On the 19 Nov 2014 @ 14:21, I configured WordPress on my production server which resulted in the first post to be published. Hence, I'll take this as the official date garywoodfine.com was released to world.
I have to admit, that when I started my blog, I didn't really have a defining strategy, I had some basic outlines as defined in Whats the big idea behind Gary Woodfine .com? , but other than that I had no real idea what I was going to do or what people would find particularly interesting
Continuous Improvement
The main motivation for the blog was to provide me with a project I could use to improve a number of soft business skills. I also wanted to explore the world of digital marketing and give something back to the software development community.
I am also constantly seeking to improve on a number of hard skills which I have not always necessarily been exposed to during the course of my career such as:
- Content Writing
- Content Design Strategy
- Marketing
- Digital Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization
- UI/UX design
- Graphic Design
- Web Design
- WordPress
Buried within those skills are a whole host of other skills required to effectively execute and improve the major ones. What I didn't anticipate at the time of launching my blog, just how many new skills I needed to learn or improve upon.
I can honestly say that this past year of running my own blog, has certainly been a steep learning curve and one which I have enjoyed tremendously.
Traffic Analysis
I have to admit that I am impressed with the performance, that within 1 year, I have been able to consistently generate traffic within excess of 2000 visitors a month, and in recent months this has been in excess of 3000 visitors.
My goal for next year is to increase that traffic to beyond 10 000 visitors, which I believe is achievable. This is in stark contrast to my belief when I first published my blog, that I may only get about 10 -15 people a month visiting it.
Future Roadmap
I have learned so much and I am sure there is yet a whole lot more to learn and I am quite excited about what the future holds.
I have now taken the time to plan my content strategy over the next few months and have a number of interesting articles planned. I am also in the process of redesigning my theme in order to improve my visitor experience and content layout.
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