Stop Ignoring Twitter! How Bloggers and Small Businesses Can Grow a Relevant and Engaged Audience on Twitter

I don't talk a lot about the background of what I do as a blogger, but over the 14 years that I've been blogging, I've grown my blog from a place to share family photos to a small business that helps to provide for our family. What was once a hobby blog, is now an LLC that has been created to help share content to followers all over the world! When I was in college, there was no career out there that involved blogging or social media marketing degrees. The internet barely existed! I've seen blogging evolve and change over time, and we've seen the start of social media in our lifetime. Social media will forever change our world and we've had a front seat to it all! It's crazy!

My blog started to evolve and change. Maybe you've been along for the ride since the beginning. If so, thank you! If you are new here, welcome! I really want this to be a place where I can share real people, real projects and real life. The internet and social media are full of enough fake and curated content, I want to be the girlfriend you can trust who will help you along the way.

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Blog Anniversary Celebration with a Giveaway of a Few of My Favorite Things! Valued at $1500!

This month marks 7 years of blogging. Holy cow! What started out as a hobby for me has turned into a full time job and I am loving it! I had no idea when I started Holy Craft in January of 2010 that a blog could even become more than just a little web diary. If you've never heard the story of how this blog came to be, let me give you a little back story. In 2005, I was expecting our third child. I started a personal blog as a sort of photo album to share pictures of my kids and give a snapshot of our life to our friends and family. Most of them lived thousands of miles away and the blog became a fun way for me to share life. As my kids started to get older, I was able to start exploring some of my passion for creating again. Those creations started creeping up into my personal blog in 2009. Blogging was relatively new then and I joined in on a link party. I realized I had a lot of personal information and family pictures on our blog and directing people to it probably wasn't the smartest move. So I did what any grown-up does and asked my friends on Facebook if they would read a blog if I started one. A few people said yes and I started asking for suggestions on a blog name. Holy Craft was born. The name came from a fun play on words but I also thought it encompassed what I wanted in a blog. The blending of my holy, spiritual side with crafts and creating. There have been a lot of ups and downs in there, but today is for celebrating! I'm giving away some amazing prizes and doing it in a fun way I think you guys are going to really enjoy. Since it's my blog and a celebration of my work anniversary, I wanted to celebrate by giving away my favorite things! Any guesses what they are?!! I'm going to explode, I'm so excited!!!

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Holy Craft is now Rachel Teodoro! Come See the Changes!

Hey guys! I just wanted to pop in and interrupt my regularly scheduled posts to point out all the new changes that are happening here on the blog. I was waiting for the dust to settle a bit before I walked you through the new blog and the new look. I really hope you like what you see. I may even point out features you had no idea even existed. In case you didn't know, Holy Craft is now Rachel Teodoro. Why the change? I'm so excited to share with you a bit of the insider information!

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Things Are Going To Be Changing Around Here!

Back in 2005, I started a blog. I was a young mom with three small children and family and friends were scattered all over the United States. I loved my littles and our adventures and wanted a platform to share them on. I used our family blog to stay connected. Once my kids started entering into school and I waded out of the fog of my postpartum depression, I was able to start exploring me.

You see, many people say that they find themselves in their 20's. In my 20's I was a young bride popping out kids every three years like clock work. I was making the necessary sacrifices that come with raising young children. Slowly those burdens started lifting. My kids became more independent and I started getting back into creating. My creations started taking over our family blog in 2009 and as the blogging world started growing, I decided to link up to a blog link party and share one of my creations.  People started reading my blog. People other than family members and friends and here I was opening up my home and my kids and my family to people I didn't know. 

So I started a second blog I named Holy Craft in January of 2010. I did intense market research {with my friends on Facebook. Take that with whatever authority you will.}, and picked the name Holy Craft based on several factors. 

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Finding balance as a blogger. A few tips to keep you focused on what matters most

I've been blogging for nearly four years now and as I mentioned last week, I am starting to make money through the writing and publishing of this blog. 

I still very much consider myself a stay at home mom.

The money that I make generates enough income to be considered a part time job, 

{all be it, a very poorly paying part time job!}

 There are a lot of reasons why I chose to become a stay at home mom, 

none of those reasons have changed just because I started a blog or because my blog is making money.

I've read several blogs this year, blogs that I have read along with for years, whose bloggers have decided to either quit writing their blog, or to take a step back from blogging to focus on their family more.

I've read their posts and through their descriptions, I am thankful that I haven't been sucked into some of the common blogger traps that suck away family time.

