3rd Qtr Report (2013-2014)

It’s a very belated 3rd Quarter Report! Lucky for me I’m my own boss or otherwise I might be in trouble 😉 I did think about skipping this quarter and summing it all up in the 4th quarter but that just gets confusing…plus it is a bit dishonest as part of why I would skip is because I did not make very much progress and that’s not fair. I like being able to see my progress (good or bad), and I like these posts. If you are interested here is 1 and 2. If you are wondering why I included design as part of the report, I explain that in report 2.

One thing that struck me this quarter was the socializing aspect of the blog and I began to really feel part of the community. The post Life Lessons From Blogging sums up some of that. I felt that I’ve made some great connections and I truly appreciate all the support from my fellow bloggers…I still get so giddy and excited when someone else mentions one of my posts.

This quarter has been very up and down in terms of me keeping up with the blog. I feel so positive about the blog but I feel a bit more like the blog is running me as opposed to me running the blog…I felt like I was trying to play catch-up a lot and chasing after topics. I want to be more focused with my topics moving forward and have a better mix of informative versus more personal.

Technology

Completed none of my future goals from last quarter…wamp, wamp, wamp 🙂
I am really pleased with what I think it such a better quality of picture the DSLR camera provides. Using it for our trip to Maine and the resulting pictures, made me so happy. I think it is really worth the investment for better photos. The pictures are better, even though I’ve invested no real-time in developing any photography skills (it is the camera).

Future Goals

Move to a Genesis Frame Theme
Learn more about coding
Install better commenting system
Invest time in learning more about the DSLR camera and photo editing
Install custom pin-it button

Social

Started The School of Life link-up with Shannon (Brass Honey) & Miriam (Farm Girl). Currently, the link-up is on a hiatus and honestly the three of us have not discussed its future…which of course is not exactly how you run a link-up but things happen 🙂 I think once a week was a bit too much for me but maybe when “real” life is a bit more settled I won’t think that. This is going in the “to be determined” action item folder. I do want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our fellow bloggers who did participate and helped to promote it…it meant so much to me.
Link-ups participated in: Humpday Confessions, Travel Tuesday, Local Adventurer, Foodie Pen Pal
Placed two ads: Another Clean Slate (May) and Vodka and Soda (July)
Received 3 Liebsters and a Q&A
Won earrings from Esther and Jacob’s blog…aren’t they cute!! They are super light too, which I love!

Participated in my second giveaways, as part of my Nectar Collective ad that ran April-May. For that one I did Pinterest and Twitter…which I should have done Bloglovin. I did not document the increase I got through participating, I forgot to set a reminder but it would be safe to say that on both I got an increase of at least 50 followers (probably more).

Future Goals

Start Google + (I have an account but don’t really use it…need to get on that)
Continue to grow Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram
Continue to search out new link-up opportunities
Continue to work on connecting and promoting other bloggers
Look for other sponsorship opportunities
Share new boards on Pinterest

Blogging

I’m happy I started the Beer 101 posts, I’m proud of those.
I talked one of my real life friends into contributing and loved getting to share her voice and story.
I shared our trip to Maine and Charleston (finally) and an announcement that will move us to the other side of the country

Future Goals

Work more on writing and developing voice
Look into joining a blogging network
Work towards banking posts
Do more with childfree topic/connection
Look into monetization
Re-do About Page

Design

CompletedtheseSkillshare courses (I’ve completed all of the sessions but not all the projects):
- Color on the Web I: Design Cohesive Palettes by Geri Coady
- The Art of Typography: Communicate Effectively Through the Power of Type by Faye Brown
- Logo Design: New Ways to Create Custom Vintage Type by Simon Walker~this one I did not find particularly informative in technique or theory
- Master the Basics of Illustrator to Create Awesome Illustrations by Julian Burford~I think the Illustrator classes by Brad Woodard are much more instructive, but it is nice to see the different techniques. I don’t think this one is detailed enough for a true beginner of Illustrator.

All of the above classes are membership classes; you can take them if you sign up for the membership without having to pay per class. ***All of the links for Skillshare are referral links meaning if you sign up I get a free month and you can too, I do not have any affiliation with Skillshare, this is an offer to all users.

Continued work on creating a new logo and brand identity for the blog.
I’m working through the project steps from Courtney’s Skillshare class. I also started working on custom social media buttons.

Future Goals

Finish logo for blog
Design blog badge
Design button for “Childfree Are We Page”
Design Social Media Icons
Have a few pictures taken of me for blogging/promotion purposes
Continue working on Skillshare courses

Numbers

The new numbers are May 8th-August 6th to make exactly 90 days, even though this post is SO VERY LATE. I’ve included the 1st & 2nd quarter figures for comparison. I’ve also included totals. I do not look at these numbers on a daily basis, honestly I should probably look at them a bit more. The numbers are the numbers good, bad, whatever…it is progress. I don’t obsess over them, but I love to see growth because they shows me that I’m getting something for what I’m putting out, and who doesn’t like that. Honestly, what I do notice for every post are the comments. I think comments are a great way to see your engagement. I did not track comments this year since I use to comment directly on the blog and didn’t want to go back and figure out how many were my responses. Next year I may add comments to the number tracking.