A year and a half of blogging
Last week my blog turned 18 months old, and I’m proud to say that I have been blogging for a year and a half. I no longer feel like a newbie on the blogging scene, I feel like I know my stuff. I’m at a stage where I’m offering pieces of advice to other bloggers, although I’ve still got a lot to learn. I’m also at a stage where my blog is no longer a secret, it’s shared a lot, perhaps some might say over shared. But I love it, and that’s what important that 18 months down the line I’m still loving it.
A lot has happened over the past 18 months since starting my blog. I finished maternity leave, went back to work, quit work, started the Digital Mums course, and put a lot more focus into the blog. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, but with lots of fun and opportunities thrown in.
As it’s my 18 month blog anniversary it makes sense to take a little look at my blog goals I set at the start of the year to see how I’m getting on.
Goal 1: To be better organised with my blogging and put more of a structure in place. At the start of the year I set myself a goal to post twice a week on a Sunday and Wednesday. Well, since having more time on my hands, I’ve more of less been posting every day over the past two months. It’s brilliant for engagement, and I’ve seen a steady increase in traffic from doing this, so I see this goal as well and truly met.
Goal 2: To be better with my social media use. I set this goal as I found that I was on social media all the time. I would say that I still am on social media all the time, and I definitely need to be more disciplined moving forward.
Goal 3: To set my core blog brand values. This is something that I have not done at all. Although I would say that my blog is more focused in terms of content and brands that I’m working with, I still haven’t set my defined brand values, or written them down anywhere.
Goal 4: Have a permanent brand partnership set-up. This one is still in the pipeline. I’ve been lucky to work with some brilliant brands this year, and we’ve received some really nice products to review. I would still love to have a brand partnership achieved by the end of the year, however I would happily settle to continue working with brands on one-off campaigns and reviews.
Goal 5: To attend at least two blog conferences. Done! I’ve been to three Lucky Things meet ups so far this year. Although these are not large blog conferences or specifically related to blogging, they are events where I get to meet some other bloggers, learn a lot, and usually find some opportunities for the blog. I’ve also booked my ticket to Britmums live that is taking place at the end of September.
Goal 6: To continue co-hosting #fortheloveofBLOG. The Linky has had its ups and downs. Myself and Fi took a break from it earlier this year, and then stopped running it altogether. It’s now back up and running again, and I have new co-host; Kelly from Bringing Up Georgia. I’m enjoying co-hosting again, but there is a lot of work to do to bring the community back together, and see the number of link-ups we were previously getting.
Goal 7: To improve my stats. Don’t we just love a stat. Here’s what I said I wanted to achieve.
Twitter – 10,000 followers. I’m currently at 7,234 followers, and I would hope that 10,000 followers is possible to achieve by the end of the year.
Facebook – 250 followers. Done, and I’ve doubled it.
Instagram – 1,000 followers. Done
Page views – maintain over 5000 page views a month. At the moment I’m getting about 6000 page views a month, with about 3000 unique visitors. I’ve found competitions to be a brilliant way to help boost traffic, and sharing my blog posts on my personal Facebook page, and local Facebook groups helps a lot too.
With it being halfway through the year, I’m feeling quite proud of what I’ve achieved so far, and there are other achievements that I am proud of including being a finalist in London’s Top Mummy Blogger, and being at 208th place in the Tots100 chart. There is lots more to do, there always is with a blog, and I’m excited about what the next 6 months will bring.
Who knows what will happen, watch this space.
Claire x
27 Comments
Sunita
Wow congrats on all of your hard work. Your blog was one of the first parenting blogs I discovered last year. You’ve done so much Claire!!! So fab we get it hang out in real life too. Who knows what you’ll end up doing over the next 18 months. Love your ambition and spirit. Xx #fortheloveofBLOG
The Mummy Bubble
Congrats on hitting all those goals! It’s amazing how you’ve grown the blog. Loved reading what you plan to do next. Xx #fortheloveofBLOG
Eva Katona
Well done you! I’m blogging for about the same time, but nowhere near this organised! I blame it on my 2 children and my husband though #forthrloveofBLOG
Cherry at The Newby Tribe
Wow – you’ve done brilliantly!! I’m almost a year in and I’m just beginning to take my blog seriously and really get stuck into it! Hopefully I’ll be able to make a great go of it as well! #fortheloveofBLOG
Heather Keet
That is so exciting- congratulations! #fortheloveofBLOG
Helen @Talking_Mums
You are doing a brilliant job Claire. Your blog is fab, keep it up and good luck with Digital Mums. I can only hope that I’m nearing what you’ve achieved in 18 months x
#ForTheLoveofBLOG
Sammie
Congratulations! I think we started blogging at around the same time, though you are much more successful!
