blogging Archives - Arrow Hill Cottage

BLOG GROWING PAINS

When you are learning something new, there are bound to be growing pains. My blog is going through some of those at the moment, as I discover what this world is all about.

There’s a whole lot to learn about when starting a website and blog. Analytics, Content creation, and the all important SEO. Yep, that’s right, SE… Okay – I still have no idea what I’m talking about. Basically it has to do with how people find my little corner of the web. The more people who visit my blog, the more possible it will be to grow.

To be honest, I have been a bit discouraged that I consistently write what I think is great content, and yet do not get many page views each month.

Knowledge is power, and I made the decision to sign up for a course on some of the more technical aspects behind building a good website. It has been pretty eye opening already and has proved that over the last year I have done quite a bit right. On the other hand, I am also now more aware of the mistakes I have made and why people haven’t visited my blog.

The good news is that by reversing some of those mistakes, I can send things in a positive direction. The bad news is that the reversal won’t be easy.

WHAT NEEDS CHANGING

Without getting all technical, I will just say that the basic framework of the website itself needs some re-working. The layout isn’t as user friendly as it could be.

In addition to that, a good number of my past posts will need to be edited so that they are more easily found.

It goes without saying that these changes will take time. Unfortunately, time is something that I tend to not have much of these days. Because of this, I will be scaling back the amount of new posts I put out each week.

I have consistently been able to add two new posts each week for the past year. Typically, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Going forward until I get caught up, I will have a new goal of posting only once per week, on Thursdays.

CONTENT FOCUS

Our house build should begin in about 5-6 months. Though I have the basic floor plans finally nailed down, there are still a lot of details that need to be worked through. Interior finishes, furniture selections, kitchen cabinet layout, etc.

In order to be fully prepared for our build, I plan to develop mood boards for each space. My posts will be reflective of this part of the design process. While this will be super helpful for us to look back on as the house is being built, I am also hopeful it will be useful for others. When possible, I will try to list our material and product sources.

The posts will also document the house construction while that is happening. It should be good insight for those of my readers who are considering their own new home build.

GOING FORWARD

This blogging course has challenged me to take a closer look at my overall goals. Where it was initially started to share our design process, it has slowly been evolving into more of an overall design blog.

I’ve written about design trends, residential architecture home styles, and building tips. I have even shared some of the design work I have done for clients.

Writing a general home design blog has been fun! Once Arrow Hill Cottage is actually built though, a whole world of possibilities will open up. I will have an entire home to decorate and learn how to manage. There will be closets that need organizing and floors that need cleaning. I would love to learn to garden! And develop healthy recipes for my large family!

That being said, I foresee my blog focus turning more toward the subject of Simple Home + Simple Living.

I am super excited about this decision and, with this focus in mind, I will be making my website changes. The title bar will likely get a sprucing up, as might the logo and branding. Just be aware that my end goal is in mind!

There you go friends, that’s my update for today. Tune in next Thursday for the first of my newly focused posts to go live! Once again, thank you for your support and encouragement on this journey!

WHAT I’VE LEARNED FROM MY FIRST YEAR OF BLOGGING

The official ONE year anniversary of this blog has arrived! On May 29, 2017 I ‘penned’ my first blog entry – taking a step onto a path that I was unfamiliar with. Frankly, I wasn’t really sure where it would lead me.

My guiding force was to document life – the mundane and extra special moments alike. In addition, I wanted to chronicle the process of designing and building of our family’s ‘forever home’.

A couple of months into the journey I began to understand why the average lifespan of a blog is only 100 days. It’s work. A LOT of work. I will admit that during these past 365 days the idea of throwing in the towel crossed my mind more than once. When those thoughts crept in, I had to dig deep to continue. I’m glad that I did. Sitting on this side of a year, having not given up, makes me feel proud. I’ve learned a lot about blogging, and about myself, in the process.

I ENJOY WRITING AND DOCUMENTING

I have never been one to write in a journal, but am finding that I actually do enjoy keeping record of what our family has been up to. I take notes on the adventures our family has, and compile them into a monthly AROUND HERE posts. I also shoot plenty of photos and video to use in our WEEKLY TIMELINE VLOGS. These posts and vlogs have been so much fun for my family to look back on. On more than one occasion we have said out loud “When was it that (this or that) happened?” – and then realized that we could look at the documentation that I was careful to preserve, and find out. What a blessing!

RESEARCH IS TEACHING ME NEW THINGS

As it turns out, I enjoy researching topics for upcoming blog posts. I try to fact check all of the information that I put out, so that I’m not misguiding anyone. This fact checking often leads to more interesting information that I many times see as being valuable enough to include in the post as well. Even though I have a five year degree in my field of study (architecture), and have been practicing in that same field for many years, I am finding that there is always more to learn. Through blogging, I believe that my expertise on a subject that I already felt quite competent in, is improving.

THERE ARE PEOPLE FOLLOWING ALONG

At first, I was a bit dismayed that my family and close friends were the only people who were finding the blog. Slowly though, maybe around the six month mark, the site traffic began to pick up. I check analytics at the end of each month, and have found that the website steadily receives about 50% of it’s traffic from people who have never visited the site before. That means that somehow these people found the website – either through word of mouth, a google search, Pinterest, or social media – and thought it may have something to offer them. To me, that’s exciting news!

