Back in 2005, I worked at an ad agency. After working in the PR department for several months, I’d decided I wanted to transfer to the copywriting department as a proofreader. [Yeah. I'm serious about this nerd thing.]
Part of the transition process included interviewing people to replace me in the PR department. One day my manager handed me a resume to check out, and out of all the applicant’s experience and supposed skills, I focused on the fact that he had a blog.
A blog?! Who has a blog? I mean, really. Who is THAT self-centered to create an entire website about HIMSELF? Who DOES that?!?
Yes, yes, the crow was tasty. [As in, I ate it. I ate crow. Because now I am a self-centered blogger.]
Just so you know, that guy was not self-centered. And he was a great fit in the PR department.
ANYWAY. That was pretty much my impression of blogs until sometime in late 2007. I’d started hearing a little more about blogs, here and there, but I didn’t put much stock into it until my friend Chelley mentioned – oh so casually – that she had a blog.
WHAT?! She had A BLOG?! And I didn’t KNOW?!?
I immediately began reading every single post she wrote, commenting on them and then interacting with her other readers. From there I branched out to reading her readers’ blogs, and – surprise! – it wasn’t long before I became convinced that I, too, needed a blog.
A BLOG?! Who DOES that?! Oh…right…
So in April 2008, I jumped in. And my life has never been the same.
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of that auspicious day, I’ve got a giveaway for YOU. Because let’s be honest. If you weren’t here, reading and commenting and sharing – I wouldn’t be here either. This community, our friendships, the camaraderie – THIS is why I blog.
So THANK YOU. And if you indulge me for just a bit longer, I’ve got a little giveaway to thank you for being here, for reading, for commenting, for coming back – for all of it.
But first I wanted to take a little walk down memory lane.
A Timeline of This Here Blog
- April 2008: I started a blog. I went by “Photoqueen,” because I thought all bloggers went by fake names. And, you know, I didn’t want the scary Internet people to find me and kill me.
- February 2009: On a whim I bought a ticket to the Blissdom Conference in Nashville. I went and I met people and I learned lots. It was scary – and the beginning of a lot of amazing things.
- March 2009: For the first time ever, I spent money on my blog by having it redesigned. I felt very fancy.
- August 2009: (in)courage launched, and I was a part of it. To this day, I’m not sure why they asked me to write for the site, but I will never stop being thankful they did.
- July 2010: I went to Savvy Blogging in Breckenridge. I got sick from the altitude, met some great people and learned about monetizing my blog. In slightly related news, later that summer, I was invited to be a part of a group of bloggers that call themselves the Sisterchicks. Thanks to the wonders of Skype, those girls are now some of my very best friends.
- August 2010: I moved my blog from Blogspot to WordPress. Many comments were lost forever, and many tears were shed.
- October 2010: I quit my job to be a stay-at-home mom and freelance writer/editor/social media consultant. I didn’t actually become a social media consultant.
- Summer 2011: A couple of my recipe posts blew up the Internet, thanks to StumbleUpon. I thought I’d “made it” in the world of blogging, not realizing that a) none of the people landing on my blog were sticking around and b) that SU traffic would eventually dry up and I would be sad.
- August 2011: I launched a TV blog. It was awesome.
- November 2011: I decided to close down my TV blog. It was sad.
- November 2011: I published an ebook about how to plan a fabulous party without losing your mind.
- Spring 2012: For various reasons, my life kind of exploded. It was crazy good and crazy bad and crazy crazy. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
- July 2012: I had my blog redesigned and waved goodbye to the dark red background and apple header I had designed.
- November 2012: I started working for (in)courage as the editorial coordinator. Yep, I’ll tell you more about this next week.
- April 2013: I gave away 5 Amazon gift cards to celebrate 5 years of blogging. (Yeah. Scroll on down for that…or keep indulging me and my self-centered blogging…)
After I took a look back on the milestones of my blogging career, I thought it would be fun {for me} to figure out which of my nearly 1,400 posts was the most popular with you all. That led to a rabbit trail of analytics and reminiscing and confusion over the best metric to determine top, best or favorite anything.
