21/06/2016

One Year of lilyolivia.co.uk! + My Blog Goals For The Next Year.



I honestly cannot believe I have been blogging an entire year?! Twelve months, three hundred and sixty five days, three holidays and one pair of designer sunglasses later we've finally reached this milestone. And I say 'we' because I don't think I could have done it without the lovely comments and tweets from you guys and whilst my audience may not be the biggest I'm still proud of each and every one. Naturally I felt the need to write a super gushy post chatting about what's gone on this past year and just how I wish to improve and push my blog forward going into the second year. I also want to talk about some of the things I wasn't expecting, like forming such lovely friendships and getting the opportunity to work with brands. So bare with me, this might be a long one!

Firstly I wanted to talk a little bit about the aesthetic and design of my blog, how this has changed and what I've got in store in the coming months. Initially when I first set up my blogger blog - lifeaccordingtolili.blogspot.com - I wasn't really sure of how to edit photos or work HTML (still haven't got a clue tbh) so the basic look of my blog was... Just that: basic. However that all changed when I bought this gorgeous blog template from an amazing company I found on Etsy. Gone was the ugly blogger menus and uninspiring sidebar and in it's place I was left with something minimalistic and classy. (Basically entirely monochrome which suits my aesthetic perfectly!) I'm in no way saying my blog design is perfect as there are still many things I'd like to change and switch up, but generally I'm pretty happy with the way it's all looking. In the future I would like a different sliding menu however right now I can't find a template I like enough to pay the money for, so that'll have to wait! 


Naturally I'm hoping to increase my stats and audience throughout the next year. In terms of twitter I'd love to hit 1000 followers by the end of 2016 as I'd consider that a huge milestone. I only set up my twitter account back in September so I'm pretty chuffed with the 600+ followers. However the big 1000 looms ever nearer and I value anyone who gives my tweets a cheeky like or retweet. As where Instagram is concerned I find it a lot harder to gain and keep followers. I'd say my feed is pretty cute (shameless self promo) but for some reason they love to unfollow me! If I even hit 250 by the end of 2016 it'd be fabulous! 

And now onto my actual blog stats. To be honest I do sometimes feel kind of low when comparing myself to others. Don't get me wrong, I'm so proud of my blog and the content I'm producing but sometimes it just feels as though I must be doing something wrong. Why aren't I getting more site traffic, more comments or followers?! Is it me? Is it what I'm writing about? In truth I imagine it's more like down to the incredibly saturated blog market so that getting noticed is actually incredibly difficult. Serious kudos to anyone who'd managed to make blogging a career, because getting to that level of success must be insane! I would love to reach 50,000 views on my blog by the end of the year and to anyone who's reading this post, thank you so much! You have no idea just how much your comments mean to me. 


One thing I wasn't really prepared for when I started blogging was just how much of a community there is, particularly on the likes of twitter. When I first made my blog I maybe commented on a few peoples posts - hesitantly enough as I wasn't really sure what I was doing - and didn't even start social media properly for a good three months or so. 

However I can honestly say that I'm so, so thankful to have found the lovely twitter community, especially those whom I talk to regularly. Firstly, Sara who is so nice and genuine (and speaks better English than I do!) and I know I can go to her with all my book-writing problems! 

And then of course I couldn't go this far without talking about my amazing #bloggerbestie Lisa who never fails to make me smile with our random twitter convos that usually start with something blogging related and end up somewhere totally different like the unfairness of car insurance! She's my blogging rock, and one day I hope we can go shopping together irl because that would just be too much fun! 



And lastly I wanted to talk about working with brands and attending events related to the blogosphere. In march this year I was lucky enough to work with Boohoo on an outfit post and it still remains one of my favourite posts. For an amazing brand like that to contact me, was just out of this world and completely insane. I don't blog for 'freebies' or for the money but I do love the idea of collaborating with brands that I'm passionate about, so hopefully in the next year or so I'll have the opportunity to do more.

