My Goal As A Blogger

Trisha over at Momdot is hosting another Blog Hop. This week, she asked “What are your goals as a blogger?” and “How did you get started?”

The second question is easiest to answer, so I will tell you that first. My son, who is in the Air Force, was stationed in England, and met his wife, Sarah, over there. I wanted her to get to know me and the rest of the family before she came to the United States to live. A sort of WELCOME to her. In the beginning, I just wrote as if I was writing to my family.

Over time, things changed. My husband and I worked at campgrounds and resorts, so I wrote about where we were, posting pictures of places we went, and telling about our sightseeing trips. I found out I had to eat gluten free, so I started writing about recipes and products I had tried. I love to sew, so my sewing projects soon became topics of blog posts. And THEN! One day I got an email from someone asking me if I would like to try their gluten free product and write a review. Who, ME? I was flattered by that, so I said yes, and soon I was writing reviews too.

And THEN! I got an email offering to pay me to write articles on another website. OMG! ME? Me, who had failed ninth grade English 4 times was being asked to write for money! Of course I said yes. Who wouldn’t. I did that for a couple of different websites for about a year or so. And THEN! I was getting offers to write for pay on my very own blog! All this made me feel so good! I could call myself a writer because I was getting PAID to write.

So, what are my goals for the future of my blog?

More money from writing and advertising:

I want to be able to make money from writing this blog.It’s not so much that I want to flood my blog with advertising, nor do I think that the advertising is a turn off for my readers, it’s just a reality that my social security, which I may or may not be able to draw in just a few years, is not going to be enough to meet my needs financially. So, if I could make $1500 to $2000 a month consistently, that would be wonderful. I’m not to that point yet, but I know that it is not such an unreachable goal.

More reviews of products of interest to mature women:

I would still like to continue to write reviews of products that are of interest to women of “a certain age”. It is no secret that I am a grandmother who turned 60 years old this year. I love to write reviews, and if it is a really nice product, I like to include a giveaway as well. While we as grandmothers are still interested in the cute baby products, we have other interests and needs that are different from when we were young moms. Send me some cute handbags, some flat shoes, some steamed crabs or some steaks from a gourmet company. Send me some products for mature women. I’d rather try out a moisturizer than a perfume. A pretty serving platter than a baby stroller. Or a set of wine glasses than a set of baby  bottles.

Reviews of home remodeling and decorating products:

I would also like to review items for remodeling and decorating my house, so I can turn it into a home. We bought it in December 2011, but we haven’t actually lived in it yet. We have no furniture, no refrigerator, no stove, no curtains, no anything for it yet, so I am wide open to pitches for those kinds of things.

I want to be invited on trips, and to attend some blog conferences:

I see some of my favorite bloggers going on trips to learn about cool products and places. I would like to be invited to some events and trips too. I think it would be fun to meet other bloggers, and to be able to bring my experiences back to my blog. I have registered for my first blog conference, Food Blog South, and am so excited to be going. I hope to learn more about writing about and photographing food there, as well as meeting some other bloggers in person. The social aspect of blogging is really important to me, and this is my first time stepping out from behind the computer to meet up with some fabulous people.

Increase my audience:

I would really like to be able to increase the number of readers I have. I may or may not be an interesting person, but I do try to make what I write be as interesting as possible.  I try to include a few sewing tutorials, some recipes, some solutions to problems that I have run into along the way. I share my life, my dreams, the ups, the downs.

And lord knows I have written about subjects that seem to be TMI, but if I am having a problem that I can find nothing about when googling, then there are others out there who have the same problems who need information. I believe that we as women need to share our stories so that when we have a problem with itching, we can see that we are not alone.

I would like to have more followers on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr.  So, if you have been reading my blog for a while, and haven’t followed me on any of these places, please do, and leave me a comment to let me know.

Finally, I would like for my audience to comment more on the things I write. Tell me I’m crazy, tell me you love me, tell me your thoughts. What would you like to see more of here? What products would you like to see reviews and giveaways for? Do you have any sewing questions you’d like answered? Any tutorials you’d like to see? Yes, it’s my blog to write whatever I want to write, but I’d really like to know what you, my readers, would like to see more of here.

So, there it is, my ambitious new plan for Fabgrandma.com. What do you think?