2nd Quarter 2016 Check In

In January I set some big goals for Beyond Mommying in a “make it or break it” moment. The past 6 months haven’t been easy in any way, shape or form (in blogging or life) and barely a day passes by that I don’t feel like just throwing in the towel. I haven’t quit, though, because I really love what I do here on Beyond Mommying and so I’ve pushed through.

But I don’t want it to feel like a chore because while I consider writing my “job” and I get paid for some of the things I do, I don’t earn enough to continue doing it if I don’t enjoy it. For me, it’s never been about making money, it’s about making connections.

I love writing (and always have) but there are so many other aspects of blogging that I hate yet those are all the things that promote growth so I feel obligated to do them even though I despise them. I’ve spent the past 6 months trying to balance growth and enjoyment and that balance is nearly impossible to achieve and frankly, my efforts thus far in 2016 have weighed heavier on the “growth” side of the spectrum than the “enjoyment” side.

Here’s how 2016 has stacked up so far:

Pageviews:

My pageviews from quarter 1 of this year to quarter 2 only saw a 3% increase but June has been my best month ever and I am soooo close to reaching my long-time monthly pageviews goal! But what I can be even more proud of is the fact that my pageviews the first half of 2016 are more than 2 1/2 times what they were for the first half of 2015 and a 25% increase over the 2nd half of last year and if everything goes well, I will top my 2015 TOTAL pageviews by the end of next month!

Social Growth:

I’ve worked really hard this year to increase my social presence, interaction and engagement and I think I’m doing okay at it. My overall following increased another 8% in quarter 2 with the biggest gains on Twitter. I also broke 1000 Facebook likes and 2000 Twitter followers which is small for some, but big for my little blog.

Earnings:

It’s funny to even put that word because my “earnings” aren’t really much but I did get paid for 3 articles this past quarter and have two more accepted for payment waiting to be published. I also made my first affiliate sale (I’m now an affiliate for both Amazon and Educents which means purchases made through links on Beyond Mommying earn me a small commission which is used to maintain the website, links are always on my sidebar!)

So, what now?

I’m happy with the growth I’ve seen and really can’t complain, but all my years of science taught me something: if you don’t evolve, you’ll die. I’ve come to a place where I can’t continue just doing the same old thing, I need to make some adjustments to weigh the scale more heavily towards “enjoyment” while hopefully maintaining my upward growth.

Thus, it’s time for Beyond Mommying and Me to evolve and that means some changes are coming.

Here’s what you can expect to see over the rest of 2016:

A New design for Beyond Mommying.

I’ve been contemplating a blog redesign since the beginning of the year, I’ve finally found a design I like and will be implementing it over the next few weeks (months?) I don’t expect it to be a seamless transition, there will probably be some days where things are a little wacky on the blog but if you can bear with me during construction, I hope that the changes will have a positive effect on how my readers experience Beyond Mommying.

More guest posting.

I really want to concentrate going forward on sharing my stories other places. I’m shifting my presence for a few reasons. For one, many other online blogs and magazines pay for articles and that money helps offset the costs of running Beyond Mommying plus it’s always nice to get paid for hard work. But it also helps get my name and Beyond Mommying in front of new eyes which is any writer’s main goal.

Less new blog posts.

It’s time for me to step away from the keyboard and take in life. I have always maintained a strict blogging schedule which has lessened over time but I am ready to be free of the shackles. I want to only bring my readers the best I have and the best way to do this is by only blogging and sharing when I really want to rather than feeling like I have to.

Updated posts.

I have over 1200 articles on Beyond Mommying and many of them are not getting the attention they deserve. I have decided in lieu of constantly publishing new content, I’m going to spend my time updating older articles that have good content but need a little polishing. Articles that I wrote way back at the beginning before I knew what all it takes to make it in the blogging world. I want all of my posts to have the opportunity to shine so that is where I’ll be spending a lot my time: resharing my words that didn’t get seen the first time!

It’s really scary to completely change something that I’ve spent so much time and energy on but my hope is that these little (but huge) changes will greatly effect not only the blog overall, but also my satisfaction in what I’m doing so that I can continue to bring you my best!