Last Updated on October 8, 2021 by scottkandh
For this post Self-Reflection after blogging for one year, on July 1st, 2020 one year ago I started PinArtwork. I’ve always liked artwork and even once worked at a place selling artwork called the Calendar Club (they sold Calendars). The significance of this one year blogging anniversary is a very special milestone. By putting monthly self-reflections on your blog allows you to see your progress and to reach new heights.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase something through my link, I will earn a small commission. This does not affect the price you pay for the item. I only advertise products that I have used myself and would genuinely recommend.
Table of Contents
Overview
One Year Blog Anniversary
One of the things that I recommend to new bloggers is to set SMART goals for yourself and to put those goals into writing. The power of putting your goals into writing is very strong to reach your objectives.
Starting off was interesting because I was always learning new things. There’s so much to learn about blogging and setting up your site to ensure that it continues to draw traffic. If you would like to learn about blogging and are consider starting your own blog or growing your existing blog, please enroll in my Free Blogging Mini-Course. As of right now, there are five people enrolled in the course and I’m looking for constructive feedback so that I can improve it even more. So please hop on over to give me your thoughts so I can make the course that much better.
Along the way I had to change the name of my website because I hadn’t given much thought to the name when I first chose it. The name used to be Pinterest Artwork and Facebook wasn’t letting me post by blog posts because the name Pinterest was in my website’s title.
It’s funny though, how that one change was for the good because I switched from Bluehost to SiteGround and now my site speed and the support I’m getting is so much better.
The blog has changed from talking about me building my first blog to actually helping others start their own blog, grow their blog, or monetize it. And of course, my favorite topic remains Pinterest which is why I started blogging in the first place.
Here are some of the stats that I achieved over the last year:
- Grew my Pinterest page from 0 monthly viewers to 1 million monthly viewers.
- I have written 228 blog posts
- I had 21,097 page views on my blog.
- Grew my Domain Authority (DA) from 0 to 4.8!
- Increased my pages speed from a grade of C to an A with GTMetrix.
- I met my goal of having at least 10,000 pins on Pinterest (10,181 to be exact).
- #16 on Top 20 Pinterest Marketing Blogs and Websites in 2021
10 Things I want to achieve for the next year:
- To become one of the Top 10 Influential Pinterest Bloggers on Feedspot’s Top 20 Pinterest Marketing Blogs and Websites in 2021. Almost there! #16 on the list.
- Grow my blog to reach 40,000 page views or more.
- Grow my Domain Authority (DA) from 4.8 to 10 or better!
- Reach 2 million monthly viewers on Pinterest.
- Grow my viral post Star Trek pins from 6,000 social shares to 10,000 social shares or more.
- Improve the Free Blogging Mini-Course so that it has a better flow from one topic to another. I’ve joined the CourseCraft’s Facebook page so I’ll be turning to them for help in this endeavor.
- 1,000 or more Pinterest followers by July 1, 2022.
- Goal Engagement Rate of 20% (in Tailwind). As of 7/2/2021, the rate is at 14%. I need to do some research to see why it’s been hovering at 14% for the last couple of months and isn’t growing.
- Grow my e-mail list to 200 subscribers or more. I’m reaching for the stars on this one. I’m getting a fair amount of traffic per day (approximately 50 page views per day). However, the number of users almost remains constant around 47 or so, despite many different forms for people to subscriber.
- Increase ShareASale earnings from Affiliate links.
Thank you to each and every one of you that have been reading my blog posts and sharing my Pinterest pins. I would love to fill up my website with an endless amount of pins; however, the limits for SiteGround look like they peak at 40 GB and I’m already halfway there. I don’t want to switch to another provider because I’m happy with SiteGround. So I’ll be doing some research in case I max out (my storage limit) and may have to switch.
If you’re trying to improve your Pinterest account (i.e. grow your Pinterest followers) my biggest advice is don’t get caught up with the numbers (they’ll grow naturally over time).
