The Search For "Blog Mojo" - Shocking Confessions

THE TRUTH BEHIND THE UPS AND DOWNS OF GEEK BLOGGING

Three weeks, four days, 17 hours, 34 minutes, and 15 seconds... is exactly not the amount of time that has passed since my last blog post.

In fact, I don't have any idea how long it has been. So while I am searching for my blog mojo, I'm gonna fill you in on the secrets of my rising and falling site traffic.

When I first started blogging a few years ago, I could not decide what in the wide world to focus on and write about. I had three major topics of interest, and tried to balance them all. I sure thought it worked, but my website traffic said the complete opposite.

I struggled to write every week, with hopes to reach the ever elusive level of 100 visitors per day. I thought it would be an impossible task that would take years to achieve. But I actually hit the goal in May of 2011. That was just the beginning of the excitement...

You see, I got lucky. Right about the time that rumors were flying about the yet-to-be-named Samsung Galaxy S2 from AT&T, I happened to write a story about the "Attain".

That was the rumored name at the time. As luck would have it, I was one of very few writers who wrote articles about the Attain, and I eneded up on page 1 of the Google SERPs for that search term.

I continued to write about the Attain, and I sraped every single bit of information from the web on the details surrounding the specs and the release of the smartphone. My blog traffic started to spike.

By July, I was well into the range of 300 visitors per day and growing. I didn't just write about the rumors surrounding the Attain, I also gave my own opinion and predictions about the release. I hit a bullseye.

During the month of August, leading up to the official release of the naming for the Samsung Galaxy S2, I surpassed 1,000 visitors per day and peaked at 1,350 in one day. This was something that went far and beyond my wildest dreams.

But after the release of the flagship smartphone, while the dust started to settle, so did my site traffic. But I still had a base level of 300 to 500 visitors per day thanks to a handful of informative posts I wrote on various technical topics.

I continued to cover smartphone and gadget news, and caught the eyes of several corporations. I have been given devices from some companies to write about, and I also was blessed to have been contacted by AT&T of St. Louis to review smartphones and tablets. This kept my traffic at a respectable level.

But lo and behold, I had an event that all but killed my website traffic. I had to switch blog site hosting providers from Quansite (of California) to Squarespace. After making the switch, I discovered that my blog site was so big, it was impossible to import all of my old posts.

That meant I was left to start from square one with Squarespace. My traffic took a nose dive as my most popular posts now pulled up "404" errors. But I love the new format of Squarespace and I am not regretting making the switch.

Right now I am suffering from a case of lost "blog mojo", and I am having the hardest time finding my "voice". When I first started blogging, my style was professional and "newsy" sounding. Over time, I started to write with more humor and sarcasm, which is a natural fit for me.

But I still have not found my perfect "voice". Once I do, I think I will successfully rebuild my blog site to its former glory. But in the meantime, I am going to commit to writing about anything on my mind that is related to the tech sector. I might even throw in a few articles that deal with technology and marketing.

So while I continue the search for my mojo, please, I beg you, if you are reading this, encourage me in the comments section and let me know if you like my new "natural" style and tell me what you'd like me to write about.

I hope you enjoyed this shocking confession. And I look forward to your comments!

(Cue the crickets)

Carlton Flowers
Gadget Geek Supreme