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Invisible-no-more turned two in the month of November, 2018. With that milestone, and the New Year beginning, I got to thinking. How is my blog doing? Is it the same after two years of personal growth, and all the changes that have happened since I began this journey?

Honestly, there have been many times, particularly over the last 6 months, when I have felt guilty about my blog. I have not posted regularly, or been prompt reading other blog posts. I am slow to respond to comments and feel terrible when bloggers, who I truly care about, have waited for me to “get around” to acknowledging them.

I want to be clear here, no one has made me feel this way! Not one harsh word or comment has ever been communicated to me-this is my guilt, my issue. So, I need to either close down the blog, or figure out a better balance with my new, more active (and fun) life!

I don’t want to end my blog, it has brought too much into my life. I have met amazing people, learned too many new lessons and it has enriched my existence beyond words. Instead, I want to analyze my current situation and attempt to bring a clarity to this process. My goal is to write content that is truly engaging, as well as meaningful to me personally.

I got an idea from Amy at Bedlam and Daisies. She took a look at her top blog posts from last year. And, I thought this might be a great place for me to start this analysis. I am looking for trends in what spoke to readers. So, without further ado:

The top ten posts of 2018, ranked by “likes”

  1. Yoga Retreat, One more time –

    2. The Final Family Climb in Tucson

    3. I Am So Touched and Humbled By This!growning self blogger award

4. Leftover Ham? No Problem

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5. Great Article From a Like Minded Blogger

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6. King Cake for Mardi Gras

7. A Precious Gift

8. Standard Route on MT. Lemmon

9. Eating and Drinking Our Way Through The Tucson Botanical Gardens, Savor Tucson!

10. Sally’s Baking Addiction, January Challenge: Conquering Yeast

So, what have I learned from this exercise? For one thing, I have had an amazing year! And, all 10 of these posts are from Jan and Feb 😳 Clearly I started off strong, posting more often, and then let too much time pass between entries.

Variety seems to be key as well. Travel posts did as well as adventure and baking. That seemed to be true as I expanded this list to the top 20 blog posts.

If this is true, then people like the variety but don’t know when to look at my blog, because I am too inconsistent.

Other posts that did well, by this limited metric, included my fellow bloggers. Both posts from my trip to Montreal, where I visited with 3CStyle, ArtyPlantsman and Mainepaperpusher (aka, Dominique💕 ,Darren💐 and Linda🐉) did well. As did my book reviews for James (Jay) Cudney, author extraordinaire 📚 and I have two other books of his in the hopper to post!

What did not do so great? Some of you may remember that I participated in the April “Blogging from A to Z” Challenge in 2018. This was a great challenge for me as I posted daily in the month of April. The posts were pretty detailed and time-consuming, but I was happy that I did it! But, since they were not well received, and took an immense about of my resources, I will not join this year.

Sally’s Baking Addiction challenges are hit and miss. Generally, they are well liked and, because I truly enjoy them, I will continue this through 2019. I have been doing these challenges since their inception by Sally, and although I am often at the absolute deadline, I have made each and every one. I have also learned a few new skills along the way, which makes this worth it for me 😊

So, with this cursory look at my blog stats, here is what I am planning. I would like to set the personal goal of a minimum of two posts per month. One will be related to an activity or travel experience and the other will by Sally’s monthly challenge. I envision that the personal write up would be at the beginning of the month, and the baking post near the end (as that seems to be my default pattern 😉). There may be the rare occassion that I might get three posts in for a month, and I am ok with that!

The point here is that I am going to challenge myself to be a better blog buddy, participate regularly with the blogging community and hold myself more accountable to the overarching goal of my blog maintenance.

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38 thoughts on “My Blog is Two Years Old, So Now What?🤷‍♀️”

  1. Hi, Dee Dee – Congratulations on your second blogiversary. I like your analysis and the goals that you set for yourself and your blog. I have also decided not to participate in the A – Z Challenge this year. Although I gained valuable lessons (plus extra confidence) from joining in last year, feedback from my readers was that it was hard for them to keep up with all the bloggers whom they followed last April and they felt guilty when they ignored or deleted posts.
    I look forward to following your adventures ahead and reading what you have in store for us.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I agree with your readers! It must be as hard for them to keep up with reading, as it is for the author to generate the daily posts! I too am glad I did it, but I am hoping for another way to connect with bloggers 😊
      Thank you for your thoughts and I wish you a wonderful 2019💕

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  3. Hey Dee Dee!! I really love this evaluation, I was feeling guilty for even having a blog since it’s taking so much time. I really love doing it though. I also really like your goals, they seem super awesome, measurable and attainable.

