Blog Every Week – 365-Day Challenge Wrap-Up
My yearlong blogging challenge is officially over. It was loads of work, but it was successful and truly life-changing in many good ways. I stuck to my schedule and published a new Thoughts on the Good Life blog article every week on Monday by 8 a.m. PT.
The #1 best thing about blogging about “the Good Life” has been that the experience has kept my busy and sometimes obsessive mind focused on positive, productive, healthy things. I believe more than ever that what you focus on flourishes. The experience has invited many beautiful things into my life. For that reason, I plan to continue the blog.
I haven’t made even a penny writing this personal development blog. I don’t have advertising or sponsored links. Maybe that will change someday in the future, as it would be incredible to make extra money on a passion project. But I’ll be content even if my blog remains a hobby indefinitely.
This blog is my happiness experimental test kitchen, my idea/energy generator, my discipline obstacle course, my own personal communication channel, my way of expressing who I really am, and my attempt at making the world a brighter place. And that’s worth a lot to me.
In this 365-day challenge wrap-up article, I’ll share with you my analytics, my reflections, and what’s next for ThoughtsOnTheGoodLife.com.
Analytics
As I’m writing this, the website is experiencing its first birthday. So far, it’s has had 4,635 total page views and 1,905 unique daily visitors. The blog’s best day ever brought 76 page views.
The blog’s best referrers have been Facebook (654 clicks), search engines (238 clicks), Pinterest (208 clicks), LinkedIn (66 clicks), the WordPress Android App (63 clicks), and Instagram (56 clicks).
My homepage gets the most love with 1,936 page views. My most popular blog articles have been:
- “My Experience with Spasmodic Dysphonia” with 212 page views.
- “The Luck Factor” Book Review with 133 page views.
- “10 Ways to Promote Happiness Right Now!” with 95 page views.
It’s interesting these three articles have been my most-viewed, because they’re also three of my favorites. I certainly put my heart, soul, and deep focus into these three articles. All three have been transformative for me personally. Perhaps the Luck Factor and Happiness blogs did so well because I did companion Facebook Live conversations with my friend Dr. Teralyn Sell.
“The Luck Factor” Facebook Live:
“How to Promote Happiness Right Now” Facebook Live:
Reflections
Overall, I’m satisfied with the blog visitor numbers I described above. However, with these numbers, my blog isn’t even close to being monetarily profitable, and in an ideal scenario, it would be. However, some of my favorite bloggers didn’t reach large audiences or become profitable for the first few years. And search engines favor blogs that have been active for several years. So possibility remains.
But as I mentioned, I’m happy and dedicated to writing about the topics that truly mean the most to me. I don’t need this website to make money. I also work full time in medical sales. This blog is first and foremost a labor of love. Writing helps me fine-tune some of my best ideas. In many ways, I relate to author Joan Didion, who says, “I don’t know what I think until I write it down.” That’s kind of true for me too. I love putting my ideas out into the universe. I view ThoughtsOnTheGoodLife.com as a companion to me actually living the good life and encouraging you, my readers, to live the good life too, whatever that looks like for you.
I’ll also mention that I love that so many of my real life family and friends have read my blog and found value in it. My husband was initially hesitant about the blog, but he’s become a huge supporter, proofreading most of my articles. I’ve also made some amazing new friendships because of the blog, including a successful UK blogger, Emily Leary from “A Mummy Too”, who has become my blog mentor, and a Canadian software developer who has become my digital launch coach. I greatly value all my relationships, and my blog has created quite a few new ones and strengthened many of the existing ones.
Writing this blog has expanded my skills too. It’s nice to put my journalism bachelor’s degree to work. I feel more comfortable than ever writing regularly for a public audience, using the complex internet tools, and sharing my wild ideas. I have gotten comfortable with Pinterest and Instagram. I had the opportunity to do public speaking in the form of two hour-long Facebook Live conversations (embedded above), one of which was repurposed as a podcast. I just got a new digital drawing tablet for Christmas, so I plan to expand my graphic design abilities. But I’m only beginning to learn how to use my new gadget, so I hired a talented friend to make my new Thoughts on the Good Life logo.
