ShowOff ShowCase | TheBoyandMe

ShowOff ShowCase: The One That Should Have Done Better

December 10, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe Leave a Comment

This weekend (while I am hobnobbing with the lovely folk at the Tots 100 Christmas Party) is your opportunity to link-up a post that you wrote that filled you with a sense of satisfaction. You typed that last full stop, pressed 'publish' and thought "yes, this will be a good one!" and waited.

But no bugger actually bothered to read it, or if they did they certainly didn't comment on it!

Why? I can still hear you shouting it at the stats counter/comments log.

Heaven only know why. They didn't deserve it, they were good posts. It's not their fault that they were published on a Bank Holiday or when people were experiencing blog-apathy. Or at the Tots 100 Christmas Party (did I mention I'm going already?)! They don't deserve to feel inadequate, not when they've done nothing wrong.

This weekend, I'd like you to help that post to hold its head up high! Brush them off, stick my badge at the bottom of the post and show them off for everyone to see. Don't be ashamed of them, help them shout at everyone:

I SHOULD HAVE DONE BETTER!

I've added two; one was a competition post but I love the video and I wanted to share it again. Comments on it are closed so if you want to comment on the Oreo video, please can you do so below? Thanks!

ShowOff ShowCase: The One That Did Do Better (But I Wasn't Expecting It)

November 26, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe 16 Comments

Regulars to my blog, and to this ShowCase will know that once a month I have the theme of: The One That Should Have Done Better providing another opportunity for those unloved posts to have a little more attention and possibly widen the readership.

After the last SOSC, I was asked by @The_Moiderer if I could do the opposite theme at the next opportunity; not 'The Most Popular Post' but an opportunity to highlight a blog-post which is consistently read or soared on the stats chart but was never intended to be a ratings winner. And because she's one of my favourite bloggers, and one of the first people I started following on twitter (60,000 tweets ago) I am unable to refuse her!

Finding a post for this link-up has proven difficult. People have different reasons for blogging: while some use it purely as a resource and a diary for themselves, others use it to communicate with the wider world. I'm one of those who thinks that the minute you press publish then you are sharing it with anyone and everyone to see, and therefore it is done with the intent of being read. However, there are some posts that I accept might not have as many readers as other posts: my 365 photo-journal hardly gets any attention for example.

I've got one post which sits head and shoulders above the rest. Unfortunately it's a competition and I don't allow competitions to be linked up. I will tell you though that it was a review and competition of NIP+FAB Frown Fix and has had 1000 more views than any other post on my blog, and has at least one hit a day. Sometimes if it's in the news I get a spike of 100 views that day. Bizarre.

The post I'm linking up is a mixed-bag. Yes, the initial purpose of it was as a sponsored post for NetMums and it was to write about the Family Friendly Football Festival. However, it was a big family day out for us and we had a really positive experience. In the month since I published it, I've had 200+ views on it. Reviews tend to get a quarter of that over the course of several months. Further to that, because it was a positive review, I am now being followed on twitter by The Football League and my review was retweeted by them to its 45,000 followers!

So which is the one that you weren't expecting? Which is the one that was actually written just as a rambling aside to yourself but everyone was fascinated in? Link it up below and see if you can get an insight into the workings of your readers minds.

ShowOff ShowCase is only successful when people read and comment on each others' blogs. Please take five minutes to show some love for the link-ups.

Please add the badge to the end of your post so people can easily return here to read the others.

ShowOff ShowCase: The One That Should Have Done Better

November 12, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe 7 Comments

There's always one post that we've written that we were proud of, that we put the final punctuation mark to and thought "yep, that's a good one! They're going to love it!"

And then either no bugger read it, or, like I've had before, about 50 people read it but no-one commented!

I used to think it was the stats that counted, but it's not; it's the comments. They confirm that your writing is decent and that your readers find your ramblings enjoyable.

Hence this linky to help other ShowOff the posts that were underappreciated. This weekend, I'd like you to help those posts to hold their heads up high! Brush them off, stick my badge at the bottom of the post and show them off for everyone to see. Don't be ashamed of them, help them shout at everyone:

I SHOULD HAVE DONE BETTER!

ShowOff ShowCase: The Scary & Spooky One

October 29, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe 10 Comments

You know the usual format for ShowOff ShowCase by now; link up a post either along a theme, or The One That Should Have Done Better.

