100 uniques a day. Worse, most of my traffic is for posts that I submitted over a year ago.
The best moment was clearly twitter. I’m seeing more followers who aren’t spamming me with deals about making money, etc. I’m also seeing some of my twitter followers showing up on the blog, so I’m confident that some of those will turn into occasional if not loyal readers.
Worst: I really had no bad experiences this week.
Best: My Alexa Rank went way down.
My readers really got into my Hosting 2.0 Post.
John Chow replied an email.
I made some great conexions with web entrepreneurs.
Worst: After a small accident on Sunday, I haven’t really been able to keep up with the posts I scheduled to publish this week. Also, I noticed that one plug-in that I tried has not been fixed, even when contacting support for the plug-in, so I may have to remove it.
Best: I realized that I have achieved all 9 of the “First Step Goals for New Bloggers” that were mentioned in your previous post. This realization caused me to be grateful for the 20-21 regular readers that I have and stop worrying about my RSS count going up and then going down because it always seems to stop at 20 when it declines. Instead of trying to chase large triple digit numbers of subscribers, I need to work on just doubling each number by the week or month and be thankful for the subscribers that I do have.
Best: Finding some ways to tweak the look and feel of things. I’ve been wanted to show 10 excerpts per page (for things like search results) while having 4 full posts on the main page. Also added PageNavi navigation globally across the site and made a few other tweaks. I wish I had time to site down for a week to learn WordPress in great detail, but I don’t – so I end up learning 15 minutes at a time.
Worst: No revenue :(
Worst Experiences : making a new blog but facing problem.
Best : Found some extra visitor
Shajib
http://www.ebooksdock.co.cc
This week I had some good and bad experiences.
1. Got over 31,000 pages view to my 48 days old blog within last 16 days.
2. Learned a lot of thing from a ebook about business plans.
3. At at last , after 10 months we have got some heavy rainfalls in the city.
Worst :
Scheduled electricity cut for 2 hour daily really ….
Worst: I feel tired. I don’t know but there’s just no enthusiasm in me (not just in the blogging part of my life) but in everything. Maybe because i have missed days reading the Bible which serves as my compass and map for everyday.
Best: the site became #1 in two blog ranks I am part of. All this because I started using Entrecard and its benefits. Making the most of it! More traffic indeed!
and oh i’m blessed with you being a preacher in the church! God bless you and may you be the mouthpiece of the Lord.
Blessings to you!
Best – After 20 days a reached my 3rd goal for my new blog and reached 100 unique visitors. Something in the first two week I would have not thought possible.
Worst – Nobody likes to click my adsense :( However this ma y be a blessing in disguise, because it is forcing me to look into some different options and layouts. OPTIMIZE
Best – settling into a routine for posting.
Worst – upgrading a couple of plugins which messed up the blog. Took time to fix, lost posting time. Sorted now though.
Best: Finding the time to write an in-depth analysis of the top things to do in Paris, and connecting with a few of my readers.
Worst: Traffic from said post ended up being much less than anticipated.
You are genius..You know very well why i am taking about it. I week full struggle and a post.
Best: Broke 350 subscribers for the first time! :)
Worst: Fell back below 350, hehe.
Excellent idea for a weekly feature!
Worst: Similarly, trying to get in the proper headspace after a long-time friend’s death on Sunday
Best: Learning that the subsequent ‘estate planning’ article I posted for my Makeover Monday topic prodded several people to call their attorneys and/or begin the process of getting their affairs in order.’ Making those types of connections is precisely why I blog.
Ok, that sounds interesting Darren.
My best is that I have comments coming in on my blog for my new post within an hour. I guess its the commenting and forum marketing that helps. B)
My worst is that not a single opt in to my email newsletter for my blog update. B(
I guess that helps others see what other bloggers are facing their wins and failures.
By the way, may the good Lord direct you in preaching the direction to Him way. Go share with the world!!!!!
worst : automatic WordPress upgrade failed
best : i made backups before :)
Worst: Writing an article that no comments on :(
Best: Getting a great response to articles in term of number and quality of comments, twitter links and mentions on other blogs. It’s a great feeling to know people actually like something I wrote!
best: traffic had been down the past month but this week it’s been about double from where it was. i’ve really started to have some success building relationships with other bloggers
worst: spam comments by the truck load. i’m moderating first comments and 1 or 2 spam were getting to the point i needed to moderating them each night overnight and now i’m waking up to 25 or more that need marked as spam.
