We're very excited to participate in the 2012 Pet Blogger Challenge!
Oh yes! And we might even let Mommy answer a few questions...for a price (hey Mommy, those tuna flakes are reeeeeally nommy...(HINT!)
OOOOH! And don't forget to catch my good side when you take pictures of my bling to show, Mother. Mother?
Gee thanks guys. Can't tell you how your generosity warms my heart... *grin*
Here are the questions - with our answers following:
1. When did you begin your blog? The blog began in October of 2010.
2. What was your original purpose for starting a blog?
Initially it was to give Ryker more than 140 characters to voice his opinions and spread his charm.
3. Is your current purpose the same?
Not really. About 15 days after we began, Ryker died quite suddenly.
I know many folks who are comfortable "tweeting" for their pets who have passed across the Rainbow Bridge, but I'm not one of them. Initially it was because it was too painful (it still is!) but later on, it just became more important to write about animal advocacy issues.
And then came Da Boyz in our lives - Maxwell & Faraday. For those of you who haven't met them, these guys are the first kittens my husband has ever known. So he got to name them (with a little direction from me). He's a physicist, so he chose to name them after 2 famous physicists. That is, of course, after I vetoed his first choice: naming them after the particles Lepton and Tachyon (I did mention he had a little direction from me? Sorry, but I refuse to own a kitty with the nickname of "Tacky").
If not, what’s different? oops, I kinda answered that already :-)
If so, how do you feel you’ve met your goals?
We participated in Be The Change for Animals' "Blog The Change" events once every quarter. And we also participated in Petfinder's promotion in September: "Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet". This was actually a blog marathon that we partnered with Sebastian the Sensitive Soul on - and it was our first foray into hosting guest bloggers on our site (very cool experience!).
4. Do you blog on a schedule or as the spirit moves you? Both scheduled and spontaneous.
If the former, how often — and what techniques do you use to stick to it? We try to have a Worldess Wednesday and a Saturday Blog Hop post every week - even if it's just pictures or videos of Mischief & Mayhem -- err, we mean Faraday & Maxwell. Allie, of course, is a Complete Angel. Excuse me, I think I hear Faraday choking....
If the latter, do you worry about… well, whatever you might worry about (e.g. losing traffic, losing momentum)?
5. Are you generating income from your blog? No.
If so, how (e.g. sponsor ads, affiliate relationships, spokesperson opportunities)?
If not currently, do you hope to in the future — and how? We're not sure - but we won't refuse if the right thing for us comes our way.
6. What do you like most about blogging in general and your blog in particular (bragging is good!)? From a design standpoint, I guess it'd be the way each cat has his/her own voice and can interact within each post through the use of integrated avatars. From a content standpoint, it would be the opportunity it provides to educate, and to help spread timely information that will be beneficial to animals in general, cats in particular.
7. What do you like least? That with my schedule, sometimes I'll be so time constrained that blogging becomes almost impossible for weeks. Also my learning curve - I think there's still a lot I can learn about how to make a blog more effective.
8. How do you see your blog changing/growing in 2012? That's a good question - one I don't have a complete answer for. (eek! don't tell my high school English teacher I just ended a sentence with a preposition! ;-)
I'll be doing my very first book review at a publisher's request, so that will be a "first." And I hope there will be more firsts as 2012 progresses!
