In this interview Erica Mueller talks about the challenges of finding her niche and building a strong community around her blog.
Tell us a little bit about your blog.
EricaSays.com is committed to helping new bloggers find their way. From how-to for posting in WordPress, to tutorials on popular plugins, I aim to bring information and know how to the beginner in an easy to understand and follow format. I also cover tools and software useful to bloggers, tips for social networking, a few photography tips and music recommendations, and reviews on anything tech.
How long have you been blogging for? What made you want to start blogging?
From the beginning? At least five years. I started out journaling my life to share with my family after I got married and moved away. I posted every day stuff and some pictures. Then I moved on to more of a mommy-blogger format, offering household tips recipes. I tried for a while to monetize that and had no luck at all. I got burnt out and nearly quit.
Around mid-2009 I took serious stock. Should I give up blogging all together and just focus on my design business? Blogging had provided such an outlet for me in the past that I found giving it up very hard. I began to brainstorm and realized I’d just been in the wrong niche. I needed to focus on providing support to my design clients and making that information publicly available. It was then that EricaSays.com took on a whole new focus.
What were some of your biggest challenges when you first started blogging?
Finding readers and people to contribute to the community I’m trying to establish has always been the most difficult challenge. I get quite a bit of search engine traffic, and from the stats I can see that they’ve found what they were searching for. However, very few of these people actually leave a comment or come back. I have to remind myself that even if they didn’t show their appreciation, I have helped them in some way, and that’s what I’m here for… to help people.
How did you overcome these challenges?
I’m still battling some of these challenges, but have found that becoming a valuable member in other communities and commenting on other blogs has helped to bring people to my site. Social networking, joining some un-official blog alliances, and having friends who’ll leave a few comments to help break the ice has been the biggest key to my growth. Suddenly the first-time visitor feels more comfortable leaving a comment!
What is a recent milestone that you have accomplished with your blog? How were you able to achieve this milestone?
For months I’ve been brainstorming about a change in design. I’ve been without a real logo since the beginning and as of this week, I know what I want and have set goals for getting there. I’ve commissioned some artwork and am laying things out in my head, and on paper.
I think having a clear idea of where I’m going has been monumental. Once I got that straight in my head, the ideas for design and marketing started falling into place.
What is your next goal that you want to achieve with your blog?
Part of my goal to re-design my site is making it easier for readers to find the content they’re looking for. Another goal is to grow my newsletter readership so I can help more people, promote some products I really believe in, and connect with my readers on a new level.
What is your best tip for other people out there who might be new or struggling with their blogging?
Define your niche. Ask yourself, could I blog about this topic for three months, a year, three years, even without pay? Knowing your passion is essential.
Stick with it!
Thanks again Erica for taking the time to do this interview.
Erica is a wife, mom, bookkeeper, and blogger by day, graphic designer and WordPress theme modifier by night. Not to mention an adventuress on the weekends! She love photography, cooking, and gardening.
Follow @EricaMueller on Twitter.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
This was an interesting article to read, so thank you Paul and Erica.
I’m really enjoying your series on fellow bloggers, Paul as it’s nice to learn about how other bloggers started out and how they overcame some of the challenges we all face.
I always suspected that there were secret ‘un-offical blog alliances’ – how does one get in, I wonder :-)
Thanks for the insights.
Karen
Paul,
Thank you for the opportunity to be featured here! I’m sad I’m just now getting to see it as I’ve been out of town and misplaced the link you sent me. Had to search for it when I got home. haha
Karen,
Blog alliances are amazing! They can be formal, or informal. Some are just groups of friends who agree to help promote each other, and others are more focused by niche. When I joined the group I’m in, I didn’t know a single one of the members. I now have 8 new friends! It’s amazing what connecting with each other on a daily basis can do!
Connect with some people in your niche, visit groups like the Twitter12, forums, etc and get a group of people together who would like to commit to tweeting, commenting on, and linking to each other’s posts.
Nice to see some different questions! Good interview.
I didn’t realise you’d been around the blogging scene for so long Erica. I guess that explains why your stuff is so damn useful!
Thanks, Erica for your response. Paul kindly send me an email about the topic as well. I guess I’m doing the same thing now by joining forums and getting to know my core group of readers well. We are an ad-hoc blogging alliance just by checking out each other sites, offering advice, writing comments, and retweeting the best articles.
Thanks for the discussion and resources.
Karen
LOL Thanks, Mike!
Yea, I’ve been at this since before Wordpress was cool. ;-) I’ve kinda grown along with it and while I’ve changed my focus a few times along the way, I’ve been blogging, and designing for years. I designed HTML sites for people before I even knew what a blog was. :-)
OK Erica this threw me at first. Saw the banner to your own blog, and though, what the, you’re interviewing yourself. This is a new twist to blogging.
But soon relised that I was way wrong.
Ok so it’s a blue Monday for me.
Anyway nice interview. I still think that the biggest challenges facing bloggers today is finding loyal readers. This is something that will rage on for a while yet. Well for me anyway.
Well I am very grateful you found your niche because I have learnt so much from you, especially on the Wordpress front. Keep up the good work.
Robert, I am LOL @ you thinking I interviewed myself. Yes, that would be a new twist, wouldn’t it! I should try that… or NOT!
Kevin, I have a hard time believing I could teach you something when your posts on cloud computing make my brain overheat and refuse to process. haha But, that is the beauty of blogging… we each have our own area of expertise. We don’t have to know all of it to teach something to someone else. Thanks for the kind comment, and for being one of the few who always lets me know my work is appreciated.
Very nice interview, and thanks to Paul and Erica.
Erica has been a really good and helpful friend and I am happy for her success. I have seen her really take off in recent months and know that will continue.
This is great to see!
Cheers Paul, thanks for showcasing my friend Erica..Nice insightful interview.
Besides her many talents, she’s also a great encourager.
Thanks Erica