Life By Deanna is ONE – Here’s what I’ve learned

I cannot even believe that I’ve been writing on this blog for a whole year!!! Where did the time go? What the heck!

I have definitely learned a lot about blogging, what I enjoy writing about, what gets me excited, how to manage blogging and working… the list goes on!

I feel like there are a million blog posts out there telling you what others have learned after blogging for x amount of years but often times the insights are the same. 

I want to get raw and real with you guys. Let’s chat about the lessons I learned, the tips I would give a brand new blogger, the mistakes I made, and the stupid little things that I didn’t even know would come up lol.

Want to know how many page views I have after a year? Interested in the amount of money I’ve made? Keep reading and let’s unpack it all!

My page views after one year

Okay, so let’s just get into the nitty-gritty. After one whole year of blogging, I am sitting at approximately 700 monthly page views. 

Is that a lot? Not really. Did I think it would be way higher? Yup!

The reality is that these things take time. Some people will tell you that if you take their course you will be getting 100k page views in a couple of months… I’m not saying it’s impossible but I am saying it seems a little unlikely.

Blogging is a longer-term game. You need to stick with it and sooner or later you will see the progress! It really is about consistency.

Just a little insight – for most of this past year I was sitting at 300 monthly page views. It was not moving and it felt so shitty. However, in the last few months, I’ve seen a steady incline and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down… so the moral of the story is, stick with it!

How much money I’ve made in one year

Okay, so how much money did I make in one year? Literally zero dollars. 

Here’s the thing – I have been trying to use affiliate marketing as my number 1 source of income. It turns out that when you have little views you also have little affiliate link clicks! Wild!

So it’s not an overnight income success but hey, I did make 2 commissions from Amazon (before I got kicked out of the program for not making my required sales – I’m back in now though!! So we will give it another try!)

I am also a part of Share A Sale and I’m unsure if I really like it. Being Canadian it doesn’t seem to have a ton of options for brands but I also haven’t tried to learn that platform… I’ll add it to my never-ending to-do list!

Working with other bloggers: the inside scoop

One of my goals for my blog was to guest post on others’ blogs. If you read my blog on a regular basis (first of all, thank you!!!!), then you would have seen a few posts that were written by other bloggers!

I’m so happy that I’ve been able to guest post on others’ blogs (3 times so far) and I have more in the works! 

If I could give you one piece of advice on guest posting it would be to just reach out to other bloggers and ask! So simple! But really, it’s that easy.

Find them on Instagram or look at their contact page and send an email… it’s so easy and the worst thing they say is no!

I’ve also had the opportunity to team up with other bloggers on Instagram and host a giveaway which was awesome! It’s a great way to meet other people doing the same thing as you and to expand your reach!

How social media is going 

Look, posting on Instagram and the blog is a lot. Being active on insta is a full-time job in itself. 

I personally love social media so I do have some fun with it but man, it’s been tiring!

I did struggle for a while over numbers. I fell into the comparison trap. In one year I have managed to gain approximately 1350 followers. 

I’m not yet tackling Facebook and Twitter because simply I don’t have enough time in the day lol and since my blog is making exactly ZERO dollars I don’t plan on hiring anyone to help quite yet!

However, after a little pity party, I realized I need to get the hell over it because 1350 people is actually a lot and I am so thankful for all of them!! You need to be grateful for the people who are already here and following along! More will come with time.

Do I have an email list?

I sure do! It’s slow going but again, I haven’t had a ton of time to tackle that yet. I’m sitting at 30 email subscribers which is okay with me!! 

Want to get on the list? I’d love to have you!

My best performing posts from my first year

• How To Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone (+ 15 Journal Prompts)
• How To Plan The Perfect Life Admin Day
• 25 Books You Need To Read In 2022
• The Biggest Struggles Of Blogging As A Homebody (+ Tips For New Bloggers)
• A Day In The Life Of A Part Time Blogger

10 lessons I’ve learned after blogging for one year:

01. Consistency is key. The numbers will come when you actually stick with it!

02. You need to promote your posts or no one will see them!

03. Sometimes you don’t want to write but if the blog is important to you, you need to push through 

04. Set goals but allow wiggle room

05. Amazon will in fact remove you from their program and then change your ID when you get back in so you DO need to update all your posts!! Super fun

06. Pinterest is not dead but it does take some time to start seeing traffic from there

07. Learning how Google search console works is actually pretty helpful and I highly recommend lol

08. Blogging is less writing than you’d think. You have to wear a lot of hats and be low-key tech-savvy or at least be willing to learn 

09. It’s good to talk to other bloggers because you have no idea how helpful someone can be when they actually know what you’re talking about! 

10. Include pinnable graphics in your blog posts!!! 

For the new blogger

Hey, it’s not always going to be easy. Some days you’ll be too busy to write the post you wanted to. Or you’ll miss a week of Instagram posts. Or you’ll accidentally send an incorrect email. It’s okay!

Learning to set up a website, being a graphic designer, figuring out how to do it all legally, having time to market yourself… None of this is easy. A lot of it isn’t even much fun.

But, if blogging is something you want to do and you love it, then you gotta push through the tough times.

My number one biggest most overused tip ever is: just start and then keep going. Say yes to yourself day in and day out and figure it out as you go!

The best part about blogging is that YOU are the boss. You decide what you write. You decide the schedule. You decide who you work with. You decide when you give up or keep going.

As Dory says, just keep swimming. You got this! 

To my lovely readers

Thank you for supporting me and for following along on this blogging journey for the last year! ❤

I’m so grateful for everyone who reads, shares, comments, DMs, clicks my links, and follows me on Instagram… You are all slowly making my blogging dreams come true!

Until next time,