Would you believe that Tuesday was my five year anniversary of blogging?
I’ve made mention before that I started blogging to establish an ‘online presence’ as was suggested by an agent at a small library event I’d attended. I decided on a blog because I’d heard about it in the movie, “Julie and Julia.” I’m pretty sure at that time I didn’t really know WHAT a blog was, just that this woman, Julie became a published author through blogging. Sounds like a plan to me I said, I’ll become a famous author by writing a blog.
Now I’ll be the first person to tell you that I don’t know nearly enough about blogging as I should, especially for someone who’s been blogging for as long as I have. I do however know a whole lot more than I did on that very first post.
Because guess what?
I knew absolutely NOTHING about blogging at the time. The first line from my first post was this, “I have the basic idea for this website from the movie Julie and Julia; except I’m not going to be cooking and eating my way through a book of recipes.” If you want to read that entire 108 word post, you can read about it HERE.
Of course that changed, as I began to hone in on ‘finding my voice,’ (which I struggled with initially.) The goal that first year was to publish one post per day for an entire year, so I titled the initial posts as “Day One and Day Two.” I didn’t actually start adding real titles to the posts until Day Three.
When I looked at those initial posts in my ‘back office’, I noticed that none of them had SEO Titles, SEO descriptions or SEO key words. I started scrolling through to see when I first started adding them and guess what? I got bored after scrolling through the first YEAR! Yes! It was OVER A YEAR (maybe two or three even) before I started working the SEO on this blog.
No wonder I haven’t become famous.
I didn’t even add photos until Day Twenty Five. In case you’re wondering, here is the very first picture I ever placed in a blog post.
Soooooo good!!
I had to shrink this picture to fit in this post because it was SO large, it took up the entire page, BECAUSE I had no idea about re-sizing pictures at that time. In fact, I’m surprised I actually put a title on the damn thing.
It DOES look good though, doesn’t it? That my friends is an Apple-Pecan upside down pie and it’s to die for. It is probably the dessert I miss the most in being Gluten-Free because I haven’t figured out a way to replicate it. (If you’re interested, the full recipe for it is HERE.)
I recently read somewhere that you have to stick with blogging for three to five years, to outlast all the others that start and then quit. Well here we are five years later, and I’m left wondering, what’s left for me? Where do I go from here? Because well, obviously I haven’t quit, but I haven’t ‘made it’ yet either.
Maybe it’s the end of year blues, or the holiday doldrums, but sometimes I just want to stop altogether, but the thought of NOT having my blog, makes me anxious. And yet, I sometimes feel like after five years of blogging, what’s left to say?
Update two. Linda and I have removed the linky tool from our blogs as it appears to be slowing them down.
A quick update, apparently there are issues with the Linky Tool. I hope Mr. Brent is working on this and will have it fixed soon. I apologize to everyone that’s trying to link up. Please bear with us and keep trying.
This is the Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog Hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. Grab the badge and the linky code and join us! Please only link up blog posts and as a courtesy to the other hoppers, please add the linky to your post and/or link back to the hosts’ blogs.
Happy Blogiversary! 😀
Hopefully I figure out SEO one day.. Haha!
Wow, 5 years – huge congratulations.
I don’t think you need to worry about having nothing to say – you keep coming up with great posts and you’ve definitely found a natural, wise and entertaining voice!
I’ll drink to your next 5 years with a beer tonight – I’m thirsty after licking the photo of the Apple-Pecan pie.
Happy anniversary!! I know what you mean about thinking about stopping. Sometimes I think about how nice it would be to live like a normal nonblogging person. But I think you still have a lot to say and you have a great community here to listen.
Hi Y’all!
Congratulations on 5 years! We love your posts, even though we don’t always have time to comment.
By the way, we’re trying to link browndogcbr to barks and bytes blog hop.
We have tried with both Chrome and Firefox and receive the same error “Opps” Can’t link at all to blog hop. Also tried to send Brent an error message and received another error message. If y’all have any pull with Linky Tools, would you please try to get a message through. (Linking worked okay with Windows 10 yesterday)
My Human has to leave now, so we’ll try to join again this evening.
Y’all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog
You’re kidding, right? With your two sweet pups and sense of humor, there’ll always be something to say! Big time congrats on the blogiversary. That’s more than pretty impressive. I can’t imagine not hearing about your adventures so please file that notion with the gluten and “fur-getaboutit” ok? We love you, Jodi! Here’s looking forward to the next 5 where you could teach some of us how to do it right and laugh along the way. I mean, what’s a SEO anyway? (smirk)
Hugs and happiness.
5 years – wow – congratulations!! I still think you come up with plenty of great things to say, so don’t you dare stop! 🙂
I still barely know what SEO is and still don’t use it all the time. It took me at least 2 years to figure out a lot of this stuff…and there are new bloggers out there that know so much more and do so much better than I do.
I often feel the way you do…like stopping because I just can’t keep up with it all and feel like I’ll never be good as the others. But wouldn’t the followers we do have, even if they’re not in the numbers others do, miss us so much? Also, like you, the thought of NOT having the blog just leaves me feeling kind of bereft – if that word is not too dramatic to describe it?
I totally get “the end of year blues or holiday doldrums”!! I’ve had them myself this year – and every one of these past ten years since my Dad passed in November of 2005. And I totally get the “what’s left to say?” as this is my fifth year of blogging, too. Maybe we both just need a new focal point for our blogs?
