Ten Years of "John's Blog Space!"
Here are some of the talking points of maintaining this blog for over ten years.
The "Anything and Everything" Change.
When I decided to blog about multiple topics, it was because I wanted my material to be about more than one specific topic or group of topics. I even did blog posts for money. Anyone who may know about my blogging history know that I actually admitted blogging for money. Even with my time on "John's Blog Space," there were some times when I did some posts for money. All the while, though, I remained real in posts past and present. I blog for the world; not for money.I started being "anything and everything" when I did a game review and even when I blogged about fashion. I guess I wanted my blog to be about much more than what it was initially supposed to be about. I wanted to expand and enhance my content. If I didn't make this blog to be so open, it probably wouldn't be as popular and wouldn't have as much of an audience.
Growing a Blog.
Once I started meeting people worldwide through my blogging and posting in other blogs, I started gaining a good amount of popularity. I used "John's Blog Space" as my main blog and my main outlet to a lot of sites online. It has served as my online identity. I thought of a bunch of topics to not only enhance this blog, but also have this blog as my medium of discussion of lots of topics. Because I love stars and space and nighttime, that's why my blogs have had themes of space.To show that people actually care about my material and post about it, I sometimes get E-Mails offering suggestions or even get some offers for my blog posts. Some occasional posts tell me to add certain links to already existing posts, or someone may even offer me to discuss certain topics and get paid for my opinions. Some other times tell me to remove certain material. Legitimately, there were times (for example) when I mentioned certain personalities in my Beauties-themed post, and they want their names removed from my posts after their names came up from certain searches online. Of course I discuss things with professionalism. However, there are some times where I have to keep my material fresh without fear of invading privacy. Even my oldest blog posts and my rarely-updated posts get some kind of attention.
On the offers front, I make sure to post about material properly. I also am careful about accepting certain offers. There are times I do some posts for money and traffic. However, I want to do things right and be real with what I post. I want my material to last for a long time.
"Mother Blog" Status and Spinoffs.
If there was one thing I learned about blogging, I thought it was best to set up different blogs on different topics rather than have this main blog as the "mother blog," so to speak. The first breakaway blog was called "John's Shop Space." That blog was meant to provide certain offers to readers based on material from my blog posts. I discontinued that blog because people were looking for a certain topic that made me uncomfortable as a blog owner. My Gran Turismo topics would set up "John's Gran Turismo Space," to later be named "John's Race Space." I was going to name my fashion blog as "John's Style Space," but StyleSpace was taken, and I didn't want a second "JSS" to provide confusion. So for identity's sake, "StyleSpace, by John B. Marine" was born. I started feeling creative, and so I started "John's Creative Space." In dedication of my late grandmother, I decided to start a blog devoted to life issues. Therefore, "John's Life Space" was born. Despite all of the blogs I have created, I have an extra blog I've created, but it is only to test new blog layouts and test different coding features.Why did it take me so long to make these blogs outside of my main one? I actually feared having a niche blog. Then too, having concentrated blogs properly divides your audience, and you can make concentrated posts on specific topics. I try to contribute to all of them. A lot of my JBS blog posts were used in creating versions of topics in my other blogs. My main blog was still my main outlet regardless of the content I produced to other blogs.
"John's Blog Space" Over the Years.
I can remember my blog's popularity taking off when I played the kiosk demo of "Gran Turismo 5." I would average about 30K monthly blog views. Then as time went on, I would average 20K a month. Then 10K. Sadly now, I'm fortunate I get to even 5K views a month. I feel my main blog has slowly been dying. However, while most bloggers start a blog and don't maintain it much or regularly support it, I tried to keep the blog active for now 10 years. I am certainly proud of my accomplishments even if my blog is not the view juggernaut it used to be.Something else I am proud of is seeing my blog posts being read by people around the world. The whole world doesn't comment on my material, but I am at least proud my material is out there for people to enjoy. I am pleased at whatever attention I get. While I do want the attention, I want it to be because I've posted quality material.
My Suggestions for Future Bloggers.
