It’s My 1 Year Blogiversary!

One year ago today, the first post went up on this brand new blog Women With Intention (It’s right here)!  I remember having sweaty palms as I pressed “publish”  and I even called Jason to let him know that I finally “did it”!  I remember feeling so excited and brave because I finally had begun this blog that I had been dreaming of for such a long time!

Here are a few things I’ve learned during my first year of blogging:

• I really wish I would have taken a computer programming class in high school or college.  There is so much more than just typing up a post behind the scenes.  (It’s embarrassingly taken me hours to figure out how to change a color on the blog, design a printable, and do many of the other behind the scenes maintenance that comes with keeping this up and running!)
• I’ve been very blessed to find a few blogging friends who gracefully share their knowledge with me.  You all know who you are and I am so grateful for your generosity!
• It takes me about 3 hours to write a post from start to finish.  It usually about an hour to find and edit a picture and the rest of the time is spent on writing.
• I love blogging.  I’ve always had a passion for writing and this is a wonderful outlet for me.
• I was scared of your comments for about 3 months!  I was afraid someone would post something mean or rude but I’ve only had that happen once.

A few fun facts from the first year of Women With Intention:

• Before hitting “publish” on this post, I have published 508 posts in this first year.
• No surprise that I get the most views from those of you in the United States, but Canadians are #2.
• The top 3 searches for my blog were:
  • womenwithintention
  • women with intention
  • I love my husband (This made my day!)
• The Top 5 Posts Were:
  • 5 Ways To Build Up Your Husband Taking Less Than 5 Minutes
  • 31 Days Of Scripture To Pray For Your Husband: Week 1
  • 31 Days Of Intentional Living: Introduction
  • 10 Life Skills Every Child Needs To Succeed Before Leaving The Home
  • 31 Days Of Organizing & Decluttering: Day 1
• I know before I started blogging, I figured it would be easy to make money blogging.  So for those of you who are curious, I’m going to let you in on my blogging income the past year by you clicking on my referral links in my posts!

Before I do that, I want to say thank you to those of you who have so graciously used them to purchase items!  It really does mean a lot to me!  I didn’t create this blog with the goal of making a lot of money (although that would be great, right?)  My goal is to eventually make enough to pay for the web hosting, domain, and my money I put into giveaways, etc.  With that said, I haven’t really pushed making money here (nor do I plan to).  The items I use referral links for are products that I either use myself or would highly recommend because I’ve enjoyed them.  So after all of that, here is what I have made in one year of blogging:

• I have made an entire $11.90 from those of you who have clicked on Amazon referral links (thank you!)
• Through Checkout 51 and Zulily I’ve made $8.24 (once again, thanks!)
• The Ultimate Bundles have a nice referral commission for bloggers and I have earned the most which is $41.98 (thank you and whoo hoo!).  I have an easy time promoting the bundles because I love to read, they are interesting to me, and I always gain some great knowledge from them.  I also think with the freebies and everything you get when you buy them, they are well worth the money.

Do you remember me telling you that I have some exciting news a few days ago?  Well, here it is!

Tuesday was the best blogging day I have ever had.

• I had the most visitors ever
• I was asked to do some guest posting on 2 larger blogs which will happen in December
• I was asked to co-host a linky party for 2 weeks in December (which is new to me and I’ve been debating on having one on my own blog so I’m excited for the invite and experience)
• AND the big news… Twice a month I will be writing for Her View From Home (HVFH).  For those of you who are in my area, you likely will recognize Her View From Home.  HVFH is an online lifestyle magazine that began literally a few miles from our home.  The writers are from all across the country with the common passion of sharing their view from home.  I’m honored to be a part of the HVFH team and am excited to be writing mainly in the Inspiration and Faith categories.

The Giveaway:

I will have the giveaway up late this afternoon.  You won’t want to miss it!  🙂

Finally, I just want to thank you all for being my virtual guests each time you visit me at the blog or on social media (I just added Instagram to the list and each day I’m participating in #onemonthofthankfulness in November.)  This has been a whirlwind of a dream this year!  Happy Blogiversary Women With Intention and I’m hoping to celebrate many more with all of you!

 Just for fun, those of you who have been here since the beginning leave a comment below. For those of you who are new, I’d love to hear from you as well!  What is one thing you’d like to read more about in Year 2?

Have you enjoyed what you read here today?  Do you have friends or other women you know that could benefit from this resource?  If so, please do me a favor!  I have included the links below to share with other intentional women!  They’ll be glad you did!