Accountability: July 2022

Hello, hello!

July 2022 has seen the end of my cruise ship contract and my return home to the great state of Vermont. It has also seen, and will continue to see, my return to the blogging (and YouTube) world.

As always, all views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

I personally completely failed at blogging while I was on that contract. My job onboard involves a lot of computer screens so maybe I just mentally had a block about being on a screen any more than needed? It was also odd because for writing a blog primarily about cruising, and being on a cruise ship for the last 4 months, I didn’t really have much I could write about. Our ship was docked alongside in Rotterdam (still is) and being used for a humanitarian effort versus traditional cruising. Nothing that was happening onboard relates to traditional cruising, we weren’t going to new ports so I…didn’t write. I realize that’s not a great excuse but it is what it is.

Ironically, the last couple months have shown the greatest increase in blog traffic I have ever seen – last month when I did this my monthly views on my blog was up to 2,800. Now that number is up to 3,900 and it seems to keep going up. Go figure. I’ve also had my first month of making over $10 just on the ads that are shown on my website and actually saw a touch of commission (although not paid out yet) from Amazon through affiliate links. (Yes, if you click on my Amazon links and then buy something it does help me out!) Go figure.

So…hopefully next month you’ll see that I’ve put some actual effort into the blog and continued blog growth.

Plus, I’ve signed up for another contract onboard and the itineraries are pretty darn nice. My New Years Resolution for this year was to get back on a ship (✓) and to visit a new country. This next contract will get the latter checked off my resolutions list.

Blog Goals 2022:

Where I Want This Blog To Get To:

I want to grow this blog. Sometimes I am better about working towards these goals than others. These goals may prove to be just out of reach but those are the best kinds of goals!

• Get YouTube channel to 2,000 subscribers by the end of the year
  • Currently at 219, 230, 326, 340 now! Head on over to my YouTube channel to subscribe and help me reach this goal!
• Increase the subscribers to my blog mailing list to 150
  • Currently at 82, 92, 102, 110! Subscribe to this blog to help me reach this goal. 🙂
• Blog specific stats:
  • DA of 15 (currently 9, 10, 12!), This actually stayed the exact same since last month
  • ✓✓✓ 150 Ranking Keywords (currently 56, 60, 174!!) Crushed this goal!
• Monthly views up to 10,000
  • This is now up to 2,800, 3,900 per month! 🙂 Woohoo!

As Success Doesn’t Happen by Chance, Here are some Steps I’m Going to Take to Get It There

• We’re back to it, so let’s go

• Write four new posts each month + Accountability post
  • Let’s give it a shot. 🙂
  • Figure out Search Engine Optimization
    • Getting much better at it
• Post one short YouTube video per month (15 mins or less)
  • None for July – yet still gained a few followers. Let’s see what happens.
• Write four guest posts over the course of the year
  • Haven’t done any yet.

Want to Help Me Achieve My Goals? Here are 5 ways you can support this blog (p.s. Thank You!)

1. Subscribe and follow wherever you’re willing to!
2. If you like a post – share it!
3. Send me questions for ideas for blog posts, YouTube videos, etc! Happy to answer anything I can.
4. Feel free to use those affiliate links. My favorite product that I highlight on my blog is laundry detergent sheets through EarthBreeze.
5. Feel free to directly monetarily support this dream through Ko-fi. This money helps me pay for blog expenses such as domain fees, SEO programs, courses and tech support, as well as hopefully new cameras and microphones for YouTube. 🙂