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March 2017 Reflection



Hello everyone! Since March has been over for a bit now, it's time for a monthly reflection! A good amount has happened over the course of one month, and I must say that this March reflection is much different from last year's! (This is the first time I can also compare months, which is exciting.)

So, here's the layout for this post:

Looking Back Into March

 Coming Up in April

Looking Back Into March

The Blog
Pageviews increased by about 26%! Personally, I am glad with that number, as I know that after my period of absence here on the blog, pageviews dropped drastically. While they still haven't reached the numbers they did before, I am still glad to see progress. :) Additionally, I started posting regularly again, which is easier thanks to the new posting schedule. The blog also got a fancy new design! Overall, it was a good month for the blog.

Instagram
Unfortunately, I never wrote down the follower count so I can't track how many followers we have on Instagram for the month. However, we did officially make our account an Instagram business account by hooking it up to our Facebook page (which, FYI, doesn't have a username because apparently we need a certain amount of likes before we're able to do that). Now we can get cool insights on our posts, and even figure out what are the best times to post so that you can see our posts more!

Goals
Back in late December/early January, I made some goals for 2017. One of them was to work on the blog more, because "I really don't want this blog to be dead." I think that was the whole theme for this month: keeping the blog alive. I made steps towards doing so, even changing the posting schedule to something that was easier and less stressful for myself and creating a new way of planning my posts. Along with these changes and the new blog design, it all felt new and clean and exciting, which I think largely helped me in wanting to work on the blog more. I'm happy to be back. :)

Comparison - March 2016 vs. March 2017
Wow. A lot has changed since then. After all, March was our first month with the blog and bookstagram, meaning that we were still learning and experimenting. Not only is the look of the blog different, but the content is as well! Back then, we posted a lot more book reviews...and Em was involved in the blog. While most days I don't think anything about it, I do sometimes get sad that she doesn't help out with the blog anymore. As I wrote in the March 2016 Reflection, "...we have grown closer. I can recall some weekend nights just sitting with her, both of us on our computers, blogging....While I hope that this blog grows, I am fine with it staying small if it means that I get to spend more time with Em."

Still, I get to work with her on the bookstagram, which made me more invested in it. Our feed has certainly changed - thank goodness, for our first handful of pictures weren't the best! - although it still needs improvement. In the end, though, we've both learned so much about blogging and bookstagram and books and photography, and I'd say I've learned how to be what one calls "relatable" through the bookstagram, so thank you all for that! None of this would have ever happened without an audience!

Coming Up In April 

The Blog
So! What's coming up in April?

  • April 10th: Denik Flatlay Softcover Notebooks (excited for this one!)
  • April 17th - Navigating Bookstagram - Stories & Tips From a Small(er?) Account - Moving Away From the Idea of Fame (excited for this one too, whoops)
  • April 24th: Book Review: The Glass Castle (maybe - not set in stone!)

Instagram
Look out for more posts! I'll try to post at least once every other day, preferably once every day if we have the pictures! (I'm also going to try to stick to a theme.)

Goals
Like usual, I'm going to make three goals for the month (while keeping in mind my three goals for the year of 2017 as discussed in "2016 Yearly Reflection - The Words").


  1. Keep up a theme for our bookstagram! If you haven't noticed, we're not exactly the best at bookstagramming when it comes to themes/feeds. But we're trying to fix that, having decided on a "theme" that we'll try to keep and myself figuring out an editing style that'll work with this theme.
  2.  Continue to keep up with the blog. I found that I'm starting to slip a bit when considering planning and being prepared with blog posts. I'm starting to have last-minute blog posts again (cough cough: this post), which is a sign of abandoning the blog again! I can't have that after how far I've come in this past month.
  3. Get better at posting on the bookstagram. I really haven't been the best about posting, either because I'm too lazy to get photos off of the camera or too lazy to edit them, or I don't think about it until it's a bad posting time. Will try reminders for myself and drafting posts ahead of time. We'll see how it goes!


And that's it for this monthly reflection! Even though April has already begun, let's hope the rest of it runs on smoothly for Reading is Inevitable! New post Monday, but until then, bye!


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