BlogPaws

Who's Reading My Blog, Anyway?

All of us write our blogs with the hope that it will reach a lot of like-minded people. Whether those people are pet enthusiasts or other pet bloggers, or our local veterinarian, the goal is to get noticed by more than our Mom.

One way to determine who's reading your blog is by the comments you attract. You can always follow the link provided in a comment back to the commenters blog or website and thank him or her for visiting your blog and participating in the conversation.

You can also figure out just who's visiting your blog by streaming the feed to your Facebook page and checking for likes or folks who 'share'.

BlogPaws - the Place To Be August 25th!

For those who have not yet had the opportunity to check out the BlogPaws Conference speaker page and/or program page, Chester (seen here with Emily) is giving you his deepest, Why Not? stare. So, let me nudge you to get over there today.

See our Fab Speakers Here.

See our Fab Program Here.

Early bird pricing for the conference is over...OMG!!!... on Tuesday. Let me think - that's tomorrow!

Another little nudge - are you a member of our growing community? Your friends are there. And, it's the place we're going to be going when we have ad opportunities, or blogger outreach opportunities, or product reviews. Plus, there are a lot of great conversations on writing, which blog platform to use, big dogs, little dogs, traveling with your dog, second chance dogs and cats, and... a ton of photos and videos you won't want to miss!

Putting it in writing: An emergency pet plan

By Guest Blogger Robbi Hess

By now, everyone has heard of the tragedies that have struck the mid-West and it got me to thinking about how prepared -- or unprepared -- am I to take care of Henrietta in the event of an emergency. Sure, she is small enough to grab up and run but what happens after that? What about food, water, her medical records. If my area of the country was struck by a tornado or a flood, how would I do the simple things like hold onto her in the face of a torrent from Mother Nature?

There are countless tragic and heartbreaking as well as uplifting stories being told about pets being reunited with their families and that made me wonder -- Henrietta is an indoor dog (to the point of being a house cat!) how would she survive if we were separated? She is skittish around strangers, too bold around animals bigger than herself and has never had to fend for herself. It got me thinking...

A Tribute to Animal Rescuers

As viewed first on Facebook thanks to The Naked K9 and The Patrick Miracle.

 

Pet Blogging: Why Do I Need a Niche? (Part 2)

Guest post by Carrie Boyko of All Things Dog Blog

In the past 9 or 10 months I’ve found myself assisting a growing group of would-be bloggers in getting started. The biggest question that I have determined these folks need an answer to is “Why Do I Need a Niche?”

If you consider all of the various types of pet businesses that could be promoting their individual ventures with a blog on their website, you can imagine the potential number of blogs. Add to that those of us whose blog is our business and you may begin to see that there are literally hundreds of niche combinations.

Defining our niche to attract the perfect readers is the challenge that we face. Last week’s assignment should have you on the way to understanding who your current readers are. Next time I return, we’ll be working on whom we’d like to be reaching as we go forward.

Sure, you can start a blog that meanders all around the general topic of pets. You might get lucky. But even great content without a clear direction will get lost in the masses. Creating a Niche means selecting a group of themes that you are passionate about, and finding a way to bind them together with a title that tells the tale, and content that follows through. You may enjoy this light-hearted article I found in ProBlogger’s archives, although I believe his pet blogging example may be a bit too broad. He does make other good points, however. I believe choosing our niche’s themes is rather like boxing: the one-two punch combination wins every time. It’s all about how we combine our assorted themes that creates our niche.

You may be asking, “Can I do occasional events to encourage rescue or fight puppy mills, even though I am a grooming blogger?” The answer is a resounding “Absolutely!” You just need to work that into your niche. You can easily brand yourself as the groomer that cares about animal rights. If your content follows suit, your blog will do well and attract new grooming clients who will love you for your dedication to encouraging adoption and fighting the puppy mill battle with information.

Have you had enough time to complete the assignments at my Workbook Page? If not, you’re lucky. I’ve decided to give you 2 more weeks to work through the thought processes. Then we’ll be hitting it again from a new angle, so be prepared.

In two weeks we’ll work on some exercises in selecting your niche categories more thoughtfully. Hopefully we’ll all learn a little something about the overarching message of our blogs, and be able to see our themes more clearly as we group them with care. Just like a boxer uses a combination of moves to win his fights, you too need to select and carefully weigh in on your combinations. I’ll be back in two weeks to begin boxing practice. Be sure to bring your open mind as well as some time for homework. Class has begun.

Carrie Boyko writes All Things Dog Blog, where our goal is to help our readers with strategies for happy dogs and happy families. 

(Look for the next installment on June 10)