Wow, I can’t believe week one of the 2013 31 Days of Crochet Business Blogging Challenge has come and gone. That week focused on business planning. Week two is all about determining what you’re going to blog about and how often. So with that in mind, I begin Day Eight.
DAY EIGHT
Writing Prompt: The focus of my blog is ______. Topics I will write about are _____. Share your blogging goals with your readers.
I’ve already touched on this in Day Five when I discussed the market for my crochet business. But I’ll expand on it a little more here. I’m focusing my blog on providing crochet information that is of interest to beginning and intermediate crocheters. The topics I’ll write about include:
- Projects I’m working on
- Pattern reviews
- Book reviews
- Tutorials (e.g., crochet stitches and techniques)
- Free patterns and patterns for sale
- Crochet resources (e.g., websites, articles, crochet organizations)
I’ve been thinking about this for a while now as part of the project to redesign my blog. The mind map above is something I started back in the summer of 2012 that will guide the redesign project (sorry about the photo quality; I lost access to a scanner when my printer died).
It’s a work-in-progress, and I’m sure I’ll be making adjustments to it as I finalize the redesign.
DAY NINE
Writing Prompt: In 2013 I will post ___ days a week. I’ll participate in ___ linky’s and ___ challenges. Share your weekly themed posts like WIP Wednesday or FO Friday. Invite your readers to participate and hold you accountable.
I’ve decided to begin by posting one day a week. I know that’s not a lot, but I also do freelance copy writing, and I don’t want to become overwhelmed. That means I won’t have themed posts in the beginning.
My hope is that I can let go of the freelance copy writing as my crochet business starts bringing in more money. In that case, I’ll be able to post more frequently and consider doing themed posts.
DAY TEN
Writing Prompt: My readers like ___ posts the best. Knowing this I will ___ and ___ in 2013. Fill in the blanks and write a Top 3 blog posts of 2012 post.
I don’t have the information I need to write about this yet. I’ve been having problems with Google Analytics (i.e., no data coming in since late November) and need to get it resolved. I think it has something to do with some html code in a widget in my sidebar. It’s happened before, but I need to get in touch with my website expert (a very busy web designer friend) to see if he can help me straighten it out.
On the other hand, I can look at Google Analytics stats from the month previous to when it stopped working. Here are some stats from October 1 through November 1, 2012.
- Visits – 1,836
- Unique visitors – 1,677
- Page views – 2,949
- Pages/visit – 1.61
- Avg. visit duration – 01:19
- Bounce rate – 69.72%
- % new visits – 87.36%
One thing these stats tell me is that people aren’t returning to the blog once they’ve visited, and they’re not staying long either. So that’s something I need to work on – keeping readers there and getting them to return.
As for top five pages viewed are:
- /free patterns
- / (I think that’s the main web page)
- /circular shrug – a vintage crochet pattern
- /learn to crochet by numbers online
- /todd paschall’s crochet by numbers artwork
People definitely want free patterns, duh! And Todd’s Crochet By Numbers is popular as well.
Now, check out Week 2, Part 2 of the challenge.
13 comments On Week 2 of the 2013 31 Days of Crochet Business Blogging Challenge
I love the mind map for your blog – I do that too. Someone told me they have them online as well but I’ve yet to try them out.
I like the focus of your blog and I think it goes well with your other goal of teaching. (CBN certification)
Hey Sara, yes I’ve seen the online ones. I tried one, but it takes so long to learn the software that I decided to stick with the ones I do by hand. And yes, I’m seeing the blog focus and the teaching complimenting each other.
I love mindmaps they really help me focus!
I agree, Michelle. It’s a great brainstorming tool. It’s also a great way to organize your writing. Thanks for stopping by.
I love the mind map too!! I need to do something similar as my thoughts are soooo scattered right now!!
ZaMarah, mind maps will definitely help you organize your thoughts. The one in the article is just one of many that I did for the blog redesign project. You can take any of those circles and make a separate mind map out of it to go even deeper.
I love your idea of a map! So much better than trying to figure it all out in your head. I’ll be looking forward to seeing more of your crochet patterns.
Hey Rhelena, if I had to figure it all out in my head, I’d go bonkers :-\. Once the blog challenge is over, I can focus on the patterns. Seems like I’ll have a lot to do this year. Btw, I tried to subscribe to your blog where you’re writing about the challenge, but couldn’t find a way to do it.
It’s okay not to have a theme, you are doing great just sharing your patterns and your lessons. There is no ‘blog police’ – it is our space and you cater to your reader which is a student and someone who wants nice, well written patterns.
I think my “blog police” are my intuition, comments from readers and students, interaction with fellow bloggers and fiber folk, and Google Analytics :-). At least that’s what I’ve been relying on to guide the unfolding of this blog.
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I love reading your blog. I like that you write so very well and that your articles reveal a real person who is more interested in relationships, people and craft than in selling products or “business”. I also like that you have more content in your posts than some have. I have been sporadic in reading your blog, though. Almost all of that has to do with my own environment and not really your writing or topics or free pattern offers. That environment might include – say grandchildren visiting at the time of a post or a daughter who is ill and I must travel to help, etc. – which has happened recently as I am just getting past family visitors that started before Christmas and make it hard to read as much as I would like 🙂
I appreciate readers like you, Karen. Sometimes I think my blog posts are too long, but I do my best to make them readable with a lot of subheadings and photos. It’s one of the reasons I don’t post several times a week like other bloggers do. Once a week is about it for me :-).
If you are subscribed to the blog, you can read the posts at your leisure. At some point, I intend to start a newsletter that will come out at the end of each month. It will include a recap of what was posted during the month and other things that I haven’t figured out yet.
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