And now that I got my own holiday blues “out there”, let me tell you this: I would definitely miss you, Sampson, and Delilah! And Dawn, Monika, and Jan K, and their crews if y’all stopped blogging!! So PLEASE DON’T! I know nothing about SEO – and don’t really care – I just write about my girls when and how “the spirit moves me”.
I’m with all the others who’ve said they think you still have a lot to say. And there IS a huge community out here that LOVES how you say it, myself included.
Happy Blogiversary!! I have no idea about SEO and I need to do Pinterest and Instagram and yikes. I love writing about my Cocoa and meeting so many friends who feel the same way. I would love to make some money from doing it to help me keep doing it but we’ll see. I would have to devote lots more time and learn SO much more. I love reading your blog!! These crazy pups keep the stories coming!!
Happy Blogiversary! Five years is a real milestone – congratulations! What’s left to say? You’re kidding, right? With Sampson and Delilah as “fodder” and your own creative mind, I’m thinking you’ll have plenty to say for a long time to come. Thank goodness 🙂
Happy 5 years! When we are down on the blog, we always look at those first posts to remind us of how far we have come, but we still have a long, long, long way to go! We love your blog and if you are like us, post ideas seem to happen and it keeps us going. 5 years is something to celebrate, maybe by posting some XXL photos of what you eat today 😉
Congratulations on reaching 5 years! I guess I am a big loser because I basically use my blog to chronicle my life with Blueberry. Before I started her blog, I thought that was the goal of all bloggers – just to have a public diary of sorts. Seems like it’s changed though and there are more bloggers like yourself that strive for something more and actually get paid to do this! I think it’s great – but I am not sure I could take the pressure. I kind of prefer the fact that I have just a handful of faithful commenters on my blog – they feel like friends to me (you are included, of course).
Keep on going – we love hearing your adventures with Sampson and Delilah!
I’m right there with you sister. Five years for me in January, and no being big and famous over here either. I decided that I’ll blog if I want to, even if no one is reading.
I’ve hit a winter doldrums right now, I have all these ideas to blog about but haven’t had the energy to actually write them so instead I have a long list of drafts…
I finally got one up today about being thankful – as a reminder to myself that my life isn’t as bad or as hard as I sometimes feel it is.
You keep writing though and we’ll keep reading! 🙂 Sometimes a photo is the perfect post for a day where you don’t feel like posting. And WOW does that look good, any chance of a recipe? Or maybe you could just deliver one to my house. LoL
Congrats, Jodi! Five years is a huge milestone. I say, keep blogging as long as you enjoy it and remember that for every person that leaves a comment there are many, many more that visit your blog and smile or laugh at your stories. It makes their day a little brighter and that’s pretty good motivation to keep writing and entertaining all of us. 🙂
Happy 5th Blogiversary!
Congrats on 5 years! We just celebrated that too. I know the feeling of sometimes wanting to quit to, but I always seem to find some inspiration. Hope you find yours again.
Happy Blogiversary! I don’t know what SEO is and I’m creeping up on 5 years of blogging. On the other hand, I’m lucky if I post once a week and I never expected my blog to make me famous. Although….that would be kinda fun!
Huh. You made me curious so I looked and I missed my 5 yr blogoversary, which would have been Oct. 28 this year. (My first post title was: Yes, just what the world needs. Another blog.)
I also contemplate quitting (not just the blog but also Twitter and my Facebook author page). Sometimes that really sounds like heaven. But I would miss all my bloggy friends. And I also sometimes wonder what the hell is left to say, but I (almost) always manage to think of something – although usually it’s at the last minute. I do enjoy blogging still (for the most part) so as long as I’m still enjoying it, I keep doing it. And, yes, I also started because someone (my agent) told me I needed to as an author, but now I just keep going because it’s fun.
Anyway – don’t quit! (Unless you’re not having any fun anymore! I heard Itzak Perlman (sp??) on the radio being interviewed the other day and he said something to the effect of “I try to never do things that bore me.” I’m trying to take those words to heart!)
the end of the year bug bites again. it’s the holidays so we should all be happy and jolly.
well in real life it just not true for everyone. i find myself looking forward to January and the down hill slide into spring.
I’m a nonblogger who came across your blog by way of another blog.
I’m a newcomer to your blog. having a large furry bed hog myself ( her name is lily and she is a Hovawart). i enjoy reading about your dogs, enjoy the photos of them but i continue to read your blog because you pull your life into your blog as well. your way of writing your voice if you will engages the reader. I’m not saying saying this very well but your blog is like getting a phone call from friend that you really enjoy hearing from. the old days type of calls where just calling to say hello ends up being a long chat.
I’m glad you posted about your feelings about your blog. I’m not one for posting very often and I’m certain you have a larger community of readers who enjoy your blog but just don’t post comments.
Congrats on 5 years!! Here’s to another 5, 10 20!
I think we have outlasted them because now the place to be is Instagram. Just post a pictures and you are done. 🙂 So few people actually blog anymore. Most either are constantly promoting products or giving a list about this and that. Blog=a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style. Yours, mine and a few other are just a handful left compared to 5 years ago. 🙂 I hope Mr. Linky is working this week.