2017 was a really exciting year for me personally and the blog. Personally, my husband and I got to take some really amazing trips to Hawaii and Napa. I also got to spend some quality time in Waco visiting friends and, of course, the Silos (for you Fixer Upper fans). I even was on TV! Although, I was super awkward so the most you will ever see of it is on this Instagram post.

We finished out the year by buying a new house (!!!), which you can read more about here.

The blog hit some all-time highs, too. My royal icing recipe continues to be a hit and is now one of the top searches on Google for royal icing! I had more viewers in one day in January 2017 than I did for the entire month of January 2016. Since I love numbers, here are some stats for 2017.

2017 Stats:

• 135 blog posts
• 319 Instagram posts
• 19 YouTube videos
• 231% increase in page views
• More page views in December than all of 2016 combined

2017 Goals:

• Publish a regular newsletter. Partially accomplished. About halfway through the year, I starting publishing a “Quick Bites” newsletter that was sent out bi-weekly. Then it was monthly. Then it was really whenever I found the time to write a newsletter. Maybe 2018 will be better.
• Publish more video content. Accomplished. The baseline was pretty low for this one. In 2016, I published 5 videos. In 2017 I published 19 on YouTube alone. I also published 20 Instagram videos. Expect to see even more in 2018. 
• Increase Social Media Presence. Accomplished. My main goal was to increase my Instagram following, which I definitely did. I can’t be sure by how much because I don’t have the stats on that, I know I went from under 1k to 2k in 2017. I also started a Facebook profile, which could probably use some more love in 2018. 
• Monetize the Blog. Accomplished. I had several sponsored posts in 2017 and was able to make some money from affiliate links. While it was very minimal. Very. It’s a start. More than anything, I learned more about how to monetize my blog which will benefit me going forward because….

2018 is the Year of the Blog!

As I hinted at in this post, once we move to Atlanta I am going to dedicate some time to grow the blog into a business. Since it’s inception, blog has always been considered a hobby. Its something that I work on on the weekends and after work during the week. Once we move, the blog will be my full-time job. While I devote a lot of time to creating things for the blog, which is really what I love to do, a lot of the other stuff falls by the wayside due to lack of time. I don’t spend as much time promoting the content, cultivating relationships, marketing the blog, and developing new skills. 

I am hopeful that I can do all of that in 2018. And I am so excited about it!

2018 Blog Goals:

• Learn SEO, Google Adwords, and basic coding. I really love to learn new things, and these have always been at the top of my list but have never had time to pursue them.
• Publish more video content. I would love to publish a video with every single recipe that I create. That may be a little ambitious,  but got to aim somewhere!
• Publish more lifestyle, home design, or DIY content. Now that I am a new homeowner, I already have lots of home projects that I would like to tackle. Expect to see some of them on the blog. 
• Get to 10k followers on Instagram. This may also be a bit ambitious considering I only have 2k now, but I think with the increased video content I can make this happen.

2018 Personal Goals:

• Read at least one book every month. I have no excuse not to accomplish this one because now we live across the street from a library.
• Do more yoga. Not only do I physically feel great after I do yoga, I also feel some much more balanced and centered mentally. I am really bad a taking time out to relax, so I am hoping that by doing yoga regularly throughout the week I can count that as my stress relief. 
• Run a half marathon. This is something that I have always wanted to do, so 2018 is the year! While I have always been a somewhat of a runner…I have never run more than 8 miles consecutively. But with some consistent training, I think I can do it.
• Convince my husband to get a dog. Enough said. 

So what are your goals for 2018??