Happy 12 months Anniversary to Helen’s Journey Blog – Yes 1 whole year and a whole load of blog statistics! Or should that be my ‘BLOGGERVERSARY’ (not sure if that’s a thing already? If not then now it is!! lol)
This blog post will explain how I grew my blog in these past 12 months in various ways to achieve blog statistics I’m super proud of – Over 10,000 views and over 11,000 followers!
Helen’s Journey Blog 1st Year Blog Statistics:
(Oct 2017 – Oct 2018)
Visitors:
Number of views: 10,394
Number of visitors: 6,468
Number of posts: 45
Most views in 1 day: 125
Pinterest Monthly Unique Views: 440K
Followers: Combined Total Social Media Followers: 11,059
WordPress followers: 1,217
Twitter followers: 5,496
Instagram followers: 1,687
Bloglovin: 359
Pinterest followers: 1,552
Google+ followers: 97
Facebook ‘Chronic Illness Support Group’ worldwide members: 651
Blog Awards & Competition wins by Helen’s Journey Blog:
- Sunshine Blogger Award
- Versatile Blogger Award
- Liebster Award 2018
- Blogger Recognition Award
- The Mystery Blogger Award
- “IT’S A WIN!” As a Helen’s Journey blog is a chosen feature blog in #MentalHealthMonday Twitter Competition
- Helen’s Journey Blog chosen as this weeks Friday Feature Blog
(Click on individual award names to open up each interview post asking me personal questions to get to know me more.)
How to start a blog
As I celebrate my first year of Blogging – let me share with you how I built my blog!
First thing I did was stop waiting for that ‘right time’ to start blogging. I was waiting on a friend who was going to help code my website to make it look the way I had envisioned. This friend is very successful in their field and with such a high work demand they, unfortunately, didn’t get the chance to do this for me.
On the 29th of September 2017, It was my 34th Birthday, my birthday wish was to get my blog going. so I decided no more waiting on others and just to jump in feet first alone into the world of the unknown – the blogging world!
I used a free theme on wordpress.com and just discovered as I went along how to use WordPress and added bits to the website as I went along – follow buttons, linking it to my social media channels, creating images, etc.
Some things had me stuck like how to make a menu using categories and not website pages – for this I turned to good old YouTube for ‘how to’ videos and learnt that way.
Little did I know that wordpress.com basic free package didn’t let you use plug-ins or upload your own theme without upgrading to the premium business account for so much money a month – that added up to a lot for a year. So hell no did I do that!!
It was the beginning of October 2017 when I officially started blogging, however, I’ve waited on purpose till today (31st October) to write this celebratory post & share the statistics with you. That’s because today is the anniversary of my beloved Grandad Mac passing away. Last year on this day I decided to do something positive with the grief and I ended up writing the post Making Friends with Grief and writing a poem all about my Grandad.
So, I wanted to mark the sad anniversary this year with something positive once again, to help me through the day and remind me to focus on the good. Therefore, it seemed fitting to save this post and my 1 year of blogging celebrations for today. I know he would be proud of me and that is heartwarming ❤
How to increase blog traffic and followers
Things that helped me build up followers and drive traffic to my blog:
- Photo apps used: Textgram / Photogrid / Canva / PicMonkey
- Pinterest & Pinterest groups to drive traffic to my blog
- Twitter (retweets, follow trains, competitions, etc) click to read my post How Twitter can help GROW YOUR BLOG and help you INCREASE BLOG TRAFFIC
- Facebook groups for bloggers
I’ve learnt a lot along the way but I know there is soooooooo much left for me to research, discover, learn, practice and achieve.
My development focus points for my second year of blogging ahead:
Learn about SEO / Learn about sponsored adverts/affiliate marketing / making an income /self-hosting so I can use plug-ins and design my website just how I want it / build Bloglovin / build a presence in online communities / build mailing list / get faster at MailChimp for email subscribers.
To find out about the items I’m using to keep myself on schedule with blogging, planning, keeping on track and jotting down ideas, click to read my blog all about it “Stay ORGANISED and FOCUSED my using these Top 3 items to keep you on track”
Readers and Followers – THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ME THIS PAST YEAR! I REALLY APPRECIATE EVERY READ, LIKE, COMMENT OR SHARE!
ENJOY READING MY POSTS AND POEMS? Then Please click here to join my Email Mailing List so you don’t miss when a new blog is posted.
Why not come & follow my blogging footsteps on my other Social Media Platforms(click on names below to take you to the different media profiles):
Facebook Page / Bloglovin / Instagram / Twitter / Pinterest / YouTube / Tumblr
Facebook: Fibromyalgia Awareness & Chronic Illness Support Group
👣 Helen's Journey 👣 
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