BLOGGING Archives - Everyday Edits

My youngest son and I are sitting at the kitchen island listening to the Brooklyn Duo. Evan is working on an English paper and I am writing a blog post; my version of an English assignment. But instead of letter grades, I receive comments. What a difference three weeks makes.

Three weeks (it feels like six weeks) ago I checked my phone and had two missed calls from my son and husband. “Mom, they are sending us home and I have to be out of the dorm by tomorrow at 5 pm.” Wasn’t it yesterday that I said my goodbyes?

So this moment, at the kitchen island, is a gift. A moment in time where I get a little more time with him. I know I am the last person he wants to hang with on a Wednesday night. I am sad he will miss one of the best seasons in the midwest; when the sun starts to shine through the clouds and the mornings offer a stillness that cannot be captured by the written word.

But at this moment … my son is explaining to me the forms of torture in the US criminal justice system.

And, I just asked him which of two blog titles he preferred. I am using the title he chose. He thought my working title, ” How Not to Be One of Those Bloggers” did not set the right tone.

Life is complicated and filled with uncertainties. But this moment I feel a community of support in my friends, neighbors, work friends, family and my blog. As bloggers, we are a community spread across the country and continents. There are relationships and partnerships that bring us routine and structure to a day filled with run-on sentences and grainy photos. Now, more than ever is an opportunity to build our blog community.

Will you join me? I am having a moment.

How to Build Our Blog Community

Leave Comments How do you feel when you wake up to an inbox of comments? And, then how do you feel when you write the funniest ~~post~~ okay sentence, according to your sister, and there is not one comment. Like this post, I wrote the other day. I cracked myself up over the Bic lighter comment.

My goal is to leave 10 comments a week on various blogs. When I read this post about how to handle bloggers who never reply to comments it was an a-ha moment for me. Why? Because I always reply to comments. Hugh’s advice? Stop commenting and move on to bloggers who routinely reply back to your questions and compliments.

How to Build a Blog Community

And along this journey, I met a few wonderful women bloggers.

I connected immediately with Katie and her popular blog, She had me at preppy.

And, my blog friendship with Heather through her blog. Heather is one of my longest blog friends. We originally connected through a weekly Link Party ( I think). The party was full of technical glitches, but our friendship grew.

We discovered our love for Trader Joe’s. And, then we realized we were living parallel lives with our empty nests (just in different parts of the country).

How to Be a Better Blogger

Bloglovin’ Add new blogs to your Bloglovin’ feed. This is my go to destination to catch blog posts and add new blogs to follow.

Join Monthly Challenges: Recently I joined Cindy’s monthly challenge and it has been so much fun. I get double-digit comments and traffic! Not sure where to find a monthly challenge? Start to follow a few and then ask if they have an opening for a new “hostess” or participants. I don’t remember how I found Cindy, but I love her enthusiasm in her posts.

Include a blogger’s funny post or Instagram in one of your posts. And, take a minute to leave a comment or tag him/her on Insta and let them know they are being featured.

I suggest leaving comments on similar size blogs or followers. Except, you know who always emails me back? This wildly successful author, blogger, influencer and busy mom.

Join a Giveaway A few years ago I met Katherine and began to participate in her Season of Giveaways. It is a great way to grow your base and meet new bloggers.

Invite: Katherine and I are looking for ten bloggers who would like to participate in a choice of a Pottery Barn or Amazon gift card. We need a minimum of ten bloggers to contribute $10.00. The larger the group the bigger the giveaway or we can have 2 simultaneous giveaways. If you are interested in participating please reach out to me or stop by Katherine’s blog.

On a side note, Katherine has become a dear friend and we are “state neighbors.”

How to Build a Blog Community

Do you have any ideas on how to build a blog community? What works? What does not work? How do you engage with other bloggers? How do you connect with local bloggers? I would love to hear your ideas.

And, if you have a monthly or quarterly challenge I would love to get on your waitlist. If you would consider joining my once a week newsletter you can add your email address below:

Surprise! Welcome to Everyday Edits (previously Not a Trophy Wife). I know, right. A huge change with user errors, technical glitches and late nights. And, a to-do list that will take the better part of a month. Please stick with me! But, if you skip the why behind my blog rebrand, will you leave a comment on what you think of the new name or follow me on Instagram?

I will share the details and the team behind the rebrand later (once I organize all my passwords. But, let me explain the why behind my blog rebrand. In a sentence, it started in a therapy session with my husband.

That’s right, I paid someone to listen to me talk about my blog.

Well, that is the short version.

I thank my therapist for my blog rebrand. In a monthly therapy/life coach/marriage counseling session, I talked for the better part of the session about my blog; Not a Trophy Wife.

I lit up talking about all the details I love about my blog. And, how my blog pushed my creative side (sometimes over the edge).

The Why Behind My Blog Rebrand

I shared the circumstances behind my blog name. It began with a telephone conversation with my sister in a parking lot at our tennis club. I was asked by a friend to sub for a daytime tennis match. I had primer on my elbow and ceiling paint on my baseball cap. And, I had a car with months old McDonald’s french fries in the back seat. I was a lot of things, but I was not a trophy wife.

With three small kids and a new Realtor’s license (to help fund my husband’s start-up), I told my sister,

“Some days, I just want to be a trophy wife.”

I continued to share with our therapist my blog was an expensive hobby. My blog was my own version of therapy. It was a distraction from my life as a Realtor where the adrenaline of contracts, dates, and deadlines, fueled by coffee, created noise in my head.

Looking at my husband’s face in that session, made me think he thought I had gone off the rails. I am sure he was counting the dollars per minute during that 50-minute session.

I called it passion. Except, except that, I was increasingly uncomfortable with the blog name. I suspected the blog name, Not a Trophy Wife, was judgy with undertones.

But, I was not ready for change. So I danced around my thoughts and persevered thru my DSLR camera. I continued to work on my writing skills with the help of this great article from an unlikely author.

When I ramped up my real estate business two years ago, I knew I had an opportunity to marry the two: the creative side of the blog with the decor and staging ideas I share with buyers and sellers.

It took me three years from those initial feelings of a blog rebrand to the actual decision to initiate a blog rebrand. A trip to Haven placed me in a small blogging group with this lady as the leader.

But, this lady had just rebranded her blog. I followed up with her after the conference about my dilemma. Leslie was a great sounding board.

And, that is the why behind my blog rebrand. I was not the same person when I started my blog. I was evolving and so were my thoughts and my stage of life and my goals. It was time to edit me and my blog. Thank you for sticking with me! If you are new, welcome! I would love social media follows below. laura

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