My six month Blog-versary

16th October 2021

Happy six month blog-versary to me. Grab a drink and join me in a toast to celebrate something that I am proud of and will continue to work hard at: itsajeanettething.com I love you and here's to many more anniversaries together x

I thought I would share with you my most proudest moments so far and some thoughts for the future of my blog. I'm so glad to be sharing this with my supporters and readers, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. 

My Favourite posts 

I have posted some great blogs if I do say so myself, ones I'm quite proud of, these are my favourites that I really enjoyed creating: 

Visits to my site

I have had a total of 497 visits to my site since first going live in April this year. That's quite a momentous achievement. 

First guest post success

Noticing quite quickly on Twitter the words ‘guest post’ were looming everywhere, I wanted to know what this was all about.  Having done my research I knew I wanted to be a part of the action, so I asked a fellow blogger for help and she was very helpful, after all I did have a lot of questions. The post went live on her site and it's been another proud moment of mine. 

What I want to achieve in the next 6 months

In the traditional way to mark such an anniversary it's time to set some goals. It's always great to keep the motivation up and it will allow me to devote my attention to the site. Considering also why I started this in the first place:

• Updating and promoting my older posts. 
• To Post more often.  Set a schedule to post more times weekly.
• With the success of my first guest post, I would like to do a few more.
• To get more visits to the site.  It's not that i'm not happy with this so far but to aim for more seems reasonable for its future success. 
• To explore doing collaborations.

Shoutouts 

First of all to those who have read every single post, you are truly loyal and I can not thank you enough. Secondly a big shoutout to my partner, aka my editor, you have been fantastic and as ever before you're always there for me, thank you. And thirdly to Sophia Patel, a fellow blogger who has been so patient with me while I have asked the silliest of questions and got my feet under the blogging table, thank you x

Fellow bloggers saying some words of wisdom 

I have asked some bloggers if they wouldn't mind helping me celebrate. Setting out some questions and hearing from them too. I couldn't think of a better way:

@kellyreportblog   Abit about your blog/niche

I have been a blogger for the last ten years. My Latest blog The Kelly Diane Report  features a mix of beauty, books, fashion and lifestyle related content. I love writing reviews of things I've tried whether that is books or products. My aim is to help others by sharing tips and hacks so that you can live your best life. 

How long have you been blogging? 

As mentioned above, I have been blogging for the last ten years. My latest blog has been running for just over three years and is my most successful blog to date. 

What techniques do you use to proofread your writing?

I've always worked by the term check, check and check again. Once I have written a post, I will check that it all makes sense before saving my work and doing something else. I'll then go back in, checking all spelling and punctuation. Finally I will do one more check just to finalise everything before I schedule the content. 

What do you think are the most important parts of promoting new content?

For me, I find consistency so important. I'll promote a new piece of content at least three times a day on various different platforms. To be consistent, I try to make use of any free scheduling tools available.

@unwantedlife_me   A bit about your blogs/niche

The blog started as a mental health blog whereby I’d write about my experiences with mental health. However, the blog soon expanded to include dyslexia, health, and invisible disabilities. Thus, the blog became an invisible disability blog (mental and physical health). The blog would now cover different disorders, psychological theories, interventions, and other related content with my experience becoming secondary to the content. Basically, I’d share my experience when it would offer some insight or be helpful to the main topic of the article. Thus, the focus is no longer on my personal experiences.

The blog's choice of name, which appears pessimistic, and to a large extent is born from a pessimistic place, isn't entirely negative. When I started to write stuff down about my life to help process and work through my trauma, I considered turning these writings into a book. This book would have been called: “Life of an Unwanted Youth” because I'd spent my entire life always feeling unwanted. This is the reason I have a section on my site where people can share their stories of feeling unwanted and how it affected them.

Because I could no longer call myself a youth, the title was adapted to reflect how I’ve always felt and Unwanted Life was born.

My blog's name may have come from somewhere dark, but the intention is to turn that darkness into a beacon of light to help raise awareness and make people feel less unwanted. Everyone deserves to be happy, and everyone deserves to get the support they need to be happy.

A link to your blog

https://UnwantedLife.me

What made you want to start a blog?

I started blogging on a whim. I had to defer a year while doing my postgraduate degree because I couldn’t source financial support to cover my tuition. During that year I had nothing to do, but I still wanted to do something that would help others. One day, not long before Christmas I had the idea to write a blog. Before this idea joined the scrap heap of all my other unfollowed ideas, I took out a self-hosting contract.

