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Can you believe it’s 2020 already?
Another year with Matilda and Cow, almost a full year since we’ve moved into our new home, another year with you guys, another year of writing, taking photos, and sharing our lives with you.
I always love doing these pet blogger challenges because it’s the perfect time to reflect, look back on my blog, think about what’s next, and actually share all of those thoughts with you.
I’m also looking forward to reading responses from my fellow pet bloggers, be sure to check out theirs in the linky at the end of this post.
Here it goes!
- When did you begin your blog? And, for anyone stopping by for the first time, please give us a quick description of what your blog is about. Little Dog Tips started June 2015, so it’s going to be five years old soon. This was around the time Matilda turned a year old, so this year she’s going to be six. At the time, I wanted to write about positive reinforcement training, and I still do, but now I also write about raw feeding, adding fresh foods to a kibble diet, and sometimes, I just write what’s on my mind, like when I wrote 10 Weird Things You Should Know About Cow.
- Name one thing about your blog, or one blogging goal that you accomplished during 2019, that made you most proud. More tricks with video! Matilda has been painting for almost a year now, but I’ve always found it difficult to capture things like that on video, and I’ve also been able to make some posts about other fun tricks… oh, like the burrito trick. I don’t think most people actually want to teach their dogs these tricks, maybe it’s a lot of effort or their dog isn’t quite ready, but a lot of people love seeing her do them.
- Which of your 2019 blog posts was your favorite and why? (Please include a link.) Do Small Dog Owners Need To Worry About The Link Between Grain-Free And DCM? This past year, there’s been so much confusing information going around about this, and with so few small dogs actually being affected, I wanted to know whether it was something we really need to worry about. So, I researched it, I looked at the actual data, and I broke it down for my readers. We can’t depend on any single diet, nor should we fall for those crazy fear-mongering headlines.
- What was the biggest blogging challenge you faced in 2019, and how did you tackle it? Page speed! My site was so slow, but switching from Siteground to BigScoots helped a TON.
- One goal that we all seem to share is we want to reach more people. What is your #1 tip for bringing more traffic to your blog? Spice up your headlines a bit. Many of us are writing about similar topics, like puppy potty training, but that’s okay – people read many, many articles when they’re trying to solve a problem. It’s important to put your own spin on it and touch upon your reader’s real concerns. They should feel relieved and hopeful after reading your post, not just informed.
- Do you do sponsored posts/reviews? If so, what do you find works best and how do you determine what to charge for a blog post, social media shares, etc.? If not, is this something you’d like to do more of? What hurdle is getting in your way? Sometimes I do them, and I price it based on my freelance rates, because when I’m taking photos, writing, and promoting a review, it takes away from my usual work. It can be difficult to help brands understand that they’re not paying to have me say their product is good, they’re paying for all of that work it takes to create an in-depth review, plus, reviews that I wrote in 2015 are STILL making sales, so it’s part of a long term sales strategy.
- Looking forward to 2020, if you accomplish only one thing through your blog, what do you hope it is? I really want to write about nutrition more, and partner up with more veterinarians and behaviorists. It can be tough because even experts have conflicting views, so they have to be the right match, but I also want to help answer my readers by asking the questions they’re afraid to ask, or unable to talk about with their vet.
- What steps are you planning to take to ensure you reach your goal? I’m actually going to settle into doing interviews via email more often. One reason I don’t do a lot of them is because phone interviews are a little stressful for me, I find it hard to coordinate writing notes and talking and listening all at once, and I’m a bit phone shy. I’ve worked to get over that, but there’s a point where you have to meet yourself halfway.
- The blogging landscape is constantly changing. What changes in blogging do you see coming in 2020 and beyond? What plans do you have to evolve? People are always saying that video content is getting more popular, but I personally prefer to read written content. Still, I plan to find more ways to incorporate videos into my posts, even if it’s just cute ones of my dogs. I feel really uncomfortable talking on camera, but I still want to help people who prefer video over written content.
