freshblogger interview: mary from pretty good

Our next blogger on the interview hot seat is Mary, creator of the Pretty Good blog. Mary is also a Kirtsy Editor, which means she gets to search the interwebs for cool stuff that she shares with the world.

Mary has a unique approach to blogging. She overlays words onto her photographs instead of writing separate text descriptions. The results are beautifully photographed images with fun fonts and inspired writing. It is a pretty, design-minded version of I Can Has Cheezburger?. Without the cats. And the bad spelling.

Mary also carefully selects her favorite photos from sites like flickr and displays them on her Tumblr site. This is a whole new form of micro-blogging that I'm planning to try out myself one of these days.

Thanks to Mary for sharing her blogging insights!

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1. What was your blog's "tipping point" (a significant or defining moment)?  

 

So far, my blog has experienced a slow and steady growth, so I can't point to one event -- and, frankly, I'd prefer it that way rather than a more flash-in-the-pan type jump.  My Editor role at Kirtsy has been nice exposure, but mainly I've seen my "audience" grow in two ways:  first, I continue to fine-tune my blog to helped to keep it fresh and interesting.  I'm constantly making tweaks to (and even changing completely) my content and the overall look of my blog so that it really reflects me aesthetically.  I also noticed my audience broadening as soon as I became more active in the blogging community, like commenting more and more on other blogs and connecting offline with other bloggers.  It's a form of networking, really, but you need to stay with it and have good blog content to back it up. 

 

2. Do you ever get blogger's block, when you just can't think of anything to write?  How do you overcome it?  On the other end of the spectrum, do you ever write posts ahead of time when you are feeling particularly creative? 

 

Although my blog is 100% visual (think random photos paired with a few succinct words), I do get blogger's block.  Usually, one inspires the other: I have something to say and I'll take a photo to accompany it, or I have a great image to share and I'll add a few words to it. But sometimes my house is a mess, or it's raining out, or people have seen my hydrangeas 87 times already. And if I don't have a great picture to share, I won't post just anything simply to get a blog entry up.

 

So, since my blog is so image-focused, on days where I have a blogging block I break it by visiting Flickr.  It's my one-stop source for eye-candy overload. I also check out my favorite photography and home decor blogs (already a daily activity, yes; but when I've got a block I really spend time exploring their posts and what they're linking to). Both of these exercises force me to look at my surroundings in a different way. I also just pick up my camera and start shooting away.  Even if it's overcast out and the lighting is horrible, I just play around. I'll walk down to my favorite antiques market and click away at some of their goodies (and, yes, even buy stuff to photograph at home...I like it call it "accumulating props".  You know, like Martha Stewart and her infamous prop room. Somehow this doesn't fly with my husband...)  I never worry about getting a big, exciting shot - in fact, I go in the opposite direction. I focus on the beauty in the details. Some of my best photos are of the most random, simple things -- a strawberry; a scrap piece of pretty ribbon. And once I get a great picture? I snap out of it. I'm excited and re-energized. The ball gets rolling from there.

 

If all else fails, I just forget about it. I put the camera away, I shut down my Google reader, and wait until tomorrow. Sometimes I just need time off to clear my head.

 

If I've gone through a particularly great photo-snapping spree, I'll stockpile a few photos for a rainy day (literally and figuratively). This not only helps during dry spells, but also when my 'real job' gets too busy for me to break away and do a post.

 

3. What is the biggest mistake(s) you've made since you started blogging?

 

For me, it would definitely have to be trying to be like other bloggers instead of just being myself.  I love to write, I love to take photos, I love to share bits of my life and style with others. So I've really had to find and ease into my own writing and photography style, and I've had to really had to figure out what exactly I wanted my blog to be about. And, be secure with it.

 

My old blog looked completely different from the way my new one looks now; not only visually, but content-wise. I started out with much longer, wordier posts, and I eventually found that although I love to write, I was forcing myself to come up with words just for the sake of making sure my post was long enough. (Hey, some of my favorite bloggers practically write chapters of books for their daily posts; wasn't that how I was supposed to do it, too?!) 

 

In reality, though, I was really more comfortable communicating in a tone that was as conversational and easy as possible; I wanted readers to hear my real voice, rather than some perfectly polished paragraph.  For me, that meant being less formal and wordy and just getting to the point of what I wanted to say.  And that's when I realized that my blog wasn't going to be a diary; I'm too private a person for that. It was simply going to be bits of this and bits of that; little snips of things that I saw that I thought were pretty or interesting.

 

So, my posts started getting shorter and shorter, and I quickly realized that I was counting on the photos within my posts to communicate just as much as my words were. I eventually decided to blend the two and incorporate the words right onto the picture. This new format has also given me a chance to play with fonts and design a bit, making it even more fun for me. 

 

While we're talking about photographs...another lesson I learned is that I didn't have to post 57 pictures with each entry. Now, I post only my very favorite ones. I prefer quality over quantity.

 

4. Have you ever kept your blog a secret from certain people in your life?  If you work outside the home (in a non-blog-related job), do your co-workers know that you blog? 

 

I do have a full-time job, and my close friends at work know about and visit my blog. I heart lunch breaks and the ability to schedule posts for future dates :)      

5. Do you regularly monitor the traffic statistics on your blog?  Do you use a stat tool, like sitemeter.com or Google Analytics? Do you make decisions about blogging based on the results that you see in your stats? 

