I’ve only been blogging since August 2015 so this is my first attempt at the #AtoZchallenge. I was interested to see how blogging everyday except Sunday’s has impacted my blog. Here are some of the April stats and March in brackets to compare.
New Followers = 60 (in March 15)
April views = 1458 ( in March 336)
April visitors = 479 (in March 151)
Visitors from = 38 countries (in March 14 countries)
Likes = 748 (in March 184)
Post most viewed = A Amber’s method: Top 5 writing tips 70 views (in March Book Review of Girl in the Ice, Plus Visions of Zarua giveaway and sites that review = 17 views each)
Posts published = April 32 (in March 21)
My most viewed and liked posts were writing related – Amber’s Method, Proof reading checklist, Beta readers and Hampton Court and Warwick Castle.
(Here’s the link to my A-Z challenge page. There are links to each letter if you missed any.)
My view on the AtoZchallenge
Pros – It’s a real confidence boost receiving such nice comments and likes. I made new blogging friends and got to share my favourite photos, recipes and my flash fiction story.
Cons – No time to write. It was hard to keep track of all the blogs I wanted to. My family were driven crazy by the daily obsession.
Final word – I joined in the challenge to show myself I could blog everyday. I also wanted to get more involved in the blogging community and find like minded people to follow.
Would I recommend the A-Z Challenge? – Yes, it’s a great way to discover new blogs and bloggers and build your own platform. However, be warned that you won’t get much else done during April. Be prepared for that so you won’t spend the whole month feeling guilty.
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Thanks to everyone who followed my April Challenge, I hope you continue to enjoy my posts in the future.
I am taking a rest from blogging as my WIP needs finishing if I hope to publish it this year. I’ll still be posting book reviews, photos and the occasional guest posts. I hope you can join me.
Glad you enjoyed it and got so much out of it, well done.
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Thank you.
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Congrats and wishing you the best … it was an awesome month … !! My first time and real great too !! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Thank you, and well done to you too! I’m amazed you were able to come up with a poem for each letter of the alphabet.
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Yes I am amazed too… Thank you so much… it was complete madness for me.. exciting too … last four letters I was lost … but being delayed I completed on time
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Your A-Z challenge was wonderful, very informative and fun to read. Enjoy the break from everyday posting, and good luck with your book :).
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Thanks very much. It’s amazing how quickly you get used to being on social media all the time. I feel I might have withdrawal symptoms for a few days. I hope the book will distract me!
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It was a great month. And as you wrote a lot of work reading and commenting. I couldn’t do as much as I wanted because life happened…
Now it’s time to slow down and to relax a bit – till next year??? 😉
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I don’t know about next year! If I do it again, I want to have every post written first, and learn how to schedule the posts.
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Scheduling my posts did save me. I’m not sure if I could have done otherwise. You should definitely try this.
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Congratulations Suzanne! I’m just sorry it’s over because I was so enjoying your posts. But I get that family comes first. You’ve got me thinking that maybe I should give it a shot.
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Thank you, that’s lovely to hear.
I recommend doing the A-Z but start planning posts ASAP.
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I’m thinking about doing it in June because I don’t work during the summers and my kid will be away for 6 weeks. If that combo doesn’t help me to write than I may actually be hopeless. Thanks for the tip!
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On the 9th you can add your reflections post link to a list so other AtoZers can read it. The details are on the AtoZ blog 😉
I’m glad this challenge did your blog so much good. And next April will be just as much fun 🙂
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Great, thanks. I’ve made a note of the date.
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Congratulations on completing your first A to Z Challenge so successfully! 🙂 It’s a great booster for new blogs, that’s for sure. Sorry I missed your posts. I’ll be back.
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Thank you. It has been a big boost and my blog feels a bit lost without it.
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You impress me with your analytics of blog activity throughout April. Congratulations on acquiring many more followers to your blog site and for completing the challenge.
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Thank you. I was surprised how well the challenge went and it was great fun to compile the summery post and see the numbers involved.
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Congratulations for completion and also for having increased viewership on your blog…
https://serendipityofdreams.blogspot.in/2016/05/reflections-2016.html
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Thank you.
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Well done making it through 🙂 There were so many great blogs out there this year, weren’t there. Where’s a timeturner when you need one?
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings
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Yes, I found lots of great blogs, and lost track of many I wanted to keep following.
I wish there were more hours in the day.
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I’m also a stats nerd so I enjoyed seeing your comparisons in black and white. Agree this is a good quality challenge. I look forward to doing it again in future.
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I hope to do it again, I think. But I really don’t want to take the whole of April off writing so I will need to be more organised next time.
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Congrats on completing the challenge! I like how you showed the improvements between March and April. I wasnt able to get around to as many blogs as I wanted to in April, but there is still plenty of time. The posts aren’t going anywhere, and hopefully the bloggers will still be blogging.
Mary
Jingle Jangle Jungle
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Very true, I’ve seen blogs that I missed during the challenge and look forward to checking them out.
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You saw some awesome growth in April! Hopefully that will continue in May. Congrats on completing A-Z!
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Thank you.
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It’s a challenge… I have been involved for many years and it’s not easy sometimes, but we do get to meet some talented people…
We made it…Hope you had a great time, thank you for your Reflection!
Jeremy [Retro]
AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2016]
T-SHIRTS, MUGS, FREE MAGAZINE… OH MY!
HOLLYWOOD NUTS!
Come Visit: You know you want to know if me or Hollywood… is Nuts?
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Thanks. I shall be checking out Hollywood Nuts, I’m intrigued.
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Congrats on completing the challenge! Great that you had fun and your blog got the boost you wanted.
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Thank you. It was fun, but a lot more work than I expected!
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I just went back and read the Amber post. Brilliant!
Finding Eliza
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Thank you. Being my first post of the challenge I wasn’t sure what reaction to expect. I’m really pleased people liked it, and so is my daughter.
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Well done on completing your first challenge 🙂 Those stats are brilliant! I made the mistake of finishing editing my novel as well as doing the challenge through April!
Debbie
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I planned to edit my novel, but it didn’t work out that way. Good for you that you managed to do both.
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Hey!
Seeing those numbers is impressive when you think of how awesome the A to Z is right? 😀
Let me suggest something for next year, draft and schedule your posts in March so you aren’t so busy in April and get the time to relax and enjoy the challenge 🙂 I do it too and I feel it helps so much!
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That is a great plan. If I could think of a theme, I’d be quite happy to start writing the posts at the beginning of the year. A definite call for better organisational skills.
Thanks for visiting.
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Finding your blog for the first time as I begin reading the list of Reflections. I am now following having discovered your blogging world. I love the #Challenge for this reason. Even though I research, write a month ahead, leaving lots of time to visit in April, I didn’t make it through the entire list. Glad these reflections can be useful in several ways. Cheers.
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I mainly used twitter to find blogs to follow via the #, so I missed a lot. As you say, it is a nice idea to use this Reflection list to catch up with others. Thanks for stopping by.
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Thanks for sharing your stats during the challenge. As a fellow A to Zer I found that very interesting. Best of luck with your publication!
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Thanks very much. It feels like forever since the challenge started.
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