5 Ways Blogging Is Like Being A Parent

I had the honor of being accepted to a site called BloggersCompete in which myself and other bloggers work toward winning a blogging contest or two---or more.  They are always looking for bloggers to join the site and compete for prizes and cold hard cash. Check them out and and see if you too can join the fun and win some cash.  The following is my entry into the 5 Ways Blogging is Like_______ contest.

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People compare blogging to a lot of things, but if you really think about it, it's a lot like raising a family. Being a mom, I know full well what it takes to watch your babies go from helpless beings who can't do anything without you to full-fledged adults who need to face the world without you holding their hands. Here are 5 ways in which blogging is like being a parent.

It's up to you to come up the perfect name
Naming your new blog is a lot like naming your new baby. You want a name that the world will remember, but won't think is too strange. You want something that is easy to spell, but still maybe just different enough to set them apart from the rest. And you want something that feels natural when spoken.

You become protective of your baby

As you start to put your new blog together, you start to become attached to certain things. And when someone comes along and criticizes any part of it, you become defensive and are ready to fight. Even if that person was only trying to offer some help to bring your site up to the next level, you feel as though you've been personally attacked and your site is being punished.

You're always trying to keep things neat and tidy
You know you have to add content and ads and other such things, but you don't want your blog to end up looking cluttered. You might find a couple new themes to try on, you rearrange your sidebar widgets and ad spots, and you try to make sure your posts are well written and in order. And as you add new elements to the site, you work to make sure they fit in with the other things already in place.

You're always trying to come up with ways to make everyone happy

As you add your posts, you want each one to be received by the public with open arms. You go out of your way to write in such a way as to make you readers happy, but then you worry that the search engines won't like them. So you work toward writing for the search engines and find that your readers aren't happy with the content. But over time, you find a happy medium that makes the readers and the search engines happy with what you present to them.

As your site grows and becomes more popular, you realize all it was worth all the hard work

In time, you see that your little blog has taken on a life of its own. You don't have to coddle it quite so much anymore and you find that there are a lot of people coming by to see your site. You realize that your baby isn't so little anymore and that there are others out there who like hanging out on your blog. It's at that point that you realize, like any good parent, you've done your job and you've done it well.

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If you liked this post and want to try your own hand at winning a blogging contest or two, or if you just want to engage with bloggers who have similar blogs as yours, check out the site and see if your blog has what it takes to join in with BloggersCompete.com