January and in fact the first week of February, as I’m a bit late with this post this month, has whizzed by and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. January was a quieter month for me, but actually that was good thing as it gave me time to catch up and take stock after Christmas. But I have been thrilled with my stats this month. I also decided at the beginning of January to try not posting everyday – which I was almost doing before Christmas – as see how it affected my stats in a bid to get a better blog life balance. And I’m really pleased to see that so far it doesn’t seem to have. I will monitor and see how this goes in February.
Top Posts
- Taking My Blog Seriously A Year On & My 2016 Goals
- What Age Should Children Start School?
- Kids Love To Read #3 and Giveaway
- Do We Need To Say No To Our Children More & Our Pocket Money Decision
- How Do You Find Time To Read?
Top Things That Have Made Me Happy
- Life in general was quite general in January as it tends to be. I was really pleased to be included in a Britmums roundup – Blogging Tips Roundup: How To Guides, with my post on How To Create A Sitemap For Your Blog.
- I’ve had a great month for stats on my blog, if you follow that sort of thing, and I can’t help it, but I do!
- My Facebook has grown from 590 to 700, but that was with the help with a competition and some promotion.
- On my other social channels I have gone from 5100 to 5400 on Twitter. On Instagram I’m really pleased to have gone from 890 to 1000.
- My domain authority stayed the same in the last update at 26.
- I have gone up a few spots on the Tots100 from 161 to 157. I would love to make it into the top 100 at some point this year.
- I’ve had a really quiet month of reviews, after the busy pre-Christmas times. However, I have had three sponsored posts so it’s all good.
- From my January goals I wanted to grow my Facebook page to over 600 and my Instagram to 950 and my Twitter to 5300 which I have more than exceeded.
- I have commissioned Ellie Illustrates to do some more design work around my categories which I am really excited about and it should hopefully go live at the end of March.
- I wanted to update all of my information pages and while I have done a lot of this, it’s not completed, so I need to finish that off this month.
- I wanted to research and join a couple more linkys. I joined one more and I have found two more that I hope to join in February.
Things To Focus on in February
I didn’t do too badly in January, but I would have liked to have finished all of my goals. However, here are my goals for February.
- For social media I would like to achieve the following numbers: 750 on my Facebook page, 5700 on Twitter and 1050 on my Instagram.
- Finish updating all of my information and linky pages.
- Write one guest post.
- Join the two more linkys I have found.
- My big project though is Pinterest. I hardly use it and I know a lot of bloggers get a lot of traffic from it, so Pinterest is something I need to get my head around. So in February I want to read and research posts on how to optimise Pinterest and reorganise my boards.
How about you, how was your January and what are your blogging plans? xxx
I’m really glad posting slightly less frequently is working out for you, good to know that your stats are still really good. I’m so with you on Pinterest I use it a lot for ideas of things to do with the kids but don’t really know how to make use of it for my blog. Here’s to a good February!
Sounds like a fab January to me! And some great goals for February. Your social media stats are amazing! And I’m please the reduction of posts hasn’t affected your stats too much as I know you were a bit concerned it would. Can’t wait to get me head around Pinterest too! xx
Thanks Clare, it just take patience to get to your goals I guess – there is always someone with better stats you just have to remind yourself to be proud of what you have achieved.
That’s fantastic! It sounds like you had a great month.
Thanks Kim
Sounds like you’ve had a great month! Look forward to reading your Feb post xx
Thanks Rachel x
It sounds like you have had a great month – the top 100 is in sight! x
One day Donna! x
I know what you mean about Pinterest. It seems to me that the bloggers that get traffic from it are the ones that do crafts, food and tutorials, I’m not sure if my sort of posts would get much traffic at all. I have an idea of what I need to do on it though. I think you’ve done well on the sponsored posts front given it was January!
Thanks Rachel, I think you are probably right on Pinterest, but I am going to give it a whirl – it’s worth a try. You have beautiful photos though x
Great goals! I follow you on twitter and Bloglovin now :).
Thank you Suze, I have returned the favour 🙂
Sounds like a pretty good month to me! I’m glad posting less frequently is working and i hope you can find a better work life balance xx
It’s about getting the balance right isn’t it, I will see how it goes 🙂
Sounds like a great month for your blog, Laura! Well done on your social media growth – especially Twitter! It’s really taking off. x
Thanks so much Becky x
You’ve done so well lovely! I am sure you will hit all your targets 🙂 I hope you are finding a better life / blog balance 🙂
Gemma xx
Thank you Gemma, I think I am lol x
This is fantastic Laura. You have done so much and I love your goals for Feb. I really like reading your monthly reviews they are inspirational and it’s always good to see where your at! I look forward to seeing your designs when they are ready! Angela
I’m really looking forward to seeing the designs too and thanks for your lovely words x