If you're a regular reader of BuzzMyBlog.com you know that each month I publish my blog's Progress Report. I highlight the progress my blog has made and discuss what worked well and what didn't over the past month. I like to have a little fun with these posts. They are written in a light hearted tone and often have humorous or downright ridiculous titles. It is just one of many ways I try to make my blog stand out in this competitive niche of Blog Improvement and Making Money Online.

If you're a regular reader you also know that I never get around to publishing the Progress Reports on time! This month is no different. It is now May 9th and this post will focus on my blog Progress Report for the month of April. However, instead of trying to make the post a little funny or entertaining, I am going to focus on a topic that is a little more serious - how to find the time to blog when life makes it very difficult to do so.

Before I even look at the numbers, I know my stats for the month of April are going to be disappointing. The month started out strong. The Weekly Buzz continued to spark a great deal of interest. I also saw a great response from the start of my ongoing six part series highlighting my Blog Monetization Strategy. Unfortunately the series is not unfolding as quickly as I would like, and for that I apologize. The second half of April something happened that caused my blog to take a back seat for the moment. Life happened.

Mrs. Buzz and I found out we are going to have our first baby!

Words cannot express the joy we feel. At this moment, I could care less about my blog statistics. All of the sudden the priorities in my life have changed. Instead of spending a few hours in the evenings working on blog posts, my time was being occupied with more important things. We had baby doctor visits, we became regulars at Barnes & Noble reading every book on child birth, we went shopping for new furniture, we redecorated the house. We were nesting. Life was happening and we were loving every minute of it.

Does this mean my blog will slowly wither away and die? Of course not! I still have a lot of great things planned for BuzzMyBlog. I just have to find a way to readjust my daily activities to make room for everything. Now that we are settling in and getting used to this life changing event, its time to get back to work. When life made it hard to find the time to blog, I just adjusted my schedule to allow time for it. I started waking up an hour earlier a few days a week. I would start the day with a cup of coffee and look at all the things on my plate for the day. I would make a list of all the things I needed to do, personally and professionally. The list would include things I needed to do for my job, further "nesting" to-do's, and of course, blog related activities. I would then prioritize the list in order of importance before attacking it, then scratch things off one by one. In this way, I was able to keep my life on track, my sanity in check, and hopefully...put my blog back on track for positive growth. 

So by now you must be wondering just how bad my April stats were. After 3 months of steady and significant growth, my blog saw a decline in page views and visitors. Page Views dropped sharply to 3569. Visits were down to 2653 and Unique visitors continued to drop to a measly 289. The single positive note was that my feed subscribers increased to 60. The overwhelming trend was this - loyal readers stuck around, but very few new ones came aboard.

I cannot blame my decline in numbers entirely on life altering events. I did spend a good amount of time in April on activities that I hope will be good for the long term growth of my blog. The following things that occupied my time may also have had an impact on my statistics:

• I spent a great deal of time redesigning my blog theme. I am really happy with the results. Thank you all for your feedback.
• I pretty much dropped all EntreCard activity all together. On my daily list of things to do, dropping EntreCards was definitely not a priority. It is my hope that a large percentage of my drop in traffic was useless EntreCard traffic anyway.
• I actually started another blog! Don't worry, it won't compete with BuzzMyBlog. This blog will be pure entertainment. Stick around for my official announcement in the next week or so. I am sure you will enjoy it!

As you can see, I have been quite busy. As I discussed earlier, I just had to learn how to adjust my schedule to make it possible. I am not bummed at all about my declined statistics. I know its just a momentary blip. I am very confident that May will be a great month! My blog design changes have helped already. The Weekly Buzz will continue strong. Also, look for a guest post from me on a very big name blog. I am very excited. I hope you stick around.

Jeff