Keeping With The Times

living, learning, and keeping with the times

Blogging Month in Review for May

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Time for  another blogging month in review!

I find the simple act of looking back on the month-that-was helps tremendously in planning for future blog posts and/or updates to my blog in general.

It was a month of flowers, herbs, and gardening. It was a month of learning, sharing, and putting myself out there as I worked through a blogging class. And it was a month of personal reflection on how I want to spend my time (a constant struggle.)

Blogging Month in Review May 2017, May Roundup, Keeping With the TimesSo I turn to my blog … my little space on the inter web … my little space that has always brought me joy and forces me to keep on learning (even if my head wants to explode at times ;) and without further ado, here we go!

Blogging Month in Review May 2017

  • I wrote 12 posts (compared to 8 posts in 2016)
  • According to Google Analytics, page views are down from May 2016 :(
  • My most popular post for May of 2017 is How to Care for a Fresh Rosemary Plant and shockingly, it was the same for May 2016! I wrote that post 3 years ago, which proves old content is valuable. It also tells me what people are coming to my blog for … and it isn’t pretty photos :(
  • It also tells me that people like gardening posts; therefore, I shall strive to serve up more gardening advice with pretty photos :)
  • I fixed the problem with my WordPress Gallery plugin (woo hoo for my brilliance)
  • I posted 25 photos to Instagram (a few were throwbacks, which I think is perfectly acceptable (ahem) and am sticking to my commitment to add a landscape image here and there. Even though people don’t respond well, I think it makes my account less claustrophobic
  • I took care of my electronic housecleaning as I said I would in my post A Bit of Electronic Housecleaning and am actually finding this task to be very doable, and satisfying
  • Kept up with my blogging class with Emily Quinton of Makelight
  • Sent out a newsletter

The biggest lesson I learned by doing this blogging month in review is that I need to pay attention to my most popular posts and make sure they’re in tip-top shape. So, I updated my post on caring for rosemary:

  • First of all, I deleted old images—images that really had nothing to do with caring for rosemary (such as focusing on the vintage pot the plant was in, and also a few Christmas shots!) I’ve been advised by my technical guy that removing images from a post does not affect ones that may have been pinned. I believe him, but I’m not advising you to do such a thing … you have to check this out for yourself. So I went back to my archives, found the original images and edited them. Then I added a few new images, including a properly sized image for pinning
  • I rewrote the text to make my instructions as clear as possible
  • At the time I wrote the original post, I wasn’t into SEO, so I updated keywords, meta description, and added appropriate links
  • I tweaked the title, but NOT the perma-link. Do NOT tweak the permalink unless you are a technical expert and know how to redirect posts … I am not an expert
  • Then I pinned, tweeted, and posted to Facebook

I also learned that nothing is ever going to be perfect; good enough is good enough; and that life goes on.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you in June xo

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February First and a Bit of (Electronic) Housecleaning

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Hello February, and welcome!

This year I’ve decided to start each month off with a bit of (electronic) housecleaning—but first, lets examine the colours of my world: shades of white, grey, brown, and even black.

There’s a world of research on colour psychology: white is deemed pure, sincere, and happy. Grey is subdued, quiet and reserved. Brown is rugged, and black signifies fear, grief, or sophistication.

How does this photo make you feel?

The soft tones and similar hues make me feel calm, happy, and safe. It’s also causes a desire to buy flowers ;)
February First and a Bit of Housecleaning

This year, I’ve decided that at the beginning of each month (after I’ve reviewed the previous month) I will:

  • completely clear out my “Current Import” folder in Lightroom, placing any unorganized photos into their proper previous month’s sub-folders (I usually do this on an ongoing basis, but at the end of the month I will make sure to clear them out)
  • back up my phone, copy all photos and videos to Lightroom, and, as I find time (i.e. waiting in airports etc.) selectively delete most of them (off said phone)
  • make sure all documents are in their proper folders (as in clean off my desktop)
  • back everything up to my monster EHD
  • clean out my inbox: make sure I’ve made all replies and then trash and burn

So far, so good :)

Month in Review at Keeping With the Times

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Instead of stressing and lamenting over everything I didn’t do this month, I decided to sit down and write down what I did do … a little month in review as it were. And I’m not going to make any apologies for my seemingly easy life … I’ve paid my dues … I’m retired. But I still have dreams, goals, and ambitions.

It was a busy month and it blasted by, and it seems all I could do was berate myself for not doing this and not doing that … I was completely down on myself.

You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked.
Try approving of yourself and see what happens
~Louise L. Hay~

January 2017 Month in Review, Keeping With the Times

So, to start with, I run a household: I shop, plan meals, cook, clean, etc. etc. with no outside help (yes I know, many of us do ;) and we should pat ourselves on the back, right?

All my meals are homemade. I also baked a cake, and tried to make Valentine cookies which was an epic fail, and into the garbage they went (can’t remember that last time that happened … but in my defence I was running up and down stairs doing laundry and at the same time trying to help the hubs with some plans we’re making ;)

As well, I:

  • accompanied the hubs on a 4 day business trip (which was fab by the way)
  • attended a book binding class in real life and created my very own journal
  • hosted 2 separate family weekends
  • hosted a friend for 2 days:  visiting, shooting still life, and doing a little junque shopping
  • attended two webinars and various classes (online)
  • created and gave away 2 word art images
  • styled, shot, and/or edited 22 images which I posted on Instagram
  • wrote 11 blog posts, drafted several more
  • spent at least an hour a day in the back end of my blog: cleaning, sorting, and organizing old posts
  • spent a few hours researching ideas for new posts (I’m constantly trying to figure things out)
  • followed up on several leads for sponsored posts
  • prepared and sent out a newsletter
  • started on a project that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time … it’s not going great, but I’m making progress

All in all I think it was a very successful month and I’m full to the brim with gratitude.

Thank you January, I approve!!