Happy Half Birthday To Me

Today marks six months since I started blogging. On the same day that I wrote my first post, The First Question About Daddy, I also signed up with FB and Twitter. On the one hand half a year has gone by very quickly, but on the other hand, I cannot now imagine a time without blogging, FB and Twitter and, of course, all the lovely people that I am now in contact with daily. Below are a few things that I have been reflecting on recently.

My Name. Midlife Singlemum may have been a mistake - I can't decide. I chose it to include words that would show up on searches and firmly establish my niche. In that respect it hasn't disappointed (although I have branched a little into expatland). However, I am a bit tired of having people greet me in the street with a, "hello Midlife!" It's beginning to sound more middle-aged than I like to feel. Other jokes include Midlife Crisis and Midwife. I tried to think of a way to shorten or change it without losing my place in the blopgosphere (Like MTJAM for example) but MLSM sounds like a text message or, worse, a hospital superbug. Any suggestions gratefully recieved.

Blogger. I love my blog. I love the layout and that I can put a picture behind the page. The template designs are a bit limited in what they can let me do, but it's fine for now. The only big question I have is what is the story with the All time stats? My top story has been my first post for the entire six months. The All time stats for this post show between 207 and 209 views (yes it  goes down as well #illogical). However, the very same post receives more views regularly. I have tried to ask Blogger but so far no reply. Which is why I wonder, should I switch to another host before I try to grow any bigger? Is it worth paying for the security of technical support and back-up facilities. Again, I would be happy for the advice of more experienced bloggers.

How to Monetize. I have an unusual situation whereby, although I have many readers in Israel where I live, I find myself writing more for readers in the UK. This excludes me from most promotions, competitions, and advertising. On the other hand, I am putting so many hours into blogging it's a shame not to be able to make money out of it. I'll have to think more about this one.

Traffic. In the beginning I was thrilled when I averaged 50 views a day. Then I started to join other sites and clubs - Tots 100, Netmums, Britmums, Expat Blog, Go Overseas. I participated in memes, carnivals and linkies - Silent Sunday, MUMenTUM, Meal Planning Monday, Blow Your Own Blog Horn and Tracks of my Years. Suddenly it seemed to take on a life of its own and I can have up to 250 views a day (on a good day). I know I'm still among the small fry compared to the big fish out there, but it still fascinates me to see the unlikely traffic sources on my stats page. And you can't aim higher if you don't know where you are now.

Klout. What can I say? There seems to be no rhyme or reason. In a week that I decided to socially engage with a vengeance on FB and twitter in order to up my Klout score, I initiated some long FB threads and in the same week I picked up two new followers on the blog, several on twitter, new friends on FB and got more pageviews than ever before, my Klout score went down. To be fair, it bounced back a bit after two days. This leads me to think that they may have a 48hr delay in filtering data. Who knows? However, it all adds to the fun and I do love the number games.

SEOs. In case you are wondering why I have linked to so many sites on a post that is essentially about me. This is something I learned from Jax at Making It Up. As my current techno-guru she advised that linking up increases your search potential and leads to more traffic on the blog. So I do link up at every opportunity. It's a win-win situation.

And that's it. Not the initial lessons about starting a blog that I learned and listed in A Blogging Marvelous Month, five months ago, this is I think a slightly more sophisticated set of ponders befitting a half-year veteran. Let's see what the next six months has to offer...