I’m contemplating blogging and the various threads that feed into a successful blog, and then back out to its readers and beyond. But first, it’s only right to explore what a successful blog or website might look like. You need to know in advance that I’ve read numerous books on blogging and great websites and have NOT applied all that knowledge to this blog, I’m not on much social media and I do only chase #’s sometimes.
To me, a successful blog is defined by its writer/owner/content producer. So, if you write to inform family and friends and put out content for that audience…that could be its own definition of success. I know bloggers who do that. If you write a blog and website to reach people about your business or make money via those articles you write, that works too and could easily be the definition of success. I know a highly successful blogger in this space too. Or perhaps you do very brief blog posts to support your vlog on Youtube….to add value to that income stream. I’ve met these folks too. How about a blog like mine, that’s written not for family, not for commercial reasons…but to merely inform and educate those who might want to read it. This is perfect for me and my semi-consistent writing, but I still have not completely defined what success looks like. I’ll keep writing.We started in 2014 and the blog will be ten (10) years old in November of this year….yeah! Our Blog #’s (views, likes ect) did nothing but grow from 2014 through 2020. These were the years we were buying sailboats, prepping for our extended cruising trip and actually left on that trip. COVID hit in 2020, we were cruising in Mexico at the time but I still tried to continue blogging consistently. But the #’s started slipping and never recovered to their 2020 levels. This was a blogism. I can’t always replicate cool and exciting travel stories and you can’t ever control readership and what they may or may not want to read. Views for 2021 and 2022 were still good but just not at 2020 levels. Then in 2023 we sold Tulum early in the year and started our bus adventure, ending up here eventually and buying Adventure Base Ranch. I was sporadic in my blogging in 2023, this really hurt my #’s. We don’t always do exciting travel, which might be what people are looking for, so I also fill this blog with things that are not alway travel related…like some of my cooking and ultramarathon prep.
I was hoping with more regular writing in 2024 I could revive some of my blog #’s. So far, numbers for the year are down but steadily improving. There’s nothing that helps a blog/website like the combination of CONTENT and consistency. So that’s the name of the game this year….writing and trying to keep my content at a high level so folks get excited to read it.
I wrestled with starting to write about some of our favorite anchorages in Central America now that I’ve had over a year to process and think through the trip. I have the detailed logs from Tulum and of course the Shawn/Heather books so I think I can still give a detailed and accurate accounting of those anchorages…I have a really good memory for directions which stretches to anchoring and the time we spent in those anchorages. I’ll start that writing after I finish the Roadtrip In the West With Kids Series.
To my readers who keep reading, liking and commenting- Thank you.