Happy 1st Birthday, Blog – No More Diapers (Or Projectile Vomiting)

The By All Writes Moonlight Blog is officially one year old as of today, March 19. It seems like just yesterday I was taking my first blog post baby steps! I’ve most recently taken off the training wheels with better formatting and proper use of the block quote feature in WordPress.

Although I only blog once a week, I’m quite proud that I’ve not gotten lazy. I’ve now managed to unleash more than 52 blog posts upon you all, my unsuspecting and valued readership. Here are the highlights (and lowlights) of my Doors-inspired blog to date:

The South Jersey Spotlight Shines Brightly as a Guest Blog Post: I do a lot of face-to-face networking in the South Jersey area. Thus, it seemed natural to me to use my blog as a platform for offering business friends and kindred spirits some free online publicity. It turns out that my instincts here were correct – the SJ Spotlight is one of my most high-traffic blog posts each month!

Some of my high-traffic blog guests have included Michelle Helfrich of MH Design Company, Esther Greenberg, massage therapist, and Amelia Michael of Aikotek LLC.

Blog Posts Related to Food and Drink are Hot: I conducted a (wildly unreliable) research study last fall regarding the use of Panera Bread versus Starbucks for business networking meetings. Honestly, I didn’t anticipate much of anything. But with a fillip of serendipity, I poured myself a big, steaming mug of online activity. This blog post heated up several of my LinkedIn groups for weeks. In particular, the New Jersey networking groups played location analysis volleyball with this one!

Based on all the feedback I received, you can expect future blog posts regarding independent coffee meeting places and perhaps an analysis of South Jersey venues for networking happy hours.

My Readers Like (and Need?) Grammar Assistance, Writing Tips, and Dirty Words: These particular blog posts always elicit the most engagement and actual comments (versus mere liking). Obviously, I should craft more of these ‘bloggerly’ missives. In case you didn’t glean any grammatical wisdom the first go-around, it’s not too late to learn the difference between affect and effect. You can also revisit the perplexing world of it’s versus its and you’re versus your for more grammatical assistance.

I’ll also continue to offer help with your social media efforts regarding LinkedIn invitations, LinkedIn recommendations, and more. And naturally, if I can improve your ability to be profane in another language, no amount of merde will stand in my way…

Not Everyone Values the Wall Street Journal and Greek Mythology (and That’s Okay): I did a little due diligence and can report that some of you don’t care about my fanatical devotion to the Wall Street Journal or my childhood obsession with Greek mythology. And the fact that I glean business wisdom from the movie Working Girl similar to the way some of you proselytize regarding The Godfather (I & II) films is of little consequence. I get it and respect it, but don’t be surprised if I still blog about topics that aren’t your preferred flavor from time to time…

One year in, the Moonlight Blog is thriving, and I couldn’t be more pleased. However, if y’all would just give me some concrete feedback regarding subject matter or blog features, that would be swell! Seriously now – how can I make this blog a better reading experience for you? What topics would you like me to start blogging about or continue to blog about more often? Anyone… anyone… Bueller?

Lori Shapiro is the owner of By All Writes LLC, a business writing, editing, and research company in Marlton, New Jersey. She revels in shielding her clients from the pain of writing their own print and web marketing copy. Call her (856-810-9764) or email her (lori@byallwrites.biz) for a no-obligation project quote today!