One of the things I would also love to do is attend a bloggers event. I'm fairly local to London so if any companies are reading this (cheeky spon) and holding events any time soon, then I'm sure I'd love to come! Just the idea of getting to meet other bloggers irl is so exciting as no one I know in real life does blogging. 


Thank you so much for reading and here's to another year of my blog!! I'm so excited to see what the future will hold and I have absolutely no intentions of stopping or giving up blogging - I just love it too much! 


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21 comments

  1. Happy blogging birthday! I have totally had really ugly templates before, my blogs around 5 years old and they were not aesthetically pleasing back then! I hope you enjoyed that cupcake, yummm! xx

    www.iridescentplaces.com

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    1. Ahh thank you! Yeah... my blog used to be so ugly hahaha I reckon I've got some screen shots somewhere - will have to dig those out! Oh my gosh it was so good! Editing the photos though was very difficult haha xx

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  2. happy 1st blog birthday! that cupcake looks delicious!:) i love your blog goals for the next year!xx

    emjbarker.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Aww thanks! It was amazing - salted caramel icing and salted caramel centre... oh my gosh literally the best cupcake ever! xx

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  3. Congratson your blog reaching it's first milestone!..

    Beauty Candy Loves

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  4. Happy Blog Birthday! Your blog is so so gorgeous and I hope that this is the 1st of many many more birthdays for your blog! <3
    - Olivia Xxx
    http://oliviaxalesha.com/blog/

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    1. Aww thank you lovely! <3 I hope so too! xxx

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  5. Happy 1 year of blogging!! :)

    Renee | Life After Lux

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  6. Happy blog birthday! It's nice to hear you have lots of fun doing it still 😊

    MintyMemories.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks!! Oh god yeah! So much fun - blogging is the best!! xx

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  7. Well done you. You are doing a great job and i look forward to seeing your blog progress. Going to check out yr socials now xx

    Www.naybeautymua.com

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    1. Aw thank you, it means a lot! Thank you so much!! xx

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  8. Well done you. You are doing a great job and i look forward to seeing your blog progress. Going to check out yr socials now xx

    Www.naybeautymua.com

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  9. First of all, happy blogiversary Lily! I'm so glad you started your blog cause yours is honestly one of my faves. And I'm not just saying that, I really do mean it. I just feel connected to you in a way if that makes sense cause I think we're very similar - being introverted, our love for books, our dream of writing book and all that stuff :) I can relate to so many things you talk about in your posts & I'm sorry if that sounds cheesy but you'll always have my support. Thank you for mentioning me in this post, it actually made my day. Keep doing your thing x

    Much love, Sara / AboutLittleThiings

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    1. Aww thank you so much Sara! Yep, definitely, we're very similar especially when it comes to being introverted and loving books! Honestly I can't even explain how much your comment means to me, just knowing that people actually enjoy reading my blog is kind of crazy hahaha xxx

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  10. HAPPY BLOG ANNIVERSARY! - I feel so proud of you reading this,even if it was only the beginning of the year I found your blog, we've come on a long journey since then hahaha! you're definitely the best #bloggerbestie so here's to another year of blogging and chatting rubbish about car insurance and being the CRAZY party animals we are - if I could I would be celebrating this milestone with you with a champange cocktail... Soon any enough we'll be in Selfridges doing just that, it has to happen, HAS TO! xxx

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    1. LISAAAA STOPPP I'm going to cry ;) I know, I feel like we're going on this blogging journey together (lol so cheesy I can't even hahaha) which makes me so happy! But I don't know what you're talking about I'm absolutely MENTAL, like there's no holding me back when it comes to the parties ;) Yesss one day we need to hang out IRL and drink champagne and go to Selfridges! xxx

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  11. Happy Blog Birthday!!! I love reading your blog and cannot wait to see what the future holds for your site <3

    Blessings,
    Edye | Http://gracefulcoffee.wordpress.com

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    1. Thank you!! Aw that's so sweet, thank you so much lovely! Xx

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