Hello everyone!
I know this will sound totally cheezy, but boy is the time flying by? Can you believe it’s July already? I feel like a month ago I was getting ready to go to the New Year’s party… But it’s summertime, I’m about to go on my vacation in just a few days (you’ll totally see more about it) and it’s time for my second goals update.
Now that I’m writing this, I’m actually already on my vacation, really. I had some trouble finding a place with free Wifi and a plug ๐ So I’m sorry I lied earlier ๐ If you follow me on Instagram, you will have already known that, but just to remind you:
P.S. You can find more updates on my Instagram, so go follow me ๐
I didn’t really get to ‘check’ many things this time, but some of them were huge. So, let’s start with my blogging goals
Blogging goals
1 First, and probably the biggest thing I’ve achieved is I got my own, self-hosted domain. It wasn’t cheap, but it was totally worth it. My blog has been growing more and more from that point, and I couldn’t be more proud ๐
2 I also finally did the giveaway I was planning for months now, and I’m very happy with the results. I’ve gained a lot of followers, a lot of comments and a lot of new post suggestions. So that worked out nicely.
3 I got my first earnings blogging. I wrote quite a few posts (7, if I’m not mistaken) for a few different brands on my site, as well as elsewhere. I earned $60 doing that (you do the math), but something is better than nothing, right?
4 I wrote a few blogs in Croatian. That has been my plan ever since I quit writing for Cafe.hr. I wanted to get closer to my Croatian audience, and I wrote and published 5 articles in Croatian already. Even though my Croatian audience is not as engaged, in terms of comments like you guys are, I’ve been getting a lot of views from them and even WordPress thought something was wrong when I got a lot of views the other day ๐ You can see all of my Croatian posts here.
5 I got close to 500 followers (which was my goal for these 3 months) on Bloglovin’. I have almost 450, so if you’d like to help me reach my goal, you can follow me here. All of my other social media is at the top of my sidebar. I’ve been a lot more active on platforms like Instagram and Twitter lately, and I will most likely follow you back wherever you follow me ๐
6 A few days ago I started hearing a lot about Facebook ads and how effective they were. I really wanted to know how it worked and I decided to get a 4-day package and pay $6 just to see what happens. I have 2 more days left, and even though I’m not exactly happy with the results, my post reached a lot of people. And the concept is that you pay according to the reach you get and the number of clicks on your post, so I think I won’t pay the full $6.
7 Ever since I switched domains, I’ve been getting into SEO. This is something that will make your posts rank higher on Google and people will find it easier. I am not, by all means, saying I know everything about SEO, I’m very far from it, but I am learning and I like it so far. Let me know if you’d like to see which plugins I use ๐
Personal goals
To be completely honest, I’m not happy with how things have been going lately.
Yes, I’ve been studying like crazy, but yet again it was last minute. I can’t make myself study continuously. Last two weeks before my finals I lived in the library, but everything would have been way more relaxed if I started just two weeks earlier.
I did clean out my closet, but it’s not really an accomplishment, since it was way overdue, and I had so many things I didn’t wear for at least two years, if ever, and I’m probably going to sell it on Facebook.
In terms of my thesis, I found some references I’m going to use, but I didn’t actually start writing. It sort of became boring, since I did a survey and barely got 100 people to take it. It was exhausting to say the least. I hope I will start writing as soon as I come from my very much needed vacation.
The things I didn’t do as planned are:
I stopped working out. I was overwhelmed with work, and I was so exhausted at the end of the day that working out was the last thing on my mind. I know it’s not a good excuse at all, but I will be swimming and going up and down the stairs a lot this summer.
I didn’t get any better in terms of being organized and planning once a week, especially when it comes to blogging, I definitely didn’t start reading more, which I hope to do on my vacation, I didn’t cook at all, and I definitely didn’t clean once a week.
Final thoughts
If you’d like to see what I wanted to achieve, and what my plans are by the end of the year, check out my What Happened in 2015 and My 2016 Goals post.
Overall, I am pretty happy in terms of how things are going blog-wise. On the personal level, not so much. Especially since I’m procrastinating as much as I am. I hope that the next trimester will be much more productive, or else I’m doomed ๐
That’s it for my updated this time. I am so sorry that I haven’t been responding to your guys’ comments, I promise to catch up on those, as well as your blog really soon. I had a minor accident while here, in Selce, on my vacation, so I was kind of grumpy for a few days, but it’s better now. Look at what my foot looked like ๐ (yes, I do realize I’m posting my feet on the internet, but I think this is too gross for any creepy foot fetish guys to go crazy over it ๐
What were your plans for this time frame? Did you complete them? Do you have any advice for me?
P.S. I will definitely write a post all about my vacation including everything we did, and everything we ate once I’m back home ๐
Thank you for reading!
See you soon xx