My Blogging Journey: The First 3 Years
My blogging journey is still a work in progress but after three years of writing and creating posts, I wanted to create a timeline of my work so far. Not only can I then share this timeline of my blogging journey with you but it will also allow future me to see how far I’ve come in this blogging journey!
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Everyone’s blogging journey is different but it’s always fun to learn about how bloggers get started in their blogging adventures to see if there are any steps or lessons you could take from them.
This blog post will sum up my blogging journey until 2022. I will do my best to keep up with more blogging journey posts here.
2019: Blogging Begins
February 2019 to mid-March 2019
Wrote and published 6 blog posts, though not all posts are still live
December 2019
For Christmas, Husband gifted me a new camera!
Stats of 2019 (and Previous Years)
Blog Posts Written: 5
Newsletter Emails Sent: 0
Classes / Webinars Taken: 0
Overall Review of 2019
Before and during 2019, I actually had a blog on WordPress.com with a really long URL. I uploaded short blog posts on life in college, thoughts about moving, reflections on getting married and a few other random topics. It was definitely more of a diary format in which I shared random life events. I decided to still do a few blog posts in that style that will live under the “diaries” category but, for the most part, I’m transitioning away from such a varied content format. 2019 was all about having an outlet for sharing my life in a way that was more comfortable to me (by writing) than other social media platforms (which are more picture-heavy, like Instagram).
2020: Setting Foundations for my Blogging Journey
April 2020
Wrote 5 blog posts about our New York Trip and my wedding
June 11, 2020
Bought domain and paid for WordPress premium plan
September 2020
Attended my first virtual blog conference (Grow Your Blog Conference)
November 28, 2020
Cancelled WordPress premium plan and became self-hosted through Namehero
Stats of 2020
Blog Posts Written: 26
Newsletter Emails Sent: 0
Classes / Webinars Taken: at least 5
Overall Review of 2020
Man, 2020 brought about some really unexpected events. March 2020 was a huge transition moment due to COVID-19. I was only seven months into my new job and then we suddenly had to close down. My job was very much an in-person position that provided lots of services to all kinds of people. I was at a public library and there’s lots of stuff that happens in-person but very little that happens digitally or online.
So when the pandemic approached, my public library spent a few months being closed while they tried to figure out next steps. I was sent home and quickly became bored with such a huge change from an active job position to mostly virtual tasks.
During these low-action months, I went back to blogging and decided to be a little more serious about it. After testing out WordPress Premium for a month or so, I decided to make the leap into self-hosting rather than keep waiting. I hoped that paying for self-hosting would make me take blogging more seriously, especially with the increase in my free time.
2021: Blogging Journey becomes More Serious
January 9, 2021
Joined By Sophia Lee’s “Perfecting Blogging” course
Learn more about “Perfecting Blogging”
February 27, 2021
Deleted Mailchimp Account and began using a free ConvertKit account (or try ConvertKit Paid Plans)
May 2021
Wrote and published a blog post about work desk essentials that brought in a ton of quick traffic (still does) and has consistently been a top page on my website, according to Google Analytics
June/July 2021
Applied to CJ Affiliate
*went into dormant status three months later
November 2021
Wrote and published a blog post about hiking pants that quickly climbed the search ranks and has been bringing me in lots of traffic and affiliate link clicks (one of two top ranking blog posts)
Stats of 2021
Blog Posts Written: 18
Newsletter Emails Sent: 1
Classes / Webinars Taken: paid for the “Perfecting Blogging” course plus a handful of other free trainings and webinars
Overall Review of 2021
By the time 2021 rolled around, I was having to go back to work, which meant going back to a 2+ hour commute roundtrip. However, I was only making this commute a couple of days a week at first, then it increased to several days a week. I had less and less time to work on my blog which I think shows in the total number of blog posts written this year compared to last year (2021 had 18 posts vs. 2020 had 26 posts written).
Still, I tried my best to stay consistent and keep writing blog posts. I even purchased By Sophia Lee’s course “Perfecting Blogging” in order to learn more about blogging and to improve my writing skills and blogging strategies.
I also decided to switch from MailChimp to ConvertKit for my newsletters. While I hadn’t been sending out any (yet!), I decided the features from ConvertKit would be helpful down the road. I had also seen that many of the bloggers I followed had ConvertKit as their email provided, so I decided to switch now before I had too long a list of subscribers.
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Plans for the Future
As I look at Q2 for 2022 and beyond, I’m happy to at least still be here blogging! The unexpected circumstances of COVID-19 brought about so much change that led me back to blogging. It was something I missed and it has truly fulfilled a creative outlet that I needed.
I’m also happy to have begun a new job with a much shorter commute (only fifteen minutes) which will allow me more time to focus on my blog and writing! I’ve also been going back through the courses I bought from By Sophia Lee to keep improving this blog so it can be a resource to those who visit.
If you read until the very end, thank you so much for sticking around! I hope this post helped you learn a little more about what the blogging journey can look like.
While my blogging journey might look like this, it doesn’t mean yours will be the same! There’s truly so many ways to go about blogging and the different purposes it can fulfill.
Whether you’re thinking about starting your own blogging journey or have already begun yours, I hope this post provided some inspiration or additional knowledge about blogging.
This is a blogging post about
My Blogging Journey So Far (2022).
