Well, what a year! It’s not been the year any of us anticipated, has it? I had such high hopes when I bought my Papier Diary last December but it’s been the most neglected item I’ve ever purchased. Although I have treated myself to another Papier diary for 2021, hopefully this one will get some more love. Even my Happy Colour Shop Wall Calendar is looking very sorry for itself.
Although socially this year has been abysmal I’m pleased to say my blog has thrived. I wanted to look back on the year and put a positive spin on it and showcase the incredible things I’ve done thanks to my blog this year. So here’s my blogging year in review and a look at all the things I have accomplished this year.
Blog Campaigns
I have had the absolute privilege of working on some huge campaigns this year for brands such as Boots, Tempur Mattresses and Local Heroes to name a few. They’ve been my biggest campaigns to date and I absolutely loved creating the content for all the brands.
I couldn’t even list all of the brands I’ve worked with this year as I’d be here forever. But it still blows my mind that I get to do this as a job and work with these incredible brands!
Instagram Adverts
I did a lot less Instagram adverts this year compared to the previous year. This year I spent a lot more time focusing on my blog and Instagram took a bit of a back seat. I still worked on some amazing adverts though for brands like Yellow Tail, The Birth Poster and Oilatum to name a few.
Blog Adverts
I make money on my blog via adverts. At the start of the year I was with Media.Net but really wasn’t seeing much growth in my income. In June I switched to the Ad platform Ezoic and my income increased by 200%! I’ve been with them ever since and have had my best year of blog advert income to date. I’d highly recommend Ezoic if you don’t quite meet the requirements for Media Vine.
Finances
This year has been my best blogging year to date. There’s still 3 months left of the financial calendar and I’ve already made double what I made last year. It really has blown me away this year just how profitable my blog has been. I really wish I had more time to dedicate to my blog to increase my finances even more but I really am over the moon with how things have gone this year.
I’d love for my finances to grow even more next year but maintaining this level of income is my top priority. If I make more next year then that’s a massive bonus. I’ve got a few things I’m going to be focusing on building over the coming months which will hopefully help me maintain my income.
Followers
At the end of 2019 my following across all social media platforms was 12,043. I’ve ended the year on 16,981 total followers. I’ve grown 4,938 followers this year. It’s not really a metric I focus very heavily on so I’m happy with this growth this year.
E-Book
In October I wrote a free e-book all about ‘How to Make Money Online‘. Since launching the e-book it has had over 1000 downloads which is incredible! It took me a whole day to put together but it was so worth doing and has in turn helped me grow my mailing list, affiliate income and my following.
I’m still hoping to launch my ‘Affiliate Marketing’ e-book at the end of January but we are back in Lockdown in Wales and I’ve got a toddler to look after so we will see how that goes. Fingers crossed I can get some time to start working on it at least.
Blog Talks
I did my very first talk at the beginning of the year with House 21 before Lockdown happened. The talk was all about ‘How to Make Money Blogging’. I was incredibly nervous about public speaking but I did it and I was super proud of myself afterward. During Lockdown I did a number of other talks with House 21 as well as with The Bloglancer. I absolutely loved the virtual events and felt so much more confident talking over a webcam than doing an event in person. It was an absolute privilege to work with both these companies and I hope it’s something I can continue to do next year as well. I still feel a sense of imposter syndrome every time I do these types of events but it’s something I’m slowly getting used to.
Blog Traffic
My blog traffic has just grown and grown this year and it’s all thanks to Lyrical Host Courses eBook on ‘Navigating Keyword Research‘. Switching my focus to writing for specific keywords has enabled me to grow my organic traffic tenfold! In turn this organic traffic has helped me massively increase my affiliate income and is why my finances have been double the previous year.
So that’s it, my blogging year in review! I’m so bloody grateful for this little space on the internet that I have and the connections, financial stability and friends it has given me.
Thank you again if you are reading this blog post and for supporting me throughout this crazy year! It really does mean the world ♥
Have you set yourself any blogging goals for 2021? I’d love to hear them!