My Blogging Progress In 2016 & My Goals For 2017 ♥

Another year has come to an end. I can't quite believe how quickly it went by and although so many people think that 2016 was an awful year, for me it was a great one, as we welcomed our beautiful baby boy Beau into the world and I made some great progress with this little blog of mine.

Last year I shared a post on my blogging progress in 2015 and my goals for 2016, and I thought it'd be good to make this an annual thing, an evaluation of sorts, so that I can see that I'm actually succeeding at something in life.

I have to admit, this year I was a bit lax with this blog, and my second blog, Fawns & Fables, was awfully neglected too - I think I just shared five posts on it this past year, how awful of me... Being pregnant and wanting to sleep all the time made the first part of this year a rather unproductive one. Then once Beau arrived all I wanted to do was spend time getting to know him and get out and about as a family. The latter part of the year was spent running around after two little boys, leaving me too exhausted to blog.

I also hit many 'walls' this year, having so much inspiration and many ideas, but I felt stuck when it came to actually implementing them and getting everything written and shared on here and on my other blog.

However, both blogs have still done really well this year and I'm delighted with my progress, even if I wasn't fully on my blogging game.

I started 2016 with just shy of 1,250,000 page views and I now have 1,870,000, that's an average of 52,000 page views a month - which I don't think is bad going considering I gave up promoting or writing new posts on many occasions throughout the year.

However, in December alone, I gained 170,000 page views, so I think things are definitely on the up and I'm ever closer to reaching my next milestone of 2 million page views - yay!

Fawns & Fables has also reached 50,000 page views this week and I'm delighted with this little milestone. It's great getting to experience all these achievements with my new blog again.

My social media has also grown this year, especially my Instagram which has doubled in followers. My next goal with this is to reach 10 thousand and hopefully I'll smash that in the New Year. I didn't really bother with my other social media channels this year as I don't really care about Facebook, I just leave my Twitter to do it's own thing and I'm not quite sure how to grow my Pinterest, but I did gain new followers on my YouTube channel and now have over 600 followers - 1,000 is my goal for the New Year.

Vlogging was a big step for me this year but I actually find it quite fun and I hope to make more videos of our family this year.

This year I was asked to be an ambassador for two great brands, the first being Frugi, who I have worked with since the beginning of the year and Pampers, who I began working with in October. It was such an honour for me to be linked to these brands and I was delighted to be chosen as an ambassador for them both.

I was also invited on two press trips this year, the first to Frankfurt to visit the Pampers Innovation Center and the second to London to attend the AVEENO Baby skincare symposium and BlogFest.

I've had the pleasure of working with some amazing, well-known brands this year too - Kokoso, Dyson, Oliver's Travels, Expedia, Silver Cross, Yankee Candle, Laura Ashley, Greentom, Whiskas, aden+anais, Mattel, Travelbag, Hasbro, Graco, Maxi Cosi, Lamaze, Cadbury, 7am Enfant, Polarn O. Pyret, Miffy and Joolz, to name a few.

I don't think I will be accepting many products for review in the New Year, unless the product is something I desperately want/need or think that my readers will benefit in knowing about. Instead I'd like to concentrate on collaborations and social media promotion, as I feel this embraces the photography aspect I want my blog to have a whole lot better.

This year I attended another blogging conference - Blogfest in London, but sadly I had to leave early to catch my flight so I'm not sure I gained a lot from it. It was lovely to meet up with some of my fellow bloggers for dinner and prosecco the night before though and meeting my lovely friend Hayley from Sparkles & Stretchmarks was a highlight for me.

My goals for both of my blogs this year is:

To post all killer and no filler (and no I don't mean the Sum41 album). I want each blog post I write and feature to be inspirational in some way and a true expression of me. I've shared my thoughts on the importance of being true to yourself and I believe that the only way to succeed in life and especially within the blogging world.

I want the blogs to be very photography orientated and feature more days out, more DIY, more ideas and tips and to share all of my loves and experiences with my readers. I received a tripod for Christmas and I'm upgrading my camera, so I have no excuse not to gain more skill with my photography and create more creative shoots this year.

I've already turned down work this year as I felt the posts just didn't suit my 'brand' or what I want to express in my blogs and I'll continue to do that.

I want the posts and work I share to be of a high standard and identifiable to me and what I stand for - if it's not personal to me then it's not being shared, end of.

That's it really and I think it's a pretty easy goal to achieve.

As it's the beginning of a new blogging year, I thought I'd share some blogs I love to read - Sparkles and Stretchmarks, Gingerlillytea, Missing Sleep, Sparkle's Suitcase and Hubby Helps

Here's to another great blogging year!

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