I'm no expert, but i'm hoping that I can share a few ways that I find balance as a blogger and still maintain my home and family life.

1. Set realistic goals for your blog

When you have a realistic goal, you will be able to cut out other unnecessary things that may suck the time away from meeting your goals and distract you from your home and family.

I would love to publish original content five days a week, but after attempting that for a year, I realized that it's more realistic for me to attempt to publish three times a week {Monday, Wednesday, and Friday}. It's a priority for me to have my three posts scheduled at least the week prior to them going live, though that doesn't always happen.  I get most distracted when the kids have a school break or during summer vacation.

I make it a priority to schedule three posts a week and with a little planning that is a very do-able schedule for me.  There are times when I have had to carve time out {I skipped Bible Study today} to make this possible, but publishing three times a week is a realistic goal for me.

2. Set bonus goals

My family comes first, but there are times that I find that my family is taken care of, my home is cleaned and organized and I have bonus time.  This is mostly because I have three kids in school {I don't know how moms with small children blog!}, because believe me, if they are around, there is no bonus time!   Like I mentioned before, my priority is to publish content three days a week.  There are weeks that I get five or six days of new content scheduled.  That would be a good week!  Reading other blogs is another bonus goal of mine.  I like to spend time being inspired by other bloggers.  It is afterall, why I started blogging in the first place.  Another bonus goal is cleaning and updating my blog.  Obviously, it's a super bonus goal since my tutorial page hasn't been updated in two years!   3. Schedule I wish I knew about scheduling my posts when I first started blogging, but I must say, I did't realize that I could schedule posts until I had been blogging for over a year!  It makes an amazing difference and gives me peace of mind, knowing that I have content that I can plan out.  Scheduling makes it possible for me to take trips with my family and never miss a beat.  Once a post is scheduled, there is very little maintenance I need to do.  Sure, it would be great if I joined link up parties, or if I pinned my posts but if I have scheduled a post, all of that is secondary for me, especially if I am spending time with my family.   Last summer my family spent two weeks traveling on a great midwest road trip. The extent of my blogging during that time came down to responding to e-mails {less than 10 minutes a day} since all of my posts were pre-scheduled. 4. limit social media I must confess that this is getting harder and harder for me now, especially since I got a smart phone.  I find myself getting drawn in to instagram or facebook because afterall, they are part of my "job".  Hands free mama wrote a great post about How to Miss a Childhood.  It's a great reminder for me as a mom to not get sucked into my phone and to be present with my children.  My husband and I have made it a priority to put aside all electronics during our evening date time.  Every night from 8:30-10 we disconnect so that we can connect. It's shocking how distracting a little hand held device can be. 5. focus on your priorities As I mentioned before, my priorities as a stay at home mom have not changed just because I have started blogging.  I still very much want to be present for my children, I still want to volunteer in their classrooms or  at their schools and I want to cook dinner and take care of the house in the same way that I was before.  If my house isn't clean, I don't blog.  Blogging doesn't come before helping in a kids school, nor does it come before taking care of my family.   I have between 9:45 and 2:30 Monday through Friday to get everything that I need to get done during the time that my kids are at school.  This includes running errands, making/completing projects for blog posts, cleaning, prepping dinner, and loads and loads of laundry!  That time can sometimes go very quickly during the day, and there are days that I don't even get a second to think about my blog. To be completely honest, I could grow my blog bigger.  I could put more effort into social media and marketing.  I could do 100 things to make my blog more user friendly.  I could spend more hours on my photography.  I could go to blogging conferences, I could update my page, I could make more money, I could accept every opportunity I was given, I could, I could, I could.  But I don't. This year, I wrote about a few blogging goals for myself.  Those goals were written to keep me more focused on what I want to achieve as a blogger this year.  Really, they all hinge on making relationships with other bloggers.  Relationships are important, especially those relationships that we have with the people who live in our homes.  Make them a priority.  They are what matters.
pitfalls for bloggers If I could sum up what I have read is the demise of other bloggers, it is that their blog keeps them away from what matters most.  Bloggers are working long hours into the night on projects, editing photos, answering e-mails, writing tutorials.  Sometimes bloggers take the time out to be with their kids during the day, but then blogging takes place of their time with their spouse at night.  Staying on top of social media can suck hours out of the day and while you may be in the same room as your family, are you really present? The things that bloggers love about blogging {making our own hours and working from home} are the same pitfalls that can distract us. The work never leaves us.  You have to find balance in your own life and sometimes that means that you say "no" I won't be a guest contributor or "no" I won't take that job this month because it would require more hours of my time than I would like.  It may just mean that you put your laptop down after naptime or that you set a timer when you use social media so that you don't get sucked in for hours.  It may mean that your blog doesn't grow at an astounding rate and that your analytics go down, but in the end, the only numbers that matter are the number of people in your home that are receiving your love and your attention.  Do you have any tips on finding balance as a blogger?
I would love to hear them.

