I was thinking of skipping the Challenge this year. I wasn’t really feeling “introspective”, or like looking back at the year. 2015 wasn’t a great year in many ways – Sheba had 3 different surgeries, and we lost our cat Conrad to old age. We found out Samantha is hyperthyroid, Cricket has arthritis, and between all of that, our vet bills and pet expenses have been out of control. But when I looked back, I realized the Challenge is something I have done every year since I started blogging. The blog was a bright spot in the year, because the support I received through it has been immense. Plus looking back at the blog for the year showed all of the happy times we’ve had with the pets in between the struggles. I’m so glad I changed my mind, because doing this has made me feel better. On to the questions!
- How long have you been blogging? And, for anyone who is visiting for the first time, please give a quick description of the subject of your blog. Almost 3 ½ years now. My blog is about my life with my pets, three dogs and one cat, with a focus on fitness, training, health, and anything else that affects our day to day lives and might be of interest to pet families and pet lovers.
- What is the one thing that you accomplished during 2015, either on your blog or because of it, that made you most proud? I attended the BlogPaws conference in May. I am a shy introvert and social situations are really tough for me. I went way outside of my comfort zone to attend the conference and I am so glad I did. It was a worthwhile experience; not only did I learn a lot but I got to meet some of the wonderful people I had only known “virtually” up to that point.
- Which of your blog posts was your favorite this year and why? This was tough! I’d have to say “For Love of a Golden Cat” which was my tribute to our elderly cat Conrad who passed away in May. Writing that post gave me a chance to really look back at Conrad’s life with us and it brought back a lot of happy memories, especially when looking through old photos for that post.
- A common theme from last year’s challenge was that many of us wanted to increase the size of our audiences. Whether or not we intend to monetize our blogs, it seems we’d all like to reach more people. It feels good to know that we’re connecting with others, sharing a laugh or supporting a cause, and it’s motivating to see those numbers grow! What is one thing you’ve done in the past year that has brought more traffic to your blog? Joining other bloggers to host events and blog hops. We joined two other bloggers for Multiple Pet Mania during the month of June, and our dog Luke was the “spokesdog” for International Box Day that same month – a mostly cat blogger event. There were others also, multiple blog giveaways and a Walk Your Dog Week event. With giveaways tied in with many of these as well, it really increased traffic to my blog, and my social media numbers also grew.
- Which of your blog posts got the most traffic this year? Why do you think it was so popular? “Our Gift to You – Huge Holiday Cash Giveaway”. Well, everyone loves cash, right? I have always found giveaways to be a big draw, so when I am asked to review products I almost always ask if we can do a giveaway to go along with it. Plus I just love giving everyone a chance to win something for their pets or themselves.
- What is one blog that you read religiously – other than your own – and what makes you such a devoted reader? (Please include a link.) Oh, that is so tough. I have so many I read daily and love. I will choose “Heart Like a Dog“. Jodi’s dry sense of humor and unfailing honesty keeps me going back. Plus her two Labs are adorable and entertaining.
- What resources do you rely on to enhance your technical, writing, photography, social media, or other skills that improve your blog? Anything and everything I can find, when I have time (which is not as often as I’d like).
- What is the best piece of advice you can offer other bloggers? Follow your dream. If your dream is writing, then put writing first. If your dream is photography, then focus on those wonderful photos. Don’t get caught up in the numbers and let them interfere with what you really want to do. I feel hopelessly behind other bloggers when it comes to social media savvy, but I don’t want to get caught up in that and forget why I started this in the first place – to write about my passion for pets. Photography has come to play a big part for me as well, and that is a passion also resurrected from my younger years.
- What is your vision for your blog in 2016? Do you have specific goals? I’m pretty happy with where I’m at right now, so I want to keep going on as I have been. In 2015 I did a 6 part series on pet vaccinations. I’d like to do a similar series this year, I just haven’t decided on the topic yet. I’ve been getting more offers for product reviews, and I’m getting paid for more. I don’t want to get carried away with writing reviews though; so I want to try to keep a balance while making a little money as well.
- You have the attention of the pet blogging community – is there one blogging challenge you’d like help with, or one aspect of your blog that you’d like input on? In the past I’ve written more serious posts on animal welfare topics, adoptable pets and things along that line. Do you want to see more of that on the blog, or are personal stories more relatable and attractive to you?
Thank you very much to Amy at GoPetFriendly.com for hosting this year’s challenge once again.
I’m finally getting around to reading this! Thank you so much for the shout out, I’ve been struggling with my blog lately and hearing your kind words helps me a lot.
I like taking this challenge myself. I think it’s easy to get caught up and busy and not really ‘think’ about things, so this challenge is a good way to really evaluate where you are, and what you want to do. I think you also discover where your passion lies. And sometimes you find you started a blog for one reason, but it evolves into something else.
