I don’t know about you, but for me 2017 has flown by! And here we are again at the most wonderful time of the year where we can hopefully take a break, relax, and spend some quality time with our family and friends. My blog has been running for about six months now, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to share with you my thoughts on how it’s going so far with my end of year round-up.

When I first decided to start a blog, I never could have imagined just how difficult and time consuming it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE doing it and I didn’t think it would be a walk in the park, but my eyes have certainly been opened to the reality of blogging.

Fitting It All In

Even though I work from home, contrary to what people might think (i.e, that I’m a lady of leisure), I do have a pretty full schedule. Andy and I have our own building company, and I work part to full-time doing the administration and accounts. We also have rental properties that I manage, and as Andy is usually flat-out with his workload, I also take on the responsibility for most of the household chores and paperwork. Added to this, we are still in the process of landscaping our garden (which took up most of our weekends during the summer). I also take care of my granddaughter for at least one day a week. And now on top of all this I decided to start a blog (thinking it would be a little thing on the side that wouldn’t take much time – ha ha ha  😆  ).

Now, as I said, I’m not complaining. It’s my life, and my choices. But just to give you an insight into what a blog actually entails, the writing of the posts are just the tip of the iceberg. As mine is a creative blog, I have to create something before I can even start writing. I also have to take pictures as I go along with my creations. I then have to edit and photoshop the photos as necessary. Then there’s the writing of and putting together of the post. In the background of this there is also website creation, technical hitches, SEO, marketing, social media, google analytics, strategies, planning… The list goes on, and I barely get time to do any of it, so I’m looking forward to continuing to strive to work smarter, not harder in 2018.

The Honest Truth

As my blog has only been live for 6 months, I don’t expect miracles, however, with regards to my website traffic and e-mail sign ups, I am STRUGGLING. This is something else I hope to get my teeth into and improve upon next year. If you can imagine putting all of the above effort in, and then only getting a tiny audience, not to mention zero money (not that I’m expecting that at this stage).

But I’m remaining positive, and if you’re reading this now, then it’s all worth it! I have a lovely friend who is always telling me how much she enjoys my blog and is really supportive (you know who you are  😉  ). If only I had a few more thousand of her!!

I hope I’m not making myself look silly by wearing my heart on my sleeve!! Let’s hope honesty is the best policy  😳

Plans For 2018

I’m planning to give the blog a more specific identity next year, and for it to be an interiors blog (which is what most of my posts are about). I also want to re-brand a little with a new logo and a few tweaks to the website.

I will also, as I’ve already said, be putting together a strategy to grow my e-mail list and the traffic to my site.

Audience Participation

E-mail List

I know I’ve been vocal regarding my small audience, however, please know that if you are reading this now, I am truly grateful and really appreciate you. I hope you’re gaining something and enjoying my blog!

If you’re not already on my e-mail list, and you’re interested in interior design and creative things, then please join here. I promise not to bombard you with posts, and will not share your information with anyone, but mostly, I want to provide you with some inspiration and ideas to improve your home.

If you have any friends, family, or colleagues whom you think may be interested in my blog, then please tell them about it.

Comments

I would love to read any of your comments at then end of my posts. Please don’t be shy! Any feedback, questions, thoughts, or even just to say hi, would be most welcomed.

Please also feel free to e-mail me telling me what you think, or what you would like to see on the blog. I promise to reply to you!

Pinterest

I’ve been working quite hard on my Pinterest account this year, so if you haven’t already, then please take a look here. And if you have a Pinterest account, please follow me.

I also make all of the pictures on my blog, pin-ready, so you can simply click on them and pin them to one of your boards.

Instagram

I try to post to my Instagram and interact with other accounts as often as I can, so once again, if you have an account, take a look, and please follow me.

Social Media Sharing

At the end of each of my posts there is a button, so if you want to, you can easily share them on social media.

Thank-You

Well to round-up this post,  I would like to say a huge thank-you to you for reading my blog and being interested 😉  , and to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year. I can’t wait to see you in 2018!

p.s – Yes, that is me above –  on a winter wonderland walk with Andy in the fabulous snowfall we had during the beginning of December.