The Internet is chock full of mommy blogs covering everything from green mothering to urban mothering to techie mothering. In fact, according to Mashable.com, 3.9 million American mothers say they are bloggers.
But these days, more and more dads are firing up their laptops to share their parenting stories with the world. We recently checked in with one so-called daddy blogger, John Willey of Daddy’s in Charge?, to learn about what drives a dad to write and get his expert insight on blogging and social media best practices.
Hey, John! How did you come to start Daddy’s in Charge?
When I first started, there weren’t seemingly that many dads who wrote. I wanted to share my stories as a stay-at-home dad because I thought they were different. I came to find out there was a whole world of people just like me.
What is your post pattern and how did you establish it?
At first I would write every day because everything was new. Then I started to realize that much like television news; while the stories differed every day, it ended up being the SAME stories every year. My blog has slowed down considerably since it debut.
How do you find ideas for your posts?
My kids are my inspiration. They will do something that amazes me, makes me laugh or teaches me a lesson about parenting.
What posts have surprised you the most by their popularity?
Posts where I wrote a list or a stream of consciousness-type post. Usually the ones that take the least amount of time are the ones that are the most well received.
What about ones you were sure would be well read but fell flat?
This is where it’s difficult. You put your heart and soul into something and you write it and edit it, then you edit it again… And you get crickets. At least you have a memory.
What do you find works best for promoting your site and growing traffic and readership?
I use social media to be social. To me, it’s about building relationships with people. I can’t just pop a link online and hope that somebody looks at it. I want people to want to read it because they care about me and my kids.
How do you approach social media when it comes to marketing your site, interacting with readers?
I try to correspond the best that I can. Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in the day. Like I said before, the key is to actually be social.
What would you suggest someone do before embarking on their own blog project?
Figure out a niche and ask yourself why you want a blog. Do you want to make money off of it? Is it something you want to share with the world? Or is it something that is really for yourself? It’s important to set your expectations going in because once you start seeing numbers (page views), you start to get a little consumed by them.
What’s the future for Daddy’s in Charge?
The blog will probably be there as long as I have something to say. Will it be updated as much as it has in the past? Probably not. I have other writing opportunities that have opened up since I started to blog, and that is really taking up a lot if my time. I assume, though, I will be a parent for a long time, and there will always be stories to tell.
What are some of your favorite parenting/parenthood blogs? What are they doing to capture your interest?
I like blogs that are more than writing. I like bloggers that can tell a story with pictures and videos as well. You can only tell so much through the written word.