It's been quite a big week for Love My Dress. We took on our first little team of blogging brides this week and I'm genuinely thrilled about this. Taking on real bride contributors is nothing new – other blogs have been doing this for a while now, but it is a new thing for us, and we wanted to put our own spin on a project like this – wait for the right time. It's why, having had over 150 applications, we chose to invite just four of our readers to become a 'Lovette'. We wanted to make sure we did this project right, and gave it every chance of being successful (by not taking on too much/too many). It was also important to Franky and I that those we did take on were given a proper chance to shine on Love My Dress, and I've absolutely no doubt that Rosie, Lindsey, Kay and Madeleine will do just that.
It was a challenge to say the least to short list down to 15 we felt really stood out. It was an intense Skype meeting last week to pick our final 4 (I'd spent the evening prior reading every application in fervent fashion and making extensive notes) and I've absolutely no doubt that Franky or I have ever felt as excited (or nervous) as we did when we went live with this post on Friday. I'm so excited about getting to know our Lovettes over the course of the coming months. We have two Lovette weddings taking place inside of this year, and two early next year, so plenty of planning experiences to share between now and then.
One thing I've taken from this experience so far, is that we have a bloody incredible community of readers; bright and intelligent, inquisitive and curious, funny, caring, observant, loving, passionate, brilliant readers. Web stats don't lie – I know we have thousands of people visit this blog, but to be honest with you, I stopped caring about our traffic and visitor numbers a while ago. What's more important to me is our ability to nurture really good relations with our readers. Enriching the content we offer by sharing different perspectives and experiences can only strengthen these relations.
It's amazing really – when I go back to that time in 2009 when I took my first few tentative steps in to blogging, I truly could never have foreseen that five years later, my hobby blog would have transformed into a legitimate business, that it would change my career and life in ways I could once only daydream about, and best of all, that it would open up precious opportunities to meet new people and make new friends. That's the thing about blogging, the sense of community that builds around a good blog is priceless to readers – a blog community can inspire, offer friendship and support, comfort and hope, as well as practical advice and information. Part of the reason we took on our Lovettes was to develop our own online community.
An observation we've noticed of late involves blog comments, which seem much less than they used to be, and this is despite record visitor numbers since the new year. We're not alone – it's a change in reader habits that has been observed across the blogosphere in general, as illustrated in this 'State of the Blog Union' piece by Design Sponge founder and seasoned blogger, Grace Bonney. If you follow the Blogtacular Twitter chats, you'll have discovered this too during the twitter hour held on 5 February, when followers were asked 'what is the biggest change you have seen in the last year on your blog?' – the overwhelming response to which was 'comments are way down'. We have observed that much more of the 'conversation' tends to take place via our social media channels now, and that's fine with us. We understand that interacting with our content is probably much easier this way, especially given that around 50% of our users access Love My Dress via handheld devices – and we positively embrace that. To be honest, we've never judged the success of Love my Dress based on the number of comments we receive. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing your reaction to our beautiful Lovettes – please do show them some love.
Bloggers, have you noticed comments are less than they used to,be, despite visitor numbers and social media engagement being at an all time high?
In other news, I've purposefully chosen not to shout about the major blog redesign I commissioned last month, mostly because I subscribe to the school of 'under promise, over deliver' (ie, don't build up too much hype in case it all goes arse up!) Truth is, I've been incredibly nervous about the whole thing and procrastinating about it wildly for several weeks up until recently, because I knew it would mean having to migrate our entire blog from Typepad to WordPress. Yep – having spent literally hours researching the best blogging platform back in 2009, it turns out I picked the Betamax version. That's not to say that Typepad haven't been good to work with, but there is so much more I have planned for Love My Dress, and WordPress offers the functionality and adaptability that the team and I now require. So we're very busy behind the scenes working on an new look and enhanced user experience. As I enter my 5th year of blogging, I also really feel that Love My Dress has grown up and that our look and feel needs to reflect that.
As I made my way to bed last night, I had a strong urge to write this piece and do so there and then from my iPad (spontaneous posts are the best, aren't they?) and as I did, it occurred to me how very much I adore blogging – that simple act of sharing your thoughts and feelings with others, that almost physical need to want to feel connected with your reader – your tribe. You are the very reason we're here at all, and blog comments or not, we are completely committed to making this the best blog it could possibly be…
"The scope of weddings featured in Love My Dress is remarkable and it has been a genuine pleasure to have discovered your site – you are my muse, my caffeine kick, my beautiful, wonderful silent wedding planner! Long may your blog continue as a beacon of glorious inspiration!"
Reader feedback received this week
Image below sourced from Pinterest
Have a gorgeous Sunday all,
Love Annabel
Follow Love My Dress® on Google+
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
