Blog Hop

Are you looking for ways to get new followers??  After blogging for 5 months, I decided to try a Blog Hop.  I had always seen them mentioned on Twitter and other blogs but never paid it any attention.  I had put a lot of my focus on the "Mommy Blogger" sites like, Mom Bloggers Club.  Don't get me wrong, it is still a great place to network.

Now, that I am a stay at home mom, I had the time to try it out.  Well, I am glad that I did.  Not only did I find great blogs to follow, I went from 50 followers to 67 in 2 weeks!  I couldn't believe it.  So, now I put it in my schedule to participate in at least 1 Blog Hop a week because it is a bit overwhelming, especially when you like to respond to comments.

I am the first person who likes to stick to routines and things that I like.  The more I blog the more I see that trying new things will help grow your blog!

Social Networking Sites for Mommy Bloggers

New to Blogging?  Looking to network?  I have been blogging now for 4 months and have found some great social networking sites for "Mommy Bloggers".  I noticed when I started joining the networks that they all seem to look very similar, but I have found many differences.  For example, I started a discussion on 2 different networks, same exact discussion.  I found that the one network yielded no responses but the other yielded many.  With that said, here are 4 of the Social Networking sites that I have joined as a "Mommy Blogger":

1. Mom Bloggers Club (Over 12,000 Members) - This was the very first network that I joined.  I have gotten many followers from this site.  I would have to say that the majority of people that follow my blog are from MBC.

2. Social Moms (Over 29,000 Members) - This was the second network that I joined.  They used to be called TwitterMoms.  I have found a lot of people to follow on Twitter in this network.  One thing I really like about this site is that they provide you an opportunity to write different posts for prizes.  I entered one sponsored by Cuddl Duds, and won a Cuddl Duds $40 Gift Card.  I was so excited and it was fun to write:)

3. Bloggy Moms (Over 4,000 Members) - This is the most recent site that I have joined.

4. Twitter -  This is a very great way to network and increase traffic to your blog.  After every post, I link it up to Twitter.  It gets your blog noticed by individuals that do not necessarily follow your blog.  You can also monetize your twitter account with Sponsored Tweets.  I have earned .39 cents so far.

Each site has something different and unique to offer.  Try them out if you haven't already, I am sure you will enjoy them:)

Feel free to comment and leave information on other sites that I may not have listed:)

Social Networking Profile

Have you checked your social networking profile's lately?  Once I am a member to a social networking site, I like to network.  So, I check out other bloggers profile pages so that I can visit their blog and find new people to follow. In doing that, I have noticed that some people have incomplete url addresses listed, so I cannot visit their site.  I know it happened to me once and my friend had to tell me to correct it.  Once, I in the friendliest way possible sent a private message to someone to let them know, but no response!  I asked my husband if he thought I should have said something and he said "no".  So, for now on I will keep it to myself and just pass on to others to check your pages!  It is something that I do often for my profile pages, blog and blog posts.

Next Post: A list of some social networking sites for "Mommy Bloggers".

Blog Resources

I thought I would share some of the resources that I found helpful when I started blogging about 3 months ago.  When I am looking for a hotel to stay at for vacation, searching for furniture and decor for my boys rooms (by the way just got them some nice stuff from Target) or looking for resources for the families that I work with daily...I like to research, research and research some more.  I think it is the sociologist in me:)  Anyway...Whether you are blogging just for fun or to make some profit, here are some sites that I found very helpful along the way!

1. ProBlogger
2. eHow
3. Blogging for Dummies - Book that I purchased at Barnes & Noble. It can also be
purchased at Amazon.

     

Blogging for 3 Months!

I have finally made it to the 3 month mark of blogging!! Yeah!!   One site that I found when I first started blogging was Top Mommy Blogs, which is a mommy blog directory.  I went to sign up for the site, but saw that you had to be blogging for 3 months to register your blog.  So, I made sure that as soon as I made it to 3 months of blogging I would register and I did.  I am now listed on Top Mommy Blogs.  There are other directories out there, but this is the most functional one that I have found.  Please share if you know of any other great blog directories out there:)   In addition, to joining some of the social blog networks you do want to make sure you register your blog with directories.

Blog Traffic...Where does it come from?

Blogging update: I have been blogging for almost 2 months now and I am loving it. I have found that with time traffic to my blog has increased. When I first started I wondered how much traffic "mommy blogs" get and now I have some statistics, which I get from Google Analytics.  I also use the statistics from Blogger, but Google Analytics is a more detailed.  The first month I had:

195 Visits

899 Pageviews

4.61 Pages/Visit

47.69% Bounce Rate

00:07:19 Avg. Time on Site

55.38% % New Visits

So, the next question is where is the traffic coming from?  I have been to numerous "mommy blog" social networking sites.  The sites that have sent me the most traffic in my first month of blogging have been:

1.  Mom Bloggers Club (MBC) - A network with over 11,000 mom bloggers!

2.  Twitter 

If you want to build on your blog traffic, once you join these networking sites, you need to network.  Join some of the groups, start discussions and share your blogs! 

Sites that Offer Free Blog Templates!

Now that you have your Blog Name and have started to post, it is time to find a template.  I think that having a nice template is just as important as the content of your blog. You may not want to put out any money just yet if you are new to blogging, so I found some sites that offer free templates.  Once your site is established and you decide you are going to stick with it, these sites also offer customized templates.  These sites really have nice templates, for free!  Check them out!

1. Blogger Templates



2. A Blog To Brag About




3. April Showers Blog Design



4. The Posh Box Web Design



5. Leelou Blogs