I finally thought, “Hey, it’s my party! I’ll go overboard if I want to!” and decided to figure out the top post based on traffic AND comments. Plus a few of my favorites for good measure. You’re welcome.
My Top 5 Posts Ever {Based on Traffic}
Well, here’s the thing. My top 20 posts are almost all recipes. Thanks to carnivals and StumbleUpon and Pinterest, these are the posts that get the most clicks – but those clicks don’t necessarily lead to new readers. So while I can’t leave out my pink lemonade cake post because it has five times more traffic than the second-highest post, I bypassed the rest of the recipe posts and moved on to my other high(ish) trafficked posts.
- Monday Morning Mmmm: Pink Lemonade Cake
- How to Plan a Veggie Tales Birthday Party
- Leftovers Are the Enemy (This post is about the book signing I went to for the Pioneer Woman. Back in 2009. And I still get traffic for people searching for “Ree Drummond nanny.” I’ll say it again, people: I have no idea if the Pioneer Woman has a nanny!)
- Fishing for Hope (One of my favorite posts to write, and I had no idea it had received so many views!)
- Last-Minute Cleaning for Company
My Top 5 Posts Ever {Based on Comments}
Except for giveaways. Because counting those comments doesn’t count. Although we should probably take a moment to recognize the hilarity that is my biggest giveaway being for a steam mop. A steam mop! From a girl who hates to clean! (Yes, I did notice the cleaning post up there in the other list. The irony has not escaped me.)
- 10 Surprises About Becoming a SAHM
- Inappropriate (If you didn’t read this last year, it’s the post I wrote after my brother-in-law died in a motorcycle accident.)
- Why I Keep Going Back to Weight Watchers
- On Getting “Oh, Honey”-ed at Blissdom
- With Toddlers Like These, Who Needs Teenagers
My Other Favorite Posts I Couldn’t Resist Sharing with You
Look, you guys. Blogging is a weird thing. It’s so personal and isolated while at the same time public and often collaborative. It can be encouraging or discouraging – sometimes both, sometimes in the same day. As I looked back over five years of blogging, I was overwhelmed by the incredible friendships, experiences and opportunities that are a direct result of this blog. But to be honest, I was also a little frustrated to remember all the things I’ve tried and given up on, the ideas I’ve had that didn’t go anywhere, the proclamations and epiphanies that – in the end – meant very little.
So when I started making a list of my favorite posts and realized I had too many and wanted to Link All the Things, I was so happy. I was so happy to realize that at the end of the day, I love this blog. I know it’s obnoxious, all these links, and good grief, shouldn’t my arm hurt from so much twisting around to pat myself on the back?! But that’s why I’m giving you one more list of awesome-to-me posts anyway.
- It’s All McDonald’s: This is the one that Jim Gaffigan tweeted. Yeah, that’s right.
- I Would Do Anything for Love, but I Won’t Do That: This is my “things I don’t do” post.
- Top 10 Signs You’re a Married Single Mom: Turns out I’m not alone in having a spouse with a frustrating work schedule – or appreciating not having to share the remote at night.
- The Drumstick Dinner: Sometimes new recipes don’t turn out right. At all.
- Giving Up on Perfect in the Dressing Room: A story about the day I almost decked a saleswoman at Lane Bryant.
- A Remarkable Faith: Wedding: At the time this was the hardest thing I’d ever written. Even now it makes me cry.
- The Problem with Romance Novels (and part two)
- It Was Just an Experience: This was the first time I wrote about our church plant failure.
- The Most Romantic Gesture Ever: This was when I told the Internet about going to marriage counseling.
And finally, the giveaway:
All right, you guys. Thank you for indulging me and letting me go on and on (and on and…) about my blog today. Hey, remember that time I thought bloggers were self-centered? Yeah…
Anyway, for your patience – not to mention your support and friendship over the past five years – I’m giving away 5 $10 gift cards to Amazon.
To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment telling me about the first blog you ever read. The giveaway will close next Friday, April 19 at midnight CST.
