Just over a year ago we started our blog. It has been… interesting.
At least, it has been for us. We hope it has been for our readers as well. We’ve certainly provided variety: you’ve seen posts about sewing, cooking, gaming, family history, metalworking, camping, and more. You’ve followed Walt’s parents on a journey halfway across America in 1946. Hopefully some of it piqued your interest or taught you a new trick.
It definitely has been a learning experience for us. It started with the “nuts and bolts” part of the website: hosting, blogging software, domains, and so forth. Despite a 30-year career in IT, I had never had much to do with setting up a website before, so there was a lot to absorb in a hurry.
Hugging the Learning Curves
Once we were live, we had to figure out how to make posts, and how to use the software well. That’s still a bit of a work in progress, though we’ve certainly come a way along. We had to figure out how to create Facebook and Instagram pages for the blog, and work out how to link them together. Walt even had to break down and join Instagram.
Every one of those things was a rabbit hole unto itself, and we had to have a look down each one. Fortunately, each time we found some answers in one hole another hole would beckon, so we didn’t get too deep down any of them.
While we were figuring that out, we had to learn how to write a blog. We both have done a lot of writing, but a blog is a little different. There’s an expectation of media content rather than a simple wall of text. The text should be easy to read and visually appealing. There is software that helps figure all this out, but you have to learn how to use that too.
Then we had to learn to deal with constant deadlines and create more or less on demand. That too is still a work in progress.
Learning About Our Readers
The blogging software keeps all sorts of statistics, and some of it makes interesting reading. This is our 162nd post so far. We’ve had nearly 1,200 visitors from 17 countries. We’ve had 180 comments. We can see how people found us, and what folks are reading.
But all the software in the world won’t tell us what our readers want to read about next. For that, we need to hear from you.
Leave a comment!
What subjects were interesting to you? Which subjects would you like to hear more about? What rabbit holes should we explore next?
Aaron
I appreciate the stories of my family!
Sherrey
It’s just fun to read about the interesting things you two are so good at doing and making. Maybe “how I learned to…. or why I wanted to learn about…”
Sandy
I just enjoy the trip down memory lane and appreciate how much you two have done to keep this going. Thank you! I have also started taking screenshots on my iPad and will now add those to a disc to preserve the stories for my family…should they ever be curious to know more!
Love this site!