Affiliate Disclosure: Sometimes I use affiliate links. What does that mean? It means that if I’ve used a product and liked it, or it's a company I buy from and trust and they have affiliate programs, I sign up. Then, when I mention that product or company in one of my blog posts, I use my affiliate link. I thank you for clicking the links to help my treat fund.

Being Recognized By My Peers

I usually don't post when I receive these so-called blogger awards but thought I'd make an exception. I have—or hope I have—many new readers who might not know about my humble social media beginnings. Plus, I always love to give tips to new bloggers, while entertaining my current readers. I received the Blogger Recognition Award from Beau of Pets Overload and his musician human, Johnny, last week.

Being Recognized By My Peers

On Caturday I talked about how I always break rules. Now I have a chance to do just that. What follows are the rules taken right from his blog, some of which will be broken.

How Stunning Keisha, the blog came about. It all started at a five-thousand-watt radio station in Fresno, CA … Wait! That's not right. Why does that tape play every time I tell this story?

Being Recognized By My Peers
I started my social media career on Twitter. I was a top DJ in the Anipal Community. I spun tunes at all the PawPawties and the NipClub. We were a close-knit group of anipals back then. Late in 2009 after I noticed one of my anipal furrends had a blog, I decided I wanted to say more than fit into 140 characters so I started the blog.

Stunning Keisha wasn't an instant hit by any means. My first post on September 15, 2009, initially got three comments and now only has 195 views. My third blog—the first with my photo—garnered only 33 views and it went downhill from there. I didn't reach 100 views on any post until January 13, 2010 when I started my Gotcha Day story. I was smart and kept my DJ gig until several years later when the blog began taking more of my time so I had less time to devote to putting playlists together.

Humans and pets these days get me hissing mad cos they want instant gratification. They cry when their first posts gets only a couple of hunnert views. They want to monetize right away. I guess this will be one of my tips to new bloggers. Take the time to find your voice and your audience before you panic about not becoming a millionaire with a million followers. No one believes in paying their dues. This kitteh is still paying her dues. It might be easier to go back to weekly DJ gigs on Twitter. Here's an example of my dj skills. I had to delete the links since Grooveshark no longer exists.

Being Recognized By My Peers

This brings me to my second tip: don't give up. Think of it as honing your writing skills until you become more popular. If you can, blog on a regular schedule. I didn't do that until the past couple of years. Join blog hops and, if you're serious about blogging, join BlogPaws. Comment on tons of blogs every day. If you don't visit them, they won't visit you. That stinks cos it takes time away when you should be creating but it's a necessary evil. We try but we've been lax in the visiting department this year. I'm getting older and TW wants to spend more time with me rather than on the computer. She's also getting slower so it takes her longer to type and create images.

Another bonus tip to new bloggers would be don't post stolen content or photos. Just cos you find an image on Google Images doesn't mean it's not copyrighted. 97% of my images are taken by us. Once your name and blog gets out there, you will get lots of spam e-mail axing to guest post for you or if you could link back to them. Don't—unless it's a blogger you know. Learn about "no-follow" links and FTC disclaimers that should be on every post where you review a product. Pick and choose what products you want to review, especially if they're not offering green papers. Unless you're blogging as a hobby, there's quite a learning curve. Hope I didn't discourage anybuddy.

Being Recognized By My Peers

Name 15 other bloggers? You've got to be kidding me. I love just about every cat's blog plus some woofie blogs. Stand up, bloggers, and recognize yourselves if you want the award.

Thank you to Beau and the rest of the gang at Pets Overload for this "award."

Being Recognized By My Peers

Would you like to comment?

  1. Good tips CK! It took us a while to build up our audience when we came over from Catster a few years ago, but now we're doin pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those are awesome tips, CK! You are so right about it being a process. I lucked out because I inherited my blog from Sparkle, and she was already successful. Apparently, some people still think I am Sparkle! What can you do?

    P.S. What is the deal with naming 15 other bloggers with these awards? I would go nuts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations on your award! Those are great tips for new bloggers!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thoae were great tipa CK and important ones too! Congrats, you always deaerve to be recognized!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats on the award! Good tips too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Concats CK!!!Great tips and hell, Cody and I are still a mess! MOL!! catchatwithcarenandcody

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations CK! You deserve many awards. This is great advice, especially the no-follow links, I had no clue about those until Dezi's Mom filled me in and told me how to do them. We have heard you DJ on Twitter and you are fantastic. XO

    ReplyDelete
  8. Concatulations on your award, CK ! Those are great tips for new bloggers ! Purrs

    ReplyDelete
  9. Concats on this award and all your others, C.K. You are not only stunning, but also a giant in the pet blogging community. New bloggers would be wise to heed your advice. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo and Cooper Murphy

    ReplyDelete
  10. ck....TW kneadz ta edit thiz post..........flash bax ta see why ! thiz iz grate add vize inn deed....N ya noe, better ta haz ten troo friendz than 10 million a quaintenzzez ~~~~~~ ☺☺♥♥

    ReplyDelete
  11. Concatulations, C.K.! Well deserved. Your tips are so spot on for bloggers, old and new.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Very good advice, CK! Being a successful blogger takes lots of hard work, but if you're loving what you're doing it isn't really "work" ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. It's pretty awesome to know how you got into blogging! We absolutely love your blog and love the tips/your mad DJ skillz :D

    ReplyDelete
  14. Congrats on the award, CK. Those are great tips...especially the one about not giving up.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Quite the biography and what an award. Well done CK!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I REALLY wish I'd read this post when I started out. This would've saved me much time and anguish. You're one of our absolute favorites, CK. Your blend of humor and sarcasm and cattiness (not to mention STUNNING!!!!) is right up our alley. I was so incredibly elated to meet TW at BlogPaws this year ... it was truly an honor (I can't help it ... I still go fangirl over my favorites).

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great tips, especially the one about finding your voice. You are certainly a unique voice in the kitty blogsphere! We're thrilled if we get 20 people to read our blog, but we're "unprofessional" (thankfully, mom has a day job to keep my pantry stocked).

    ReplyDelete
  18. Congrats on your award, CK. We wish we could visit blogs more often but do the best we can as long as our human has to grind away at her corporate job. We always love your blog and tips.

    ReplyDelete
  19. You have some very good advice here, CK! I found BlogPaws right away, simply because I was chatting with my insurance person who happened to be a member! Weird. Blogging is hard work and very time-consuming. I am impressed by bloggers like you who manage to blog regularly -- and with quality content!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Great tips CK. We so agree 'bout da payin' your dues. We're doin' a lot of dat. We figger we purrobably won't ever get any real green papers, but we've decided we're okay with dat. We like our furiends and would rather have ya'll than money. there's so many outhtere dat will push anythin' fur a dollar, and we just think you shouldn't sell out just cuz of da money. We're grateful fur your furiendship. Oh, and, Concats on your award. We're glad you started bloggin' or else we might now have ever met ya'. Big hugs

    Luv ya'

    Dezi and Raena

    ReplyDelete

Holla! Louder … I can’t hear you. Anonymous comments are disabled due to humans who have nothing better to do than spam. Thank you for understanding!