I have very similar goals I just get a bit sidetracked sometimes and end up forgetting about my blog… which isn’t ideal!
Thanks for hosting #fortheloveofBLOG
fancypaperblog
I am blogging 18 months also but set no goals really. I must for the next 18 #fortheloveofBLOG
The Squirmy Popple
It sounds like you’ve come a long way and have some really good goals in place – here’s to growing even more over the next 6 months! #fortheloveofBLOG
Susie/So Happy In Town
Wow, you’ve achieved so much and are obviously thriving. Congrats on your 18 month birthday. I’ve only been going for 5 months so still got a lot to learn but love getting tips from bloggers like yourself. #fortheloveofBLOG
Bec Webb
Wow, it seems like you’re doing really well with your goals – congrats!
My blog is very new (2 weeks-ish), and I have yet to look at setting myself any goals. TBH this is my third blog! Previous 2 failed (due to lack of interest on my part!) I just want to get fully into the swing of it all first with this one, and then look at goals, but I know I’ve found ‘my voice’ now, so that’s good. But this is great inspiration for when I’m ready to set those goals in the next month or so! Keep it up!
jen @ thehollyhockdoor
Wow! Great going! This really inspires me to set some blog goals for myself too! #fortheloveofblog
Sarah
Congratulations! I am a huge believer in setting goals, and I wish you all the luck with yours! I’m sure you’ll smash them!
Heather Burnett
Congrats on getting to your goals! Well done!
#fortheloveofblog
Susie at This Is Me Now
Ah wow congratulations. Those page views are amazing. I wanted to reach 5000 a month by the end of the year and I’m no way near. I need to do my half a year review actually, you’ve just reminded me! Well done on all you’ve achieved. I started to blog 4 times a week up from twice and noticed more traffic, but then I fell pregnant and got ill and had to cut it back. Now I’m feeling better I am going to try up it again. It’s great you’ve got this new focus and time for your blog now, I’m excited to see where it goes and watch all your digital mums progress xx #FortheloveofBLOG
Mrs Mummy Harris
You’ve done so well in the past 18 months, you really should be so proud of yourself and the progress you’ve made. I think the goals you put in place are so good, but also so achievable as well! #fortheloveofBLOG
Michael McFarlane
Congratulations on the 18 months blogging and all the other goals you’ve reached throughout this year, you are doing truly fantastic. Keep up the great work and those last goals will be achieved in no time. #fortheloveofBlog
Aleena
You’ve done so well, and I can only hope to be where you are in a year’s time!! At just 6 months in, it can be easy to compare yourself to others, but we are all just doing what we do!! So happy to have the linky back!!Go you! #fortheloveofBLOG
Sam - StressyMama
Oh wow. Congratulations you’ve done amazingly well. #fortheloveofBLOG
Adrian
You’ve achieved so much in 18 months. I’ve been blogging for three years and still feel stuck in the same place with only a few hundred views a month! Some great goals and I will be inspired to try and follow some of them. Thanks for running #fortheloveofblog
PS. I wish there was an equivalent Digital Mums for dads – we need help too!
mummy here and there
Wow – you go girl, you sure know where you want to go, all the best with it X #fortheloveofblog
Briony
Yey, go you! I’m so happy to see how well you’re doing #fortheloveofBLOG
Alana - Burnished Chaos
Congratulations on achieving so many of your goals, your stats are incredible for 18months, and I’m so glad you brought this link back, it’s one of my favourites x
#fortheloveofBLOG
Charlotte Stein
So inspiring! I’m a newbie and hope to achieve even 1/2 of what you’ve achieved in this time. I do appreciate this link up Bd the time it must take you to organise and read each week.
justsayingmum
Claire you are doing just brilliantly and I am in totally awe of the number of times you post! You deserve every success with this blog. You’ve set realistic goals and you are just going up and up! Seriously well done my lovely xx #fortheloveofBLOG ps I wonder whether your linky was better on a saturday for figures – there’s a lot of linkys out there in the week and I loved yours on a saturday for a bit of a sit down and reading blog session with a coffee as i was more relaxed at the weekend – just my opinion my lovely xx
five little doves
Congratulations to you!! You’ve come so far and achieved so much, I thought you had been blogging for far longer given what a success your blog is! Happy 18 month blogiversary! #fortheloveofblog
Megan
That’s so awesome that you are meeting your goals! I’ve just started taking my blogging seriously (not just a hobby) and I don’t even know what my goals should be lol. Right now I’m just focused on improving every month, however small those gains are. Congrats so far!