This website, Fatherhood: Reloaded, has existed for a year. My first official post came on Oct 31st of 2020. So in honor of this occasion, I thought I’d give a little look back and a “state of the blog” post.
The Before Times
I’ll start with, the site, as it is now, is not what I had in my head when I started it last year.
When I originally launched the site, I was fast approaching turning 40, my wife was 4.5 months pregnant, and we were preparing to move to a new home. Lots going on. I had an itch to write and felt I had plenty of content to fill out a Dad blog-type site. It had been nearly 5 years since I shut down my previous site Geekasms and it felt like the stars were aligning to get me back into the game.
Right out of the gate, I failed at what I had wanted to do. I got busy with getting the house we were moving into ready. Things were hectic. I had quit going to the gym at the time and was doing yoga at home. (I at least managed a post or two about it this time last year). However, the time and energy I had expected having for this new website I was launching proved misguided, as I was just exhausted once I was free at night and the last thing I had in me was the energy to type.
Fast forward a few months and we have our son, who came with his own unexpected collection of issues. Everything derailed. I think I may have posted once in the entire month of March.
From that point, the site became an outlet for me, as was my previous site before it. I slipped into old habits, letting my geekier side slip in occasionally with posts. Allowing my focus to stray away from what were my original intentions of Fatherhood: Reloaded.
A Second Emergence
In the months since, I’ve launched a second blog, this one purely dedicated to my son’s journey. With the focus being straightforward over on The Green Affect, that has allowed me to regain a focus here on Fatherhood.
While the first year has proven to be up and down, it’s not been bad. With the first 12 months in the bag, the site has proven to average a little over 1.1k visitors a month. Not groundbreaking by any means, but considering how much of a rollercoaster it has been, I’m not upset by those numbers.
Both the Instagram and Twitter accounts I have for this site have proven to slowly continuedly grow, both having well over 400 followers and steadily climbing towards 500. Again, nothing earth-shattering for social media. For sure nothing to hang my hat on, but there have been long spans of not posting, so I’m not upset. Especially when I have a steady handful of followers on both accounts that I can count on for interaction.
I’ve been able to work with a few companies, not as many as I was hoping I’d get to, but the few I have had the pleasure of have been great. So the first year has for sure been quality over quantity, and that’s not something I can be upset over.
Onto the Future
So what’s next? If someone came up to me and asked what is Fatherhood: Reloaded, what would I say?
Well, first and foremost, this site is my personal blog. Different from The Greene Affect, as I can share more of my feelings over here. The good and the bad. I’ve not blogged as much as I have wanted, but plan on upping that. For the upcoming year, I have a goal of posting at least 1 blog post a week.
The personal blog is only a portion of the site though. In reality, the site is now more of a newsletter or online magazine, and I’m happy with that. I plan on increasing the number of reviews I do, along with covering particular areas of entertainment.
The past year I’ve tried focusing entertainment posts to primarily family entertainment like with Clifford the Big Red Dog and nostalgic stuff for me such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I’m likely going to keep with that focus but will narrow the gap a bit more. Rather than grab things and pull them in, if I post something on Fatherhood: Reloaded, you know I’ve either watched it or plan to do with my kids.
Yes, I’ll still have my geeky-type posts, but will try to keep them off the site’s main feed and over on a little sumthin-sumthin on working on in the background.
I also plan on refocusing on my fitness and nutrition, and I’m hoping to use the site as a way to keep me honest and accountable. So you’ll see those sprinkled in more, including more reviews!
I also want to bring in more for parenting. Thankfully, I’ve been getting some guest posts in the past few months that have been great and help bring some of the focus onto the parenting world, and help bring in more insight and views than just my own.
Finally, I also plan on bringing in more information on my son’s condition. Help bring more attention to arthrogryposis and give factual information about things we’re going through. (Who knows, I may find time to throw together an infographic on occasions!)
The Recap
So recapping, I plan on having the main blog, along with posts focused on entertainment, health, parenting, and arthrogryposis. Ironically enough, if you scroll down on the brand new homepage, you’ll find sections for all of those.
Crazy, right?
PS. The Updated Look
Oh, that’s right! The brand new homepage.
In celebration of Fatherhood: Reloaded’s second year (or second season if you were) I’ve given everything a bit of a facelift. A new logo that I feel is a cleaner upgrade from my original design, with a bit of added meaning behind it.
When I first launched the site, my intended colors were going to be grays and reds. When my son was born and we realized he was born with arthrogryposis, I changed all the red to blue in recognition of AMC awareness.
Along with the color, the new logo has fatherhood encompassed by 3 arrows. Representing just not the concept of “reloading” but also of my 3 children, who without, I’d clearly not have anything to say about fatherhood.
Along with an updated layout and logo, I plan on sprinkling in some additional updates in the coming weeks. That includes a new About Me page for myself and updated contact forms. New ways for people to submit articles and ways to contact me. (I also hope to relaunch a podcast with my wife, but that’s proven to be a challenge to get off the ground. So here’s hoping by 2022 we can figure something out!)
The Real Recap (I promise)
I’d say it’s been a successful first year for the site. While not what I had envisioned this time last year, how often do things work out the way we envision? I will continue to allow this site to develop and be driven by you, the readers, and visitors to the site. My eyes and ears are always open to suggestions and criticism.
I in no way look at this site as anything groundbreaking or unique. I’m not striving to break any molds or expectations. Simply put, I want Fatherhood: Reloaded to be a resource for people. A place for people to come and get right to the point of the matter. Rather than having to shift through the fog of over saturation to find the one thing they’re looking for.
I’m not looking to be a bookmark on your favorite bar, I’ll take an email or RSS subscription. (kidding)
I’m just a guy who enjoys throwing things up online for people to see, find, and hopefully, on occasions smile.
Welcome to Season 2 of Fatherhood: Reloaded. Let’s go have some fun!