The reason why I stuck with blogging is because I enjoy it and because I want to offer material for all to enjoy. My Blogger/Blogspot profile says I have been part of this platform since May 2007. However, I didn't really start posting until January 23, 2009. Blogger/Blogspot has served me well and remains fairly simple to use. It is best to find something that interests you and that you can turn into posts online. Once you get used to making posts and speaking your mind, then what follows is further interest to post about anything that you have passion or interest about. I know I am suggesting Blogger/Blogspot as your blogging platform to use since I've used it for more than a decade, but there are other blogging platforms you can use in case Blogger/Blogspot isn't one you like.People do have lives outside of blogging, and not everyone looks to blogging as a source of income (if you care about getting paid for your blogging work). Update your material regularly if it is something that people are interested in. Try to grow an audience by posting in other peoples' blogs. Your courtesy can lead to getting more people to visit your own blog. Of course, it helps to weed out any potential spammers. Speaking of which, make sure to be careful about dealing with certain suspicious comments. Some people simply post innocent looking links and sound sincere when they are really trying to post spam material to boost suspicious sites. So be careful when getting certain comments and meeting certain people. When people add to your site's popularity, find out what your most popular topics are and try to offer more material to popular posts.
If you receive offers to have others offer you money for posting about certain topics or having certain banner ads, take them carefully. Make sure it is of something that you can confidently post about and that it would benefit both you and your readers. Don't just take certain offers just because you need the money or that you want money. It is optional, but if you want to make money online (or even send and receive money), try setting up a PayPal account since there are some people who will offer you money by paying you through PayPal. The offers will tell you that they want you to post about something that you will get paid for, or you might be offered to post a certain image with a specific link and anchor text for which you will be paid. Some of the topics you post could result in great offers for quality posts. In fact, some sites could pay you up to $50 USD for quality posts on your site based on offers. So take advantage of these if you are on the side of money and look for as many different quality post opportunities as you can!
Other than that, enjoy blogging for all it's worth and because you want to offer your voice and personality to the world through the means of blogging. And most of all, if you enjoy blogging, stick with it and try to make your own blog and your own public self more viable to the greater public-at-large. Life does get in the way with your work. Despite this, just regularly add to your blog to keep your productivity high and to keep your creativity high. Post on a certain schedule if that helps. In addition to regular posting, social media involvement will greatly help your online appeal. So post often by connecting your blog to various social media platforms you use commonly.
Final Thoughts and Looking Ahead.
You have no idea what it takes to dedicate this much time and effort to keep this blog maintained. Maybe I could have found a real job and really get out into the world. Maybe I could have a more successful blog than what I have accomplished so far. Despite my struggles, I still tried to keep this blog up as well as my others. I am most certainly thankful for all I have done so far.Granted I and Blogger/Blogspot exist long enough, it may be possible I could maintain this blog for another ten years. Maybe 25 years. No matter what, I want to keep doing this blog and possibly even keep it as active as I can. "John's Blog Space" basically is my job unless I find some other ways to make money. Like I've posted on behalf of BetterHelp for my life issues blog, "John's Life Space." Besides my blogs, I try to keep the material from my creative works site, JMDesigns, active.
Thanks to Offer.
I prefer having organic traffic than the occasional spammers to visit my blog; but with that said, I am thankful for all of my loyal blog readers. I have a lot of fans of my work who read my blog posts and interact with my work. I am thankful for doing what I love and maintaining what I love and have the loving support of fans worldwide.Thank all of you for making a lot of my posts popular. Thank you for commenting on my posts (especially non-spam comments). Thank you who have actually donated to my work (the PayPal Donation thing DOES work!). It is great to know people actually do care about my material. I hope you can continue to support me and my material for a long time to come. Can't say this enough...
THANK YOU!!!
You have no idea how much you mean to me as a reader/visitor of my work. Please do not stop supporting me any way you can. Once you see my closing comments, be sure to click on the links in the table to further support my work and to see more of my work.
Thank you for reading this blog post, and thank you for supporting my work for the 10 years it has existed! Take care and be well. Further support me and my work and get social with me by taking a look at the items below in this table. Your participation here is voluntary, but would be greatly appreciated. Anyhow:
| Support My Creative Works! | ||||||
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| JMDesigns | Patreon | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Twitch | OpenGameArt | TurboSquid |
| Get Social With Me! | ||||||
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| Facebook (Friends) | Facebook (Fans) | YouTube | Google+ | LinkedIn (professionals only) | ||
| Questions or Comments? Contact Me (serious inquiries only)... |
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| Contact Me via E-Mail |
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