November 6 2015, I hit publish on a post called I Should Start a Blog. I think I bought the domain name Simple Local Life back in September of that year and had written several draft posts but hadn’t published anything until that time. I spent a ridiculous amount of time watching you tube videos trying to teach myself how to use Word Press and also reading a lot of material about getting started blogging. I also attended the first ever Blogjam conference in Halifax. I left there with one strong message…JUST.START. So I did and just finished my first year of blogging.

This past Sunday marked 1 year since I started this blog. I used to have a family blog which I kept up for about 8 years. It was mostly stories of my life with the kids. We all love looking back on it and reading some of the posts. I can tell you I would have never remembered some of the details of events if I didn’t have them written down on the blog. The kids may not have good baby books, but we do have a pretty cool family blog. Then they turned into teenagers. I don’t think it’s necessarily wise to write about your teenagers. Not in specific detail anyway. So I basically stopped writing the blog and social media took over our lives and with the availability of Facebook it didn’t seem necessary to provide family updates in a blog anymore.

So why am I blogging again? Mostly because I enjoy it and it feels like a really positive outlet. I also had begun following some other Nova Scotia bloggers but couldn’t find anyone really doing much here on the South Shore. I love supporting local when I can and really wanted to use this as a potential platform to support and showcase some of the wonderful things we have going on here.

When you start a blog a common suggestion is that you blog about things people talk to you a lot about, or consider you a bit of an authority on. I really started this with no intention of it being a food blog….but the truth is I talk a lot about food, and more specifically meal planning. My Meal Plan Monday posts are quite popular and I do enjoy helping people figure out how to eat real food on a budget. It all starts with a plan. 🙂

An extension of Meal Plan Monday’s have been an occasional recipe post, which have been quite popular as well. I’m not a foodie or chef but I do pump a lot of food through my kitchen each week and enjoy sharing some tried and true recipes.

I also share an occassional broad post on family life. I follow a few other bloggers and really enjoy those more personal stories which make you feel a bit more connected. I am careful not to get to intimate with details, but do like writing them and having them documented.

I’ve made some wonderful connections in the blogging community, mostly in thanks to Blogjam. Becoming part of the East Coast Mom’s Media Group was a huge part in feeling part of the community and also in getting support. There are a lot of people doing some fantastic work through their blogs and I feel really fortunate to have met so many of them.

I set some blogging goals for myself when I started. One was to blog for a year and see how I felt. So far…so good! Another goal was to try to monetize the blog after a year and see if I can turn it into a small side business. There are a lot of bloggers who make nothing on their blogs, and others who make part time-full time income from it by working with companies and brands, sponsored posts etc. Each blog posts takes hours to write, edit photo’s, etc. I recently put google ads on my site…so I expect the pennies to start rolling in any day now. 😉 I am working on some goals and potential projects for this next year and will report on those this time next year.

So are you curious about what my most popular posts has been, how many people are looking at my site, etc? I thought you might be! Here’s the breakdown…

Most Popular Post– Let’s Meet for Coffee The Interval Cafe

This is the clear winner…by a LANDSLIDE! This key to the success of this post was one thing…timing. They had quietly opened this little cafe a few days a week. There was a sign up but most people had no idea what it was. My post, with accompanying photos of the sweet interior got a lot of attention. It also showed the need and excitement over a cafe in our small town. The girls told me the day after this post, every table in the place was full! So exciting! I had close to 4000 people view that post, not to mention the Facebook reach and shares. Holds the #1 spot for this past year. ( The Interval Cafe has since changed hands and will be opened again later this month by the owners of the Fancy Pants cafe and Play. I look forward to visiting again. )

Total Views on Simple Local Life– 16859.

Over the past year I have had over 16000 views on my site. I’m sure that is small potatoes for some bloggers but I am pretty proud of that number. February and March were the 2 top months for views, mostly in part to the success of the Interval Cafe post.

Total Visitors: 9068

Almost 10 000 people visited my little blog over the past year. For just starting and slowing down a bit during the summer, I’m feeling OK with that number too.

Number of Countries visitors came from: 25

Oh internet…you crazy, world-wide tool. Over this past year I have people visit my blog from over 25 different countries. Canada is the top by far followed by the US and then Brazil. Spain, Ecuador, Haiti, Croatia, etc. It’s crazy…fun…and just sort of neat to think about.

After the Interval Cafe post, my next most popular post was Holding on and Letting Go, a personal story about my kids graduating and my daughter moving out. My most popular recipe post was Blueberry Lemon Buttermilk Cake. That was a good cake…worthy of most viewed recipe. 🙂 For some reason, this Meal Plan Monday post also got a lot of attention, probably because it was published in early September when people were thinking about such things.

I’m looking forward to continuing to blog here at Simple Local Life. Thank you so much for reading and sharing my posts! I’ve learned that blogging can be an incredible resource, a source of connection and also provide some valuable continued learning. Mostly for me…blogging is fun! Thanks for stopping by. xo