It seems to be the “done thing” to share an anniversary post when reaching the milestone one year of blogging. So, today it’s my turn…The Beauty Spyglass turns one today November 15th, 2016 – the day I pressed publish on my first post. Which, just so you know, I thought was a fabulous piece of copy but in reality, it was a shoddily written couple of paragraphs with an equally uninspiring and badly lit photograph – A Few Of My Daily Essentials, of course, I’ve had to re-write it but I’ve left the original photo. It’s still not up to standard, but for the sake of posterity, it will do. It was my very first post after all.
105 posts, 716 comments and 17,286 all-time views, I’m proud of how far my little blog has come in twelve months.
Successful First Year?
Depends on what you perceive as success, an endless stream of PR emails? Content that people actually want to read? More monthly page views? A professional looking blog? Let’s look at all of the above in more detail.
I was fortunate to have PR contact from Ultrasun right from the get-go which happened to be a brand I currently use (and still do) I was over the moon and wanted to run around telling anyone who’d listen. Nowadays PR emails drop into my inbox pretty much every day. I don’t take it for granted and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to try new products and share my thoughts. I’ve even got my first paid post scheduled later this week, this is another milestone for me and coincided with my one year anniversary so I’m doubly happy! Especially with it being a really well-known French brand. Oh, go on then… It’s L’Occitane.
In the early days, I set about writing a beauty only blog hence picking a name which reflects that. However, I have other interests beyond beauty so I opened up to some lifestyle content as well. Saying that, My main focus still tends to be skincare and Haircare. Of course, I realise sharing endless beauty reviews isn’t what everyone wants to read and this shines through when looking at my analytics. Interestingly, my blogger Help/photography posts do far better than anything else I write about in terms of views. I know myself when I scour Pinterest looking for blogger Help posts to read, I’d choose those over a beauty review any day (unless It’s an interesting product, of course) Hopefully, I won’t need much more help going forward!
“Write about what you like to read about” is always good advice.
From the start, my focus was turning a hobby into a business so I made the decision to become Self-Hosted within the first three months as I wanted a professional looking blog – (best thing I ever did by the way). If you’re thinking about it, My advice is do it – read my Going Self-Hosted Story. Once that box was ticked I wanted to improve my photography and content but looking back, I’ve had to go through so many old posts and make corrections to the grammar and rewrite typos. I’ve removed any slang words and replaced endless exclamation marks with full stops – that’s just not my thing anymore. It takes a while to discover a writing style which works, I think I’m just about there now.
Images To Get The Click-Through
We all say the same, we’re horrified by our early shots and most will replace them with new. You can see below how my idea of what looks great has evolved and is constantly changing. I still haven’t managed to purchase my dream camera and have to take my photos with my iPhone 6s yes, I haven’t even got the 8 yet. I gave up using my Canon camera a while back as it’s a good four years old and best suited to outdoorsy shots as opposed to the detailed or close-ups I need it for. Thankfully, the editing apps are fabulous and have allowed me to up my game a little. I’m hoping to be able to buy the camera I have my eye on in the new year plus some editing software for my Mac. Hopefully, they’ll be no stopping me then!
Trying to come up with new content isn’t so easy when you haven’t got pots of money to spend on endless clothes, shoes and handbags *sniffs*. One thing I’m not short of is skincare, I can’t remember the last time I had to buy some and I’m so grateful for that.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who’s supported me and been following along with my blog throughout the year. Here’s to the next twelve months! My anniversary giveaway is coming up but in the meantime, I’ve teamed up with Boho-Betty.co.uk to bring you their huge festive hamper competition. Don’t forget to enter – Boho Betty £400 hamper giveaway! – Closed
