It’s that time of the year where the community of Pet Bloggers get together.
It’s also a time where I feel like I’m giving myself an “annual review” of what I did based on what my goals were versus what I actually did.
My prior year entries are:
If you’re new to pet blogging, you can read up on our annual Pet Bloggers Challenge on my friend Colby’s blog: Puppy In Training. It’s been a great experience to go through every year to not only share my blogging journey but to meet others as well.
So without further ado here are my answers:
My first post was June 11, 2016. I write about Boston Terriers. I started to include dog nutrition articles the last few years and realized, that I could split up my content. So last year I decided to re-focus on Boston Terriers and move all my food articles to Daily Dog Food Recipes
I had one post go viral (for me) it was shared by a holistic group on Facebook over 1,000 times which resulted in a massive spike of traffic (almost 33,000 hits for that one article that month).
That also was when I had the light bulb moment to split out my nutrition articles from this website.
Motivation. I wanted to write about food more than I wanted to write about Boston Terriers. But I still wrote 33 articles last year so I’m happy with that.
I learned that if you’re truly passionate about the topic, writing flows very easily.
I need to learn how to juggle two websites in 2022. I have bigger business goals on Daily Dog Food Recipes than I do on this one.
I’m also waiting for my third puppy and fingers crossed, it will happen this year. I think I’ve waited 3 years now but last I heard the parents had a “date” and there is an ultrasound that should deliver good news. This third puppy will be a show prospect which means I’m entering a whole different world in the dog community.
I’m nervous.
I’m also doubting my sanity.
But I just say it’s all going to be fine……
That puppy who still doesn’t have a name will help me write new content structured around breed preservation and what it takes to raise a show puppy.
I’d like a new design for this website. It’s old and slow. I also encountered the Site Ground mishap where articles fell of the cliff due to lack of indexing.
Last I checked it’s resolved and I do see traffic picking up again.
SEO continues to be a skill I want to fine-tune. I’m part of the Income School community and I’ve re-enrolled back into it.
Can you give me some feedback on design and speed for those of you who I noticed upgraded your websites? I would be most appreciative.
I’m scared if I touch anything it will all come undone.
Thank you again, Colby and fellow pet bloggers for participating in our annual Pet Blogger’s Journey.
I look forward to a wonderful 2022 for all of us.
Bonnie
January 13, 2022Hi-
Congratulations on your second blog. It looks great! I was just reading some of your posts. The one on Salmon was very helpful since we do feed our pup that a lot.
Looking forward to seeing your new puppy. We once thought about getting into dog shows but there was very little info on the subject.
My site was old and restricting so I moved to Trellis in the fall. It definitely helped with speed. The move was easy but I went from one simple design to another.
Hope you have a wonderful 2022!
Maggie Loves Orbit
January 14, 2022Thank you for your feedback and your new site looks FANTASTIC. On the dog shows – it helps to join your local dog club and start there and get a mentor. Then it makes it so much easier!
Colby
January 13, 2022Happy New Year! Congrats on having a post go viral on FB! That’s super cool.
Does getting a third puppy = starting a third blog? Haha, J/K or maybe not 🙂
I was still on the old genesis framework and as much as I tried I couldn’t get it to pass the Core Web Vitals. The problem had to do with the Cumulative Layout Shift and would have required me to hire a developer to fix it. Considering the theme is well over 5 years old I decided to go with a newer theme and opted for Kadence.
They have an option to have them install the theme but I decided it would be better if I did the installation so I’d know how to make tweaks to the theme in the future. If you do the self install make sure you create a staging site to test everything before going live. Your host can probably setup the staging site if there’s not an option in your dashboard.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any specific questions. Happy 2022!
Maggie Loves Orbit
January 14, 2022I was looking at Kadence. Thank you so much Colby for that tip!!
Candy Pilar Godoy
January 13, 2022Hannah, congrats on all you’ve accomplished! I feel like we’re on similar paths…we both had one blog and are now starting second ones. It’s much easier the second time around! The first one is like a baby blog with training wheels 🙂
As for site speed, I went through the same issue. I ended up changing my theme and that made a huge difference.
Best of luck with the new puppy. It sounds like your 2022 is shaping up to be a super exciting one!
Maggie Loves Orbit
January 14, 2022Super excited and so happy for your new blog. Can’t wait to see it.
Cathy
January 14, 2022Bostons are so much fun!
Your site isn’t slow for me at all. And I like the design. My only suggestion is to darken the font a little. It’s so light, it’s hard to read though the size is good.
Maggie Loves Orbit
January 14, 2022thank you! And I’ll change that font color per your suggestion!