 

I use Sitemeter and I love it.  However, it can stress me out if I pay too much attention to it -- I'm actually a much better blogger when I'm not checking it.  If visits are down one day from the next, it's way too easy to get sucked into obsessing over why, and that's no fun. But I check it every few days, and I do notice that when I am posting regularly, my stats hold steadily increase. And sometimes that's a bit of an incentive when I get lazy.

 

One thing I do think it's a really, really great resource for is seeing who refers readers to my blog. Sitemeter has allowed me to discover when another blog has mentioned mine, when people have added my blog to their sidebar links, and when my blog has hit a site like Stumble Upon. 

 

6. Name a blog that you love and tell us why you love it.

 

It's really super hard for me to name a "favorite" of anything (I'm a Gemini, you see). Especially when I have almost 200 blogs in my Google reader, ranging from photography to decorating to business to shopping to food to personal blogs.

 

But one blog I just love is Oh Happy Day. My heart literally skips a beat when I see that it's been updated with new posts. Why? First of all, Jordan is the epitome of cool. All of her posts -- whether they're pictures of her walking her baby up a hill or of a party she's thrown or a bedroom she'd love to live in or a part of her hallway she's just wallpapered -- simply ooze style. A really unique, very personal style. And whereas I tend to see the same things hit the same blogs across the blogsphere, Jordan seems to post things I haven't yet seen, and I always leave inspired. Her words are straightforward and brief (yay!), and I get the feeling that everything she posts about has been selected with care and are things that she genuinely loves. I also think she has a fantastic way of presenting just the right amount of her life so that it doesn't over-expose her or her family, yet you're left with dy-ing to know more about her. 

 

7. Do you have a blogging tip that you would like to share?

My number one tip is to post on a regular basis. Whether it be daily, weekly, every Wednesday, whenever: give your readers a sense of when they can expect to hear from you.  The beauty of sites like Google Reader or Bloglines is that you don't have to check in with blogs on a daily basis to see if they're got a new post; instead, you're automatically updated when they do.  But even so, in order to establish and keep a readership, you've got to provide content. (Trust me -- even though I live by my Google reader, I do housecleaning regularly and I not only unsubscribe to blogs that I'm bored with, but also ones that aren't updated regularly.) If readers know that you are a dedicated blogger and will be posting on a regular basis, they're more apt to stay with you.

 

My other tip is to just be yourself. Because although I sound like your mother when I say that, it's harder than you think to let your guard down when your blog is published for the entire world to see. Post about what you love, and let your personality show through -- it's the one thing that sets you apart from everyone else -- and people will be attracted to your passion and genuineness. Forget about what you think your blog should look like or be about or have in its sidebar and just make it be something that you're totally pleased with. Be inspired by (rather than try to be a carbon copy of) the blogs you love.  Readers have so much to choose from out there, and not everyone is going to subscribe to your feed. And that's totally OK!  Because chances are there are a lot of people you will resonate with; so just keep at it and be patient. It takes time to develop a readership, and your consistency will be rewarded down the road.   

 

Oh, one more thing: please, no black backgrounds with white font. It hurts.

Comments

[amy]

lovely interview with one of my favorite gals. love her and her blog!

[Helen]

Yay for Mary! Her posts make my day.

[cindy k]

wonderful interview. i love mary's blogs. they're beautiful and her message is succinct. something i definitely aspire to. thanks!

[Sunny]

great interview! love her blog.
great words of advice here.

[Suzanne]

Mary's blog is a daily ritual for me and I love her unique approach...less is more at its finest!

[meg]

thank you for such wonderful and helpful posts. Mary's words really resonate with what I'd like to reflect as a blogger and her advise is really inspirational!

[Chessa!]

A wonderful interview with one of my favorite bloggers. I love her blog for precisely the reasons she states are important - he is herself and her genuine personality shines through! I love her images and her words always resonate.

[frenchgardenhouse]

Love this interview! Thanks for always sharing great bloggers with all of us.
Lidy

[Jill]

I like to use google analytics... it shows you how people get to your site... like what they search for... I will give you an example...

I have a hockey/scrapbook blog... I know odd combo but my 2 passions... so when they search on google for specifics (ie drew stafford + funny interviews... a player on my fave team and some postings I made about his funny interviews) they find me some where in the masses and it's logged on your analytics. This way you can provide yourself better trafficking if you so shall desire... but for us bloggers... its comical to see how they get to us.

Here is a link to see what I am talking about on the comedic side:
Is This My Life Really?

[Jill]

OK well it didnt link soooo... click on my name... go to Google Analytics I heart you post.

Sorry. I am used to Blogger and the HTML coding abilities.

[Joan]

I added sitemeter after reading all of your great blog yesterday. Other than looking at it 50 times a day(just kidding, but barely) what should I do next? I am so proud of myself..I even added the feature so I can know by email when someone comments. So...where do I go from here? xoJoan

[Chad]

Great Article! Really helpful!
By the way, take a look at this site: http://www.vismomedia.com and get paid for hosting cool videos in your blogs.

[Trish @TheOldPostRoad]

Thanks for that interview. Quite helpful!!!
-Trish