It has been a year (last week) since I started this space!?! I really can’t believe it, it certainly doesn’t feel that long. I still feel like a beginner. I haven’t been very focused on the blog in the last several months, but I’m definitely picking it back up and trying to put more energy into it. To see my progress in the other quarters:
Technology
- Did move to Genesis! Yay! I’m using the Beautiful Theme.
- I learned a little about coding and I figured out the header and a few other tweaks using code!
- Coding classes taken:
I highly recommend the Jenn Lukas’ courses to anyone who has a blog, regardless of if you plan on doing any design of your page yourself. It gave me a good understanding of how the pieces work together.
Future Goals
- Install better commenting system
- Invest time in learning more about the DSLR camera and photo editing (this has been on here forever!)
- Install custom pin-it button
- Learn more about coding
- Learn more about SEO and Genesis
Social
- Link-ups participated in: Travel Tuesday, Local Adventurer, Weekly Wishes and Humpday Confessions (no longer active)
- Placed zero ads, with the move and my distraction from the blog it wasn’t a good time
- Nominated for Tour of Blogland by Allison of The Ponytail Dairies
Future Goals
- Continue to search out new link-up opportunities
- Continue to grow social media
- Continue to work on connecting and promoting other bloggers
- Look for other sponsorship opportunities
- Share new boards on Pinterest
Blogging
- This quarter was not good for blogging, much of my energy was packing and planning for our move. I did do two posts about it though: Tips for Moving Cross-Country & The Cross-Country Drive: NC to CA
- You will see my lack of posting reflected in my numbers as well. The lesson is, posts do equal increased page views 🙂
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
- Finished my logo and social media buttons!
- Made a blog badge (it’s at the bottom of the page) and Childfree badge
- Completed theseSkillshare courses (I’ve completed all of the sessions but not all the projects):
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.
Future Goals
- Have a few pictures taken of me for blogging/promotion purposes
- Finish blog re-design
- Continue working on Skillshare courses! I want to go back and finish some of the projects.
Numbers
The new numbers are August 7th-November 5th. I’ve included the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd 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.
At the end of a year, I’m happy I started this space. I didn’t quite make the progress I had hoped, but at the same time I feel I’ve come a long way too! I’m looking forward to see how I grow this next year!
Thank you all for your continued support and for being here!!
Wow, what an organized recap! I enjoyed this and it sounds like your year was super fruitful and full of great learning lessons! Congratulations! 🙂
This is an awesome idea!! I do keep track of my social media stats and other stats every month – it is a great way to evaluate you progress!! I think this serves as the perfect rundown and breakdown of what you have accomplished and where you want to go!
Hope you next quarter is even more successful!
THIS IS A PHENOMENAL POST! It keeps you so accountable, looks at what you can improve on, what you’ve done amazingly on and gives us readers some tips that we might not even be aware of! 🙂
Congratulations on a year of blogging! Your organization is inspiring – I need to get a better game plan together for mine! I love using Disqus – it’s easy for people to respond and they don’t have to deal with setting up another account every time, or deal with Captcha {I know it has a purpose, but I HATE it}.
You are learning so much, I love it!! I don’t know half of this stuff. Keep going!
I have really loved using Disqus instead of the WordPress commenting system. It is so much easier to respond to comments and I know that the commenter is getting my response.
Happy one year blogiversary!!
What commenting system are you thinking about? I still use plain old blogger, which is ok but not the best – let me know what you come up with. Banking posts is something I would love to be able to do, but have come to terms with is not in my future. It goes totally against my nature. I only seem to be able to blog when the mood strikes me, and I have NEVER managed to write more than one post in one sitting.
I’ve had install a custom pin it button on my list for months now…:(