Nelmitravel – 3rd blog anniversary
It is hard to believe that I have just ended my 3rd year of Blogging! Yes, it is time for a blog anniversary celebration! Time is flying when you are having fun.
I am way behind other people that have been blogging for 10 years but personally I think it is a nice milestone. What turned out to be a normal travel blog has developed and grown into a brand – my own brand.
Nelmitravel.com – Your window to the world.
So many changes took place this past year. After blogging for some time on a free platform, I decided to take the leap and go self-hosted. My choice of host? Hostgator. I cannot rave about them enough. Great customer support, tutorials, C-panel and help desk.
the decision to go self-hosted
Going self-hosted was not easy. Because I didn’t have the funds, I did all the set-up work which included the transfer of more than 300 posts and 4,000 comments. I had to create databases and set-up WordPress as a clean installation. It was not easy but I did it!
Like most people who go self-hosted I overdid it with all the plugins. I wanted a plugin for everything. They say less is better and when you are speaking about plugins, then I have to agree. I battled with site speed and after tearing my hair out, contacted a professional to help me speed up my site.
I purchased a very nice theme and it worked for more than a year until WordPress did their last update. Well, that saw the end of my theme because after the update it wasn’t compatible anymore and the company that I purchased it from closed down. Money down the drain and I had to purchase and customize a new theme. I sure did learn my lesson!
your blog and seo
After advertising opportunities presented itself, I took the whole SEO business more serious. To be honest I think that SEO is a full time job. I spend a lot of time on my site changing things. Yes, it is not only the time it takes to write articles and optimize images but also to make sure you stay up-to-date with the latest Google changes.
Sadly, this past year I have been less involved with Blogger forums. Mainly because I have too many eggs in my basket. The other reason is many of the Bloggers that started with me 3 years ago are not blogging anymore. That means I need to start building new relationships. That is exactly what I did when I started to become more involved with my Google Circles. Interactions on the forums do not always mean a comment on your site but I have met some lovely people there.
A blog anniversary and time to say thank you
Here is to 3 years of Blogging! Thank you to all my readers, my husband and friends who always support me by reading my articles.
