Lindsay's Sweet World is Four!

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It’s my four year blogging anniversary!!  I can’t believe four years has already passed, but at the same time, I can’t believe I’ve only been blogging for four years.  It feels like I’ve been doing it forever and I’m still loving it just as much now as I did when I first started… probably even more now that I have the proper time to devote to it.  I’m now 917 posts deep and enjoying every minute!

A few things I’ve learned this past year…

The blogging/influencer world has become verrrry saturated and it seems these days that everyone is trying to “make it.”  That makes it way more challenging to get a piece of the pie when trying to monetize. 

With that said, I still believe there’s enough pie to go around. 

Facebook blogging groups are LIFE.  I have learned so much from the ladies in my beloved groups. 

Blogging friendships are real and they are gold.  Love you, Emily. 

Never put all of your eggs in one basket in terms of growth and monetization.  It’s so important to utilize every single tool at your fingertips – SEO, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, blogging groups, link-ups, influencer marketing networks, direct pitching, etc. 

But also, Pinterest is EVERRRRYTHANG.  (I already knew this but just wanted to reiterate it.)

Between the blog and a billion social media outlets there is literally always something to be done.  I could easily spend 80 hours a week working.  But I don’t.

I need an assistant.

I cannot afford an assistant.  Lol.

Affiliate marketing and ad revenue (especially ad revenue!) are my jam in terms of monetizing. 

Joining a reliable, full service ad management company is literally the best thing that has ever happened to my monetization.  (I’m looking at YOU, Mediavine!)  I make real money while I sleep, spend time with my family, and go on vacation now.  I mean, honestly.  It sounds too good to be true but it’s NOT.

I thought I had no clue what I was doing when it comes to pitching (seriously, I just started doing it blindly), but apparently I’m better at it than I thought I was going to be since I was able to land a few collabs this past year from ME reaching out to THEM.  Looks like my marketing degree is literally paying off.  ;o)

With that said, I still have a TON to learn and I’m thinking of taking a pitching course, but whyyyy do they cost so much?!

Linked In is your best friend for stalking companies and finding direct email addresses for pitching to brands.  You’re welcome.

The volume of spam comments I’m getting on my blog every day now are annoying AF.  I cannot believe how many I have to delete each day.  I guess that’s the downside to SEO.  I think they’re finding me through the Google.   

Growing organically quickly is just not possible on Instagram now unless you go viral for something, but I honestly don't even focus that much on Instagram growth anymore because I'd rather focus all of my time and energy on the property I own.  Instagram could get taken down tomorrow and then what would happen to all of those influencers?  It's not likely that would happen, but I still feel better about focusing on the things that I have sole control over.  I just don't feel safe putting all of my eggs in someone else's basket, you know?  That said, my goal is to get to 10K on IG so I can have the swipe up feature.  Once I'm there, I couldn't care less about growing anymore.  So help a sister out and go follow me if you don't already!  #ShamelessPlea

I still think I’m making the right move by growing authentically, though, instead of buying followers or using other questionable tactics that so many are doing on there these days. 

That said, a giveaway every now and then is a great way to boost your following on IG!  You get lots of new followers (who are real people and not bots) and as long as you produce good content and keep them engaged from the start, most of them stick around after the giveaway ends!

Most of the time I wish I could just win my own giveaways.  They are SO GOOD.

I think that blogging about setting goals and organizing are some of my favorite posts EVER to write.  I could talk to the wall about those two subjects all day long.  See this post here as proof.  ;o)

Being an Amazon affiliate (and Amazon in general) is the absolute best.

Google is still my best helper. 

And Twitter still sucks. 

And a few accomplishments this year…

It was the first year that I made decent money consistently every single month.  It is so rewarding to know that I’m able to contribute financially to our family without a corporate job.  I do not take this for granted ever.  It hasn’t yet replaced my corporate salary, but it would be amazing if it ever does!

My blog income was higher this past year than any other year. 

I finally started pitching to companies instead of waiting for them to come to me, and I ended up landing several collabs!!  (I never heard back from and also heard lots of “no,” too, but it just comes with the territory.)  I was able to work with several brands that I love and I’ve already secured a couple of upcoming sponsorships that I can’t wait to share with y’all!

I became an Emily Ley affiliate!  Her products are gold and I love everything she stands for so it is an honor to have been accepted into her program. 

I finally landed my first campaign through one of my influencer marketing networks early last year and I have done many more since!

I renewed two of my weekly link-ups with blogging friends for another year.

I had another blog post go viral that has already surpassed my first viral post which means I now have two viral posts under my belt!

Lauren Conrad’s clothing brand used one of my pictures in their Instagram feed!!!!  Total fangirl moment!  They also put it on Twitter!!

And my biggest accomplishment this past year was finally consistently hitting enough monthly pageviews to join the Mediavine family!!!!  They are seriously the best thing that happened to me all year and I’m so, so humbled and grateful that they love and trust my work enough to welcome me into their family!

Stats

Okay, I put these stats up every anniversary and it makes me feel a little weird to put this info out for everyone to see, but I know I always love seeing other people’s stats just to get an idea of where I could be with my own, so here they are.   

A couple of notes before we begin… I had steady growth in all categories except for Twitter.  Probably because I hate it so much and never use it.  Some growth was faster than others, but at least I grew in most areas.  In other news, it’s probably going to be time to start working on growing that subscriber list soon.  Mine is sad.   

Monthly Pageviews: 11,134 24,715 18,054 42,419 (Jan 2019 stats)

Active Subscribers: 18 50 69 93

Google Friend Connect Followers: 28 42 61 67

Bloglovin’ Followers: 34 218 317 430

Google+ Followers: 11 41 50 59

Instagram Followers: 1,005 4,055 5,945 7,236

Facebook Followers: 12 138 293 345

Pinterest Followers: 351 1,248 1,381 4,176

Pinterest Monthly Viewers: 1.8 million

Twitter Followers: 553 705 980 909

Most Popular Post of All Time: How to Organize Your Child’s School Papers in Just One Box with 195,774 views

Second Most Popular Post of All Time: Olivia Cate’s Pink & Gold First Birthday with 22,984 111,748 146,997 156,577 views

Finally, the same words I reiterate in every blog anniversary post:

The sole purpose for starting this baby of mine was to start keeping a journal again – to have a place where I could jot down my feelings and document the fleeting moments of motherhood.  A place to discuss my fears and my insecurities.  A place to discuss my shortcomings and a place to celebrate my accomplishments.  A place to share the things that I love.  I kept a journal from the ages of 6 to 21 – that’s almost half of my life in old diaries, notebooks, and binders all carefully lining the bookshelves in my office – and I thought that it was high time to come back to what I love after a decade-long hiatus.  I feel like I have found my passion and I feel like I am home.  I feel like I was meant to be a blogger.  My only regret is not starting sooner.

To my readers, thank you all so much for your love and support these last four years.  Without you, I would not be able to stay home doing what I love and still provide for my family.  To every single one of you who takes the time to read my posts, comment, like my Instagram photos, engage with my Instagram stories, react to my Facebook posts, pin my Pinterest images, click my links, make purchases through my links, and follow me on social media channels – you have no idea how thankful I am for you!  I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart!  Every little click goes a long way and I promise you it does not go unnoticed! 

And now I’d like to hear from YOU – tell me if there’s anything you’d like to hear from me in the future!  What are your favorite posts?  Your least favorite posts?  I’ll be reading in the comments!

Love y’all!