My blog is really just a little baby in the grand scheme of things. My very first post went live on 12th August 2014 where I had a Bloglovin blog with no domain name and pretty much no clue what I was doing. I posted so sporadically I couldn’t really call myself a blogger. It wasn’t until 2015 that I really got into the swing and later that year I started getting into a routine of posting most days which somehow I managed to continue all throughout 2016. I won’t just write blog posts for the sake of it but with so many ideas, and the beginnings of some brand collaborations I found daily worked well for me, although of course well deserved time off for holidays was much needed.
My blog now has just under 450 posts live, and I can’t wait to throw a celebration when it comes to my 500th post, any excuse for cake right?! For me – like most others – 2016 was a fantastic year for blogging and gave me time to try and improve. I finally moved from Blogger to self-hosted WordPress during 2016 and I am so happy with the additional functionality and the way my blog looks. Although I do feel like a complete re-haul of my layout is just waiting to happen.
Views wise I have grown slowly and steadily, nothing crazy but in all honesty other than write I didn’t do much to push this. I don’t have the time to fully invest in social media like I wish I had, what with a full-time job, a music website to edit, freelance work and of course my social life it just wasn’t possible. So for the little I did do I was happy. I managed to grow my DA to 29 by the end of December which made me so happy and I am really hoping to get properly into the 30’s sometime this year.
2016 also saw me do Christmas gift guides for the first time ever and led me to work with some amazing brands, some of who I have looked up to for years such as Burts Bees, Tipple Box, Grants Whisky, Menkind, Findmeagift, Nakd, and Biscuiteers. Over the year I also did my first restaurant review, thanks to Bella Italia in Watford and worked with Indigo Herbs on a few projects which is always a pleasure. Alcohol seemed to be a big hitter for me as I worked with IloveGin, TasteCocktails, and Beer52.
I can’t believe you’re at 450 posts! My next post will be my 200th and I thought that was crazy! I hope you get your DA up to where you want it this year, I’m trying to get mine into the 20’s 🙂 -carryonbeautiful.com
Your blog is doing great and i really enjoy reading your posts that your write
I love reading other peoples experiences on their blog journey, you have it all going on yay, your blog is fantastic and written so well, fabulous work x
Amazing, I think the way you present your blog is a great representative of you, even though I found you through bloggers helping each other, I totally looked forward to your 5 things lol – got me thinking my ass needs to be more socially pro-active. Got a nice vibe going on and I’m pleased on the lookback the growth and opportunities you had last year. xo
2016 was a great year for you blog and it’s wonderful to see how you have grown. I’m so impressed with how you manage to write a post nearly every day on top of all of the other things you have going on and you still have time to have a fantastic social life. I look forward to reading your blog every day x
Sounds like 2016 was a great year for your blog – hope 2017 is even better! x
Sounds like u had a fab year of blogging in 2016. I also did with getting my DA up to 27 and enjoying some fab days out.
Gosh what a great year for you! We had an awesome year with our blog which is 3 on the 1st of Feb! Kaz x
Now that is one heck of a year! Good luck with reaching 500 posts! I think I may die of fright if I make it that far!
Sounds like you had a cracking 2016. Keep up the good work!
I really enjoy doing Xmas gift guides, I had some fab companies approach me to be in mine and I loved their products!
Your 500th post definitely deserves cake! Any excuse for cake I say!
It was my first time doing a Christmas Gift guide too! I thought it was really fun
Sounds like you had a great 2016 with you blog! Keep up the good work this year! xo
Didn’t know your blog started on bloglovin how cool as I didn’t know you could blog on bloglovin lol. Learnt some new today
What a fabulous post! I love reading your blog and you have done amazing Things In the last year. I’ve just hit 200 posts and I am over the moon!
That sounds like a fabulous 2016! Those are some great brands to have worked with, and I’m always amazed that page visits and stats do just grow without you necessarily having to work hard at it. All the best for 2017!
What a wonderful year you have had, I hope 2017 brings you lots more growth and opportunity.
It sounds as though you had a fab year of blogging and hopefully 2017 will be even better x
Wow, nearly at 500 posts, that’s so many for the time frame, well done! Bet you’ll find your DA growing, as the blog ages too. I love blogging too, but sometimes I take a step back to allow myself a rest – it can get a lot trying to juggle everything x
This is so exciting to read, this year will be my first full year. So looking forward to the outcome.
I can see you had a fab 2016. Good luck with this year.
You had a fab year, I’ve really enjoyed seeing how your blog is developing. I hope you have an equally fab 2017!