Well the worst actually happened over a week ago, but my web host’s server crashed and I lost everything. I had no back-up. I am new to blogging and didn’t realize the importance of frequent back-ups. I defintiely do now, and I back-up nightly.
I started from absolute scratch with a new host, and have spent the last 2 weeks rewriting & rebuilding.
Then the best happened yesterday when I found all my old posts in an RSS feed reader I’d set up on one my computers that I’d forgotten about. It’s only 5 or 6 posts, but I had put a lot of work into them and I was super excited about the find.
Lessons learned:
1) Back up early & often
2) Blogging is a lot like Day Trading. Losing my entire blog was like taking a devestating loss on a trade. I have taken some huge losses in trading & have managed to come out the other side a better & more successful trader. The key was admitting my mistakes, learning from the loss and moving on. I plan on doing the same with blogging.
Best – Traffic reached a new record high on Tuesday. Very exciting after it was mostly stagnant last week. Also, today is look pretty good too.
The UPS man was at my house so much this week, that I think I have lots of coffee to review.
I have the first guest post appearing on my blog today. Very excited, plus gives me a chance to start working ahead to improve the quality of my own posts.
Worst – Optins are still minimal. Not sure, if it’s time to revamp the “ethical bribe” or what.
Best: Finally sitting down and writing a first look on my impression of the Concrete 5 CMS.
Worst: Worrying that I’m going to hit a wall for articles that provide value for my readers in the next couple weeks.
The best experience is I started a blog. The worst is checking once in a while (okay… regularly) my stats. I guess I have to stop this coming week and just focus on blogging.
Best – Got twittered for the first time and received a nice email from the folks at Wikinvest.
Worst – CTR has been atrocious this week.
Our best experience for this week is being able to host several great giveaways on our site, including $100 giveaway! It is so nice to be able to give back to our readers and help them save money too!
My worst experience this week was just not having enough time to get everything done on the blog that I wanted!
Best: Enjoy the interactions on various social media sites. Gaining new inspirations and a slight improvement on blog traffic. ^^
Worst: Stayed up all night to prepare posting. Haven’t got much rest for 2 consecutive days which leads to exhaustion. Need to regain strength, and probably shall hit the sack after commenting. =)
Best wishes to all!
And all the best in your preaching on Sunday, Darren.
best: the friend who told me she has my blog open on her desktop all day so she doesn’t miss a post (RSS would be simpler)
worst: getting another big traffic peak when I used word ‘Mercedes’ in the title. Last time I had such a big audience I’d got Versace in the title. Oh, so shallow people!
Worst: I started my first blog series and tried to cram too much information in one post, which kept me up for most of the night. I hardly got any sleep at all. The next day, I ended up just dividing the post into 2 posts.
Best: My blog traffic has been steadily increasing. I now receive about 50 blog views instead of 30. A traffic increase is always a good thing.
Best: Switched over to the Thesis theme and loving it! Also saw a major increase in my traffic as a result of a post being Stumbled
Worse: Can’t say anything bad occurred which is a plus.
Wesley Craig Green
The Geek Entrepreneur
This blogging reminds me of Facebook posts to some degree. I think the human condition has come down to two kinds of communication, either telling a joke or complaining. But then there’s ProBlogger that just doles out the excellent content. :)
Best moment – reaching that 10 post’s milestone
worst moment – no traffic, no comments, no money.
Best: Just being able to blog. I got my 10 posts and had some visitors.
Worst: Not anywhere close to a structure yet. Writing is still whatever I’m feeling at the moment.
best: the friend who told me she has my blog open on her desktop all day so she doesn’t miss a post (RSS would be simpler)
worst: getting another big traffic peak when I used word ‘Mercedes’ in the title. Last time I had such a big audience I’d got Versace in the title. Oh, so shallow people!
Sorry — just two equally great things this week…
Getting somewhat semi-“featured” in a Problogger post.
And…
Getting somewhat semi-“featured” in a Problogger post.
Hopefully next week there won’t be two yucky things to make up for these. :)
Great idea Darren!
Best – I checked my Google analytics and found my traffice has been growing steadily (I don’t tend to check my analytics all the time, only every now and again. I prefer to focus on content and value at this point).
Worst – Had a bit of a lack of focus this week. Haven’t been as productive as I normally am. I’m looking at it as a time of reflection and planning. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! ;)
Worst – Having three days this week with fewer than 3 visitors. Really – literally – fewer than 3! That means even my friends and family aren’t reading! (Yes, I’m assuming that I have more than 3 friends.)