This weekend, it's the turn of a theme. So in recognition of all the ghoulish and ghastly posts out there highlighting craft activities or cookery or party games, I've decided that the theme is:

The Scary & Spooky One

Link up as many Hallowe'en posts as you want, let's use it as a resource bank of activities!

ShowOff ShowCase: The One That Should Have Done Better

October 15, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe 2 Comments

There's always one post that we've written that we were proud of, that we put the final punctuation mark to and thought "yep, that's a good one! They're going to love it!"

And then either no bugger read it, or, like I've had before, about 50 people read it but no-one commented!

I used to think it was the stats that counted, but it's not; it's the comments. They confirm that your writing is decent and that your readers find your ramblings enjoyable.

ShowOff ShowCase: TOTSHDB

October 14, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe Leave a Comment

You. Me. Our blogs. Simply Linked.

Tomorrow at 8am?

The One That Should Have Done Better?

Cool, see you then!

ShowOff ShowCase: The One About Food

October 1, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe Leave a Comment

There seems to be a tsunami of food posts around at the moment! Linkies, competitions, recipes. You name it, most bloggers have got one or two posts in the past few weeks to do with culinary delights.

Being the type of person who hates to miss out on anything, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and choose 'food' as this fortnight's theme for ShowOff ShowCase. However, it doesn't have to be recipe to rival Mrs. Beeton or Mr. Ramsey; it could be a tale of food, a memorable meal, a humourous tale involving shellfish or sweetcorn.

Dig out your old posts that meet the very vague criteria, whack my badge at the bottom and link it up. See if other people enjoy your experiments of being a Fanny or a Heston.

Go on, for this is The One About Food!

ShowOff ShowCase: The One That Should Have Done Better

September 17, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe 2 Comments

There's always one post that we've written that we were proud of, that we put the final punctuation mark to and thought "yep, that's a good one! They're going to love it!"

And then either no bugger read it, or, like I've had before, about 50 people read it but no-one commented!

I used to think it was the stats that counted, but I've recently realised that it's the comments; they confirm that your writing is decent and that your readers find your ramblings enjoyable.

ShowOff ShowCase: The First One

September 3, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe 18 Comments

When I started ShowOff ShowCase it was intended to be for three weeks only with three specific themes: Most Popular Post, The One That Should Have Done Better, and Favourite Post. Some very lovely people complained at me when I said that I wasn't going to be carrying it on, and through discussions with them I decided to carry the link-up going every fortnight alternating between The One That Should Have Done Better and a changeable themed post. Loyal bloggers link up every fortnight and for that I am truly grateful.

ShowOff ShowCase is a good opportunity to give old posts an airing and gain more readers and comments. It does rely on the contributors reading each other's posts, otherwise it's all a bit pointless.

One of the aspects that I like about it is that people contribute to the themes and I feel it builds up a little community of bloggers that I respect and enjoy reading. I've just asked on twitter if anyone has any ideas for this weekend's theme and the fabulous Dometic Goddesque has come up with the idea of The First One: your first post!

So fish it out; your first rambling post. Link it up below and let's see what people think. Are you a better writer? Are you worse?!

ShowOff ShowCase: The One About The Holiday

August 6, 2011 by TheBoyAndMe 10 Comments

As many of you may well be aware, this week we have been on holiday as an extended family to Dorset. It's a usual family jaunt and haunt, as my great-aunt used to live down here. However, this time it's been different. Strained. Tetchy. Awkward. There's been a battle of wills in the house, and I don't mean between The Boy and me. My mum and dad have been at each other's throats all week, while I've been refereeing. Mum and I have been squabbling because I clearly don't know how to care for my own son (this is the difficult bit; she looks after him while I work but she hasn't been able to switch off from that with me here now). As a result, hubby and I haven't been able to relax properly because I've been fraught and he's been irritated.

It's not been the best week and I'm not sure I can do it again. In light of that fact, I am going to set the ShowOff ShowCase theme to be:

The One About The Holiday

I'm sure that we've all got a post about a holiday or day out that we'd like to show off again. So dust down that suitcase, look out the travel-locks, panic about your passpost and link-up your blog-post about a holiday (or day out) below. I'll close the linky at about 10pm on Sunday evening. Please add the html badge to your original post so that people know how to find the others in the linky.