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.

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?

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.

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.

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."