- If you could ask the pet blogging community for help with one challenge you’re having with your blog, what would it be? How do you get over that fear of “being seen,” of taking video, going to conferences… when you would so much rather just make blogging about the dogs?
Lindsay Pevny lives to help pet parents make the very best choices for their pets by providing actionable, science-based training and care tips and insightful pet product reviews.
She also uses her pet copywriting business to make sure the best pet products and services get found online through catchy copy and fun, informative blog posts. She also provides product description writing services for ecommerce companies.
As a dog mom to Matilda and Cow, she spends most of her days taking long walks and practicing new tricks, and most nights trying to make the best of a very modest portion of her bed.
You'll also find her baking bread and making homemade pizza, laughing, painting and shopping.
She also uses her pet copywriting business to make sure the best pet products and services get found online through catchy copy and fun, informative blog posts. She also provides product description writing services for ecommerce companies.
As a dog mom to Matilda and Cow, she spends most of her days taking long walks and practicing new tricks, and most nights trying to make the best of a very modest portion of her bed.
You'll also find her baking bread and making homemade pizza, laughing, painting and shopping.
Hi Lindsay! Congrats on another year of blogging and writing. I am also very shy and prefer to do interviews by email when possible. And I don’t do a lot of video either. Do you do any Instagram stories featuring yourself? That seems like one easy way to just get used to being on camera for a few seconds.
I haven’t been to many conferences, but of the few I’ve been to I’ve noticed that many of the other people there are also quiet. For example, I went to a no-kill animal rescue conference, and as you can imagine all the people there were “dog people” like me. So we were all sort of awkward! Haha. At writing conferences, it’s kind of similar. Many people are on the introverted/quiet side.
Best of luck with your goals in 2020!
Lindsay recently posted…2020 Pet Bloggers Journey
Lindsay! The idea of showing up on Instagram stories is as brilliant as it is terrifying. Thank you so much.
Lindsay Pevny recently posted…Ideas To Connect And Educate With Your Vet Clinic’s Blog
Hi Lindsay, Thank you for sharing your Journey. You have so much information to offer a newbie like myself. Being new I am still struggling myself with the same issue of getting out there on Instagram and video. So I can’t really suggest anything to make that “fear” go away. I do know that the Pet Blogging Community is one of the most supportive communities I have seen. It was so nice to get to know you through your journey. With your years of experience don’t be afraid to get out there. Especially doing more training videos. And Your so right when someone is researching a topic they tend to read through many articles. I do that myself. But thank you for reminding me of that. Best of Luck in the new year. Your story is very inspiring.
Bren recently posted…Google Analytics Using MonsterInsights
Hi Bren! Nice to meet you and welcome to the pet blogging community. I’m glad I’m not alone in being scared to get out there more, but I know it’s so worth getting over that fear to help more dog owners.
Lindsay Pevny recently posted…Ideas To Connect And Educate With Your Vet Clinic’s Blog
Hi Lindsay! I just watched your featured video of Matilda painting. Super cute!
How are you liking BigScoots? When Synthesis was acquired by WP Engine I moved my site to Agathon and after a few early glitches I’ve really enjoyed working with them. I also got to meet the guys I work with at Agathon at the Mediavine Conference in Austin.
I’m with you. I personally prefer reading most content over watching video. However, I also prefer reading blogs on my laptop vs on my phone, but I have to always remind myself that 80% of my traffic is mobile and I need to check to see what things look like on my phone. I think the more different ways you can present your content to your readers the better off you’ll be.
Yep, I’m with you. I’m an introvert too. Regarding videos, I find that doing voice over is a whole heck of a lot easier then getting in front of the camera. In my early videos I usually did a short intro and outro with me talking to the camera. The majority of the content was voice over.
