Anyone seen my Blog?

 

To be honest, I mainly set up this Blog for my own amusement and to exercise my brain in a creative way. It is a journal and collection of thoughts which I thought might just be of interest to some people in the blogging community.  I hoped that through it, I would come across other blog sites worth reading for my own amusement.  But it appears I am the only one who looks at it and there’s a limit to how often one can read and admire one’s own handiwork and so ‘hits’ are probably still in single figures.  I’ve realised that despite tagging, listing interests on Blogspot etc., no-one appears to know my Blog is out there. 

Also, I have managed to discover only one or two other personal Blogs of any interest although I know there must be millions of good ones out there.  The only easily searchable blogs seem to be focussed on fashion, lifestyle, fitness, travel, DIY, music etc. most of which are irritating or irrelevant.  And when I used Blog search sites to find some ‘personal’ blogs based on an individual’s random experiences or points of view, they are either weird, complete drivel or they have been abandoned after a few posts.  A recently discovered exception I came across is Take it Easy

So before my interest in continuing with The Old Bloggler wanes completely, I thought I would look up tips on how to write and promote a blog.  First I am supposed to have a niche subject and a target audience.  Well, at present my writing is not focussed on anything in particular and I have no idea who might be interested in my ramblings. Not a good start. Second, I am supposed to interact with other bloggers and use social media to promote my blog.  Well I have ‘liked’ and commented on other blog sites in a friendly, constructive and hopefully amusing way but – no reciprocation yet!  As far as social media goes, I don’t like the idea of being on Instagram or Facebook or any other similar social media platform simply because I find them intrusive and untrustworthy.  If I did use them, I wouldn’t know what to post to anyone who wasn’t a friend or a family member. I am advised to get friends to visit my blog and comment or make recommendations, or send links to others to access my Blog.  The problem is, for some reason I am too embarrassed to tell any friends and family that I have started a blog.  They may think its rubbish or pretentious.  I would rather a few complete strangers had a look at it and offered a comment or two first.  So it’s the proverbial Catch 22 situation.

Another bit of advice was to make my blog attractive: use GIFs, videos, photos.  Yeah, point taken.  It’s just a faff searching for an appropriate image to go with the post.  I once used what I thought was a free an image of Nick Clegg MP on my company web site news blog – and got fined – so I am a bit cautious.  I should take my own photos! 

Also, I know my blog is just a ready-made template and only a certain amount of tweaking is possible but hey, I have just started. But then what is the point striving for a arty-farty graphically slick blog interface when no bugger will be able to appreciate it?  

All this leads me to the inescapable question, “Why on earth did I just write this post… to myself?”