Can I Has Start-up?

I have made a goal for myself to turn this blog into a success within the next six months. I've had my blog going since August 2011. I'm getting impatient with the slow growth of it. Some of the stagnation of my blog is my own fault due to my early issues with writer's block as well as lack of motivation. Some time this summer, I became MORE motivated to turn my blog into something substantial for the online community. Failure is not an option with this blog. I'm passionate and motivated to make this damn thing a success.

One of the more frustrating aspects with having a blog entitled Black Girl Nerd is accusations of plagiarism. Another blogger with a similarly titled blog as mine started hers a good six months AFTER mine. I don't mind that she did. I'm proud of her blog and am a big fan. The problem is people are assuming I copied her and run to her blog before mine. Competition is healthy and whether she knows it or not, she has actually helped me with getting motivated to do better. Other people in the blogging community, however, just see me as a copycat as opposed to someone who is trying to pave the way for Black girls who are nerds.

There is no copyright on the phrase "black girl nerd." Anyone can write about it or start a blog about it. I never want to be one of those people who yell at the sky "I DID IT FIRST!" As long as the word gets out, it will help ALL Black girl nerds.

In my situation, having a competitors with a very similar blog names has done more hurt than good. If you were to search my blog name in Google, my blog is maybe the 5th search that comes up. That's disheartening. It tells me that I haven't done enough to promote my blog. I haven't done enough with content nor writing enough articles. Bottom line, I need to stop being lazy and step up my game. It doesn't matter that I started my blog first before all those other people. What matters is that I've not followed through. I'm like one of those folks who comment on stuff "FIRST" yet don't post anything further that might intrigue readers. I've not dazzled my audience or showed innovation. I need to do that. I bear the burden and responsibility for why Black Girl Nerd isn't an amazing blog.

All those past mistakes end now. This blog will be my second job. If I have any chance of turning this blog into a success, I need to show people out there that I deserve their attention. I will push on and strive for more. I will expect better from myself and I hope my readers will hold me accountable to that. If you have any ideas or stories you'd like me to write about, leave them in the comments below. I do thank the people who have read my blog up to this point and I hope you all join me in helping to take Black Girl Nerd to the next level.

Nerdy and Black since 1981,
Kim

Blogging is Hard Work

I know this sounds like a big joke to some people, but it's a reality. Blogging is difficult. It's a pain to try to think of something witty and creative to write about every day or a few days a week. It can be quite a feat to keep your audience interested in your blog while also attempting to draw in new readers. In this world of social media, nobody wants to be written off as irrelevant or inconsequential. Thanks to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, people's entire identities are wrapped up in whether someone liked their status update, retweeted some asinine tweet of theirs, or favorited a picture they posted of the sun shining through the autumn leaves on a tree. Who we are online has become an extension of our personalities and lives. Blogging is no different.

This blog is very much a part of who I am. The past year and some change that I've been writing BlackGirlNerd has been a lesson to others in the variety of things that interest me. It's a reflection of my character and all around nuttiness that encompasses ME (f-bombs and all.) The purpose of my referencing other social media is because I use it to connect friends and strangers to my blog. Without it, I would find it quite challenging to spread the word of BlackGirlNerd to others. I would have to resort to *gasp* posting flyers and handing out business cards. The horror!

My biggest challenge is thinking of something new and interesting to blog about. By interesting, I mean something that will hold MY interest long enough for me to write a coherent blog entry about it. I have dozens of ideas to blog about, but very few of them make the cut. My dilemma is further compounded by the lack of traffic to my blog. While I do have a decent-sized audience, I don't have a large number of dedicated followers to give me constructive feedback on what works and what doesn't work with BlackGirlNerd. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong with my blog, be it content, design, or advertising of the blog itself. Once I get an idea of what my audience truly appreciates about my blog and what it would take to entice more to follow me, then I will have a much easier time with blogging.