As far as conferences go I think planning ahead of time and giving myself some goals works well for me. For instance, one of my goals will be to meet up with and chat with all the pet bloggers at the upcoming MV Conference. You’ll be getting an email from me when we get closer to the conference 🙂
Thanks for joining us on the journey! I can’t wait to meet up in Baltimore. I hope you have a great 2020!
Happy New Year!!! It’s interesting that SiteGround wasn’t helping your site speed. I’ve heard so many great things about them so when I switched I was disappointed when I didn’t see a boost in my site speed. I’m now with a local host on the Amazon cloud and that along with a few changes I made with my site made a huge difference.
When it comes to being nervous about being seen, I had the same stress and I’m still not a fan of events. In fact, I canceled one in April because I can’t deal right now.
What I’ve learned is that going with friends helps. And with video, you actually don’t have to be seen if you don’t want to. I’m going to start doing more faceless videos in 2020. To prepare for doing videos, I started by learning how to apply makeup and to improve lighting. This went a long way to give me the confidence to do videos. I still cringe when I watch them back and there are times when I delete them, but I’m not afraid anymore. 🙂
I dread going on video. Trust me, I am an extreme introvert. I don’t even allow my family to take photos of me, so video is very awkward and scary 🙂
Early last year I tried doing a few FB lives which all flopped. I obsessed over every detail.
This year I committed myself to answer one of my community members question each week of the year via video and a blog post. It’s hard, but each time it gets easier. I’m not going live, but quickly recording, editing and posting. Not spending more than a day on everything.
Time will only tell if it’s all worth it.
Only advice I can offer is to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Good luck! And by the way, I love the trick videos you are doing with Matilda.
Debi @ Rescue Dogs 101 recently posted…Pet Bloggers Journey 2020
Hi Lindsay – I loved learning more about you through your journey. Also it caught my eye that you switched away from SiteGround who I currently use… I may have to explore your provider.
Again happy to learn more about you and here’s to a great 2020.
Hi Lindsay, I’m also at 5 years of blogging! Love hearing that you’re interested in writing about nutrition and feeding raw. Those are my personal favorite topics 🙂
Hi Lindsay! People love dog tricks. I’ve been terrible at capturing video of my two performing tricks. However, when we go places and I have them perform a few tricks, people come flocking over. We end with waving goodbye and people just ohhh and ahhh, which always make us happy.
About your question about getting over the fear of being seen: I’ve got the same fears, especially for video, and I majored in broadcast journalism (I was angling for being a producer rather than on-air journalist). I like starting small. I forced myself in college to take a speech class where I had to speak publicly. Ugh! Maybe there’s a Toastmasters around you? Or go for the tricks angle. Take your dogs out to places where people are hanging out and start practicing tricks. You’ll be performing live, and practicing being seen without the pressure a camera adds. Plus, who knows who you could meet!
Hi Lindsay,
I have followed your blog for a long time now. You are one of my favorite pet bloggers.
I’m with you about being shy at conferences. I do go to them sometimes and plan on going to the Mediavine conference in the summer, but I tend to be a wallflower at them. Same with video. One reason I got into blogging is because it seemed to be the perfect business for an introvert.
Cathy recently posted…Do Dogs Feel Emotions Like Us?
Hi Lindsay and it was great to read what you’ve been up to. Congratulations on all of your successes thus far. I think I saw that you, too, will be at the Mediavine Conference in Baltimore in June, and I will be there, too. I look forward to catching up in person.
Another extreme introvert here. We need some sort of support group or something for those of us that fear video lol
I think you nailed it with better headlines too – I’m working (slowly) toward going back and fixing my headlines.
I am so glad you have been able to get some clear information out about grain free food. I know that there is a lot if ‘genuine’ misinformation out there and you need to dig deep to get it right!
I like how you work out your rates. I have a standard rate plus a rate that includes a video (which is a lot more work). You need a base to start from (even if its different to everyone else’s).
I’m so glad hearing about what you’ve been through and what you achieved after 5 years of blogging! Keep up with the great work!
Nutrition for dogs