Blogversary series: reflecting on my 2016 blogging resolutions

/
0 Comments

I want to do a few posts to mark my blog's third anniversary, because I usually do that but also because I feel a bit bad that I completely forgot about the blogversary until a few days ago! My blog's birthday is 20 June, so I'm not too far off but I'll try to remember it next time.

Anyhoo. I was thinking about whether I should do a repeat of last year's blogversary posts and I came across one about my 2016 blogging resolutions. To be honest I don't really have a fresh set of resolutions for this year (they're all the same) so I thought it might be more interesting to actually look at how I've done this past year in terms of meeting them.


Buy some lighting and work out how to use it

This resolution was one of those annoying ones that did actually happen but didn't go anywhere. We bought some budget lighting on ebay (it had good reviews) and spent something like $50 AUD on it, and it showed up and no matter how I play around with it, I can't get it to do what it needs to. Argh.

My best option for decent lighting remains the windowed area in the living room, although of course I'm tied to what kind of weather is happening outside - and it tends to change colour on me for no obvious reason so there's no guarantee that one shot will look exactly the same as the next one (eg some of them look a bit yellow, purple or blue and I've no idea why). I'd love to do a crash course in photography, if I ever have time.

The other problem with the window shots is that my set-up isn't high enough and I'm tall so it's taxing on my back to bend over and take reams of photos. My second best option is the range-hood light in the kitchen (I balance my set-up on the stove) and I do use that when my back's in all-sorts or the weather's rubbish.

One day I'll buy decent lighting, but that won't be any time soon. Two young kids and a tight budget plus a mortgage (not to mention the beauty addiction), you know the drill.

Tweak the template

Last year I mentioned upgrading the free template I was using for the one that costs $7.95. I did that, and that hasn't helped things as much as I would like: I still can't remove those damn headings at the top and I would like to change the template again because I'm not happy with my service.

This will require lots of research and (potentially) more money, plus it will mean messing around with all my ads and various bits of code etc, and I just don't have the head for that these days. I'm not good with technology at the best of times and I'm definitely not good with it when I'm up most nights feeding my son. Detailed work is not for the sleep-deprived, that's for sure.


Finish the editing process by the end of 2016

For a while I've wanted to go back through all my old posts and edit them - particularly because the aforementioned template change has done something weird to all the old photos (essentially it's blown them up so some of them are MASSIVE and that's not a good thing when it comes to the shots of my face ; )).

I did do pretty well with the editing process for most of 2016, but then I had my second child and that really cut down the amount of time I can spend on the computer each day. We're partway there. Hopefully next year I can continue the process.

Expand the social media tree

So last year I tackled Twitter and Instagram, and this year I had wanted to look at things like Pinterest and Snapchat. I'm not there yet. I barely have time to manage the social media platforms I am on, so I'll need to save creating extra work for myself until number two is in childcare.

I suppose you could say that I've done a reasonable job of 'consolidating' the platforms I'm already on over the last year, and I've become better at managing them and staying up-to-date with posts etc. Progress not perfection, that's the key for me. I can't expect more than that, given my current circumstances.


Expand your community

I think I've done this. I've gotten a lot more involved with the online beauty community over the past year (and I partly have Beauty News to thank for that because it's kept me engaged, both on Facebook and on YouTube), so I think I've done reasonably well on this resolution too.

I love the beauty community, I must say. I particularly love the panning community because I'm yet to encounter bitchiness there: it's a very welcoming and encouraging group and I'm thankful for it.

Keep up the momentum

So I was concerned about how much I'd be able to post last year, given that I was due to pop out number two only a few months after. I think I've done pretty well in terms of momentum. I probably don't post quite as much as I used to, but I'm still averaging at least one post a day so I think that's good.


In sum

That's all from me! I'm sorry I don't have any fresh resolutions for you - I'm rather uninspired at the moment, but I'd say that's because I'm so sleep-deprived and have been for so long that it's hard to rustle up much creativity. But I'm glad that I've kept my 2016 resolutions in mind over the past year and have done at least something towards all of them.

Do let me know if you have any blogging resolutions for the year. I love to hear what goals people have and how they've gone about achieving them.

Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x


You may also like

No comments:

littlewhitetruths. Powered by Blogger.