Over the course of a year, I’ve constantly changed the website to make it easier for people to view and develop a good site structure. I’ve made notice that a majority of the people coming to my website are looking at the blog posts that pertain to artwork so I need to make a switch in my approach of writing blog posts about blogging to blog posts about creating content.
Pinterest Challenge for July 1, 2021 – July 1, 2022
Here’s a summary of the Pinterest strategy that I’ve been using and will continue to use:
Challenge yourself to pin regularly on Pinterest, in order to gain more blog traffic.
If you like my blog, please consider joining my Tailwind Community. The link is provided below for you to join. I look forward to seeing you in my Community. This Tailwind Community is for most niches. Please keep it clean and follow the Tribe rules. I have a dozen Group boards that cover a variety of popular topics. I would love it if there were more participants in the Community to have your pins and mine grow.
https://www.tailwindapp.com/tribe/join?h=09jQTlEW0uqwLD
By the numbers
My target goal has been to have 500 to 1,000 followers by July 1st, 2021. I met that goal and have 695 Pinterest followers. My new goal is to have 1,000 Pinterest followers by the end of January 2022 (which appears mathematically possible as indicated below at 63 new followers every month).
| July 2020 | 16 Oct 2020 | Nov 2020 | Dec 2020 | |
| Pinterest Followers | 0 | 466 | 700 > 75 | 153 |
| Jan 2021 | Feb 2021 | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 | |
| Pinterest Followers (planned) | 272 | 372 | 385 | 430 |
| actual) | 295 | 340 | 402 | 462 |
| Pinterest Followers | May 2021 | June 2021 | July 2021 | August 2021 |
| (planned) | 525 | 588 | 638 | 755 |
| (actual) | 606 | unknown | 695 | |
| Pinterest Followers | Sept 2021 | Oct 2021 | Nov 2021 | Dec 2021 |
| (planned) | 815 | 875 | 935 | 1,000 |
| (actual) |
My blogging achievements
These are things that I am proud to have achieved in the last year:
- One of my blog posts (Star Trek – The Original Series pins) has reached the magic number of over 6,000 total shares. I hope to have the same success with my Star Trek TNG pins. I have another viral pin that is a close second with over 3,000 social shares that I like to refer to as lassoing the moon.
- My blog was nominated for “Best Newcomer of the Year” for the Infinity Blog Awards 2021. Unfortunately, in order to make the finalists you need to have an incredible following of thousands of people so I didn’t make the final list of finalists. But I was grateful to know that my blog was being considered.
- My Pinterest Board called Blogtober is getting closer and closer to reaching over 2 million Pinterest impressions over a 90 day period. By the end of December I’ll have surpassed the 2M mark! Yippee – Happy Dance. I can hardly wait to start the Blogtober Challenge for 2021. I’ve already developed my outline. It’s a great way to grow your blog’s traffic.
Goals for after blog has been around for one whole year.
- Strongly hoping for at least 500 to 1,000 Pinterest followers, July 1, 2021.
- Overjoyed if I have at least 12 subscribers on the Blog.
- Seeking for 15 fresh pins/day, hoping to have 10,000 pins / 500 repins.
The goals listed above were the goals that I was hoping to achieve (within the first year) and I’m happy to say they were all met.
How long have you been blogging for?
If you’re a blogger, drop me a line (Bloggers helping Bloggers). I’m hoping to hear what kind of ideas you might have to collaborate to build each other’s blog.
Related posts that you might want to read on my website:
Self-Reflection of blogging after 10 Months – begin to Monetize your blog
Self-Reflection: Eight Months of useful Blogging insights to grow “your” Blog’s traffic
Self-Reflection: Seven Months of useful Blogging insights to grow “your” Blog’s traffic
Self-Reflection: Six Months of Blogging
Self-Reflection: Five Months of Blogging
Self-Reflection: Three Months of Blogging
Self-Reflection: How I actually got my first valuable 1,000 Page views
How to get 1 Million Monthly views on Pinterest
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