Leigh Ann! Oh lady, I know what you are going through. The same exact thing happened to me back in April.

I have a couple questions for you.

1. Is the following you created with your home blog just family or is it open to anyone?

2. I think a lot can be done with your existing blog simply by doing some redesign & promotion.

HOWEVER,

You were expecting a but weren't you?? Anyhoo..

I have looked at your blog and I think you could make some changes to go wider in your reach.

*I initially stayed with blogger & updated the name of my site. I went from "linnell family" blog to what it is now.

*I started posting to Facebook so all of my friends & family (over 500) could see what I was writing.

*I flat out asked people to come check me out. I decided if I wanted to take it to a new level I would have to risk some things. Mostly, my pride.

*The hardest thing I did was create a fan page for my site. Gulp! This was soooo hard for me. I felt like I was being super flashy, etc. But, again, I sucked it up and realized self-promotion is part of the game. If I was not willing to do it, then I needed to quit. Guess what, I have over 185 fans on that FB page. It was worth it!

Leigh Ann, I could go on and on. I would encourage you to take a look at a blogging series I have running right now. It's called The Blogging Mavens. I think you could find some helpful resources there.

~Christina

Thanks Christina! I've been following The Blogging Mavens series and have already picked up some great tips and found more great bloggers to follow.

My public following is mainly close friends and family, plus one random person that I cannot figure out who they are. :) I have no idea who follows my blog anonymously. My guess is not very many, since until very recently it has been a pretty personal blog and i haven't shared it with many people other than friends/family/my moms of multiples club.

With the way it is now, I struggle with posting to FB. Sometimes my posts are still a little personal, as in "It was my bday and here's what we did," and I'm not 100% comfortable posting that on FB...probably because I really don't think that many people care. And I still wonder a bit about safety and security when posting about my kids. But if I post something that I think is pretty funny, or something that is thoughtful, then I do want to share it, but still have that reservation. If I started a shiny new site, then I wouldn't have those reservations, because it would be more of a brand, and less of a personal scrapbook of sorts. Plus, my sis in law is a kick ass graphic designer, and will give me a gorgeous site.

Reading through so many other blogs lately, I am confident that I want to start a new site. I'm just unsure about what will happen to my past blogging. I originally started it because I love to write, plus I needed it to help keep track of things, since there was no way I was going to keep up with baby books or scrapbooks with infant twins (ok fine. I'm just not a baby book kind of person!). I still refer to old posts if I need to remember when so and so got a tooth or started walking. However now things in my writing are different, and my poor little 9 month old has neither a baby book/scrapbook NOR any blogging being done about her milestones! 

OK this is just me rambling now! Thanks for the advice! I hope to get a new site up and running in the next few months and can join in on the blogging community more!

I think you are right on track Leigh Ann. Sounds like brand new is the way to go.

I am here for you and so are The Blogging Mavens!