Happy one-year anniversary to my baby! My blog! I can’t believe it’s been one year since I started my blog. This year went by fast and slow at the same time and has certainly been a crazy ride.
I don’t know if I would have started my blog if it wasn’t for quarantine. I was determined to do some of the things I’ve always wanted to do during quarantine. If it wasn’t the time, then when?
I am proud of what I did this past year. I’ve gotten better at cooking and found some amazing recipes online, moved back to Hong Kong, and also got my TEFL certification (A TEFL certification is for those who want to teach English as a second language abroad). I had a job lined up to go teach English in 2020 but that didn’t work out.
Despite all of that, my blog is my #1 accomplishment. You might think ‘isn’t moving halfway across the world a bigger deal?’ It might sound strange but it’s not. I’ve moved around a lot the past few years so I’m kind of used to it. Growing up, I moved places quite a bit as well. The longest time I stayed at the same place was for 5 years, which isn’t short. I’ve lived in Hong Kong before so the city wasn’t foreign.
Starting a blog from scratch, however, was completely new.
One-Year Blog Anniversary
I’ve been reflecting a lot on my blog for my one year anniversary. I’m extremely proud of how far I came on my blog. I smile thinking about the time when I…
- bought my domain
- posted my first blog post (50 facts about me)
- created my social media accounts
- got my first comment
- joined Facebook groups and feel like I’m a part of a community
These were all the things I am really happy about but I’m going to be straight up with you: this journey wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I struggled many times especially the technical stuff I had to do for my blog when I wasn’t at all familiar with this world.
Made some mistakes. Okay, a lot of mistakes. Some I’ve fixed and some I’m still working on.
I struggled with finishing my SEO course, promoting my content, and how my website looked.
If you know anything about blogging, you’ll probably hear at least one person talking about SEO. It’s extremely important. For some reason, I kept putting off finishing my SEO course. I finally completed the main course (not the bonus modules). I could have finished this course in a month. Instead, I took double the time. I should have started SEO earlier instead of waiting near my one-year anniversary to really get it going. SEO takes months to see results so I lost out on that time that I can’t get back. It’s basically a waiting game now. Going forward, I will implement all the SEO techniques I’ve learned from SEO Jumpstart.
A lot of bloggers have seemingly complicated layouts. I want my blog theme to be simple but then I feel like it looks unprofessional. It took me a while to finally decide on the menu categories. I finished changing my menu after taking the longest time to work on it. I kept changing my mind and was unsure. I’m going to stick with my theme for now, but I will open to change if something better comes up.
My Next Goal
I love it when Facebook groups ask bloggers to promote themselves. That’s when I can find these newish bloggers because I can’t find them on Google. It’s usually the big-name ones you can find but I’m trying to find similar bloggers like me. We can form a community and learn from each other.
It’s also the perfect time for me to promote myself. Honestly, I feel a bit shameless promoting my blog. I’ll do it but I can become a bit shy. For the longest time, I thought Facebook was dead but it’s a great way to meet other bloggers. There are also other blog courses I’ve taken and it’s nice knowing I can message in the Facebook group asking some professional questions I can’t seem to figure out.
Although I have social media accounts, I’m not posting often. I am literally on Instagram and Facebook multiple times a day. I recently got a notification from Twitter celebrating my one-year anniversary. Yay!
I want my blog to be my main focus so I haven’t spent as much time on social media. This is going to be something I have to start working on because social media is how people promote their blogs.
Almost Giving Up
There was one time I was thisclose to giving up. I felt hopeless. Everything seemed so much effort and there were no results. Should I continue this? Maybe I should spend my time doing something else. I was looking online came across an article online and it talks about how 95% of bloggers give up on their blogs. I was mildly shocked at the statistic at first but when I thought about it, it’s not that surprising.
Blogging is hard work. There seem to be many misconceptions when it comes to blogging but some people might think it’s easy money. Once you realize how much effort and energy it takes, some people decide that it’s just not worth it anymore.
I will be the 5% that don’t quit. That article gave me motivation again and how I was able to make it to my one-year anniversary. I don’t want to give up especially since I know how long I wanted to be a part of the blogging world. There’s a lot of self-doubts especially when you don’t see the results you want. It’s not even about reaching the results you want but how can you keep being motivated when you see no results? If so many people are trying to squeeze their way into the blogging world, what makes me stand out?
You read bloggers’ stories and they say how they went making zero dollars to living off their blog completely by their one-year anniversary. Or within two years. Does this sound familiar? They could be making a few thousand dollars off their blogs in a few months. I’m over here like ‘how is that possible?’ What’s taking me so long?
A small part of me gets jealous because it seems like their one-year (or more) blogging journey is so easy. I’ve hardly made money off my blog and my traffic is still not that high.
We all dream of the moment where our blog would go viral and then, all of this money comes flowing in. Yeah, that’s the thing. That hardly happens. When you put in all of this time and energy and there’s barely any progress, a lot of people might give up. And a lot actually do according to this statistic.
I made a promise to myself and posted a blog post on the Internet (it’s public, people!) that I will be consistent with my blog this year. Do I really want to go back on my word? Also, blogging is something I have wanted to do for years. I dreamed about it so do I really want to give it up? I let myself imagine where I stopped my blog completely. How would I feel about it?
The answer is regret. Knowing that I will regret it in the future if I don’t continue is another source of motivation.
Motivational Quote that Helped
I saw a quote where a famous Chinese philosopher once said,
“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
This quote keeps me going even though there are moments I want to give up. I can pick too many things about my blog that I need to work on, but it takes time.
There’s nothing in life where it’s all positive. That goes for your relationships with people, your job and blogging. There will be days where you’re in a funk and there are too many negative thoughts in your head.
That’s when I have to remind myself that although I’m not an expert still yet, I’ve come a long way since I started from day 1. It’s easy to focus on what you still need to accomplish that you neglect the wins you’ve made along the way.
I appreciate how far I’ve come since the start and grateful for everything. It has been a wild year but I’m excited about the future. I’m glad I made it to my one-year anniversary. I can’t wait to celebrate more anniversaries. This is only just the beginning.
Have you had any experience with blogging? Did you make it to your one-year anniversary? What was it like?
Xoxo,
Nicole