Happy Friday!! This week marks 3 months since my first blog post. So, I’ve decided to do a little quarterly report…sounds really exciting right…well too bad, it’s my blog and I do what I want 🙂 No, just kidding, please don’t leave. Honestly, I’m still trying to figure it all out. So far it has been fun, and I’ve connected with some great bloggers. I love all the feedback and comments and I’m so appreciative of everyone who has taken time to read my posts. I still have a lot to learn and do, but I feel so motivated to keep it up and I hope you will continue this journey with me.
I got this idea when writing an email to a fellow blogger about page visits, but the thing is I have no idea what a good benchmark should be. I’m excited by every new visitor and really excited about every new follow or comment. I think some of the best advice when starting a blog is: 1. just start it 2. don’t compare yourself to other bloggers. This is a way for me to keep track of my progress.
Technology
- Moved from wordpress.com to a self-hosted wordpress.org (hosted on BlueHost)
- I lost all subscribers and likes in the move process, but not the comments. When I decided to move I had only done a few posts and didn’t feel it was worth it to pay for the move. I wish I had researched my platform better.
- There has been a number of glitches figuring out the whole WordPress thing, but I’ve been learning and that is important to me.
- There are a number of things I still want to do, but it is a process and the tech side is not a priority right now.
- These blogs have some great tips:
- Studio 404 (honestly I found tons of other good sites through Angel’s roundups)
- XO Sarah
- Lovely Indeed
- Chasing Happy
Social
- I met some great bloggers!
- I’m so thankful for all the support, both from new online friends and my at home family and friends. I’m particularly thankful for connecting with Shannon from Brass Honey so early on – she has been amazing!
- January was the first month that I really focused on putting myself out there and trying to be more social, and it has been great both for me and the blog.
- I started Twitter just for the blog and I’m glad I did it…and I think you should too 🙂
- I participated in several link-ups in January. Link-ups are good opportunities to put yourself out there and helps in finding your blog “tribe” 🙂 Doing these have definitely helped increase blog traffic and comments.
- The Liebster Award (thanks again Brass Honey) was a great opportunity and really allowed me to connect to some new bloggers (The Fit Knitter and Damn Ten Pounds– I’m calling you out on this one)
- I’m currently following through Feedly, but thinking about going back to Bloglovin (this will be a future post). In the meantime, don’t think I don’t follow you just because I don’t show up on Bloglovin. I worry about this.
Blogging
- My favorite post is “Life without Mile Markers” – especially the comments it received
- The comments from the above lead me to start the “Childfree Are We” page, and I’m so excited when I get to add new bloggers to it
- I wrote this post on why I started this blog
- I’m never going to be a food blogger but I’m going to continue with my Sunday food posts because: I like to share our recipes, I think eating cleaner is important, and I felt for a long time in the dark about how to figure out meals and what people eat. If I can do it, anyone can.
- I’m going to keep using the blog as practice for my design lessons in Illustrator and Photoshop (this and this are examples)…brace yourselves for more.
- I struggle to keep up with the 3 posts a week schedule but I’m committed. It’s my dream to get a month of posts together in advance.
Numbers
This may be really stupid and/or weird but I’m just diving right in. We will have to blame this on the ENTJ personality. While I don’t think you should run your blog for numbers, and it is really not the most important aspect of blogging for me, it is undeniably part of blogging. I want to know how I’m doing, and I think this and comments are the feedback for that. The thing is, I have no idea if these numbers are considered decent or dismissal. So here goes:
November 6, 2013 to February 5, 2014
Unique Visitors: 583Visits: 1,087
Pageviews: 2,428
Bloglovin: 12
Facebook: 12
Twitter: 42
Email Subscribers: 9
Blog posts: 41
Omg, please!!!! We’ve got a definite love affair going on here because I feel soooo thankful to have connected with you too :). As you can see I’m pretty far behind in reading posts but I’m so glad I saw this. Great advice, tips and experience covered here. AND, if it wasn’t for you, this old lady would have had no clue on how to set up a FB page. Xo friend.