I loved your series on vaccinations, (as you know) and as for your next topic, I think you’ll know it when you see it. 🙂
I’m so glad we got to meet in Nashville, I absolutely LOVE meeting my fellow bloggers because I feel like I already know them.
Jodi Chick always tells me, “Follow your bliss”. I think if you love what you’re writing about, it shows and it draws people. Keep on doing what you love, we’ll all be following along.
You’re welcome for the shout out, and thank YOU for all the support! Yes, meeting in Nashville was kind of just like meeting up with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a while!
I think you are right…I think people know when you’re being genuine, and that is far more of a draw than someone who is not really feeling it. I’ll sometimes put a planned post aside because I’m just not feeling it…and often come back to it later. I think it’s much better to come back to it then to force it. That’s why I try not to do too many sponsored posts, because then you have to be feeling it, and it can become too much like work, and not quite so blissful! 🙂
I’m pretty sure my next series is going to be about what we’re doing to help Sheba fight her cancer. There’s a lot to share so I think spreading it out into several posts makes the most sense; and it’s something I am passionate about.
I enjoy reading a balance of topics and I think they work well if the more serious ones are related to your experience (like the vaccine series). I hope that makes a bit of sense…lol. I still struggle with reviews. They get decent traffic, but my preference is to write more about what the dogs are actually doing or topics related to what they are doing. If I can tie in the product to an aspect of their lives then that seems to work best for me.
Yes, that does make perfect sense to me. I don’t want to write a dry series where all I’m doing is research…I want to be able to relate to it as well. I’m thinking I might make what we’re doing to help Sheba with her cancer into a series. A lot of it is just sensible healthy living so I think it can be interesting not just to people who have dogs with cancer, but to those that are interested in a healthy lifestyle. I’ve still got to work the details out in my head.
I agree about reviews, and when I accept them I’m trying to be sure they do tie into our lifestyle and are really things we want to try or use. Of course, that doesn’t rule out many treats, because the dogs are always up for that! LOL
I’m with Emma – you need to continue to write what your heart dictates. “Whatever you do, do it true!” That’s a line from one of my favorite movies, “The Banger Sisters” (starring Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, and Geoffrey Rush).
Then that is exactly what I am going to do. 🙂 ♥
I follow your blog regularly, but I didn’t know much about you personally so thank you for sharing that information. I appreciate your advice about growing your blog through blog hops and giveaways.
Oh, this was great! I really enjoyed reading your challenge!
As far as your last question… I like when you mix it up. I love to read about your dogs, your training goals, etc etc etc… and I also like when you touch on animal welfare and things like that.
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
I am happy I found your blog!! I love writing about Miss Cocoa and our adventures and would like to grow this year. But having fun with it is first!!
I agree….fun is always first! I’m so glad you found us too….I very much enjoy reading about you and Miss Cocoa’s adventures as well!
We are so glad you took the challenge! It has a been a tough year for you but the tribute to Conrad was a standout. Mom always has to remind herself that my blog is a diary of daily life with me and she will always have it after I am gone. We love the personal stories the most of course, and Luke is our favorite! Love Dolly
Thank you, Dolly. There are times I look back at my own blog and there are things I forgot even writing about, so your Mom is so right about what a blog really is about. xxoo
I started Daisy’s blog as a way to journalize her life with us, and while that’s still my main goal, the wonderful pet blogging community has become just as important to me. Everyone is so helpful, supportive, and lots of fun to share stories with and read stories from. I also discovered, quite by accident, that I can help other dog owners by talking about Daisy’s issues on the blog, and that makes it even more important to me. I enjoyed both your introspection and your photos, and personally I love the stories and photos of your crew even more than adoption stories (which are great, don’t get me wrong, I just enjoy hearing about you all 🙂 ).
You have no idea how good that makes me feel! Sometimes I think that we have such a simple life here, how can it be that interesting to anyone? But pet people are different, and I know I’ve found my kindred spirits out here in the pet blogging world.
You are definitely being a big help to people by sharing Daisy’s issues. When my dogs have had issues, I have sometimes scoured the internet to learn more, and finding reputable personal stories is not easy! It’s also amazing how attached we can get to people and their pets that we have not even met IRL.
That’s great you made it to BlogPaws last year. I wish I could go every year, but sadly I only made it once back in 2012. I’m hoping to make it to Arizona this year which is only about a 6 hour drive for me. I’m new to your blog, but I usually enjoy a mixture of serious posts and personal stories. All the best to you in 2016!
