Happy New Year! How did 2017 come around so quickly?! I feel as though I'm definitely not the only one who feels as though 2016 just started a mere month ago, so is incredibly baffled by how swiftly this new year has made its way around to us. And although 2016 was certainly filled with many downs for us all, there were also many positive points too - the ones which at the end of the day we should be focussing on! For me, my highlights include graduating from university with a 2.1, heading to Disney World on my first trip abroad without my parents and improving my driving confidence; before this year I had never driven on my own despite having a license for a while, but now I can happily say I have - such a massive deal to me!
And within the online world, I've also had many positive points. Having both a blog and YouTube channel, I've been able to create so much content of which I'm proud of. Throughout the year I have successfully managed to upload once a week, since increasing to twice a week due to the introduction of my Disney World vlogs; a big achievement in itself. And whilst my blog has been somewhat abandoned for a large portion of the year, I fell in love with blogging again after recently partaking in Blogmas. I was able to create so much content that I am truly proud of and can see drastic improvements from over the years. But this year I really want to work on bettering my blog (and YouTube channel) and the many different aspect that come along with it!
So whilst there are many different areas that I will be personally focussing on, here are the top 5 that stood out to me!
Improve My Blog Photos
I can't tell you how happy I am with the improvement of my blog photos these past few years. Whilst they're not up to scratch with the likes of many other bloggers out there, the change year on year has been substantial. The photos below show the drastic improvements. The first photo was taken from my first blog post back in January 2014; a time when I had no idea about using natural lighting, decor or nice white backgrounds. The second photo taken in early 2015 shows a significant improvement through my use of a white background, natural lighting, slight photo editing and lets not forget about having an image that fully spans the width of my blog post...but lets be honest, it just looks boring! And then finally, the last photo taken a few weeks ago, reveals the growth my photography has taken over the years. I've begun using props, shooting in prime natural lighting and use photo editing apps to improve my images.
And whilst I'm incredibly proud of just how far my photos have come, I'm still hoping to drastically improve them over the next year. My main goal in terms of photography is to experiment with a variety of props/decor, as well as backgrounds, which will (hopefully) allow for my photos to appear more appealing and eye-catching. I would also love to teach someone how to use my DSLR in order to get some outfit photos that I'd be happy to post on my blog!
Double My Social Media Following
In order to drive more traffic to your blog, it is evidently important to set up your own social media accounts. It allows others to become aware simply of the fact that you have a blog, as well as inform them of new (and old) posts. And whilst numbers should never be everything, I think it's fair to say that like myself, all bloggers are always looking to increase their following - it gives us something to strive towards.
Over this past year, I feel as though I have made a significant improvement in terms of certain social media accounts. My Instagram has seen the biggest improvement, growing from roughly 160 followers to 3,340 in one year. YouTube has seen a growth in over 1000 followers, and Twitter a few hundred. However Bloglovin' has seen little to no growth due to large periods of inactivity, along with Pinterest, and I am yet to set up a Facebook page.
Throughout this next year I would like to focus on doubling my following in all social media accounts by paying increased attention to each platform and realising the important role they play when blogging. I would also like to make it a task to set up a Facebook page at some point or another, as well as to become more active on apps like Pinterest.
Blog More Regularly
Something that I briefly touched on beforehand, but it's quite evident that towards the start of last year (and for much of the year) my blog had pretty much been abandoned. I'm a strong believer that if you've lost the motivation for blogging or are suffering with the dreaded bloggers block, you shouldn't force something half-heartedly. And that's what I did. That is until Blogmas rolled around and I once again found the love I had for blogging when I first started back in 2014. Nothing felt forced, everything was exciting once more. In fact I have a list of over 400 (yes, 400) blogging ideas, so I'm sure not to be stuck for any ideas any time soon!
And now I want to blog more frequently. Blogmas in a way was a big ask for me. With my current situation, I found it incredibly difficult to blog during the weekends, and so the most suitable thing for me to do at this moment in time, is to focus on blogging during the week. My current goal is to blog each weekday, every week, however sticking to a minimum of three times a week should I be busy. However, should my personal situation change, specifically regarding a job, this could very well differ in the near future. In short, I want to blog more frequently, without the need for big blogging breaks.
When I first started blogging, I was active with many fellow bloggers. I would constantly be reading other blogs, commenting on their posts and checking out and engaging with their social media accounts. But for a long time I've simply stopped doing this. And that sucks, because having that engagement with other bloggers not only sees an increase in traffic to your blog, but more importantly allows you to create friendships with so many people from around the world. And as my engagement with bloggers decreased, I haven't been able to create these friendships and share the support with other bloggers that I see many doing for one another. With this said, there are most certainly people that I am "friendly" with in the blogging community, but no one that I could really class as a good friend; definitely something I want to change within the next year.
Step Out Of My Comfort Zone
What I mean by this is to have more confidence to go to blogging events. I'd say over the past two years I have been either invited to or have found local blogging events numerous times which I definitely could've attended, but for me, the fact that I previously stated, not having any good blogger friends, has always deterred me from going. A bit of a contradiction when these events are instead meant to be for meeting other bloggers. But I find that if I don't have one person who I know quite well, I sometimes feel quite awkward; I don't know what to do, who to talk to, where to go...I just feel awkward.
This year I plan on changing that however. In fact I already have my first event planned for a few weeks time. In complete honesty though, the only reason that I have the confidence to go is because I get a plus one. A great start for someone like me who has yet to go to a blogging event yet though. Plus the event is down in central London - a place I would certainly get lost in on my own having not been there for almost a decade! But aside from this one event in mid-January, I hope to take more opportunities and head to other blogging/YouTube events that are plausible for me to attend.
What are your blogging goals for 2017?
Did you set any for last year? Did you reach them?
Lots of Love
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