Marking Six Years of Blogging

My blog anniversary almost passed by without me noticing it, for  August 21st marked my six years of bloggng. 

It has been a great six years and has far exceeded my expectations when I tentatively wrote my first post in August 2010. 

 My main concern then was "Is anyone finding this and more importantly actually reading it?" A few arms were twisted with friends and relations to sign up as my first followers. But let's face it, although we enjoy writing,  recognition from others is a great motivator.

In my early days I was a avid reader of my blog statistics, but that went  overboard when I discovered spammers were playing havoc with my page views - fortunately once I set up comment moderation that problem has been not so much in evidence.  Now I tend to rely on comments to gauge how successful I have been in awakening interest.   

I never expected  to last this long, as I thought I would soon run out of material, but the prompts from Geneabloggers and inspiration from other bloggers has been so stimulating.  Discovering two cousins (third), one from my birth town, and one in the USA,   gave  me a shot in the arm, as they provided  me with fresh stories and an abundance of photographs.  

This time last year,  I was feeling a bit in a rut blogwise and questioned  "Is there a Life Expectancy to a Blog?  But I now  look forward with a more positive air. 

 
  What have been the landmarks this past year? 

• Taking part in the A-Z Challenge 2016  on the theme "I Remember.....Memories of Childhood and Beyond", which I think was one of my more successful contributions in this annual blogging bonanza.
   
• Joining the new Facebook page, We Are Genealogy Bloggers   - set up by Lorinne  of Olive Tree Genealogy   to provide a forum for discussion, sharing knowledge and ideas on  all matters relating to the act of blogging - a great new addition that I have found very  helpful in answering my queries.
  
  
• Setting up A Facebook page for my blog.   This was a major achievement for me, given I am not a techy person, but once done it proved easy to post  my blog onto it.    I have never  been a Facebook fan, but for some time, I was aware  I was not making the most of social media to promote my blog, and my early impression is it has given a boost to my page views. But  it will never replace my blog itself, where I particular value  the comments from fellow bloggers.
• Developing the blog I set up in 2015 for my local heritage group  - Auld Earlston - it's a challenge managing two blogs - but very enjoyable all the same. 

And on the Down Side  
The three family history narratives I have been working on for a long time remain on my "to do" list, and I cannot say that my Family History board on PInterest has evoked much interest - I need to look at making more effective use of this opportunity, 

How has blogging changed in the six years? 
I can do no better than recommend you look  at Wendy of Jollett etc. whose recent anniversary post HERE reflects  on different aspects of blogging and how they have changed - it makes very thought provoking reading. 

As for me - there is life in my blog yet, and I look forward to another year of discovering stories connected with my family history, writing posts that appeal to readers,  and reading the posts of my fellow enthusiasts.  

 

Images courtesy of Pixabay 

**************