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New years goals for 2014

I don't like New Year's resolutions. Since I have school age kids, I prefer to make back to school goals. Our schedule and routine changes every September,  and I think that's a better time for me to try to adjust or change things in my life and schedule. That said, I do like to set goals for the new year. The best thing for accountability is to mention those goals out loud so the rest of you can hold me to them. Will you do that?  O.k., that said, here are a few of my new year's blogging goals. 1. Make more blogging friends source I've been reading blogs for four years now and through those years, I have gotten to know some bloggers, but mostly in a surface relationship type way. Blogging has become my part time job, and I need to make connections and form relationships with people that understand the biz.  People I can share my tips and tricks with while learning a thing or two from them as well.  That said, do you want to be friends?  I am super fun and far more witty in e-mails and in person than I am on my blog. 2.Start an etsy shop I feel like I have been getting the push to start a Holy Craft etsy site for a few months now. I hesitate to put the time in it because I am afraid that I will do all that work and get nothing from it. I get contacted all the time to see if I sell my projects, and while I do sell locally, I think I am ready to branch out.  And when I do, will you all buy, share and spread the word?  I would totally appreciate it! 3. Attend a conference I have yet to attend any blogging conferences or events, though I would love to participate in them because I read from other bloggers how valuable the information is.  Every year I do my best to find a local conference in Seattle {you would think that the tech capital of the US would offer one} but I have yet to find one.  The only way I could attend a conference this year would be through a sponsorship.  If anyone is willing to sponsor me I would be happy to connect and I could pimp out whatever awesomeness you wanted me to...unless it's a laxative.  I don't think I would want to be the face of a laxative.  Then again, never say never. 4. Comment and visit With the invention of instagram and pinterest more and more people are seeing, but less and less people are commenting.  I am guilty of this myself, which is why I plan on commenting on five different blogs or feeds a day.  I think this ties into number 1 too.  I can't promise I won't turn into a stalker though I will try to be appropriate in my comments.  If you don't have anything nice to say {I like how your nail polish looks when you hold that cupcake} then don't say it at all! 5. Embrace technology I must confess, I am not the most tech savvy person you have ever met.  I usually fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to anything technological.  The internet is a magical thing and has tutorials for just about anything, so this year I plan on taking the time and taking advantage of those tutorials to make my blog a more user friendly space. Any suggestions you want to give me on improvements I can make I would appreciate.   I'm very much looking forward to 2014! This year has some pretty awesome stuff on the calendar for me already, I can't wait to see the other exciting things that will fill in the blank spaces of my days. Do you have any goals set for the year? I would love to hear them.

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Two Major Milestones! 1000 Followers and my 500th post!

I'm hitting a few blogging milestones today.
This is my 500th post!
500 times I have hit that schedule button
I've shared projects that I am working on,projects that I find inspiration from,and random things that are on my mind.And yet you still continue to read!

And even though google friend connect is going away,I am happy to report I hit the 1000 followers milestone I was so excited about.That's a lot of people who have stumbled upon my blog and have liked what they have seen.

I am thankful for each and every one of you who read along.It feels like such a celebration!

Thank you!

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I'm making the switch...come with me!

I have heard the buzz around blog land that there are changes that are a comin'.But I have acted like this.

Blogging is hard for me.  I don't have the first clue in writing code.  It has happened more than once that I have pushed some buttons and made our computer nothing more than a box with a blue screen.Put a blogging basics tutorial in front of me and my eyes glaze over.
If you didn't notice I am so close to a blogging milestone.1000 followers!So exciting!!!  
But it doesn't matter because Google Friend Connect is going away March 1.That ticking number has to start all over again from the beginning.That's the hardest part.I don't want to lose a single person.
I finally got the push from Susan at Homeroad to add the Linky Followers Gadget to my sidebar.

I took Susan's advice and headed over to read the amazing tutorial from At The Picket Fence.
What does all this mean for you?If you follow me with Google Friend Connect, you will need to make the switch.It's super easy!You just need to click the follow me button and you won't miss a beat!
You can also follow me on Facebook andat Pinterest
So what are you waiting for?Follow me on Linky Followers so you don't miss anything happening here at Holy Craft!

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