Where is my blogging adventure leading me? I have no idea. Life is full of uncertainty. But I do my best to create meaning. Just as I had hoped, blogging on a regular basis has also infused me with tons of energy and creative ideas. My favorite new project that developed out of this blog is the book I’m writing about window painting for the holidays. I’m hoping the book will bring in some side income. I plan to sell the book on Amazon and it’s own new website. But just like ThoughtsOnTheGoodLife.com, the finished book will be a worthy accomplishment for its own sake. And it is proving to be an expansive learning opportunity. It was the blog that gave me the confidence, technical experience, and sense of possibility to take on this exciting book project.
What’s Next
I’m so happy that I kept my promise to myself to blog every week in 2018. Means a lot to me. As I mentioned, I plan to keep blogging. I don’t know for how long. Maybe I’ll blog for another year, or maybe I’ll blog until my 100th birthday. 🙂 We’ll see. I’m not making any promises or challenges regarding this right now.
As for the near future of ThoughtsOnTheGoodLife.com, all I can say for sure is that I plan to stick with publishing new blog articles on Monday mornings by 8 a.m. Pacific Time. I’ll keep you posted if my future blog plan becomes more clear.
In 2018, my blog had three broad categories that I wrote within: Personal Challenges, Book Reviews, and My Thoughts on the Good Life. I followed a strict category schedule that looked like this:
MONTHLY BLOG SCHEDULE
1st Monday: Personal Challenge Begins
2nd Monday: Book Reviews
3rd Monday: My Thoughts on the Good Life
4th Monday: Topic Varies
Last Monday: Personal Challenge Wrap-Up
In 2019, I want to ditch the strict category schedule. I plan to be a little more loose with the subject categories on which I’ll write. I’ll keep my three existing categories, and I’ll add a new one: Side Income Projects. That’ll give me a nice new category where I can write about my book creation and other side income projects I come up with.
I plan to primarily focus on the My Thoughts on the Good Life category. I have a lot of thoughts on life, and I could probably come up with new subjects every week for the rest of my life. I especially love writing super-optimistic articles like “Happy Just Because“, “Cultivate Sunshine While It’s Cold Outside“, “Cheer on the Success of Others“, and “You Have Permission to Treat Yourself Extremely Well“. The experience of writing those articles is the metaphorical equivalent of a long soak in a hot tub with a bottle of champagne. It puts me in a fabulous state of mind. I hope it benefits my readers in the same way; that’s my intention.
I want to continue to write occasional Personal Development Book Reviews. Most books have really strict copyright rules that require publisher permission to write blog articles. I might write Book Reviews on some of my all-time favorite personal development books and submit them to the publishers for permission. There’s always the chance they’ll say “no.” But they might say “yes.” And as Wayne Gretzky says, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
I plan to do fewer “official” Personal Challenges. My life is crazy wonderful busy with everyday challenges like motherhood, family, friends, full time medical sales work, financial goals, book creation, blogging, housework, and staying healthy. Besides, I have two ongoing Personal Challenges:
- An Inside Look at the Book I’m Writing – 365-Day Personal Challenge
- Journal About My Son – 5-Year Personal Challenge
I don’t really want to add any more Personal Challenges right now. I’d rather just focus on finishing what I’ve started for awhile. I’d like to privately continue my work on all my 30-Day Personal Challenges from 2018, which are all worth continued effort. I imagine I will begin some new Personal Challenges in 2019, probably with a 90-day duration, but I want to just wait and see what feels right without pre-committing to a schedule. Life is busy, and I only want to bite off what I can chew.
I plan to continue promoting the blog on Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. I’ll probably move my Facebook blog posts to a new home on a business page, even though this is a hobby blog, so I don’t have to promote through my personal FB account. I’ll keep you posted when I get that set up. I also plan to start promoting the blog on Twitter.
All-in-all, 2018 was a beautiful year for ThoughtsOnTheGoodLife.com. I greatly enjoyed the grand new adventure, the opportunity for self-expression, and the abundant connection with others. I expect the magic to continue in 2019. Thank you for reading. I wish you all the best in the coming year and every year.
