Ever had one of those days?
I seem to be having several in a row. I’m getting to the point now that I almost regret ever signing up for a web hosting plan, given the fact that I seem to be spending more time fixing, maintaining, or re-installing websites and sections than I do with any sort of writing or content driven tasks of any sort, which didn’t seem to be such a problem when I was just doing the “amateur” blogging thing over on the google blogs. Plus, I seem to have generated a lot more interest over there than here or in any of my other blogs, I think I sort of took my momentum and chucked it out the window by signing up for the WordPress world and splitting my time and energy into three different directions at once. So far, I seem to be either paralyzed trying to figure out what to do next, or else going nowhere fast by fixing one thing on one site only to have some different problem show up somewhere else. A lot of two steps forward, three steps back in other words.
It certainly has sucked some of the fun out of doing internet stuff, something I never seemed to have a problem with in the past. Or perhaps it’s just growing pains of a sort.
As for the headline of today’s post, here are some common mistakes, or perhaps some not so common (?), that I seem to have made in the past few weeks. Ever had this happen to you?
- Delving into the “guts” of your blog, the editor section in the case of WordPress, and screwing up the works badly enough that completely re-installing the whole bloody thing seems easier than trying to repair the damage? Check.
- Deciding to restore a backup of one of your sites, only to accidentally restore the wrong site, thereby losing a weeks worth of content? Check.
- Taking the time and effort to link your blog up using the social networks only to realize that the only visits you actually received for your efforts were your own clicks when you were checking to make sure the links worked right? Check.
- Working yourself up into a frenzy because the Google Webmaster tools were telling you you were getting zero traffic only to realize that you hadn’t set it up properly in the first place? Check.
- Trying to strike up a conversation about blogging over on some other blogs, only to realize that you’ve replied to a post or a comment that is over a year old? Check.
- Getting in deep trouble with a website master for putting your website address in your signature on their forums, which happens to be well within the written rules except that you happened to make the text bold (this was a little known rule I found on page 82, subsection 13d of that website’s rules list…oops)? Check.
Hello Katie. Well, if it makes you feel any better I hadn’t heard of most of this stuff until about a month ago!
The main reason I switched from Blogger was just because I didn’t care for the google menu bar up at the top! I wanted the blog to look like “mine”, and set it up exactly the way I wanted it. So, I turned to WordPress and it’s been a lot of fun for the most part.
Good advice on thinking about what I’ve accomplished so far, you are right I’ve learned a lot about this stuff in such a short time.
Thanks for stopping by, and for leaving a comment. Appreciate it! Feel free to jump in with any questions, I’m happy to explain anything that might be confusing (and I might just start some topics about it, too).
I am often impressed with how well people keep up the blog pages and make them so navigable. I am not extremely tech savvy, so I feel like I would have way more issues than even you seem to be having recently. Honestly, I didn’t even understand what your first two points were- how sad! But I think you seem to be going about it right by just continuing to learn and fight for what you do and get to where you need to be. By you not giving up you have already gone farther than so many, so feel accomplished! Why did you choose to change from amateur blogging to WordPress in the first place? Maybe if you go back over what you had hoped to accomplish it will help you regain your drive and determination.