Ok, so.  One of my very things about blogging is writing post titles.  Because, you know, I think I’m funny.  And when I write a post with a title like, My Hairnet Brings All the Boys to the Yard, or A Little Inbreeding Never Hurt No One, I achieve the original goal Emily and I set for this blog, “to crack each other UP”, and it makes me happy.  Hopefully, I crack up at least a couple of you as well.  Because honestly, I love making others laugh too.  Clearly not every post here on Mommin’ It Up is a humor post, but you know I like to think that when we’re trying to be funny we get a laugh out of more than just my mom.

All this to say, I like writing funny post titles!!  But these days, to get lots of traffic from people who are google-searching various topics, you’re supposed to write blog titles that will quickly show up on search engines.  This is called “Search Engine Optimization”.  A couple weeks ago I noticed we had a surge in blog traffic. Like, you know 47 people a day were visiting our blog rather than the usual 14.  After a little bit of fiddling with Google Analytics, I found that it was due to a post I had written about ideas on how to celebrate Leap Day – ideas that I was considering, that I had not yet attemped.  I named the post Leap Day Celebration Ideas because I could not think of a more creative name.  I drew a big ol’ blank on that one. Well my lack of creativity was apparently just what the old search engine was looking for.  What I learned from that traffic surge was that if you write super-boring post titles, people will find the title on google and then look at your page for 2.2 seconds and never come back to your blog again WHEEEEEEEEE!!  Yay Search Engine Optimization!

I think I’ll stick to trying to crack up my cousin.  And hopefully a couple of you ladies and, of course, my Uncle Paul.

I started thinking about this topic when I saw the Facebook status of a great blogger, Beth Fletcher, of I should be folding laundry.  Here’s what Beth’s status said:

“I remember the good ol’ days when people would throw cool birthday parties for their kids FOR their kids and not to just get on Pinterest.”

So, yeah apparently that’s a thing.  Throw your kid a super-awesome creative party so you can take lots of pictures of it and hope that people will pin them and that you will become a Pinterest SUPASTAH!  And subsequently a bloggy SUPASTAH!

Clearly we love Pinterest or we wouldn’t have started our Pin for the Wednesdays carnival.  But I doubt that I’ll ever be hand-stitching a princess tent with which to adorn my front lawn for a birthday party just so I can become pinned by all the peoples! (Em probably would, though. She’s such a fame whore.)

It was just interesting to me that writing post titles for SEO (which is fine if you’re a niche, DIY, cooking, how-to-whatever blog, but NOT if you are just being a creative writer!) has a counterpart with Pinterest already.

Hey whatever works, people.

But what works for us is keepin’ it real.  Real real. Real DUMB.  Real dirty.  Real sad sometimes.  And, hopefully real funny a lot of the time! That’s what we can live with.  And we hope you’ll live it with us!

I held out as long as I could. But, now I’m pinning. Pinterest has me in it’s clutches!

I finally capitulated for the good of the blog.  I wanted to join before but I was SKEERED! Scared because all over facebook I’d read statuses like “Well I just lost two hours of my life to Pinterest.”  and “Pinterest is so addicting!”  The only addictions I currently have time for in my life are Mountain Dew and Downton Abbey (SHH!!! I HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO WATCH THE FINALE YET! It’s waiting for me on my DVR!).  I was afraid I’d end up like this:

But, amazingly, I have found that one CAN use Pinterest and NOT let every other responsibility in life go by the wayside!  I have discovered that you can be on if for just a few minutes at a time instead of what I thought was a two-hour minimum. So, I am actually really loving it! I’ve just gotten started pinning things such as my favorite Lands’ End clothes that I want need,  yummy food, things to make with the kids, and apps and games to play for learning and overcoming developmental delays.

SO, I am loving pinning!  I hope you’ll follow my pins!   And while you’re at it, follow Emily too.  Let me know where you’re at on Pinterest and I’d love to follow you too.

Pin it to win it, baby!