You would have totally figured out the FB page on your own! I’m behind on everything at this point in time…blogging is a hard business 🙂 Seriously, Shannon I cannot say thank you enough!
Congratulations!! Your numbers are GREAT, I wasn’t nearly that far after my first 3 months. Twitter and networking definitely help, and I didn’t do that at all when I started out. You are way ahead of the game!
Not comparing your blog to others is the biggest and most important advice. Maybe because I have struggled so much with it? There was a girl who started on the same day as me (March 15!) and whose blog grew incredibly fast. She had over a thousand followers in something like 4 or 5 months, offered sponsorships, and seemed to be everywhere. I would compare myself with her blog and feel so insignificant. But then, after 6 months, she wrote her final post. Basically, she had burnt out. And the inital fun of writing and posting what you want had disappeared. I felt so sad for her when I read that.
Because to me blogging is such a wonderful hobby, and it probably was for her too at one point, and then she lost it.
So basically, what I wanna say (in a really long-winded way) is that you are doing amazing!
I really loved reading this recap of your first 3 months, and kudos to you for switching so early to your own domain!
Keep blogging away for many more quarters!!
Thanks Miriam!!! I really do think Twitter helps to get your blog out there and to connect…though I’m not great with interacting via Twitter yet. The social side of blogging was/is hard for me. I feel better about reaching out now, but when I started it felt so awkward. I’m the kind of person that strikes up a conversation with other tables in restaurants/bars but felt so uncomfortable reaching out online…it’s weird. Well, I hope to keep it up 🙂 Hope you keep it up too!! I’m amazed by how many posts you are able to keep up with and all of your pictures. Really, love getting to see your progress with photography and can not wait to see more!!
Congrats on all of the milestones! 😀 I’m so honored to see my blog on the list of fantastic resources and I’m glad I was able to introduce you to other fantastic blogs!
Thank you Angel…really your blogging 101 series was and continues to be so helpful!
YAY I actually really loved your recap – and thank you for the reminder not to compare yourself to other bloggers and blogs. I have that nasty tendency in just about every aspect of my life. So glad you called me out! I’m more than thrilled to be your friend and love sharing with you! I think this was a lot of fun and may try this out myself in a couple months! I agree that the linkups are a great way to get involved with others – It has helped me as well.
I also recommend taking as good of photos as you can or making your featured image have your title like “how to food, booze, and baggage it up in 10 days” or whatever and pin it on pinterest. I’ve gotten a lot of good responses with that lately.
Thanks for the Pinterest tip Tiffany! I personally think that it is helpful to see your own progress and for other people to learn as well…you should totally do it…you could even do your own spin on it and include fitness goals or knitting goals in addition to blogging stats/tips 🙂
Great start and review! I love reading how others go about doing their blog.
Oh, good! I was more than a bit nervous about sharing and how it would come across. Really, I just want to be able to look back and see my progress. I love reading about others people’s progress as well.
Love the shout out! Except I’m being called out cause I haven’t Liebstered my heart out yet. I will, I promise!! I am really happy you found me because I really enjoy your blog, your lifestyle and I’m 1000% sure that we would be friends in real life. And you’ve motivated to up my game with Twitter and self hosting. And then shot yourself in the foot because I’m going to nag the crap out of you when I have SH questions 🙂 I’ll trade you for Italy tips. Have a great weekend, Mariah.
No, that is not what I meant! Though now that you reminded me, maybe I should edit your name out…didn’t even accept the award 😉 Me too, we would totally be friends! I’m so happy I came across your blog…your posts always make me laugh-I love your sense of humor! I am more than happy to help (though it may be a bit like the blind leading the blind)…but really send me any questions you have! I’m of course going to hold you to the Italy travel tips. Hope you had a great weekend yourself Kristina! We were out of town this weekend on a little trip, hence my delayed response!
I love this quarterly report! The name made me LOL 🙂 In a good way of course! It sounds like you’ve done a lot since you started, that’s awesome. Cheers to a successful second quarter!
Thanks Rachelle! I feel an Excel Baller would appreciate something like this…maybe next time graphs 😉