he Blogger’s Corner series is an interview series featuring advice and experience from bloggers whose blogs are older than six months.
If you would like to take part, you can find all of the details here.
This week, we have the lovely Carrie from My Circle UK
1 Introduce yourself
Hi – I’m Carrie. I’m a 42-year-old mum. I have a gorgeous little girl of 16mths and an equally gorgeous partner, Scott.
I work full time within the creative, digital and immersive technology fields – Scott works as a freelance lighting technician. So between us we’re pretty busy.
2 Tell us a little bit about your blog
My Circle UK was set up as a way to capture the various circles in my life.
My family circle, friendship circle, circle of colleagues etc. There are so many aspects to our lives, that I wanted to explore how they all link together.
The subjects it specifically covers are family life, technology, travel and the outdoors.
3 What can your readers learn from your blog?
I hope that they learn something new about technology and the way this is shaping our lives.
I also hope that some of the experiences I share will help and support my readers.
I’m also looking to motivate my readers – whether this is to travel, handle a tricky situation at work or manage family life.
4 What’s your favourite thing about blogging?
The connections with other bloggers and the sheer amount of knowledge I’m gaining in a field that is so new to me.
5 And your least favourite thing about blogging?
That there is sooooo much to absorb. I’m sure I could work all night and still not have a grasp of something. Pinterest comes to mind.
6 Tell us one random fact about you
I’m a qualified South African Game Ranger. Let me know if you need a safari guide.
7 If you could only blog about one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Mmm – it’s probably a tie between technology and family life – there is so much there that can keep on giving.
All families have unique stories to tell and technology advances so rapidly that there will always be something to keep on top of.
But as my blog progresses, I wonder if I’ll say the same things in 3mths time.
8 What was the hardest part of starting your blog and why?
My blog started on a bit of a whim – I hadn’t really thought anything through and I’ve been adapting and changing it since I started at the end of July.
So the hardest bit has been knowing what an earth I’m meant to be doing.
Learning about WordPress, the terminology and how to actually do things.
How to self-host, which theme works best, add badges, show social icons, linkies, crowd sourcing blogs, guest posting, the Facebook groups to join, tribes, boards, Instagram stories – all of it has been a vertical learning curve.
9 If you could give new bloggers one piece of advice, what would it be?
Be a little more prepared than I was. Read some blogs on blogging – what to do first, what to consider with hosting/themes and what the best plugins are.
But mostly – know that if you’re starting from scratch without any blogging experience, it takes time. Time to learn, take information in and get yourself established.
10 Is there anything you know now that you wish you’d known in the beginning?
That things on WordPress can go wrong and that this can be down to issues with the theme/software itself.
I literally wasted a whole day getting so frustrated that my text boxes weren’t saving and it turned out there was a bug in the theme, it wasn’t due to my incompetence. But it took me a long while and a lot of searching on the internet to discover this.
11 Do you have any long term goals for your blog?
Yes, to make income from it – ideally, I’d like to reduce my full time work to part time within a year.
Possible? Who knows – but I am going to try.
12 Who’s your blogging hero?
Good question – I have so many. But Mamapreneur Revolution and #Blogstravaganza – Opportunities, Blog Share & Support have been invaluable to me.
13 What’s your favourite social media network and why?
Stumble Upon – mostly because I hadn’t used it before I started to blog and I’ve found it fascinating and a great resource for other blogs in my field. I’ve also found that this is where most of my traffic comes from.
14 Anything else you want to share with us?
Blogging can be so rewarding, but it can also be quite tough – especially when your traffic numbers are low and when you’re not sure why an earth you’re doing it.
But there are so many communities and individuals who have and are experiencing all of the challenges you’re facing – so utilise all of them. You’ll find the motivation and inspiration to keep on going.
15 Where can we find you? (blog link and links to any social media)
Blog:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mycircleuk/
Twitter:
Instagram:
Pinterest:
StumbleUpon:
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