And for this reason, I have been trying to be more diligent about making sure the content of the website is consistent. If someone happens to stumble upon the blog and finds an article interesting and helpful, I want to make sure that there is even more for them to enjoy.

Our house designing process seems to be especially useful to readers, which I love. I enjoy following other blogs that document the house designing and building process, and am thankful that I can help to encourage others in that regard.

I CAN MAKE MONEY

Blogging is most definitely NOT a get rich quick scheme; But there is money to be made by doing it. I know that there are a lot of other venues I can consider in the future, but for now my primary income is from the advertisements that I put into my blog posts, and affiliate marketing posts.

Many bloggers are able to earn additional funds by offering courses or selling products. These are things that I will be thinking about as I move forward into year number two.

A YEAR ISN’T ALL THAT LONG

It is amazing to me how quickly this first year of blogging has gone. The saying ‘the days are long but the years are short’ is just as relevant to blogging as it is to raising children. Though the effort I put forth on a daily basis at times has felt overwhelming, the days have literally flown by. This mindset will help launch me into year number two – by realizing I only need to put one foot in front of the other, and be consistent, to make progress. The days are going to pass no matter what, so I may as well make use of them in some productive way.

If this first year has been one of learning, I am hoping for the second to be of growth and confidence. Soon, I hope to fine tune the website and blog so that it even further reflects the information I want to share with all of you.

As always, I appreciate each and every one of you who has chosen to hang out in this space with me. Let’s see what YEAR TWO will bring!

100TH BLOG POST!

Ten months ago I started this blogging journey with my first post. I was excited, and very very nervous.

It began as a way to document the design process of our family’s future home – Arrow Hill Cottage – and as time went along I realized that I loved educating my readers about all sorts of aspects of home design, decorating and upkeep. In October, I organized the website into three major post categories: DESIGN your home, LOVE your home, and IMPROVE your home.

I have had the joy of featuring reader’s homes – and helping with their design dilemmas through the Makeover Takeover series. The connection I have made with my audience has been one of the most amazing and unexpected benefits of this journey so far.

I’ve learned some tough lessons, and made some mistakes. I’m still learning how to be a blogger – but I’m excited to continue doing what I’m doing here, in my own little corner of the internet.

We will find out soon if we will be able to build our cottage this Spring/Summer – and in anticipation I have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes in preparation. I have a ton of content just ready to hit the blog!

To be sharing this journey with all of you is a privilege. Thank you for encouraging me through 100 posts!

A TOUGH LESSON LEARNED

I had an entirely different post prepared for today, but I need to take a moment and acknowledge something that happened this week, which will change the course of how I blog going forward.

I started this website in July 2017 without much knowledge at all of what I was getting myself into. Sure, I took a few free online courses and read a ton of material about best blogging practices, but nothing quite teaches you the ropes of blogging than a tough lesson learned.

On Thursday afternoon I had just laid our youngest daughter down for her afternoon nap when I heard the doorbell ring. The postal lady was standing there, certified mail in one hand and a digital scanner in the other. I immediately got the feeling that this was bad news. After signing for the package, I said “I’m nervous to open this!” then closed the door and walked over to my dining room table.

Inside, just as I suspected, was bad news – a letter from the legal counsel of an online presence with proof that I had infringed on their copyright with a graphic that I had used in one of my posts. They requested that I remove the graphic immediately and send them a large monetary damage settlement.

This felt like a punch to the throat.

Here I am, less than a full year into my blogging journey – being dealt what felt like a giant blow. It took me a second to really wrap my head around what I had just read. It was true. I HAD used their material in my post, there was absolutely no denying that. In fact, I hadn’t even tried to hide that the material wasn’t my own. In the post I had included a link back to the original source of the graphic, which in my ‘baby blogger’ mind was what I was supposed to do in order to be sure that nobody reading my post thought that the graphic was my own.

That was naive reasoning, and it bit me back big time.

My next step was to get in touch with my blogging friends, and ask them if they had ever been through anything similar or if they had any advice. One friend pointed me to this blog post – which scared the living daylights out of me.

I immediately removed the graphic from my blog, then contacted the email address listed in the letter to beg for forgiveness. I’m thankful to report that they agreed to show me mercy and reduced my fine significantly. The check is in the mail.

So, what dos all this mean you might ask?

It means that I spent a good portion of Friday scouring through my past 93 blog posts and picking out the 14 that have material that could be considered questionable. It means that I will be spending the next couple of weeks contacting the owners of these images/graphics and asking them for permission to use them on my site.

It means that from this moment forward I will be strictly using my own photographs and graphics, or paid stock photos from reputable sites. Be expecting a lot of original content from this website from here on out!

It means that I have learned my lesson. And as tough of a lesson that it is to learn, I am actually very grateful that this wake up call came now – when my blog is still establishing itself – and not in the future when I have 993 blog posts to sort through instead of a mere 93. Goodness, I’m grateful for that.

I hope that my mistake can be a lesson to you as well. Do your research and know the rules.

Behind every image on the web, whether a photograph or informational graphic, is a person who worked to create it. They made the effort, and they have the right to choose where it is shown and how it is portrayed. And as I work to add more original content to my website, I will want the same protection and rights. Lesson learned.