It’s My 6 Month Blog Anniversary! (and Giveaway)

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Today marks 6 months of blogging! Holy cow. 6 months ago I hit publish on my first post. I wasn’t sure how this was going to unfold and how much work it would require. Hint: It has been alot.  I thought I would list off the things I’ve learned so far :

Don’t forget to enter the $25 Target gift card giveaway at the bottom of this post!

It’s a small thank you for supporting me the past 6 months!

The Blog Stats:

60 posts published (wowza)!

1 FREE Resource Library (Get it here)!

Avg Page Views: 12,000 per month!

Pinterest: 1100 followers  <– started with 80!

Facebook Page: 248 likes

Instagram: 185 followers

Twitter:  75          <– I’m not sure what to do this.

Start your own blog here [Step by Step tutorial!]

What I have learned so far:

• That I underestimated the amount of effort that goes into running a blog. Each post can take more than 6 hours of time to prepare before publishing. Once a project is complete, pictures need to be edited, then links need to be connected, a post needs to be drafted, and then combed over to make sure I’m not offending the lords at Google and the FTC. Finally! The post gets scheduled for the go-live date.
• It’s a marathon. Blogging is not an overnight success. I’ve learned from so many successful bloggers that it took them a lot of TIME & EFFORT. I’m using this as motivation to continue blogging even though sometimes it is a little discouraging.
• Being Self-hosted. I’m so happy that I did this from the beginning– no worries about transitioning from wordpress.com to wordpress.org!
• I’ve become extremely knowledgeable in another side of the internet that I never knew. It is pretty cool to see a website that I own and have sole control over grow. I enjoy having the ability to learn about branding, photo editing, and internet security. Well, maybe not the security as much.
• That my husband is an extremely patient man. Every hour spent working/learning/failing at blogging is an hour that would’ve been spent doing another hobby, cleaning the house, or just relaxing with him.
• Staying consistent in posting (2x a week) makes me accountable!
• Learning what my audience likes! My recipe posts are popular, but the DIY posts keep people staying around the blog longer.

What hasn’t worked well:

• Facebook. I didn’t realize that only 9-11 people would see a post. I’ve found it to be extremely frustrating. I have to share my post on my personal page to get it in front of about 30 users. The only way a post can be readily viewed is if there is an engagement with likes, comments, or shares.
• Ads on Facebook. I chalk this up to being inexperienced.
• Promoted Pinterest. See above note about Facebook. Now, I know to only promote pins that drive users towards affiliate links. It doesn’t make sense to spend money to promote a recipe.
• Keeping up with all of social media. I’ve decided that my time is best spent focusing on only 2-3 social media accounts than all of them. It’s too time consuming. Right now, I’m most active on Facebook and Instagram. Pinterest is a search engine and I don’t consider it to be a social media outlet.

What is coming up on the blog:

• Continuing the two times per week blog postings. I can’t commit to 3 times a week and once a week seems like not enough. Will they always be on Monday & Wednesday? I’m not sure yet. I want to test out if posting on different days leverages better results.
• Lots of fall posts. I am looking forward to using the blog as an excuse to begin decorating in August 🙂
• A fun Halloween post of A + O’s Halloween costume from last year (hint: ‘Momma’s Favorite Things!’)
• A strategy of where to go from here. I don’t know the answer yet, but my mind is always thinking 5 steps ahead of where I need to be.

 

My Goals for the Next 6 Months:

• Continue to use Pinterest in better ways. Right now it is the number one driver of my page views.
• Continue to build me email list to leverage the ability to talk to my newsletter subscribers.
• Create a course for the other busy parents who answered my reader survey.
• Promote a new guest post once a month.

What would you like to see in the next 6 months? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!

As a fun way to celebrate 6 months of blogging, I thought I’d do my first ever giveaway!  Hurry up, it ends soon! 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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