    Also thanks for the support and for commenting on my posts. It really means a lot to me and it’s motivated me more than you know.

    Anyway, cheers to 2019, let’s kick some butt! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Wahey for two years! I’ll admit my heart sank a little when I first read you were thinking of closing the blog, so I am super happy to see that after an analysis (which I think is a really smart thing to do) you’re going to keep it going! I love your instagram (seriously, so gorgeous and inspirational) but your longer posts would have been missed for sure! Can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store for you and what you’ll be sharing with us! Have a wonderful day! 🙂 xxxx

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Excited to read more of your blog posts. I let my blog fall to the wayside years ago and my hubs mentioned the other day how sad he was that I haven’t kept it up. I want to, I think about it, but just get lazy. I told myself this year I would make more efforts. We shall see how it goes. LOL

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Congratulations and I am pleased you aim to continue. I totally get where you are right now and my own blog is lacking direction at the moment. Only the monthly collabs with Dominique and Lisa really motivate me. And, like you, I feel I have not participated or commented on other blogs as much as I should.
    You Instagram is great, and I find IG a useful too when time is short.

    Wishing you all the best for successful blogging in 2019. x

    Liked by 1 person

    • And to you also Darren! I do understand why Roda went to instagram and dropped her blog. It takes a lot less time then writing, editing, tagging…. But, there are times I want to say more about an adventure or experience than I feel is appropriate on IG. Some people write very long IG posts, and I don’t always read the whole story. I originally started on IG as a support system for the blog, but it feels like the tables have turned on me😳

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Happy belated Blogiversary Dee Dee!! It’s great that you are finding so many things that enjoy! I think that’s an awesome reward in a personal growth journey…to find things you love. 🙂
    Your top 10 is definitely filled many amazing things!!
    Here’s to a fun-filled, exciting year of growth in 2019!! xx

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I’m so glad to hear that you will not be giving up your blog. Like you, I’ve found that my posts have been fewer and farther between as time has gone on. Like you, I haven’t commented or kept up with all I would like to. I am finally (I think) coming to the conclusion that it’s ok. WordPress shouldn’t be a chore, it should be a joy. I am hell-bent on keeping my Guest in Jest series going because my readers love it, but if I don’t do a personal post for a week or two, I’m not going to sweat it. There will be many times when they won’t have time to read what I’ve written…and that’s ok! Life is too short to spend time trying to force our Muse to provide us with inspiration and the time to write it up. That was my very long-winded way of telling you to give yourself a break, my friend. 🤗❤️🤗❤️🤗

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Happy New Year and Happy Blogiversary DeeDee. I enjoyed reading about your analysis. I probably need to do the same for my blog. It is very hard to keep up with all the blogs out there that interest me and I always feel guilty when I get so far behind that I have to delete emails without reading posts. You will figure out what works best for you. I enjoy reading your blog posts and look forward to what you have to share with us in 2019.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Two years (and a few months) – congrats! Honestly, you’re not alone in feeling like this & there’s absolutely no reason to feel guilty. This is your space, you do with it what you want. Life gets in the way, it happens. I seem to be forever trying to catch up with myself, realising I’ve not got posts ready nor replied to all comments. I want to get a little more organised this year, but hopefully without too much pressure. Blogging should be enjoyable, as well as achieving what we want to achieve (share our experiences, connect with others, raise awareness etc). I think the challenges sound good, just go easy on yourself because you’re a valued member of the blogging world and I’m glad to have ‘met’ you, so whatever, whenever you write, we’ll be here! 🙂
    Caz xx

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Congratulations! That’s a great way to work out how you’d like to continue blogging but in a way that works for you. First and foremost, you have to enjoy it 😉 I post as when I get inspiration, no schedule. I try to keep on top of comments but I sometimes struggle to keep on top of reading the blogs I follow. Hence I’m about 3 weeks behind here! Hope your new plan works and gives you the time you want for all your amazing adventures :).

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Congratsss even though I am late so sorry Deee…close down the BLOG!!!! I am so glad you decided against it!!! You should not feel guilty about not posting or responding, whenever you have time and you feel like posting. Will always be here 🙂 Luv yaaaaa Deeee

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