Hi Goddesses
So, we've talked about how I began, how bad I was in the beginning lol and how you can grow your blog, schedule your posts and save yourself time. What you might be wondering now is - does it actually work ?
Let me give you a couple of comparisons. My blog has just done 500 posts which equates to about 90,000 page views. I'm pretty chuffed with that - 160 per post. If every post I did got 160 views, I'd be very happy :)
Compare that to the lovely Miss Kayla Shevonne, nail art goddess, who has also just recently passed 500 posts ..... and 1 million page views. Gulp. But she's better than me, and she deserves it :)
Then there's the equally divine Sarah from Chalkboard Nails, who started her blog roughly when I did, has (in the same amount of time) done only 242 posts and has 3000 blog followers, and nearly 4000 on Facebook.
So back to the little Crumpet - 500 posts, 800 ish blog followers, 500 ish FB followers. So why the difference ? Well obviously Sarah and Kayla are better than me, which makes a MASSIVE difference, plus the first 3 months of my nail blogging career should really just be lobbed in a dustbin (I really want to delete all those posts, but I leave them there in the hope it may prove to someone else that you CAN improve).
There's also another reason - quality v quantity. Kayla and Sarah produce quality output. Every post is well designed, crisp, beautifully photographed and as perfect as it can be. The Crumpet on the other hand, being an inexpert splodger, had no such skillz, and went for quantity instead, churning out post after post in the hope that eventually something would snag somebody's attention.
I still think I blog too much - let's face it, I might even get more followers if I put more in one post, rather than just endless photos of the same thing.
So, how happy am I with my blog at the moment? Reasonably actually, and I think that's because I'm comfortable with where I am as a blogger. I feel I found my "voice", I've set up 3 Facebook groups which have loyal members and serve a great purpose, and I have loads of blogging friends who help me enjoy what I do even more.
At the moment, I gain about 10 Blogger followers and 10 FB followers a week - I feel that's quite reasonable. At that rate, you'd put on 520 followers in a year :)
Each day I get approx 500 page views. Somedays it can be low, in the 300s - these are usually the days I haven't posted. And that's one of the interesting things about my blog - I get a lot of page views on OLD stuff. For example, this week, CG Prism has gone mad again. 60 views, dunno why .... Rainbow Connection ? Yup, STILL get over 10 pageviews for that per week. STILL. I know a post is good if it gets 100 views within the first 2 days ... the shittier ones usually stall at 40 / 50 lol.
This last week has been wild. Most posts have been getting 100 hits within 24 hours, been hitting 800 -1000 pageviews most days, and I've put on over 20 followers in a week. Hopefully that's because I made a much bigger effort to plan a structure for the blog - it's been great, I mapped out every post required for June, so now I don't have to sit and stress about what to post or what "might" be ready.
This last week has been wild. Most posts have been getting 100 hits within 24 hours, been hitting 800 -1000 pageviews most days, and I've put on over 20 followers in a week. Hopefully that's because I made a much bigger effort to plan a structure for the blog - it's been great, I mapped out every post required for June, so now I don't have to sit and stress about what to post or what "might" be ready.
So what does the future of the Crumpet hold in store? Well, I think I will move to a different style of posting. Building this ridiculous vault of 80 prepped posts and buying more polishes than could be reasonably stacked on the shelves of a superstore has left me in a self-made pickle. I know I can be better, and to do that, I need to give myself time to be creative.
One thing that putting my stash on a spreadsheet taught me was that I have a lot of polishes that are similar - yet I don't sit down and do comparisons as often as I want. I pin thousands of pins to pinterest, not only of other people's manis, but of patterns that interest me .... yet never find time to make them into MY nails. And I also tie myself up in these long challenges, which then demand most of my free time, idea space and creativity. I seem to think of the best things when I am relaxed, and as a person who *always* has to be rushing forwards, that doesn't happen often lol.
So I think you will start to see some changes, and as ever, I am interested in your input. I know for a fact that Theme Weeks are going to be big on The Crumpet in the latter half of 2012, and Recycled Nails will play at least once a week, along with Monkey See Monkey Do Monday.
So, what would YOU like to see on The Crumpet? Now is your chance to let me know, and help shape the next few months on the blog. I don't have a theme for tomorrow's Journey post, so if you have any questions you want answers to, or anything else you'd like me to talk about, let me know in the comments. As ever, I wouldn't do it without you, so thank you for following, reading, laughing and joining in with me, it's a non-stop pleasure :)