A note about The Cuddlywumps Chronicles

This blog is written and maintained by Miss Cuddlywumps, a fluffy-tailed calico cat who is both classically educated and familiar with mysteries. She receives creative input from the Real Cats and clerical assistance from She of Little Talent (old SoLT, a.k.a. Roby Sweet). Comments or complaints should be addressed to Miss C rather than to old SoLt (Ms. Sweet). Ms. Sweet accepts no responsibility for Miss C's opinions.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Top 5 Things I Learned at BlogPaws 2017


She of Little Talent is recently returned from Myrtle Beach and BlogPaws 2017, and I tasked her with creating a list of things she learned there. I think if she successfully implements everything she learned, we will soon be some kind of super-bloggers, and I will become as famous as I deserve to be. Finally.


Here is old SoLT’s list:

Collage of old SoLT and the Flat Cats at BlogPaws 2017
Old SoLT and the Flat Cats did a lot of interesting things at
BlogPaws 2017, including meeting Flat Jackson Galaxy,
having breakfast at the Newbie table, posing in a
sorghum field, and meeting people from the
Morris Animal Foundation.
1. You can’t do everything. There is a lot going on at a BlogPaws conference. A lot. Some hours at the 2017 conference had four or more things I wanted to be doing. Obviously I could only be in one place at a time, so some hard decisions had to be made. I made them by thinking about which sessions would be most likely to give me information and resources I can use to make my blog better over the next year.

2. I’ve got to start using Canva. I’ve been hearing a lot about Canva lately but hadn’t paid much attention to any of the chatter. Then I went to the Canva session at BlogPaws and saw what this largely free program can do. Mind. Blown. If you haven’t checked it out, you really should! (By the way, the graphics in this post--Canva.)

3. I am even worse at social media than I thought (but it isn’t hopeless!). So, I already knew that I haven’t been using social media very effectively. Turns out, being great at social media means doing more than sharing a link to your latest blog post. You need a plan, a strategy, and it has to be different for every channel you use. Sitting in the social media workshop was both inspiring and overwhelming. I kept thinking, I can do this, and this, and this … and then I thought, WHEN? When will I have the time to do any of this? The when remains unanswered, but I’m working on a plan, starting small, and will build from there. And speaking of building…

4. A blog is a process. I used to say this about gardening, back when I was a landscaper: A garden is a process; it’s not a sculpture that you create once and, boom, it’s done. A blog, like a garden, is always growing and changing, and not just because you keep adding new content. You tweak your design, you shift your focus, you improve your writing style… It’s all part of the process.

5. Pet bloggers are awesome! Actually, pet people in general are pretty awesome, and the pet blogging space is one of the most caring, supportive, and collaborative communities on the internet. And you know what? This community is even more caring, supportive, and collaborative in person! Every moment of BlogPaws, I felt nothing but welcomed and encouraged, and I left feeling more inspired than I ever imagined. Plus, no one acted like I was weird when I whipped out the Flat Cats and asked if I could take their picture with another pet or a product. Where else can that happen?

Flat Cats with their haul of swag from BlogPaws 2017
So much awesome swag!

14 comments:

  1. Who could say no to flat cat faces?

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  2. I suck at social media too. All I ever do is share my posts.

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    1. Me too. It's hard to know what else to do!

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  3. love that you shared what you learned!!! Haven't seen many (so far) that did! I use Canva on and off. To be honest, much of what I would want to use it for DOES have a fee attached. I have made collages there and that is about it. They are much more professional looking than some of the other sites where I make collages. I probably use 3 to 4 photo editing sites (sometimes more than one for each photo), and Canva is often one of them. catchatwithcarenandcody

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    1. Yeah, a lot of the "best" features require $$. But the collages are so easy to make and look so good...

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  4. It really is a lot, and it can be so overwhelming; especially trying to figure out how to find time for everything! I should have gone to the Canva class, darn it! I ended up changing to a different class and that was a huge mistake. I would have gotten more out of the Canva. Well, I have used Canva a bit here and there but now I know I should use it more!

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    1. The biggest challenge of BlogPaws for me was figuring out where I wanted to be. :)

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  5. Really great list! Definitely got me thinking about what it is I need to do too!

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  6. This is such a great post! I can easily see being overwhelmed by everything BlogPaws has to offer and having to choose what you'll get the most out of. You are so right about social media strategy and it's definitely something I need to schedule more time for. We put so much work into blog posts and then only share them once or twice...why are days only 24 hours long again???

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    1. Yes, a few extra hours in each day would be so helpful. :)

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  7. A great list! And so true too! I missed the Canva session and the social media session... and after your blurbs, I'm regretting it!

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    1. The social media session was particularly good, especially since social media is something I struggle with. There were other sessions that I'm sorry to have missed though. It was so hard to choose!

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