Blogger Spotlight: Brave Daddy

Luke Harkness

3 years ago

In today’s Blogger Spotlight, we’re highlighting Brave Daddy – a blog run by Greg, offering parents tips and stories from the point of view of a parent who admits that no parent really knows what they’re doing. Greg writes interesting stories that turn everyday parenting moments into almost fictional stories.

Blogger Spotlight on Brave Daddy — Pin me to Pinterest!

What made you get into blogging?

Well, a lot of things. First, I got things on my mind, but the wife and kids don’t listen. I think that’s a common thing with husbands and fathers who are intellectual giants. It’s tough, but we find a way to make it through the day.

Another thing that made me want to do it was hanging out with people and sharing our daily tribulations. Being a parent, a former foster parent, a coach, among other responsibilities I have, I would share stories with people about things that were happening in daily life. Sometimes, people would laugh. Sometimes, people would just shake their heads. Sometimes, people would say I should write a book. Maybe a book about my misadventures in parenting will happen but, as of right now, there’s BraveDaddy.

What’s your most successful post?

I think there are two and they both involve being in the hospital. Once I had to go into the hospital for a bad case of poison ivy. It was bad, uglier than a bowling shoe. I had to kill time in the ER, so I thought I would write about it and loop in everyone in the blogosphere about it. I teased the updates on social media and got a lot of hits, relatively speaking. I think that was because it was a live and organic thing that was unfolding. No one knew what was going to happen and that’s what brought a lot of people to the story. The curiosity of it all.

The other incident involved one of my sons (I have three sons and two daughters). He was in excruciating pain, and we went to the hospital. Again, I documented our adventures and posted updates on social media. It was live and something that kept getting updated. It was fresh material on an hourly basis, and it got good results, numbers-wise.

What’s been your biggest uphill battle with blogging?

I think it’s trying to get traffic to my site, getting traction and becoming something people want to visit and read. There are a lot of writers and bloggers out there vying for attention and readers. I do what I can. I try to connect with writers and other parents. I try to find people in Massachusetts and New England to follow and try to grow my base that way. It’s a common problem people have, I think. There are a lot of writers out there. New people start every day, and everyone’s looking for readers, followers. Everyone’s trying to break through and succeed. It’s tough. That’s why when I find I have a new follower, I acknowledge and thank them ASAP. If there’s a comment, I respond to it. I love interacting with my readers and followers. It lets them know I appreciate them and through that, I can find out what they would like to read about. What they would like to see from me.

What are you most proud of about your blog?

I have over 300 followers. That may not be a lot to many bloggers and social media influencers, but it means a lot to me. Anytime someone likes a post or takes the time to comment, they took the time to interact with me and offer their feedback. I love that. I’m a writer, so I love hearing from people and getting their ideas and opinions. Not all opinion, mind you. If someone just writes, “That’s awful,” well, okay. Can you be more specific? If not, I dismiss it. I’m proud of myself anytime my site gets a hit or a comment, or both.

What one tip would you give to people looking to start a blog?

This isn’t going to take off overnight. There will be days you get no hits. You’ll have bots crawling and trolling. That’s frustrating, but it’s a reality. Don’t get frustrated. There are days I wonder if I want to keep doing it. Those are the days traffic is slow or nonexistent. It’s going to take time. Nothing about this is going to be fast.