From there I thought I’d share my experiences with mental health in the hopes that it could help people avoid ending up like me. Although I’m no longer emotionally affected by my childhood trauma, the damage it caused has changed who I am on a fundamental level. A scar of my personality if you will.

How long have you been blogging?

My blog was started on 7th January 2019, with the first article going live on 14th January 2019. It won’t be long until my blog is three years old. Although my unique aesthetic seems to make my blog less popular than other blogs that talk about mental health, I can’t imagine it being any other way as it’s a reflection of who I am.

What techniques do you use to proofread your writing?

Because I’m dyslexic, I can’t rely on my ability to proofread, so I have to use another service to help me. I used to rely on Grammarly, but every time WordPress had an update Grammarly would stop working and they’d take months to fix it. If it was a one-off, it wouldn’t be a problem, but it happens at least once every year and has happened three times so far. Currently, I’m using ProWritingAid which is a huge help. Therefore, I write out a complete draft of an article and then read through it with ProWritingAid to make corrections. I only do one complete read through because I don’t want my need to be perfect to kick in, as I’ll never publish it if it does.

What do you think are the most important parts of picking a target audience?

I don’t pick a target audience; I write about mental health and invisible disabilities because it’s something I’m passionate about. When I’m writing a new article I get to educate and help other people, but I also get to learn new information during the process. That is the only reason behind writing what I write.

If I knew how, I would like to tap into the metal and alternative music scene so I could connect with more mentalheads and goths like me. But I’m clueless on how to do that. But if you have any suggestions on how I could accomplish that, I’m all ears.

@pacialita   A bit about your blogs/niche.

My name is Ali and I am the creator of share to Inspire blog. My site is all about improving yourself, building confidence, ditching fear, and living the life you have designed. I created this platform to share my passion and hope to inspire and empower women in the aspects of self- growth, productivity, finances, and relationships. I also talk about my life here in Japan.

A link to your blog:

https://sharetoinspireblog.com/

How long have you been blogging?

I have been blogging for over a year. I have always wanted to build my own site and share my experiences about living in Japan but I doubted myself and my fears prevailed. Until the pandemic hit, we were forced to stay home and I needed something new to do. I took courses on how to start a blog and my site went live on August 20, 2020.

What techniques do you use to proofread your writing?

As a writer we need tools to help us work efficiently and I use Grammarly to proofread my articles. I honestly have improved my writing because of this tool. It helps me write clearly and effectively. It's so easy to use since it corrects spelling errors, grammar and it gives suggestions of better words to use.

What do you think are the most important parts of promoting new content?

Blogging is not just content creation. It is actually 20% content creation and 80% promotion. Before promoting your blog though, I think it's important to create quality content so people would want to read them. You can promote it with social media such as Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

I love to build connections with my readers and build a community of loyal readers. This way, I can count on them to help me promote my content and attract more readers. I also build real relationships with fellow bloggers and collaborate with businesses. You can leverage these relationships to promote your blog.

@thelazychain   What made you want to start a blog? 

I’ve always been really passionate about creating things. When the pandemic hit, I felt like I really needed an outlet for all the creative juices. Developing a blog felt like the perfect way to use a lot of skills that I already had and pick up a few new ones. Since creating a blog, I’ve found even more creative hobbies to try! www.thelazychain.com

How long have you been blogging? 

I’ve been blogging for about a year now. 

What techniques do you use to proofread your writing? 

I use Grammarly to proofread my writing, and also get my mum to read over a lot of what I write. She’s always been supportive and constructively critical with my writing. It’s where I’ve got a lot of my skills from.

What do you think are the most important parts of promoting new content?

When you’ve got a new blog post to release, I think creating a marketing strategy is really important. Depending on your audience, you need to figure out the right social channels and times to post. If you miss the mark with those, you end up missing a huge part of your audience. 

@sophiapatelblog         How long have you been blogging? 

I have been blogging for 6 and a half years. It started as a hobby when I was 15, and now it is a part time job that has been monetized. www.sophiapatel.co.uk       

What techniques do you use to proofread your writing? 

Usually WordPress is pretty telling when you have made a grammar or spelling mistake, as the Yoast plugin will tell you when readability of your post is bad. However, the best tool I have is Grammarly, as it is free and not linked to WordPress, but as a Google extension. Not only does it correct grammar but it lets me know if I have changed my writing tone and writing intent!

What do you think are the most important parts of promoting new content?

100% social media. Without it, WordPress reader is just not cutting it. A lot of my traffic comes from Twitter, which also helps when creating relationships with other bloggers and like-minded people. Instagram is also great for diversifying your brand!