Can you guess what my most googled blog post is? It’s this one: dare you to paint your cabinets black. If you Google ‘pictures of black kitchen cabinets’, this post is the second result. And it kind of kills me for the following reasons.
1. Black cabinets do not photograph well. Not only that, I am currently more skilled at photographing them than I was when I wrote that post. So every time I see that post I think to myself what horrible pictures. Based on those, I should totally paint those cabinets white.
2. They really do look better in person.
3. (and most importantly) My blog is not about painting kitchen cabinets.
And that is really the issue here. The truth is, I am impossible to find on Google. Really. If someone were looking for a blog like mine, they would never be able to find it. Because the truth is, people don’t search Google for blogs like mine. They search Google for information. I don’t really offer that.
For some bloggers, it is super important that their posts be Google-able. That is how they find their audience, build their business, and make their money. For bloggers like me, it can get a little fuzzy. July 2008 was my highest trafficked month ever. Some reasons for that are because I posted more often than ever that month, I did a weeklong series on babysitting that was pretty popular, I showed lots of house-y stuff and I embarrased myself in a couple of posts I would rather forget. But all of that writing brought me to now.
Even though I don’t write as informational anymore, I like to think I have found a voice that is more me. Even better than that is that I have found you. Or you have (somehow) found me. Because though traffic is important, the right traffic is even more important. In July 2008, I don’t believe I could have convinced 70 or so of my readers to link up each week and celebrate the small gifts of the everyday because I was attracting an audience who wasn’t into that kind of thing so much.
I like posting about my house every now and then. And I’m okay with the fact that ‘a house-lover’ is my most searched category. I know I would get even more traffic if I posted more of that stuff. But if I did, I would go a little bit crazy in the head. It is so important to write about the things that you love. You teach people what to expect from you in your writing. Whatever you offer, they will either come (or not come) because of it. And that is what you want. I guess I’m simply here to say I don’t know how you found me, but I’m sure glad you did.
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