What I've Learned in 4 Years of Blogging
Every year on the founding of my blog, I like to take some time to review what I've learned and look at how the blog has been doing. For example, last year I talked about using Inlinkz to organize the blog and figuring out HTML. I'm sure that I've learned more than I am listing here, but here are the few newsworthy items that have caught my attention.
News
Tailwind
I recently have began using Tailwind to organize and schedule my Pinterest posts. I have only been using it for a month, so I don't have a lot of data on it yet. One thing that I love about it is that it allows me to spread out my pins to go out on different days and times. I can set intervals to space them out evenly or even have the same pin go out at the same day and time every week or month. At the moment, I have 12 pins scheduled a day.
I often pin each blog post and all its pictures to more than one board, and Tailwind allows me to select which boards to put them on all in one place instead of pinning them manually and individually.
Tailwind also has a community aspect, where you can put your pins into a "tribe" and expose them to other bloggers in your niche. It's yet another way to get your pins circulating.
There are many aspects of the plug-in that I haven't tried, but I'm excited to learn more over the next year. For a free month, visit my affiliate link.
SEO
I'm sure I should have been more aware of SEO (search engine optimization) and using picture descriptions, search descriptions, and post permalinks to get my blog seen by more people. Honestly, when I began the blog, playing the website development game was very low on my priorities. I was more interested in just recording our learning.
This year, I joined a few blogging facebook groups and am learning so much from them. I anticipate that I will continuing becoming better at SEO and marketing in the future.
Updated Printables
I have been working on updating many of my old printables. Be sure to check out all the printables by clicking on the menu button.
Travel Time Tuesday
One of my favorite features on this blog is Travel Time Tuesday, my series of crafts, DIY, tips, buying guides, and more. This is my 4th year doing the weekly course, and I anticipate topping 100 total posts this year. I seem to be gaining momentum, instead of using up all my ideas. I'm planning many more free travel printables, themed road trips, and crafts for kids. In fact, I have almost the entire year planned already. Stop by every Tuesday to read the latest!
Birthday Week Posts
As a pre-birthday celebration, I posted one article each day.
I tried to show off my most common blog topics.
Sunday- Songs that Celebrate Adoption
Montessori Monday- Coral Reef 3-part Cards
Travel Time Tuesday- Felt Travel Activities for Kids
Wordless Wednesday- Finding Nemo Bathroom Sign
Thursday- A Celebration of Bees- Homeschooling Ideas
Fun Friday- Easy Circular Felt Foods
Saturday- Planting Good Spiritual Seeds in Your Kids
Stats
For my own fun, I like to write down to the stats for each year.
It's interesting to look back at each birthday post and see what was popular.
Most Popular Blog Post This Week: Foster to Adopt Party Theme Ideas (read 20,000x)
Number of Blog Visitors a Month: 11,000
Most Popular Blog Post Last Month: Free QR Codes for Read-to-Me Books (read 9,000x)
Number of Visitors Total: 210,000
Most Popular Blog Post of All Time: Foster to Adopt Party Theme Ideas
Number of Free Printables: 225 (find them all here)
Number of Followers on Facebook: almost 500 (can you bump me over the top?)
Top 10 Printables
Here's the countdown of my most popular printables!
10- Paleontologist Anchor Chart
9- Bee Life Cycle 3-Part Cards
8- Be a Rainbow Reader
7- Montessori-Inspired North American Animal 3-Part Cards
6- Travel Journal
5- Zoo Train Play Mat
4- Montessori-Inspired Australia 3-Part Cards
3- Montessori-Inspired Backyard Birds 3-Part Cards
2- Montessori-Inspired Dinosaur Skulls 3-Part Cards
1- Free QR Codes for Read-to-Me Books
Pin It!
Birthday Posts
Congrats on four years! That is a great accomplishment! I just hit three years on my blog. Great tips by the way!
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