Today is the official one-year anniversary of Snow White Writes! Frankly, I’m not sure how to feel about that. Excited that I’m still blogging? Relieved that my posts are finally getting easier to write? Disgusted that a year of my life just disappeared in Rip Van Winkle fashion? Thrilled and also freaked out that my viewership kind of exploded in the past two months?
I guess my main mood today is contemplation as I look back at everything this blog has seen in the past year.
Some Interesting Stats for Snow White Writes Year 1
- 30 blog posts
- 3,000+ views
- 1,654 unique readers
- Views from 70 countries
- 38 subscribers
- Average read time almost 4 minutes (which is amazing!)
- 6 book reviews
- 60+ fairy tales read
- 1,839,724 times I have checked my analytics numbers and obsessed over whether this blog is accomplishing enough to make the obscene amount of research I do worth it. (I didn’t actually track this number, but you get the idea.)
There’s one other number I haven’t mentioned above. And that’s the ten things I learned from running my own blog for a year:
1. Blogging for Yourself Is Fun—and Intimidating
I’ve been a professional copywriter and content creator for over a decade, so I’d consider myself a pretty experienced corporate blogger. But blogging about things I actually care about? That was something I had never done before Snow White Writes.
Blogging for myself turned out to be the greatest liberation I ever could have imagined—as well as downright scary. Of course you always want your blog posts to succeed when someone is paying you to write them. But blogging your own innermost thoughts introduces higher emotional stakes to the process. I have skin in this game now, but writing about my deepest passion is also SUPER fulfilling.
2. Having a Blog Affects Your Marriage
Don’t get me wrong, Andy has been Snow White Writes’ biggest supporter from day one. He stepped into his role as my IT Manager and Developer Tsar in a super impressive fashion, but I’m a bigger perfectionist about this blog than he is. It’s taxing for both of us when a page that makes Andy declare, “It’s perfect! We’re done,” is the same page that makes me wither inside and produce of a list of twenty-seven changes. Yes, Andy is more aware than ever that he married a stress case.
But Snow White Writes has also helped us grow as a couple. Our great communication skills have gotten even better. Andy’s powers of proofreading and his investment in my writing have doubled in the past year. And I will never forget the look of rapture on his face when Andy first read my post of how we met and fell in love. Despite the growing pains of Snow White Writes, we’re both glad that it exists.
3. Making Mistakes Is Inevitable
Despite my previous experience blogging, I still made some glaring mistakes in my blog setup that I of all people should know not to make. Like taking ten whole months to make an official subscribe button, which is Marketing 101. Or sending out my monthly email in the middle of the night a time or two, which killed my open rates. No duh.
Or learning that it’s terribly easy to set up Google Analytics wrong for a new blog. It took me a week to realize that it wasn’t working properly, so I will never know how many of you checked out my blog in its early days. That lack of knowledge haunts me.
4. It’s All About the Headlines
I have a lot of disdain for clickbait on the internet. But I also figured out pretty quickly that the #1 thing that gets views is good headlines. Headlines that ask evocative questions, subvert expectations, and hook readers immediately. I was okay at writing headlines before I started Snow White Writes. But now? I’m having a little too much fun writing titles that rake in the views.
And for the record, my husband is also really good at fine-tuning great email subject lines and headlines for the blog. Andy really is the best. I’m just saying.
5. Picking Pictures Is My Obsession
When I blogged for tech companies, looking for pictures was the bane of my existence. I do believe that good writing can make any subject interesting. But finding interesting images for abstract concepts that 99% of human beings find boring . . . It’s a drag.
Fast forward to the present day when I’m writing about stories, fairy tales, amazing women, and my childhood dreams. Suddenly picking pictures is the best part of my job. And judging by my readers’ feedback, I’m pretty good at it.
For anyone interested (because this topic comes up a lot), Pixabay.com and Unsplash.com is where I go for free, gorgeous, and totally legal pictures for Snow White Writes. Highly recommend.
6. My Readers Are Kind of Morbid
Not that that’s a bad thing . . . Seriously, though, you guys have a pronounced taste for the macabre. My post about Cinderella’s negligent, terrible father was the #1 most read article on the whole blog this year. Closely followed by the one about sex symbolism in Little Red Riding Hood and the cannibal witch in Hansel & Gretel.
I mean, the joke’s on me for writing such sensationalism in the first place. Snow White Writes is specifically for fairy tale lovers, so I don’t know why I’m surprised that you guys are into abuse, blood, and mayhem. But I pledge to continue writing it. You’re welcome.
7. My Readers Also Want it Personal
You guys aren’t just into blood, guts, and drama. I know this because three other top-performing posts are about my honest to goodness real life. When I wrote two posts about searching for my husband and finally finding him, they scored the highest monthly viewership of any posts on the blog ever. My thoughts about why I hate my name so much is also in the top six, and that’s only been up since June.
Any time I delve into my personal life, the readers come running. But here’s the thing . . .
8. I Hate Getting Personal
I kid you not that those two posts about my love story were the most cringey and uncomfortable thing to write. Opening up about my personal life on the internet is NOT something I like doing. In fact, the online presence aspect of being a professional novelist is the part that I dread the most.
I’ve always been an intensely private person. Generally I have only three people in my life who know everything that’s going on with me at any given time. So yes. Writing personally on my blog is kind of like giving blood for me. Or maybe that’s a bad comparison since I’ve never actually given blood before because I’m so scared of it.
9. But Connecting with People through My Writing Has Been Incredible
Despite my reservations about putting myself out there, it’s turned out pretty wonderfully. I love engaging with my friends and readers who give my writing a try. The discussions are fantastic, and it’s amazing how many people share my enthusiasm for fairy tales.
I even had the experience of reconnecting with a friend I hadn’t talked to in 20 years. She reached out to me after reading one of my personal posts that she deeply related to, and now we’re developing a close friendship that never would have happened without Snow White Writes.
So I guess this blog really has turned into a cherished part of my life. The research gets heavy sometimes, and I do obsess over the numbers and the logistics more than I should. But if I had to do this all over again, there’s not much I would change.
10. I Have A LOT of People to Thank
So many individuals have helped make Snow White Writes everything that it is. And every single one of them deserves a thank-you.
- Every reader who’s given me their time and their views.
- My lovely subscribers who visit Snow White Writes on the regular (you can become one of them by clicking here, hint, hint).
- My college professors who awakened my love for analyzing fairy tales.
- My mother, who shares every Snow White Writes social media post without fail.
- My friends and family members who cheer me on and engage with my stuff online.
- And of course Andy for updating my website, proofreading my articles, putting up with my intensity, getting genuinely excited about my work, and supporting my dreams. The man is a saint and the absolute best part of my life every single day. Love is real.
So what’s next for Snow White Writes? You’ll just have to keep reading to see. ❧