Thank you so much for coming by, Colby, it was great to meet you! I doubt I will make it to BlogPaws every year either, but I know I’m going to miss it when I’m not there. Here’s to hoping 2016 is a great year for everyone!
Great answers to the challenge, enjoyed reading this. I like everything you write about.
So glad you joined the hop. The community is the best part of blogging.
You’re reminding me it’s definitely time to get back to BlogPaws and connect with more friends IRL. I hope the 2017 conference is back on the East Coast, preferably somewhere I can sail to, like Washington DC or Boston. 🙂
As for content, I think you keep an excellent balance. I love the mix of personal stories, information, and giveaways. Of course, I’m a real sucker for a Luke training story. I just love seeing him grow through the pages of your blog.
Thank you so much, Pamela. It’s so good to know that you think I’m on the right track. Luke and I have been having some training fun lately and I can’t wait to share about it!
I also hope that the conference gets back on the East Coast for 2017, and I sure hope you can make it too!
I’m a sucker for series and yours on vaccinations was outstanding! I even shared a few with my vet the Doodle Doc. I am so sorry I missed you at BP15 – hopefully we can connect #finally in 2016.
Thank you! Wow, it’s been so great to hear that so many enjoyed the vaccination series. It was a lot of work, and I’m glad it was well received.
I don’t know if I’m going to make it to BP16 or not….I was so bummed out when you didn’t make it last year…I’ll keep you posted, and sooner or later we’ll meet up!
I’m glad the process of reflecting on the past year helped you feel better! Sometimes it is nice to look back at all of the good things and the accomplishments even if we have to remember some of the ickier times as well. I hope you keep doing what you’ve been doing–I love the stories about the crew (and I definitely love them all, but I’m a huge Luke fan because so many of his quirks remind me of Barley’s and since Bar doesn’t have many “real life” friends, I’m glad she has an online one!). I also enjoy your reviews because they’re always incorporated into a story about training or play or mischief and that makes them fun to read and I’ve learned about lots of new products that way! I do like the more serious posts, but my favorites by far are the more personal ones.
Thank you, Beth…I am so glad you like the personal stories. I worry sometimes that I might be boring…LOL…good to know they’re not! I agree about Luke and Barley. Other than his siblings, Luke doesn’t have any friends either, and it’s great to know he has an online friend that he has a lot in common with.
Thanks for saying that about my review posts too. I’ve been doing more lately but I’m trying hard to keep making them just as much about personal stories as sharing products.
I plan to keep going on as I have been…hearing that it works for a lot of people really helps.
We enjoy reading all your posts. Learning & laughing with a great mix of personal stories!
I’m so glad you decided to take the challenge this year. I really enjoy the personal stories and would love to read more of those and also posts like the vaccination series. I learned a lot from that series and also plan on talking to my vet in March about the titer test, especially since Haley had a bad allergic reaction the last time she had multiple vaccinations.
Wishing you all the best this year!
Thank you, Elaine! I sure hope things go well with Haley in March…I am so glad my posts helped. I know when I was going through it, I just could not get enough information and personal stories with research were hard to come by. I think that’s why I like to do that type of thing…I did the same with Luke’s luxating patella…and hope those posts might help someone too.
Great post. I’ve been kind of feeling the same way about doing this challenge, too. I’m sort of not feeling it. I’m not sure why.
Anyways, I love your personal stories best! <3
I love reading your personal stories!
We enjoy visiting your blog and reading about your dogs…and cat! We think you do a great job…keep it up!
I love your blog and the vaccinations series is one of the things that gave me the nerve to tell my vet “no” to certain shots that are given routinely. I enjoy your training posts too.
I am so glad the vaccination series helped you, Melissa! Luke and I have been working hard on training, and we’re going to have a fun post coming up for the training hop next month…hopefully video will be included!
It’s been fun following your blog this past year. I really like the personal stories and the fitness stories.
Yes, follow your dream is great advice. I liked the series you did on pet vaccinations, I know they are a lot of research, but it was nice and easy to learn from the posts.
I love what you wrote… and I will follow my dream, yep, why not… either it becomes true or it stays as a dream… and as long as we can dream we are alive :o) It was great that you visited blog paws last year, I wish I could be there too once… it’s a dream and maybe it becomes true too :o)
We sure would love to meet you and your Mom, Easy!! We will dream of that too, and maybe it will come true!
We are so glad we got to meet in Nashville. Mom is shy too, but BlogPaws always feels like old friends. I think many bloggers are real shy which is why it is so easy to connect there. Your blog is great as is. You love what you do and write and that is the important thing. Keep writing what your heart tells you to write.
Thank you, Emma! I think that is exactly what I will do. It was so great to meet you and your Mom and Bailie in Nashville too. The next conference will definitely be easier now that the ice has been broken!