Today, on the of 5th September 2022, I hit 50 published blog posts on my blog. After many breaks from blogging, and many times i was going to deactivate my blog InstagIam account due to feeling unmotivated, i can say i generally am proud that I have made it to 50 posts.
Blogging and writing is something i genuinely enjoy doing in my spare time, and always find myself writing up posts before bed as that is the time my mind is most creative. I believe we need more creative people in this world, and I love to write and put my posts out there not only for other people to enjoy and learn, but also just for myself to look back on as well as for the soul reason that I enjoy writing!
I am going to take you all on a quick detour through my blog, and share some of my favourite, and least favorite for that matter, posts.
My Most Popular Blog Post
Starting off my list, I will be taking a look back on my most popular blog post, which is 'Things I Am No Longer Apologising For.' I wrote this blog post back in November 2020 and this post got 208 views, and 28 likes. Although this may not sound like much, for me this is a lot! I am not entirely sure why this post got so much attention and views, as I promote all my blog posts the same way through Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. This post is an overview of things that you usually apologise for, which you should no longer apologise for, as it says in the title. I remember writing this after being inspired by a digital drawing @thrive_withmeg had created on Instagram, and once i started writing, I couldn't bring myself to stop. I really enjoyed writing this and have (tried) to implement the thiIgs I wrote about into my personal life when and where i can.
Give it a read here: Things You Should No Longer Be Apologising For (laurenrhicard.wixsite.com)
My Favourite Blog Post
Next up we have my favourite blog post. This one was really hard as I enjoy reading back on all of my old posts, but this one specifically really stuck out to me. My favourite blog post I have published has got to be 'The Corset Trend And Why Women Are Still Loving It Today' which I posted in February 2021. I put a lot of effort into this blog post, and even incorporated Youtube videos, Twitter polls, and photos from people I know personally and people that follow me, wearing corsets. This got a fair amount of views also, at 141 views and 11 likes. I think i really enjoyed doing the research and the gathering together of information for this post, which is why I really want to create another blog post quite similar to this one, whIch I can do research for again. This post is generally a lot more informative and more information based rather than my light-hearted fashion blogs.
My First Blog Post
Throwing it back here to my first ever blog post, which was posted back in September 2019!! 3 whole years ago! when I have a read back at this blog post, I realize how much I have improved at blogging, and also how much my punctuation and spellling has even improved also along the way... Obviously, this is not my best nor favourite post, but it is a reminder to me that everyone starts somewhere, and it shows how far I home came on my blogging journey. Other than the funny and repetitive adjectives I constantly use throughout this post, it's not a terrible attempt at a first blog post. I did also create this in college as part of an assessment, which did result in me still having my blog to this day.
Blog Post I put the most work into/ most proud of
The blog post I put the most work into, for definite, is my 'Finding Love During A Pandemic: The Struggles' post I wrote whilst in college. In this fairly lengthy blog post, I explored and did a fair amount of research into the world of dating during a worldwide pandemic, and looked at what the main struggles people were finding were. I managed to even secure an interview with This Morning's resident psychologist and Therapist, Emma Kenny through messaging her on Instagram. She gave me a phone call and I was able to ask her several different questions which related to my blog post. I generally did enjoy speaking to her and learning more about the topic I was writing about. I spent hours writing up this post and picking out quotes from the lengthy interview I did with Emma, but I think it was entirely worth it in the end.
Blog Post that did surprisingly well
A blog post that has done surprisingly well on my blog, and has a lot of views and engagement is my 'How To Respect Ethnic Names: A Guide' post. I wrote this after watching a youtube video by filmmaker Anparasan Sivakumaran, which explored all the topics I go on to talk about in my post. I talk about the importance of pronouncing names properly, and how it makes people with ethnic names feel when their names are mispronounced. I think the main reason this post did well is the fact that this is a topic which not a lot of people speak about or are aware of, so it was a fresh idea in the blogging community. My post was shared on an Instaram account with a big following, which drove a lot of readers to my page and then gave me a lot of good feedback through Instagram.
Least Favourite Blog Post
My least favorite blog post on my blog is my 'Carry On Travel Essentials' post. This was posted in September 2019 also and was my third post. When I look back, I think I just wrote this to get more content up and to pass my assessment, as, in terms of content, there is none here. All the travel essentials I share here are so blatantly obvious, such as a book, baby wipes, and headphones- everyone knows this surely! However, I will always keep even the blog posts I am not so proud of live on my site, as it again shows how far I have come in my blogging journey and how much my content has improved. I am going to post the link below for you to read, but don't expect too much...
Read it here: carry on travel essentials (laurenrhicard.wixsite.com)