Celebrating Joyously Domestic's One-Year Anniversary

Today marks exactly one year since my first post went "live" here on Joyously Domestic, the blog.  In honor of my "blogiversary," I want to extend my gratitude to all of you who have been followers, supporters and friends of Joyously Domestic. 

When I first got the blog up and running, I spent weeks asking (a.k.a. "pestering" and "hounding") all of my friends and family on Facebook to come over and "like" JD's Facebook page and to become followers of the blog.  So many of them, also, helped by sharing the links to both our page and our initial posts with their own Facebook friends.  I remember when I was thrilled to have twenty-five FB followers and my first initial email followers. 

In truth, my blogging experience began in March of 2012 with a small blog that I started on a different hosting site.  I wasn't happy with the format and a few other aspects there, so I moved everything over to our current home here on Blogger.  That was on June 22, 2012.  I started out slow - as most bloggers do - with maybe a hundred or so FB followers and only a handful of email followers after our first four months of beginning the blog.  Getting a few hundred visitors to the blog each day was the "bee's knees" in my mind back then!  I set up a Pinterest page associated with the blog and started promoting the blog across various recipe sites. I began networking with other recipe and food bloggers ... I am so thankful for the blogger friends I've made along the way.

In late-October of 2012 (after four months of very slow growth on JD's blog), my post for Roasted Ranch Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese spread across FB, Pinterest and other recipe sites like wildfire.  Something about that photo and recipe really drew people in.  (It's bacon and cheese and potatoes ... I guess one can't really go wrong, huh?)  Almost overnight, my visitor stats soared through the roof!  To this day (eight months later), it is my most-visited post every single week!  It has had over 700,000 page views alone!  (People must really love their bacon, cheese and taters!) That post brought thousands of visitors to the blog ... many who became followers and regular readers.  It brought about a great deal of exposure for us!  Every time it is shared on FB recipe pages, my site blows up with visitors.  It's funny how one recipe can catapult a blog's popularity!  Thankfully, there have been several additional well-received posts ... and, the potato dish didn't turn out to make Joyously Domestic just a "one-hit wonder."  P.S.  If you haven't tried the recipe, it's a must-make splurge that I'm sure you and your family will find amazingly scrumptious!

 

 

We've had our share of various themes, colors, logos and headers throughout the past year here on the blog.  I look back and cringe at some, but, overall, I've enjoyed the process of creating and adapting the look a little here and there.
 

 

We now have over 2,600 FB followers, close to 3,000 Pinterest followers ... and lots of folks who follow us through Google Friend Connect, Google+ and via email.  I know these numbers may not seem significant to some of the larger food bloggers out there, but I couldn't be happier at our growth just one year in.  I joke that the blog may have been started in June of 2012, but it really didn't take off until that darn potato recipe exploded at the beginning of November of 2012.  So, I am thankful and proud of how far we've come since then.  And, I am excited to see where we end up throughout the upcoming year.

 

As I celebrate the one-year anniversary and look towards the future, I would like to say thank you to all of you.  I have been so very blessed to have so many wonderful, supportive people stand by Joyously Domestic over the course of the last year.  For every comment, share, follow, email and "like," I am beyond grateful.

 

Joyously Domestic,
Angela