Best – Working only 2 days a week for the next month so I have lots of time to write posts. I’m growing my “stable” of available posts for those times when I can’t write. It’s going to be slow and steady, but the mantra of quality, quality, quality is in my brain.
Thanks for keeping me informed and inspired.
Best: I took a punt and wrote about my shampoo free life and about the products I use and got lurkers coming out of hiding to tell me about their experiences. I wasn’t sure this kind of post would work on my blog but it did!
Worst: I only got time for two posts this week. Been one of those weeks. I like to post at least every second day.
Best – I’m hesitant to say this because the best part of this past week for me on my site comes on the heels of a tragedy. Because of all this Burmese python panic after that girl was killed in Florida my traffic has been steadily increasing day after day, especially from the search engines. That’s translated to more money, more subscribers, my bounce rate has started to trend down, and other benefits I’m sure I’m missing.
Worst – Getting people within my niche to link back to me “properly” (from within relevant content to related and relevant content) and not just dumping the site name at the end of their 50 line link list.
Worst2 – Finding a sponsor for a contest. The first one was easy to get a sponsor for it, but this second one is proving more difficult.
Best experience this week: I had the best week ever on my blog in terms of traffic. I finally feel like I’m breaking through that initial plateau and my daily posts are getting attention from the regular niche readership.
Worst: I had to shut down a second blog I had started this week. I simply realized that I wasn’t giving either one the attention they needed and they would have suffered as a result. Fortunately, I was only about 2-3 weeks into blogging on my second blog and I think this was for the best in the end.
Best: Made $15 from my blog, which is really my first bit of income since launching. Gave me some great motivation and happiness, as my short term goal was to reach $10 in a week, and I did better than that.
Worst: Trying to design my own eBook cover, but I’m having some difficulties. Considering having someone design it for me, but I don’t know where to go for that so I’ll have to do some searching.
Worst: I’ve had to make a decision to pull the plug on my start-up blogs, time is really scarce and I’ll be better off focusing on growing one project for a while.
Best: Stuck to my writing schedule. Enjoyed my writing. Made $10 writing this week. Got a comment on my blog from the author of a blog I follow, sure it was a pretty neutral comment but it’s pretty cool to have a blogger you respect pop round your site and not leave giggling at the newbie. Also got rated as this week’s top blogger on a community blogging site I contribute to.
Great idea this Mr. Rowse I think I may not have realized what a great week I had, had I not put it down in black and white.
Best:
I dropped Entrecard. I appreciate what EC has done for me and my blog, but it was time to go.
Worst:
Comment spam–in Chinese so I don’t even know what it is saying–just a comment loaded with links. Had to turn anonymous comments off–problem solved. But I really prefer allowing anonymous comments on that particular blog.
Worst: I upgraded to WP2.8.1 and now the post scheduling, picture insert etc is not working so now I have to spend what will take me all weekend to figure out.
Best: I signed up for more Social Networking sites and got to correspond with a lot of new folks.
Thing I need to work on still: Stay focused and finish one task before moving on to another project.
Best: I broke 1600 Feedburner subscribers to my organizing blog! Got some nice comments and tweets, too.
Worst: It was a pretty good week; nothing worth noting as a “worst.”
Worst : I am slow on posting the articles this week , and also i found out that There is some issue with my RSS subscribers , I can see 597 readers on chicklet count , but when i go to my feedburner account and see it there its too less , around 20 . Not sure whats happening , One thing i suspect is that it has to do with the domain name change some months back .
Best : I am reserching on a subject and will come up with a great post in few days , Also Subscriber count has gone up tremendously .
Worst : I only have 2 post this week :|
Best : I got new good backlink :D
Hi Darren,
Great information and I agree with you. It takes drops to create an ocen and to me making big online is how you take your first short steps before going forward and taking the Giant leap. I have been folowing yoy since 2 years and I believe that problogger.net is BIBLE for all young bloggers.
By the way your son is ver sweet.
Rgds
Amit Bhagria
http://www.younghrmanager.com
Best:
It’s a new blog, but about subjects I’m very familar with – and I’m loving writing it.
One commenter left a message to say that one of my posts bumped his from the top spot of google blog search. It was one of those very unexpected but well-humoured kinds of comments!
Worst:
Dozens of people have subscribed, but I’ve set up my subscription plugin incorrectly, and it’s trying to subscribe and unsubscribe people at the same time. Very embarrassing!!
Best: This week my content really seemed to be on track and I’ve been tinkering with the layout and getting more views.
Worst: Posting has occurred around this time, off my usual sleep schedule.