ONE YEAR OF BLOGGING: THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM

One year blog anniversary

Exactly a year ago, I published my very first blog post. In that post I talked about life tips learnt from Oprah Winfrey and I was scared to hit publish. I was caught in a web of fear and anxiety on whether people will like the post or not. Whether I wrote well enough, whether starting my blog was a good decision, whether I won’t put every thing about my life out there just because I own a blog.

A lot of thoughts ran through my mind but still I hit the publish button and I am glad I did. Look at me now, look at how far I’ve come, look at the growth from knowing absolutely nothing about blogging to actually giving blogging tips. From getting less than 10 daily views to hitting above 500-1000 views a day. Yes, look at all that growth. But one year of blogging  hasn’t been a walk in the park it’s been one hell of a topsy-turvy ride, but I have no regrets.

So We Are One!

Yes we are! I say “We” because without no you, there would be no blog. You all have been amazing! A sort of support system, you have no idea the joy I feel whenever I see a new comment or like. Let me not even talk about those of you who care enough to send me Emails asking where I have been whenever I become inconsistent. I appreciate every blog reader. Totally appreciate you visiting even if you don’t leave comments. Although your comments help to make me familiar with my readers, so please keep them coming. Keep the love coming, keep being my support system, my bedrock. I love you all so much!

What has one year of blogging been like.

It’s been the storm before the calm. That’s the best way to describe my last one year of blogging. I have won, lost, cried, battled with inconsistency, thought of quitting but still I won’t give up. It hasn’t been easy but its been fun exploring my passion for writing, its been fun engaging with new people on the web. The last one year has been a learning process and this new year is the time to put all i have learnt about blogging into practical.

Battling inconsistency

when i started blogging, i used to be very consistent. I published at least 3-4 blog post every week. For the past 4-5 months, I can’t say i have been consistent. I have tried taking breaks and all, still nothing is working. However, i have come to the realisation that maybe what i need is a truck load of motivation. So i have challenged myself to be more consistent. Being inconsistent has already cost me a lot. I have lost blog readers, my blog’s traffic has dropped, Alexa rank has dropped as well. Most of all, I feel deeply ashamed that I was not being committed to my passion and especially to you, my readers.

NEW IN; CHANGES ON THE BLOG

I have taken the liberty to add some new categories on the blog. After carefully thinking about how best to stay consistent, i figured out that the best way to do that is to go back to where i started. To write contents that deeply interests me and so i have added new categories to help me achieve this.

Monthly faves: This is me sharing my monthly favourite things with you. This category consists of a monthly watch list, song list and wish-list.

Personal development: I am working towards becoming a better me and I will love to have you all to be part of this journey. So under this category, each month, i will challenge myself to be a better person physically, mentally, spiritually and other wise. If you want we can do this together. It will be so much fun challenging ourselves to be better.

Made In Nigeria:

I have wanted to start this category for the longest time. In recent times, there have been a lot of development in creating skin care, fashion and beauty products in Nigeria by Nigerians. This category is my little contribution towards the “buy Nigerian’ goal. So now and then, You will see such posts focused mainly on Nigerian brands. I am also glad a few brands have decided to be part of this. If you are reading this and you own a Nigerian business, you will like to showcase, I am open to collaborations. send a mail to Hello@giftcollins.com or gyifted@gmail.com.

Tourist in my city: This is my attempt to stop being indoors and rather go out and explore my city. This category was motivated by the wonderful Detola of deedeesblog. His mind-blowing documentaries where he visits new places inspired me to contribute in showing off the beauty in one’s surroundings. Hence tourist in my city is going to be about me exploring any city i find myself in. for now i am in Port Harcourt, so expect to see more of Ph city on the blog. To answer your question, no i am not transitioning into a full travel blogger. However I love to travel as a lifestyle.

Those are the new additions to the blog. So expect to see such contents along the regular contents you are used to.

NEW POSTING TIMES

With my new resolve to stay consistent, there will be new blog posts at least 3 times a week. I haven’t come to a fixed date but expect new blog posts every 2 days by either 6pm or 9pm daily.

Checking in with my bucket list

If you remember, six months ago, i celebrated my blog turning 6 months and i wrote out a bucket list for the next six months. well, its time to check how many i checked off my list.

MY 6 MONTHS BLOGGING BUCKET LIST

Hit 70,000 blog views

No i didn’t hit 70,000 views. I might have if i wasn’t inconsistent. However i hit above 50k.

Make my first 200 thousand Naira on the blog

This is a bit dicey, I have made over 160,000 directly and indirectly from my blog. I say dicey because I didn’t make them off the blog fully but by providing services such as Social media Managing, Copy writing, Freelance writing, Sponsored posts, Sponsored back links, blog/brand consultation  etc. However, most of these opportunities came via owning a blog. sadly, I didn’t hit my goal of 200k.

Get to work with more brands

This was a total fail and somehow i blame myself. Majorly because I was inconsistent and didn’t engage or reach out to any brand. I got the opportunity to work with a male footwear brand though but due to previous experience and because my contents are geared towards the feminine gender, i turned it down. Surprisingly when i checked my audience analysis on google a few weeks back, I realised I had a percentage of 51% to 49% male to female readers respectively. I am very much open to collaborations with brands this year. Please send an email, let’s get started.

Collaborate with more bloggers

okay, let’s just skip this because i didn’t.

Contribute for more sites just like TBP

I actually stopped contributing for The blogger point because my laptop got bad (this was one of the reasons for my inconsistency). Well, I have that issue sorted out. If you love reading my articles on The blogger point and want me to start contributing again, say YAY in the comment section.

Hit 3000 email subscribers

nope, I didn’t. I got over 1220 though.

Get mentions in top blogs

A few mentions but I can’t say any belongs to the category of top blogs, so i will pass.

A blog award nomination

I got nominated for the Liebster blog award and the sisterhood of bloggers award. so that makes a total of three blog awards if you add the sunshine blogger award.

Get a premium theme specifically the maker theme or Equinox theme from pipdig

This didn’t happen, I have fallen in love with other themes. so whenever i decide to get a premuim theme, i might not be getting either of the two. which is ironic considering i felt the maker theme was my dream come true some months back.

Get Google Ad sense approval 

A big yes to this. I got adsense approval in my eighth/ninth month of blogging. I was surprised because i had applied once and they turned me down. If you want me to write a post on what i did right to get Adsense approval in less than 9 months of blogging. let me know in the comment section.

WHAT NEXT?

I can’t say for sure if i know what next, I am taking the next one year, one step at a time. I will work towards fulfilling everything on my previous bucket list and i am making a new one for the next 1 year.

NEW BLOGGING BUCKET LIST

1. Hit 500,000 blog views by this time next year.
2. Make at least half a million off my blog
3. Get to work with at least 10 brands
4. Become an authority as a foremost Nigerian lifestyle and movie blogger
5. Get my first paycheck from Adsense
6. Develop a better relationship with my blog readers
7. Send Newsletters regularly
8. Add a shop ( more info on this coming soon).

These are the few I have in mind, like I said, I want to take the next year one step at a time. so I don’t end up overwhelmed. If I come up with anything new, I will definitely be updating this post.

Cheers to the next 1 year of great contents, of friendship, of growth and many more.

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